Link

 

Pretty interesting. They've covered a lot of ground and plugged plenty of holes already.

Link

 

Pretty interesting. They've covered a lot of ground and plugged plenty of holes already.

 

I think Ball will be the corner and Jennings will be the nickel

Pace is definitely plugging the holes in the roster, and with a few more moves, we will be looking good after the draft. To me, these are the positions that still need an upgrade:

 

1. #2 WR (Wilson) - Not sold on Wilson just yet. This position has to be filled in the draft. Cooper/White might be there at #7.

2. RT (Mills) - One of the worst tackles in football. Needs to be addressed in the draft early.

3. S (Mundy/Vereen) - Rolle will get one side, but we need another upgrade over Mundy/Vereen via the draft.

4. DE (Jenkins) - We need another starting 3-4DE, I don't see Jenkins coming to start, but more as a rotational guy. With less 3-4 teams (I believe), we might be able to get on the later rounds.

5. C (Garza) - Aging vet and no DLP on roster. Wiz or Grasu? It would be awesome to get Wisniewski and turn this into a strength and take it off as a need in the draft.

6. CB (Jennings/Ball) - Jennings and Fuller are smaller CBs, so we need some bigger guys and an eventual replacement for Jennings.

 

I think we are on the cusp of BPA for the entire draft.

I think Ball will be the corner and Jennings will be the nickel

I agree Jennings will go to Nickel. Ball and Louis-Jean will be CB2.

 

Not sure about Vereen starting at FS either/

Pace is definitely plugging the holes in the roster, and with a few more moves, we will be looking good after the draft. To me, these are the positions that still need an upgrade:

 

1. #2 WR (Wilson) - Not sold on Wilson just yet. This position has to be filled in the draft. Cooper/White might be there at #7.

2. RT (Mills) - One of the worst tackles in football. Needs to be addressed in the draft early.

3. S (Mundy/Vereen) - Rolle will get one side, but we need another upgrade over Mundy/Vereen via the draft.

4. DE (Jenkins) - We need another starting 3-4DE, I don't see Jenkins coming to start, but more as a rotational guy. With less 3-4 teams (I believe), we might be able to get on the later rounds.

5. C (Garza) - Aging vet and no DLP on roster. Wiz or Grasu? It would be awesome to get Wisniewski and turn this into a strength and take it off as a need in the draft.

6. CB (Jennings/Ball) - Jennings and Fuller are smaller CBs, so we need some bigger guys and an eventual replacement for Jennings.

 

I think we are on the cusp of BPA for the entire draft.

The way Pace is working, this could be an offensive heavy draft.

1-Cooper WR

2-Jake Fisher OT

3-Hronis Grasu C

4-Kurtis Drummond FS

5-Ray Drew DE

6-Deshazior Everrett CB

The way Pace is working, this could be an offensive heavy draft.

1-Cooper WR

2-Jake Fisher OT

3-Hronis Grasu C

4-Kurtis Drummond FS

5-Ray Drew DE

6-Deshazior Everrett CB

That would be an impressive draft matching needs perfectly. Our OLine would be pretty sick and Jeffery/Cooper/Royal/Bennett would be a great Receiving Corps.

The way Pace is working, this could be an offensive heavy draft.

1-Cooper WR

2-Jake Fisher OT

3-Hronis Grasu C

4-Kurtis Drummond FS

5-Ray Drew DE

6-Deshazior Everrett CB

I would be good with that draft, think they will still bring in some more FAs on defense.

That would be an impressive draft matching needs perfectly. Our OLine would be pretty sick and Jeffery/Cooper/Royal/Bennett would be a great Receiving Corps.

People are still throwing out Fox's quote of how pass rush makes a defense. Wouldn't be surprised with Beasley 1 and WR #2.

I'm not a big fan of this safety class, but Landon Collins is one of the few that I think would be an immediate and significant upgrade (because I'm not a big fan of our existing safeties either), so here's another way we could go

 

Trade down ten sports or so in the first, pick up a 2nd and 5th:

1) Landon Collins, S, Alabama

2) PJ Williams, CB, Florida State

2) Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Texas A&M

3) Nelson Algholar, WR, USC

4) Marcus Hardison, DE, Arizona State

5) Andy Gallik, C, Boston College

5) Jake Ryan, LB, Michigan

6) Marcus Murphy, RB, Missouri

People are still throwing out Fox's quote of how pass rush makes a defense. Wouldn't be surprised with Beasley 1 and WR #2.

The good thing is at #7 we will have a stud, whoever it is, and if Pace knows what he is doing, we may add 3 or 4 starters this year.

I'm not a big fan of this safety class, but Landon Collins is one of the few that I think would be an immediate and significant upgrade (because I'm not a big fan of our existing safeties either), so here's another way we could go

 

Trade down ten sports or so in the first, pick up a 2nd and 5th:

1) Landon Collins, S, Alabama

2) PJ Williams, CB, Florida State

2) Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Texas A&M

3) Nelson Algholar, WR, USC

4) Marcus Hardison, DE, Arizona State

5) Andy Gallik, C, Boston College

5) Jake Ryan, LB, Michigan

6) Marcus Murphy, RB, Missouri

Whiz take a look at rumors I linked a mock draft that traded back and ended up with 10 picks.

I like how this roster is starting to shape up, but let's not forget that we were saying very similar things about Emery's off-season this time last year. He was plugging holes in the roster, a lot of which were one-year deals, and leading us to believe it would give us the roster flexibility to be a BPA kind of draft, and we all saw where that got us. Let's just hope these guys work out.

 

As much as Emery's draft failed to make a big impact last year, I do have to give him some credit that everyone he drafted remains on the roster (for now) and all played and didn't look like they were completely lost. Ferguson, Vereen, and Sutton weren't dynamic, but they made some plays and looked like the belonged. Carey did well with limited work. O'Donnell was a starter all year. Fuller wore down a bit with injuries and having to match up with the other team's #1 WR every week as a rookie. Even Leno saw some action and seems like a keeper as a potential swing tackle. Look at other teams' drafts from last year and you see a lot of high picks who never played, mid or late-round picks who got cut, or guys whose years were lost to injuries. Some of that is luck, but if you judge it against the Bears' past drafts, it seems better than most, which isn't saying much, but still.

I like how this roster is starting to shape up, but let's not forget that we were saying very similar things about Emery's off-season this time last year. He was plugging holes in the roster, a lot of which were one-year deals, and leading us to believe it would give us the roster flexibility to be a BPA kind of draft, and we all saw where that got us. Let's just hope these guys work out.

 

As much as Emery's draft failed to make a big impact last year, I do have to give him some credit that everyone he drafted remains on the roster (for now) and all played and didn't look like they were completely lost. Ferguson, Vereen, and Sutton weren't dynamic, but they made some plays and looked like the belonged. Carey did well with limited work. O'Donnell was a starter all year. Fuller wore down a bit with injuries and having to match up with the other team's #1 WR every week as a rookie. Even Leno saw some action and seems like a keeper as a potential swing tackle. Look at other teams' drafts from last year and you see a lot of high picks who never played, mid or late-round picks who got cut, or guys whose years were lost to injuries. Some of that is luck, but if you judge it against the Bears' past drafts, it seems better than most, which isn't saying much, but still.

Time will tell how everything turns out, but have higher hopes this year, because I can absolutely tell we have better coaches. (track record) Last year could end up being a good draft, it will take another year to judge that.

I like how this roster is starting to shape up, but let's not forget that we were saying very similar things about Emery's off-season this time last year. He was plugging holes in the roster, a lot of which were one-year deals, and leading us to believe it would give us the roster flexibility to be a BPA kind of draft, and we all saw where that got us. Let's just hope these guys work out.

Last year we picked up Allen to replace Peppers and that was basically seen as a wash. We over paid on Houston, picked up Young and Mundy. That was it, unless you count MD Jennings, D. Hixon, and Danny McCray on minimum deals. Compare that to:

 

McPhee, Royal, Rolle on multi-year deals and Foster, McDonald, Jenkins, Ball, Ducasse, Gafford on 1-year deals and I would say this year is a lot better than last offseason.

 

Funny looking back at a thread last offseason where everyone got on me about being disappointed early in free agency: pretty disappointed so far (seems like my early assessment was pretty spot on now).

Last year we picked up Allen to replace Peppers and that was basically seen as a wash. We over paid on Houston, picked up Young and Mundy. T. t was it, unless you count MD Jennings, D. Hixon, and Danny McCray on minimum deals. Compare that to:

 

McPhee, Royal, Rolle on multi-year deals and Foster, McDonald, Jenkins, Ball, Ducasse, Gafford on 1-year deals and I would say this year is a lot better than last offseason.

 

Funny looking back at a thread last offseason where everyone got on me about being disappointed early in free agency: pretty disappointed so far (seems like my early assessment was pretty spot on now).

Disappointing that with all the additions on the d line, they still could generate a pass rush. I will hold some hope with those signings that Fangio will get more production from them and redeem Emery a little...haha.

Last year we picked up Allen to replace Peppers and that was basically seen as a wash. We over paid on Houston, picked up Young and Mundy. That was it, unless you count MD Jennings, D. Hixon, and Danny McCray on minimum deals. Compare that to:

 

McPhee, Royal, Rolle on multi-year deals and Foster, McDonald, Jenkins, Ball, Ducasse, Gafford on 1-year deals and I would say this year is a lot better than last offseason.

 

Funny looking back at a thread last offseason where everyone got on me about being disappointed early in free agency: pretty disappointed so far (seems like my early assessment was pretty spot on now).

 

I agree that this off-season is a bit better, but I think they are more similar than you think:

- We signed one player right out of the gate to a big contract (Houston/McPhee).

- We signed one older player for a mid-level contract at a position of need (Mundy/Rolle).

- We signed one player in his prime with moderate production to a reasonable deal (Young/Royal).

- We signed a bunch of players to 1-year contracts that projects as lower-end starters or bench depth (Hixon, Jennings, McCray/McDonald, Jenkins, Ducasse).

 

Gafford isn't really an indication of anything besides the fact that we don't have a long snapper. Foster is probably the biggest difference, as he figures to be an average/above-average starter that we got on a one year deal, but other than that, these seem like similar strategies.

I agree that this off-season is a bit better, but I think they are more similar than you think:

- We signed one player right out of the gate to a big contract (Houston/McPhee).

- We signed one older player for a mid-level contract at a position of need (Mundy/Rolle).

- We signed one player in his prime with moderate production to a reasonable deal (Young/Royal).

- We signed a bunch of players to 1-year contracts that projects as lower-end starters or bench depth (Hixon, Jennings, McCray/McDonald, Jenkins, Ducasse).

 

Gafford isn't really an indication of anything besides the fact that we don't have a long snapper. Foster is probably the biggest difference, as he figures to be an average/above-average starter that we got on a one year deal, but other than that, these seem like similar strategies.

It will all come down to if our FAs this year turn out to be better players. Then there will be a big difference.

I agree that this off-season is a bit better, but I think they are more similar than you think:

- We signed one player right out of the gate to a big contract (Houston/McPhee).

- We signed one older player for a mid-level contract at a position of need (Mundy/Rolle).

- We signed one player in his prime with moderate production to a reasonable deal (Young/Royal).

- We signed a bunch of players to 1-year contracts that projects as lower-end starters or bench depth (Hixon, Jennings, McCray/McDonald, Jenkins, Ducasse).

 

Gafford isn't really an indication of anything besides the fact that we don't have a long snapper. Foster is probably the biggest difference, as he figures to be an average/above-average starter that we got on a one year deal, but other than that, these seem like similar strategies.

I agree except for Foster and McDonald. Those two are way better than any of the 1-year deals from last year.