adam

If you can pull of JPJ, Corley, AND Leggette, that would be insane. A 5-WR set iwith Moore, Allen, Corley, Legette, and Scott/Everett/Kmet would be pretty silly.

Using PFF+Snap count, plugging in the loss of Fields and adding Williams with a generic score for now. The team is 2x high end starters better or the equivalent of taking 4 average players and making them really good. With 22 starters, that is close to 20%. Once you plug in the new first rounder, that will be a 5th slot. Just using projections, the Bears improved at RB, TE, C, WR on offense and at S on defense so far this offseason. The weakness is still Edge with a need for a rotational DT and veteran WR3. They can definitely address 2 of those in the draft.

With the addition of Byard (and subtraction of Jackson), the Bears are rolling out: Johnson, Stevenson, Gordon, Brisker, and Byard as the starting secondary with Terrell Smith, Greg Stroman, and Jonathan Owens as the first rotational players. Terrell Smith was the 2nd highest graded DB last year (behind JJ), and Owens had more snaps last year than any DB on the team. Can you name a better group, considering the depth as well? I can't. Also, this offseason was about clearing out the bottom of the roster. Blackwell, Ngakoue, Jackson, Jones, and Green were all in the bottom 10 players on the defense. There were a ton of bad snaps in that group that are now gone. Hicks was also in there and is now one position lower on the depth chart with Owens. Funny that there was a similar trend on offense with the loss of Mooney, Patrick, Whitehair, and Tonyan. Another set of bad snaps gone.

The Bears are still weak at WR3, Edge2, and need at least another rotational piece at DT with the loss of Jones. For upgrades, Center is the most obvious spot not listed. So priority seems to be WR/Edge, then DT, then Center. If they stand pat, they have #9, #75, and #122 to address those spots. They have talked about a big drop off in talent in this draft (due to players staying in school due to NIL), so there are fewer mid level players available. I assume that is why Poles has not been shy to dump draft picks later in the draft. What would you rather see the Bears do (not what you think they will do) with the draft picks? Do you think it is better to get a no-brainer blue chipper at #9 OR trade back to #17 and pick up something around #48 (using JAX as an example). Would #17 and #48 be better than #9? I think if Nabers, Odunze, Alt, or the top Edge is there at #9, I think you have to take them. If that group is gone, you definitely move back. I think Alt is the wild card. How do the Bears really feel about Braxton Jones? Also, if you do move back to #17, and JPJ is there at Center, is he the pick? Would you pick him over Edge? Then try to address Edge at #48 or #75?

I have to find it, but someone had a breakdown of the current Bears receivers (including Swift) against man and zone. Basically there is a cheat code no matter what coverage, someone will be open on every play. Also, Waldron last year: Lockett - 122 targets, Metcalf - 119 = Moore and Allen are gonna cook.

Like with Mitch, it's a good time to turn the page. It is a new chapter in Chicago Bears football. I appreciate everything Justin did for the team and city, it was bad timing, and didn't work out. I wish him the best in Pittsburgh, and hope he plays well when given the opportunity (preferably over 51% of the snaps in 2024).

Interesting comments from McCaskey about Fields this morning: "Did he win enough, no" "Was he consistent enough, no" "Did he make passes over the MoF enough, no" "Did he stay in the pocket with eye downfield enough, no" "but he got everything else right"

At this point it has to be a trade back from #9 to get at least a 2nd or 3rd rounder back, then make sure you get an Edge and WR in 2 of the top 3 picks.

I know man, but there have been enough of those so far to think it is actually possible. I assume they wanted this done before the USC Pro Day, and that date was fast approaching.

I don't know how it won't be the Bears this offseason. What do you think?

We will probably never know anything other than the result. Why wait until after free agency is this far along before making the trade? For me, Poles couldn't even get what the Steelers got for Pickett, and they are telling the Bears that they would rather have Fields over Pickett. Very odd timing on this, and the team is left empty handed in this year's draft. The entire time, it was get an extra pick or two back with the Fields trade. My fear is that they are going to trade back out from #1 to recoup trade value now, it would be so Bears to do so.

It was almost a guarantee once Poles spoke at the combine, I think he made a mistake there. The Jaguars got a 6th in the current year's draft and a conditional pick in the following year's draft for Gabbert. There are a ton of trades for bad QBs with less potential than Fields that got more. Here is one kicker, the Steelers won't pick up the option, then can decide on which QB to go with next season, as both Wilson and Fields will be UFAs. Guess what they get if the QBs sign elsewhere? A comp pick. With QB salaries naturally higher, even backups command a 3rd or 4th round comp pick level. The compensation is shocking.

What pisses me off is the Steelers have no fleeced Poles twice. After the Claypool trade, I would've blacklisted them from that point on.

What it comes down to is their own internal evaluation of Justin. If they didn't think he could improve enough to pay him, and based on the compensation, 31 other teams felt the same way, then what can Poles do? There would've been way too much drama in the locker room and with the fanbase, so this is an unfortunate set of circumstances.

My assumption is Poles made sure he went to a good franchise and didn't care about the value in return, ie, doing good by Justin, but he clearly did not do the second part of that statement and do what's best for the franchise. No way do you get less than what SF got for Trey Lance. That's embarrassing. Also, this is obviously a 2025 pick and no way he plays 51% of the snaps to make it a 4th, so this has a current year 7th round value on the trade.

DE depth piece, probably filling Green's role. Can't be as bad as Green was when he was in there.

ouch! He is slightly overrated. He had a stacked team with Allen, Williams, Johnston, Palmer, Ekeler, Kelley, Everett, and Parham and only had 3,134 passing yards and 20 TDs.

Just for fun, here is the Bears best group of skill position players for the Bears in the last 20+ years, and how they did in 2013, their best year together: 2013 Bears Offense Alshon 89-1421-7 Marshall 100-1295-12 M Bennett 65-759-5 Forte 74-594-3 E Bennett 32-243-4 Total 360-4312-31 ---------------- *No other player had more than 4 receptions on the team (they were extremely top heavy) Now compare that to the 2023 stats of the Bears current top 5 skill position players: Top 5 2023 Stats Moore 96-1364-8 Allen 108-1243-7 Kmet 73-719-6 Everett 51-411-3 Swift 39-214-1 Total 367-3951-25 --------------- Not only that, but the current roster has 3 more players that had 15+ receptions in 2023, so if include them: Roschon 34-209-0 Herbert 20-134-1 Scott 17-168-0 Total 438-4462-26 So the collective offense, as constructed today, has the potential for 4,400 passing yards and 25+ TDs. How about rushing? The trio of Swift, Herbert, and Roschon had 2,012 rushing yards last season with 9 TDs. In 2013, Forte+Bush had 1,536 rushing yards and 12 TDs. So this offense has the potential to match or exceed the 2013 team's offensive output with the same number of snaps. Forte, Swift and Herbert all averaged 4.6 YPC.

I did not realize Swift finished 5th in the NFL in rushing last year, only behind McCaffrey, Henry, Williams, and Cook. I honestly had no clue he finished that high. He had more rushing yards than Herbert and Foreman combined, lol. I think he is an under-rated signing.

For anyone worried about Allen's age, which is a minor concern. Players 32 or older have hit 70-900 55 times since 2000. So there is an average of 2 players 32 or older hitting those totals every season. The last guys to do it were Thielen, Edelman, Fitzgerald, Smith, Boldin, Johnson, and Roddy White. The one thing that age doesn't account for is games played. People talk about mileage on RBs, but it is the same for any position. Allen missed some time early in his career, so he only has appeared in 139 games. So of the players with 10K receiving yards since 2000, Allen has the 4th fewest games out of 26. Davante has 150g, Evans 154g, Julio 166g, Steve Smith had 219g, and Fitzgerald had 263g (which is insane). So it is likely that the Bears can get 2-3 good years out of Allen if they want to, without it being much more of a risk than his last season in LA. Also, a fun fact, who do you think is taller Davante or Keenan? I was surprised to find out that Allen is an inch taller.

Dante Pettis back in the fold, that should fulfill the WR/PR spot that Taylor had. That leaves 5 roster vacancies from last year remaining: 1. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Poona Ford or DJ Reader 2. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Chase Young 3. DE - Green (50.6/385) > Shaw Lawson or Solomon Thomas 4. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > Adam Trautman or Josiah Deguara 5. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > Tyler Boyd or Josh Reynolds or KJ Osborn

Steelers swap a 4th to get a 3rd and 2x 7ths for Pickett. According to trade value chart, the equivalent to an early 4th rounder in total for Pickett. For Fields, he isn't available, the price is too high, or no one wants him. I guess this puts Pittsburgh back in play as Wilson's backup. RW is 35. If Fields doesn't play much an extension wouldn't be in the $50M range.

He is working out, looks like he added some muscle.

Keenan Allen only trails Davante Adams for most receptions since 2017. Allen and DJ Moore are 2 out of 9 players to have over 400 receptions and 5,000 receiving yards since 2019. The group include Adams, Diggs, Kelce, Hill, Kupp, Godwin, and Lockett. Justin Jefferson is widely considered the best WR in the NFL. Since he entered the NFL in 2020, Jefferson has 392 receptions. Since 2020, Keenan Allen has 380.

That's how much the roster has improved in 2 years.