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. 

1 hour ago, adam said:

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. 

Good insight.  The one thing that stands out to me is that we’ve done a pretty good job of filling all of our needs.  Yes, we lost Ha Ha, but plugging n Deon Bush at strong safety is not a bad option.  Yes, we lost Tyler Garbiel, but we added Jimmy Graham.  If you have Graham and Burton on the field at the same time, that eliminates the need for a 3rd WR like Gabriel.  We also have Riley Ridley in year #2 and you got to think we’ll try and utilize Cordarrelle Patterson.  

The one glaring omission from this offseason is not upgrading the offensive line.  Heading into the 2019 season, we’d hoped that Kyle Long would be a pro-bowl RT.  He’s retired and we are just going to replace him with Alex Bars?  Not to mention that Leno and Massie were not great last year.  We could easily use both 2nd round picks on an offensive lineman and STILL need to acquire a good RG.  I am stunned that we have done nothing to address this need.  

Bears just signed S Jordan Lucas who was with the Chiefs last year. Was a top ST player for them so seems to be filling the McManis/DHC role. Now you at least have 4 safeties of the roster with some NFL experience (Jackson, Bush, Lucas, Kentrell Brice). You figure they’ll use and early pick on a safety and that sounds about right. Tony Jefferson would have been nice, but Bears kind of have to bargain shop at this point, I fear. 

1 hour ago, bradjock said:

We could easily use both 2nd round picks on an offensive lineman and STILL need to acquire a good RG.  I am stunned that we have done nothing to address this need.  

I think that you can only target so many positions to go after early in free agency when longer term deals at higher prices are available. If instead, you dont think the best free agent option at a position is that much better than the 8th best, then you wait for the music to stop and grab one of the guys who are left on a shorter term deal thats much more cap friendly. I assume that is what Pace is doing regarding the OL.

I strongly suspect we will be bringing in free agent help on the OL before this is all over. Obviously it's not going to be a high priced stud, but Im not sure we could have afforded the top salaries at the position, and probabl;y dont see a huge difference in talent on the next tier.

Of course you know I think we need serious help on the OL, but paying a journeyman a mot of money doesnt turn him into a Pro Bowler either.

I guess we just wait and see.

 Free agency just started so we have time but money will be tight. 

1(Safety) is not a need, just kidding. We have 3 Ss on our roster.  You forgot Kentrell Brice. Dont know if he sticks but he has a 1 yr contract.  I think we add a vet and a draft pick but not one of the 2nd rounders. 

2 OL besides the 4 we know 

OT Dino Boyd ( picked up off Cinn practice squad that was rostered last year.)

Corey Levin/OG was grabbed off of Denver's PS and was on our roster. He's a 6th round pick that actually got 18,000 guaranteed money to sign. A 3 yr vet.

Sam Mustipher- Alan Bars both are under contract. Coward is listed on the roster as a ERFA.

How good they are , I have no idea but we definitely need to add a OT and OG. I wouldn't mind  if our 2nd picks were both on the line. Bars is the question mark, can he start?

3 ILB  Josh Woods and Joel Iggy are our backups right now . They have 4 . I think they like Woods  and Iggy was a 4th round pick.  Time to step up boys. 

4  yup

5 WR  besides the ones we know have , Reggie Davis, Tom Ives, and Reggie Davis are under contract.  Don't know anything about them. We will be adding a speedy WR in draft , think if one of the studs drop could be in the second round. 

6 DL Abdullah Anderson is still under contract and I think they bring back Brent Urban. 

7 OLB  besides the starters we have Irving, Slaughters, Devonte Bond behind them . Bond got guaranteed money when they signed him over the winter.  Still need 1

 I think they draft a QB with a late pick or knowing the surprises Pace does maybe a XFL guy. I think they still add  a CB in the draft and .maybe a lucky 11 at TE. 

I think the first 2 picks are OL or WR because those are the strength of the draft. I think he trades back and picks up more picks. so I'm calling we have 7 picks in the draft.  4 in the top 100. OL- WR- S- TE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would say other than a draft pick, probably be one more FA Remember after the draft people get cut. Sitton worked out well for us. Lucas replaces  McMahon. 

I remember a few years ago that we signed a few veteran minimum players and they did not count against the cap.  Does that still exist?

I think once the market shakes out, we might end up squeezing a cheap last year or two out of Jason Peters. THAT would be amazing. Id win my bet!  

3 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

I remember a few years ago that we signed a few veteran minimum players and they did not count against the cap.  Does that still exist?

I believe there is a discount or reduced hit against the cap but they still count.  Not sure if that was revised in the new CBA.  

16 hours ago, adam said:

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. 

Excellent summary.  It feels like we will find one decent vet OG soon or right after the draft.  I'd still like a good SS if we can squeeze that in, but it appears it will be either a decent SS  or OG because I don't think we can do both.   

I saw one mock that had us taking S Grant Delpit at #43.   That's a 1st Rd talent if he drops and he would make our secondary really good.  

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.

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+)
 

9 hours ago, AZ54 said:

I saw one mock that had us taking S Grant Delpit at #43.   That's a 1st Rd talent if he drops and he would make our secondary really good

Wow...if the Bears could pull that off that would be pretty sweet.  As you say, Delpit and McKinney (Bama) are first round talent.  Delpit actually ranked higher of the two. The Bears D would be jut about complete with one of these two. 

1 hour ago, adam said:

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+)
 

I mocked something similar, trading #43 to the Jets for #48 and #120, and #50 to the Chiefs for #63 and #96, and put this together:

48) Cesar Ruiz, G, Michigan

63) Jeremy Chinn, S, Southern Illinois

96) Bryce Hall, CB, Virginia

120) Trey Adams, OT, Washington

163) Lynn Bowden, WR, Kentucky

196) Antonio Gibson, RB, Memphis

200) Jacob Breeland, TE, Oregon

226) Raekwon Williams, DL, Michigan State

233) Michael Divinity, LB, LSU

 

With all the movks we do , I think both 2nd rounds picks will on the offensive side of the ball. We have been concentrating on defense. 

31 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

With all the movks we do , I think both 2nd rounds picks will on the offensive side of the ball. We have been concentrating on defense. 

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

2 hours ago, dawhizz said:

63) Jeremy Chinn, S, Southern Illinois

I hear good things about this kid as well as the Davis character that Adam brought up earlier.  It seems the Safety talent is relatively deep this year.   May not have to use a 2nd unless all four top rung candidates go quick.  

any thoughts on 38 year old OLT Jason Peters?

His age is scary, but he is still performing at a very high level, comes from Philadelphia, and will likely be available on a cheapish deal.

You can sign him, cut Leno, and draft someone to take a year to grow under him (in the weightroom too, as most rookie OLs require)

He could be the missing piece that makes us a real threat.

1 hour ago, BearFan NYC said:

any thoughts on 38 year old OLT Jason Peters?

His age is scary, but he is still performing at a very high level, comes from Philadelphia, and will likely be available on a cheapish deal.

You can sign him, cut Leno, and draft someone to take a year to grow under him (in the weightroom too, as most rookie OLs require)

He could be the missing piece that makes us a real threat.

You’re bound and determined to win that bet eh?  Lol!!!

Id be cool with it.  Think there will be some players like him that will become available as the offseason wears on and draft day goes by.  Someone mentioned a Josh Sitton like situation working out for us.  

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

You’re bound and determined to win that bet eh?  Lol!!!

Id be cool with it.  Think there will be some players like him that will become available as the offseason wears on and draft day goes by.  Someone mentioned a Josh Sitton like situation working out for us.  

yeah, but not to win the bet, its the other way around LOL the reason there is a bet is because Im so dogmatic about changing the OLT!!

If we get a deent OLT, then Nagy gets one more chance to prove his stuff works, and it was Trubisky and the OL that was the problem.

Maybe he LOVES to call the run, and just couldnt because they werent blocking it?

If we get a new OLT Ill be a very optimistic fan indeed.

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.

2 hours ago, BearFan NYC said:

Maybe he LOVES to call the run, and just couldnt because they werent blocking it?

Hmmm...wasn't it the first game against GB that the pass to run ratio was something like 45 : 10?  Not sure I believe that...  

5 hours ago, BearFan NYC said:

any thoughts on 38 year old OLT Jason Peters?

His age is scary, but he is still performing at a very high level, comes from Philadelphia, and will likely be available on a cheapish deal.

You can sign him, cut Leno, and draft someone to take a year to grow under him (in the weightroom too, as most rookie OLs require)

He could be the missing piece that makes us a real threat.

Do you think  their going to choose a 38 year old OT that on a minimum is going to  cost you 5 mil over Leno? That's not going to happen.  They would play the rookie first. 

39 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Do you think  their going to choose a 38 year old OT that on a minimum is going to  cost you 5 mil over Leno? That's not going to happen.  They would play the rookie first. 

cutting Leno gains you $3 mil on the salary cap. If I had both, Id play Peters over leno in a heartbeat. I dunno what he wants for $, or what we can give, but strgith up Id take Peters in a heartbeat. Not long term of course, just for right now.

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Hmmm...wasn't it the first game against GB that the pass to run ratio was something like 45 : 10?  Not sure I believe that...  

Grizz, I dont believe it either. I think it's Nagy's fatal flaw. But maybe one way or another he will show me that his offense is the future. Otherwise it's not gonna matter who is at QB.