adam

One benefit of extending him with one year left is they can apply the signing bonus to the next 5 years vs 4 from the extension, bringing his cap hit down to $11.6M per year from 24-27 compared to doing the same deal after the season which would make it $12.5M per year. This is a great deal for the Bears, and will look even better in a year, and a steal in two.

If Johnson gets one, I think it would be midseason. I don't know how Poles views him right now. It will also depend on how Gordon and Stevenson look.

He could sign 2 more before 30 lol. He just turned 24, so he could easily sign his next extension at 27, and 4th one at 29 (as long as he signs before March 10th.

Same AAV as Hunter Henry signed last year (Henry signed for 3 years), and less than Dawson Knox. T-9th highest AAV for TE in NFL With $32M guaranteed and $20M first year cash, this is a front loaded deal that will have an out after 2 years and almost no dead cap after 3. After the Engram signing (for almost $14M per year), I assume Poles wanted to get this done before the price went up.

Not if this is the new trend for rookie deal QBs. It would only be this year and next if Fields gets extended next offseason.

Why is this relevant to the Bears? Herbert signed after his 3rd year, so the Chargers didn't take advantage of his 5th year option. After this year (his 4th), his salary will go from a $8.4M cap hit to approximately $29M in 2024. If the Bears were to consider the same plan for Fields, that would be next offseason, and his big salary would kick in a year earlier than expected. That scares me. Also, I am surprised Herbert got that big of a deal. He was 18th in DVOA, 11th in QBR, and 12th in QB Rating. The only stat he was top 5 in was yards (which really don't matter unless you score). Even with 4739 yards, he still only had a 6.8 Y/A. If you took the name off and all I did was list those stats, I don't think that QB would get a contract that big. Thoughts?

It seems like it was just a procedural thing since he didn't participate before. So essentially they had to put him on the PUP to take him off it since he wasn't on it before but was injured.

I will need his email to add him as a GM of the team he is taking control of and add him to the LeagueSafe league. There doesn't seem to be a generic invite but I will check.

The only time race should come up is in the medical realms as certain demographics are more prone to certain conditions. Outside of that, race should not be a consideration for anything.

The 49ers got 2x 3rd round comp picks for Mike McDaniel, a "minority". I honestly don't even know what constitutes that status.

Sounds good, thanks.

It really is. No matter how you cut the stats up in the first two years, if you count all the games, the odds are against him but he still has a shot. I would have to look back at some of the other QBs on the list, but I don't know if any had such a bad supporting cast and team the first two years, then got an influx of talent in Year 3 like he has. So it will definitely be one of the most interesting years we have had in a long time.

The Chargers and Lions on the road is pretty shocking to be honest. 4.5 seems low for those two teams against the Bears. Even 6 (still under a TD) would seem more on point. To me, KC is really the only game that is a guaranteed loss. That would be an upset of epic proportions, but being in Week 3, anything is possible. For the Division, I feel like the Bears will go 4-2 with some combo of sweeping one team and splitting with the 2 others. They are favored in 5 non-division games, so that is 9 wins, not counting potential wins against DEN, NO, WAS, and CLE. It is hard for me to see the Bears losing to all 4 of those teams. So just say they win 1 out of those 4 where they are the underdog, like Jason said, 10 wins is there, and it really is not that far of a reach. On the flip side, if they only split the division, don't win any of those 4 and lose a 1 non-division game they are favored in (TB, LVR, CAR, ARZ, ATL), they finish 7-10. So 7-10 wins seems like the range. If 7.5 is the over/under, the over seems like a very solid bet.

Another name is Justin Houston, played in KC with Poles. Won't break the bank or be looking for a long term deal at his age. Had 9.5 sacks and an INT last year. His sack totals for the last 6 years: 9.5, 4.5, 8, 11, 9, and 9.5. compare to Ngakoue's: 9.5, 10, 8, 8, 9.5, 12 Outside of Houston's bad 2021, their sacks totals are identical for the other 5 years (interesting). Obviously Houston's age is the biggest issue. I would not be opposed to a multi-year deal for Ngakoue (2-3 years). Just one vet Edge really changes the landscape of the entire line and defense by bumping the other guys down the depth chart where they would be better suited. The Edge group would still be one of the worst in the league, but more like bottom 1/3 vs dead last.

Claypool just seems like the outcast of the group. Mooney already has a great relationship with Fields. Moore is clearly making one. It just seems like he is the odd man out. He can't be happy that they traded for Moore AND drafted Scott. Again, I think it was sort of desperation move on Poles part. At the time, FA was terrible for WRs, Mooney was hurt and his status was unknown going forward. So Claypool looked enticing, but even if the Bears were picking 15th in the 2nd at the time (Pick #47), he was the 49th pick and was being dangled at the trading deadline. If he was that good, why did Pittsburgh draft Pickens when they already had Johnson and Claypool? You normally don't draft a WR in the 2nd round to be WR3. So the writing was on the wall for Claypool when 2022 started. Can you imagine if the Bears kept the pick, and got Joey Porter Jr at CB, or went Edge, or even traded back from there?

Yeah, the pick compensation is great. He has been like a 2nd GM since joining the team, and you know anywhere he goes that Poles and him can then work together to continue to build their own franchises. So in a way, Cunningham may be even more valuable as a new GM somewhere else where the Bears get back to back 3rd round comp picks and potentially some external assistance with trades that benefit both sides.

Stinger, you said you had a guy, we still need one to lock us in for this season?

The gift that keeps on giving. I thought a 2nd rounder was steep for a WR3, but at the time, not knowing they would be able to get Moore, I understood it. However, now after a good chunk of the season, an entire offseason, and now he lands on the PUP for the start of the real offseason training camp. Not a good trend. With the addition of guys like Moore, Tonyan, and even Scott, and possibly some increased PT for Velus, Claypool is going to be the odd man out. Only so many targets to go around. It seems like the pecking order is Moore, Mooney, Kmet, Tonyan, RB1, Scott, then Velus or Claypool. By the time you get to the 5th player, that is about 5 targets a game.

Very true, just an unbiased assessment without being too subjective either from the 3 win, 10 straight loss season, or drinking the koolaid.

Walker is putting in the work. Everywhere he travels, he is working it. Nice to see.

I think Sanborn's injury is another reason why they doubled up on LB in free agency. He is still an unknown at this point in his recovery, and the Bears need more knowns to improve that defense.

They need reps, a ton of them. Until they are comfortable with all the wrinkles, it will be clunky. They are still in the phase where they have to think about what they are doing, instead of it being instinctual.

What is wild is there is almost zero correlation between any Bears team before 2020 and this team.

For me, it is fine. I think that changes as the date gets closer and the media/Vegas can see how Fields and Love look. Right now that is a good bet to take the Bears as a FG win beats the odds. The Bears a 7.5 wins is another decent bet. Fields as Offensive PoY is +2200 on FanDuel. It seems like a decent bet for $10, MVP +2000.