Camp notes

[adam]

We have several weeks before Week 1. If anyone is even slightly beat up, they need to rest them until prep week. 

[Stinger226]

I think they pretty well rest everybody that will be starting the first game. I think they have 12 practices left and will get done what they need to get ready for the first game. I would like to see the starters on the oline get some reps together but Patrick isn't ready yet so that would be mute. I think they know whose starting.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Reports are Herbert’s injury was minor enough he was back today but limited.  Also Blasingame who had a brace during the game Thursday did not today. 

 

[Stinger226]

Watched a Clemson vs Ohio State highlights film. Justin was 22-28, 385 yds and 6 TDs. He is going to be a star and we got the right coaches to bring it out of him. I cant wait until he has that game that the national press say (he has arrived). I hope its the first game. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Meanwhile…3 in the top 100.  Not bad all things considered. 

 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

7 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Watched a Clemson vs Ohio State highlights film. Justin was 22-28, 385 yds and 6 TDs. He is going to be a star and we got the right coaches to bring it out of him. I cant wait until he has that game that the national press say (he has arrived). I hope its the first game. 

I only hope we can keep Getsy around for more than a year or two.  I'm afraid once Fields blossoms, he will be a hot HC candidate.

[GakMan23]

Jack Sanborn PFF highest graded defensive rookie this preseason

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, GakMan23 said:

Jack Sanborn PFF highest graded defensive rookie this preseason

Yeah great to see him do well.  He’s definitely inspiring.  Wonder if his good play weighed in on Roquan’s decision to get back at it?  

[AZ54]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Yeah great to see him do well.  He’s definitely inspiring.  Wonder if his good play weighed in on Roquan’s decision to get back at it?  

His coverage skills might have inspired Roquan to ask for more money.  I like Sanborn.  He's a good football player but he is a limited athlete.  He will get the maximum production out of his skill set and eventually I see him landing as the SLB, Hunter Hillenmeyer role, in this defense.  

[Stinger226]

30 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

His coverage skills might have inspired Roquan to ask for more money.  I like Sanborn.  He's a good football player but he is a limited athlete.  He will get the maximum production out of his skill set and eventually I see him landing as the SLB, Hunter Hillenmeyer role, in this defense.  

He's never going to be a star but more like Nick Kwiatkoski type. Plays well when he gets to play but once he got a starting job in LV, he faded fast. At Best the SLB starter in the future as you suggested.

[BearFan PHX]

4 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

He's never going to be a star but more like Nick Kwiatkoski type. Plays well when he gets to play but once he got a starting job in LV, he faded fast. At Best the SLB starter in the future as you suggested.

totally agree. i was thinking of Kwitkowski. Hillenmeyer is another good comparison. SLB possibly or backup. As much as Sandborn has heart and smarts, he's still only got a 4.7 forty. Run a drag route across his face while you clear out the other side, and he just cant cover it. Possibly a special teams ace.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Most of the starters will play most of the first half this week to include Roquan.  

 

[killakrzydav]

Chicago has been money so far this preseason ATS

[Stinger226]

It will be  nice to see several drives with the #1 starters playing.

[AZ54]

7 hours ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Most of the starters will play most of the first half this week to include Roquan.  

 

I was expecting this, maybe hoping for it, since they weren't able to get much done in the short week before traveling to Seattle.  

[AZ54]

There are some interesting points in this article including why Gordon is likely to be our slot CB.   Not to mention Velus was again held out of practice.  

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-running-back-shortage-causing-problems

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

On 8/23/2022 at 7:46 PM, AZ54 said:

There are some interesting points in this article including why Gordon is likely to be our slot CB.   Not to mention Velus was again held out of practice.  

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-running-back-shortage-causing-problems

 

The injury bug continues into Wednesday.  Most of the players from your article continued into today . Something tells me not ALL the starters will play the full half this week.  

 

[Stinger226]

They are playing starters in the final game for about a half. I want to see Monty, Mooney, Kmet, Fields and the starting Oline on the field at the same time. The injured players other than Gordon and Patrick are secondary players. Nobody has major injuries so that is a good thing.

[Alaskan Grizzly]

I dont think Brisker is a secondary player.  An argument could be made that Jones, Pringle, Sharpe and maybe Harry are/were all vying for the 2 and 3 WR spots . It would be nice to see more than just the ‘knowns’ play and have those on the cusp too.  Yes it’s a good thing the injuries are mostly minor and probably a good thing for them to rest, but will be tough to not be able to evaluate them in game-time preseason play and make the necessary adjustments.  

[Stinger226]

I forgot about Brisker but his thumb injury wont keep him out for very long. I think he may be okay to go for the opener. They can put a cast on it and go from there. Our primary contributors are all ready to go. Monty, Kmet, Mooney and Fields. I think this team will operate more efficiently. Less penalties, less TOs, more fluid offense. We obviously need more but this is our core on offense and the players that will contribute the most.

[adam]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I forgot about Brisker but his thumb injury wont keep him out for very long. I think he may be okay to go for the opener. They can put a cast on it and go from there. Our primary contributors are all ready to go. Monty, Kmet, Mooney and Fields. I think this team will operate more efficiently. Less penalties, less TOs, more fluid offense. We obviously need more but this is our core on offense and the players that will contribute the most.

Just from a target share perspective, around 65% of the targets will go to your top 3 skill players, for the Bears probably WR1, TE1, RB1. At the end of the day, that 4th target will likely only see only 10-12% of the targets for a game/season. That amounts to 4-5 targets per game and 40-50 per season. 

Last year, in a terrible offense, Mooney was at 25.8%, 17.1% to Kmet, and 12.2% to ARob (who missed 5 games). I assume Mooney will be up to 29%, Kmet up to 21%, and Monty will take some of ARob's and jump to 12%. Monty had 9.4% last year. 

Goodwin averaged less than 3 targets a game, Byrd just over 2, and Graham under 2 per game. Those were targets 5, 6, and 7 who totaled 7 targets a game. So once you take Pringle and Jones, add someone like Griffin and Herbert, there are not many targets left for Sharpe, St. Brown, Harry, Ebner, etc. 

[Mongo3451]

Something I thought was cool this morning on GMFB, Jason McCourty listed his top 5 rookie defenders. (Brisker and Sanborn both made it)

[Alaskan Grizzly]

5 hours ago, adam said:

Last year, in a terrible offense, Mooney was at 25.8%, 17.1% to Kmet, and 12.2% to ARob (who missed 5 games). I assume Mooney will be up to 29%, Kmet up to 21%, and Monty will take some of ARob's and jump to 12%. Monty had 9.4% last year. 

I’m not convinced Mooney is or will be a true #1 WR.  If our WR room is such a shambles as it appears currently, it’ll only be a matter of time before other teams figure out how to limit Mooney’s production.  When ARob was still around (and maybe even Jimmy Graham) he (they) was able to draw enough attention to allow Mooney the production numbers he got last year.  
 

Think someone else said it but with things as they are now, we’re gonna need a healthy (#1 worthy) WR step up.  And I suspect that player isn’t currently on the roster.  

[adam]

13 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I’m not convinced Mooney is or will be a true #1 WR.  If our WR room is such a shambles as it appears currently, it’ll only be a matter of time before other teams figure out how to limit Mooney’s production.  When ARob was still around (and maybe even Jimmy Graham) he (they) was able to draw enough attention to allow Mooney the production numbers he got last year.  
 

Think someone else said it but with things as they are now, we’re gonna need a healthy (#1 worthy) WR step up.  And I suspect that player isn’t currently on the roster.  

Last year, in a Matt Nagy offense, Mooney was 10th in targets, 18th in receptions, 17th in yards, and 19th in 1st Downs amongst WRs. He did that with 3 rotating QBs. If there are about 25+ WR1s in the league, I don't know what else he would need to do to qualify. 

What is funny is that a guy like Terry McLaurin is seen as a true #1, but check out how close their numbers are:

Targets: 140v130 Mooney, Receptions: 81v77 Mooney, Yards: 1055v1053 Mooney, TDs 5v4 McLaurin

Is he at the Kupp, Jefferson, Adams level? No, but those are All-Pro, Perennial Pro-Bowl WR1s. However, I think he comes in as a lower-tier WR1 with the likes of McLaurin, DJ Moore, Pittman, etc.

[AZ54]

I don't really worry about people feeling the need to call him a #1 WR.   Fact is he's a proven 1000 yard receiver.  I'd like to see his targets go down and catch% go up.  He is not the biggest WR so we need to keep him healthy.  The real issue is that nobody knows if we have anyone else capable of being a WR2.   There's plenty of 3's, 4's, and 5s on the roster will anyone step up?  

I like what Adam said about Montgomery's targets increasing but I also think that extends to Ebner.  His talent as a receiver will offset some of the production gap from the WRs.  All things combined it's hard to see us getting 300 receiving yards in any game unless there is at least one big play, a very big play.