adam

How did I not know this. Rome Odunze led the entire nation in receiving yards in 2023 with 1,640 yards, paired with 92 receptions and 13 TDs. He also had a rushing TD. Compare that to Harrison Jr who had 67-1,211-14

This is going to be the first official field event for Williams, Odunze, the other rookies, UDFAs and some camp invites.

Yeah, it seemed like a player bonding experience, and from the looks of it, they are bonding really well. I liked that there were WRs, RBs, TEs, and OL there with Williams. Not just starters too, guys like Roschon and Carter, which is cool to see.

I am so sorry for your losses. Losing family members, especially children, is such terrible experience. I lost my dad and my older brother, and both of those were tough. I can't imagine losing one of my kids. So my thoughts and prayers go out to all those that lost family members. If there is anything I can ever do, please don't hesitate to ask.

I did not see Flus or Poles, but they may have been there.

Every season is like a new hand of poker. GB has had a good run but that is ending this year. Also, the hand 5 years ago has nothing to do with this hand, it just makes for good conversation.

Caleb with Keenan, DJ, Cole, Braxton, Roschon, and Ja'Tyre at the Cubs game.

Those both popped up around the same time too. I would be down with it as they are more than likely not extending Herbert with Roschon having 3 more years left and Swift just signing a multi-year deal. Since Hendrickson is way more valuable, who will also be 30 this year, I would say a pick swap like Herbert+4th for Hendricks+6th would be fair. If they did that, I would go grab someone like Josh Kelley or Marlon Mack as RB3.

It will be an away home game for the Bears.

LMAO

Acho loves hot takes. I would not go that far because there is only 1 Mahomes, he is not any type. Is Williams the best college QB ever? I don't think so. Burrow's last season at LSU was crazy. There have been a few others like that. To me, Williams is one of the most well-rounded QBs coming out ever, where he really doesn't have a weakness that defenses can attack. Make him a pocket passer, and he shreds you. Force him to rollout and he eats you up on the move. Blitz him and he looks like a matador as the blitzer loses an ankle. Right now, the QB style is honestly based on the individual. Look at how different these guys are: Purdy, Prescott, Allen, Jackson, Stafford, Mahomes, Bagent, Tua, Hurts, Stroud.

DeMarcus Walker is pretty cool, I like players that are hyped about their team. He reacted like we did with the Odunze pick:

I try my best to separate everything. No player is perfect, and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Caleb does hold onto the ball longer than other QBs, Caleb does try to play hero ball more than others, and he doesn't take the checkdown sometimes and tries to make a higher danger throw. The good thing is, those are correctable and we are not in Year 4 with the same issues. The thing about this year is, compared to Fields rookie year when there were zero expectations, Williams better put up some numbers because he is in one of the best situations a QB has ever been in. This also may be the best situation he is ever in because if they lose Allen after this season, they may not replace him with someone as good as him. If they let Jenkins go, a rookie or replacement may not be as good as him. So as much as we can give Williams a pass on some things because he is a rookie, he is not going to get a lot of forgiveness given the situation he is currently in. We also should expect Williams to get better, which is the exciting part for me. If he is good as a rookie but improves, we really do have our franchise QB and all long-time Bears fans can finally sit back and enjoy the ride. I will do my best to not even mention Fields anymore because it does matter what he did or does, same as Trubisky.

Yeah, this is going to be a fun offseason of OTAs and minicamps. I am sure they will be at max capacity every day it is open to the public just to see Tory Taylor live.

Also, the character and personality part is hard to determine just by watching tape. So the "personal" scouting piece seems to be equally important. Looking at all the draft picks, all of them love football, are great teammates, and work hard at their craft. Williams is always doing something. You see Odunze doing the 3-cone drill over and over long after everyone left. Booker is at the Senior Bowl working on stuff on the sidelines long after others have left. That dedication is infectious. Kiran is on another level growing up and still being a Bears fan. His tweets are hilarious. He seems like a guy that will do whatever he can to help this franchise win.

Sometimes it's the no-brainers that are the best moves too. Don't overthink it. Don't try to be the smartest guy in the room (Trubisky over Watson), Shaheen in the 2nd. The UDFAs are a huge part of the scouting process too like you said, and I have liked what they have tried to do there as well.

It is night and day. Williams is a natural thrower. Fields always felt like a super athlete trying to play QB. It is not natural for him. Now entering his 4th season in the NFL, he still is somewhat robotic. That doesn't even account for the actual delayed release which gets worse with the hitch. Watching a lot of Williams tape, when he makes the decision to throw the ball, it is on the target almost immediately, regardless of his body position/angle, etc. It is pretty impressive to watch. However, most of the time, he is just dropping back and throwing the ball in rhythm. For a baseball analogy, Williams is a guy that is a technician, 5-6 different pitches, with all kinds of variations and arm angles. Fields is the flamethrower that has two pitches a fastball and curve. It is either feast or famine with him.

The whole narrative about a decline in Williams' performance in 2023 is way overblown. He only threw 5 INTs all season and 3 came in one game (against ND). So outside of that game his INT% was 0.57% which is actually insanely low. He had a 1.0% INT in 2022. For the season in 2023, his INT% was 1.3%, which is still elite. So did he force 5 balls trying to make a play, yes he did, but if that is the worst, I will take it every day and twice on Sunday. Also, his raw numbers were slightly down from his Heisman season, but there were two factors, one he played in two fewer games, and two, the team around him was far inferior to the team in 2022. The crazy thing is, even though he had less opportunities, he made the most of them with a better Comp% 68.6% and Y/A at 9.4, both career highs. He also rushed for 11 TDs in 2023 which gets overlooked because he wasn't a running QB like Daniels.

The title is funny "Scouting Staff praise their own decisions" I would hope the scouts are happy with the picks that they recommended to the leadership. Also, with Williams and Odunze no brainers, there were really only 3 picks that took any type of "scouting" and technically Taylor being the best punter in the nation didn't take a lot of effort to figure out. So it really came down to Kiran and Booker.

Ogbah would be a nice vet addition.

I hate being overly optimistic, but man it is hard to see anything less than 4,200 passing yards. This is 4,400: Moore - 1,000, Allen - 900, Odunze - 700, Kmet - 600, Everett - 400, Swift - 300, Scott - 200, All Others - 300 (Herbert and Roschon had over 300 last year). That is also 364 fewer yards for Moore, 343 fewer for Allen, 119 fewer for Kmet, and then normal projections for the others. No crazy numbers and no career highs.

I love the scream when he walked out, that was all of us.

There are a whole bunch of outcomes for this season. Our fanbase is so tainted towards bad QB play that even mentioned 4K passing yards seems like a joke. However, there are probably better odds that Williams hits 4K than throwing for less than 3500 (unless injury related).

They said the draft is defensive heavy next year, which would play right into the Bears hands. Get Offense this year, defense next year, and cook for ages.

My assumption is they bring in a vet for DT and Edge to fill out the rotation for this season, then in the 2025 draft, get a 3T, Edge, and IOL in the first two rounds and a rookie Center by the 4th.