adam

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-trade-down-twice-draft-whitehair-17087423 The Bears chose Whitehair after trading down twice in the second round, dropping a total of 15 spots to acquire three fourth-round picks, two this year and one in the future. First, they sent the No. 41 pick to the Bills in exchange for the No. 49 selection plus fourth-round choices this year (No. 117) and next year. The Bears then traded the No. 49 pick to the Seahawks for the No. 56 choice and a fourth-round selection (No. 124).

That too, Pace knows what Graham can do with the right QB and system.

Here is how I see the differences from what I have read: 1. Graham - older, more accomplished, trending downward, but more consistent, signing doesn't impact comp picks, contract is essentially a one-year deal for $6M w/ an out and $3M dead money next year. Last year's numbers: 38-447, 3 TDs, and only 2 drops. Only 5 drops in last 2 seasons. 2. Ebron - younger, less accomplished, very inconsistent, drops a ton of passes, signing would impact comp picks (I believe was important consideration), contract is essentially a one-year deal for $3.5M w/ an out and $2.5M dead money next year. Last year's numbers: 31-375. 3 TDs, 5 drops. 14 drops in last 2 seasons. Also, Ebron coming off ankle surgery, has not played since. So he was a comp pick question mark, and injury question mark, a consistency question mark with a history of drops, but younger. So I could see why Graham was enticing, though older, they needed to get a constant at that position. He is much more reliable and can stabilize the TE position for a year or two. Ebron had too many question marks and though slightly cheaper, probably didn't provide the same level of confidence that Graham did.

I mean he signed with the Bears after playing with the Packers. So I am sure he has something to prove. I think he still has some years left in the tank. At this point almost anything is better than what we had last year. If we can get 50-600 with 5 TDs, that would be huge for this offense as we had literally nothing from that position last year. Also, one other thing to note. Graham is one of the best seam TE's in the league, something we have not had since Olsen. That should open up some things for the WRs and RBs because a Safety will have to defend over the top against that. I can see Miller, Monty, and Cohen really benefitting from that threat.

Ware makes a lot of sense, especially if this virus stuff drags on into the summer.

I believe the following players could be traded in the offseason: 1. Trubisky 2. Burton 3. Leno 4. Massie 5. Cohen 6. Shaheen 7. Braunecker Crazy to think they all are on the offensive side of the ball. We really need to draft there more often.

Yeah, good catch, Bray back in the fray. QB (3): +Foles, Trubisky, Bray (-Daniel) RB (3): Montgomery, Cohen, +Nall (-Davis, Whyte) WR (5): Robinson, Miller, Patterson, Ridley, Wims (-Gabriel) TE (9): Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, +Holtz, +Horsted, +Raymond, +Harris, +Graham, +Saubert (-Sowell) OL (10): Leno, Whitehair, Daniels, Massie, Coward, +Bars, +Levin, +Boyd, +Mustipher, +Ifedi (-Long, Larsen, Lucas) DL (6): Hicks, Goldman, Nichols, Robertson-Harris, Anderson, +Urban (-Williams) OLB (5): Mack, +Quinn, Irving, +Mingo, +Vaughters (-Floyd, Lynch) ILB (5): Trevathan, Smith, Iyiegbuniwe, Woods, +Bond (-Kwiatkoski, Pierre-Louis) CB (8): Fuller, Skrine, Toliver, Shelley, +Roberson, +Burns, +Brice, +Denmark (-Amukamara) S (4): Jackson, Bush, Houston-Carson, +Lucas (-Clinton-Dix, McManis) ST (3): Pineiro, O'Donnell, Scales

Seattle replaced him with Shell, who was only slightly better than Ifedi (per PFF), and Shell got $5.5M AV for 2 years. So it will be interesting to see what Ifedi got. If he get anything less than $5M, then it's a pretty good deal for a guy with a lot of experience. Maybe he would play better at RG than RT. https://12thmanrising.com/2020/03/18/seahawks-reshape-offensive-line/

Another former first rounder, has been up and down but should come in and compete for RG position.

The play calling doesn't get enough of the blame, but it seems that Nagy tailored it to what Mitch could handle. There were a lot of times you could see the WRs were frustrated. There were a lot of missed opportunities last year. Monty is fine, but we definitely can use another solid RB to compliment him better. Cohen is too gimmicky for me and unless he improves, I could see him gone after 2020.

The problem for Mitch is all above the shoulders. Nice kid, great athlete, but he can't process anything on the fly. Maybe he will figure it out, but as many have pointed it out, if you haven't figured it out by now, chances are you won't. Also, he has gotten the bulk of the first team reps for 3 years and that didn't help. So I don't know how limited reps is going to help his growth at this point. I know some say it is useful to watch and learn, but that's before you learn bad habits. Rarely does it work the other way around.

Yeah, Bars would be great. It would be nice if Massie and Leno were at least average. I think if we ran the ball more, it would help the entire O-Line.

Cam Newton being released....

Holtz back on the roster according to Bears website, he was not there the other day: QB (2): +Foles, Trubisky (-Daniel) RB (3): Montgomery, Cohen, +Nall (-Davis, Whyte) WR (5): Robinson, Miller, Patterson, Ridley, Wims (-Gabriel) TE (9): Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, +Holtz, +Horsted, +Raymond, +Harris, +Graham, +Saubert (-Sowell) OL (9): Leno, Whitehair, Daniels, Massie, Coward, +Bars, +Levin, +Boyd, +Mustipher (-Long, Larsen, Lucas) DL (6): Hicks, Goldman, Nichols, Robertson-Harris, Anderson, +Urban (-Williams) OLB (5): Mack, +Quinn, Irving, +Mingo, +Vaughters (-Floyd, Lynch) ILB (5): Trevathan, Smith, Iyiegbuniwe, Woods, +Bond (-Kwiatkoski, Pierre-Louis) CB (8): Fuller, Skrine, Toliver, Shelley, +Roberson, +Burns, +Brice, +Denmark (-Amukamara) S (4): Jackson, Bush, Houston-Carson, +Lucas (-Clinton-Dix, McManis) ST (3): Pineiro, O'Donnell, Scales We have an official logjam at TE. I can't see them adding another this offseason, too many bodies. The issue is that they can only have a 90 man roster and 10% are TE's? Something has to give there. I know a few of the lower end guys will drop off, but that still leaves a few others to deal with.

Seem like a pretty good bunch of guys (except for the one asking about welding plastic), but you can tell they haven't seen good football in a long time lol.

QB (2): +Foles, Trubisky (-Daniel) RB (3): Montgomery, Cohen, +Nall (-Davis, Whyte) WR (5): Robinson, Miller, Patterson, Ridley, Wims (-Gabriel) TE (8): Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, +Horsted, +Raymond, +Harris, +Graham, +Saubert (-Sowell) OL (9): Leno, Whitehair, Daniels, Massie, Coward, +Bars, +Levin, +Boyd, +Mustipher (-Long, Larsen, Lucas) DL (6): Hicks, Goldman, Nichols, Robertson-Harris, Anderson, +Urban (-Williams) OLB (5): Mack, +Quinn, Irving, +Mingo, +Vaughters (-Floyd, Lynch) ILB (5): Trevathan, Smith, Iyiegbuniwe, Woods, +Bond (-Kwiatkoski, Pierre-Louis) CB (8): Fuller, Skrine, Toliver, Shelley, +Roberson, +Burns, +Brice, +Denmark (-Amukamara) S (4): Jackson, Bush, Houston-Carson, +Lucas (-Clinton-Dix, McManis) ST (3): Pineiro, O'Donnell, Scales Added Urban and DHC back into the mix. We are bringing back a big chunk of the roster. Technically only Long, Floyd, Amukamara, and HHC were the only starters lost from last season's opening day roster. Floyd has been replaced by Quinn, it looks like Prince has been replaced by committee, and it looks like we still need to address RG and SS at some point. Lucas may be the answer at SS, but I am still thinking they will do more there.

Ok, getting some Safeties back in play. Also, our special teams is going to be a huge strength this year.

yep, just re-signed Urban. Looks like OL, WR, TE, and RB will all be targeted.

per his wife lol:

Trading only once for both picks in the 2nd, once with DAL, and once with BUF yielded this: Your Picks: Round 2 Pick 19 (DAL): AJ Terrell, CB, Clemson (A) Round 2 Pick 22 (BUF): Ashtyn Davis, FS/SS, California (B+) Round 3 Pick 18 (DAL): Ben Bredeson, OG, Michigan (A+) Round 3 Pick 22 (BUF): Brycen Hopkins, TE, Purdue (A+) Round 5 Pick 17: Devin Duvernay, WR, Texas (A+) Round 6 Pick 17: Anthony McFarland, RB, Maryland (A+) Round 6 Pick 21: Brandon Pili, DT, USC (A+) Round 7 Pick 12: Justin Herron, OT, Wake Forest (A+) Round 7 Pick 19: Rodrigo Blankenship, K, Georgia (A+)

QB (2): +Foles, Trubisky (-Daniel) RB (3): Montgomery, Cohen, +Nall (-Davis, Whyte) WR (5): Robinson, Miller, Patterson, Ridley, Wims (-Gabriel) TE (8): Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, +Horsted, +Raymond, +Harris, +Graham, +Saubert (-Sowell) OL (9): Leno, Whitehair, Daniels, Massie, Coward, +Bars, +Levin, +Boyd, +Mustipher (-Long, Larsen, Lucas) DL (5): Hicks, Goldman, Nichols, Robertson-Harris, Anderson (-Williams) OLB (5): Mack, +Quinn, Irving, +Mingo, +Vaughters (-Floyd, Lynch) ILB (5): Trevathan, Smith, Iyiegbuniwe, Woods, +Bond (-Kwiatkoski, Pierre-Louis) CB (8): Fuller, Skrine, Toliver, Shelley, +Roberson, +Burns, +Brice, +Denmark (-Amukamara) S (3): Jackson, Bush, +Lucas (-Houston-Carson, Clinton-Dix, McManis) ST (3): Pineiro, O'Donnell, Scales This is the top 56 players under contract now with the players that were on the 2019 opening roster that were lost in parentheses. Players with a + are new to the 53-man from after opening day last year or during the offseason. In terms of starting positions, it looks like they are narrowing their draft focus in the 2nd round to SS and RG. I think they are going to let Tolliver/Roberson/Burns fight for CB2. Quinn fills Floyd's spot. I see Lucas as more depth at S, and Mingo taking Lynch's reps. I can see them adding a RB, WR, DL in the later rounds. I would still rather trade down and pick up some additional mid-round picks. As I do the mock drafts, the meat of the draft is mid-50's to mid-80's, so hopefully we can pick up an extra pick in that range.

We also don't have McManis back (yet), so as a core special teamer and someone to push Irving for Edge3 is great. Also, he has the skills based on his draft status, so hopefully he can find some magic playing with Mack, Quinn, Hicks, Jackson, Smith, Trevathan, Fuller, etc.

Another former first rounder signed, mainly a St player but can play Edge too.

I took a look at the roster and moves the team has made since the end of the season to see where the holes were in the 53-man roster to see where they will look next. Based on that, here are some positions they will address: 1. Safety - The team lost HHCD, McManis, and Houston-Carson this offseason, 3 of 5 opening day safeties. I think they have a chance to bring back Houston-Carson, and maybe even McManis, but right now the team is down 3 safeties, the most of any position group on the team. 2. OL - The team lost Long, Lucas, and Larsen from the opening day roster, but eventually gained Bars. However, the team is down at least 2 OL right now. 3. ILB - The team lost Kwit and KPL and have not added any yet, so they are down 2 ILBs. So with at least two roster spots open for Safety, OL, and ILB, you have to believe those will be main targets going forward. The next few position groups have at least one hole: 4. RB - The team lost Davis and Whyte from their opening day roster and gained Nall during the season, still down at least 1. 5. WR - The team lost Gabriel and have not added a WR. Down 1. 6. DL - The team lost Williams and have not added a DL. Down 1. 7. OLB - The team lost Floyd and Lynch, and gained Quinn, so down 1. That's it, QB, TE, and CB do not have any holes or have a surplus. Positions of excess: right now the team has too many TEs and CBs, so I don't think they will target any, we had 4x TEs on the opening day roster last season and now have 7 on the roster (Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, Horsted, Harris, Holtz, and Graham), so something will have to give there. For CBs, they lost Prince but added Roberson and Burns with Fuller, Skrine, Tolliver, and Shelley on the roster. So they are plus one there too. My assumption is all the picks within the first 6 rounds will make the roster. That is now 2x 2nds, a 5th, and 2x 6ths. That is 5 players. With 11 holes to fill, that means the Bears will need to make at least 6 more FA acquisitions to address the shortages.

Artie Burns, former 1st round pick, signs a one-year deal with Bears: