Per Rapaport - Bears signing TJ Edwards to a 3yr Deal; Upgrades the LB corps; Believe he played MLB.  

Dude was a monster last year for Eagles - 159 tackles, 2 sacks, 7 pass deflections, 10 TFL; Graded 84.8 by PFF; Presume he will stay at MIKE - not sure what that means for Sanborn (who obviously was a fun thing as a UDA - but Edwards is a big pickup to the defense.  26 years old too.  

19.5M over 3 years - $12M guaranteed; $ value seems very reasonable.  

$6.5mil/yr is a heck of a value upgrade over Roquan at $20mil/yr.   It appears we'll be seeing some similar value signings at DT.  

Crazy that the Bears will be able to pay their entire starting LB corps (3 players) for less than Roquan. 

Went to Lakes High School in Lake Villa. Our high school's former athletic director taught at the school when he was there. 

Peace

I don't get this signing. Sure, he was a killer for Philly last year - at a third of Roquan's price and equal Roquan's production - but Sanborn was incredible as a rookie UDFA. 

Why spend $20M for Sanborn's stats at the same position?

Roquan in 2022:
169 TOT, 103 SOLO, 66 AST, 11 TFL

TJ in 2022:
159 TOT, 99 SOLO, 60 AST, 10 TFL

Sanborn in 2022
64 TOT, 50 SOLO, 14 AST, 5 TFL (6 starts)
160 TOT, 125 SOLO, 35 AST, 12.5 TFL (Extrapolated X2.5)

 

1 hour ago, jason said:

I don't get this signing. Sure, he was a killer for Philly last year - at a third of Roquan's price and equal Roquan's production - but Sanborn was incredible as a rookie UDFA. 

Why spend $20M for Sanborn's stats at the same position?

Roquan in 2022:
169 TOT, 103 SOLO, 66 AST, 11 TFL

TJ in 2022:
159 TOT, 99 SOLO, 60 AST, 10 TFL

Sanborn in 2022
64 TOT, 50 SOLO, 14 AST, 5 TFL (6 starts)
160 TOT, 125 SOLO, 35 AST, 12.5 TFL (Extrapolated X2.5)

 

Sanborn will be that 2 down LB for us.  TJ is a premier coverage LB, so he'll play all downs.

15 minutes ago, Mongo3451 said:

Sanborn will be that 2 down LB for us.  TJ is a premier coverage LB, so he'll play all downs.

We sure about that? Now that they’ve apparently signed Edmunds as well, who is another ILB, that means Sanborn is nothing but depth.

2 minutes ago, jason said:

We sure about that? Now that they’ve apparently signed Edmunds as well, who is another ILB, that means Sanborn is nothing but depth.

Sanborn I believe played on the outside last year for us - so wasn't an MLB.  I am guessing he'll play weakside, but we'll have to see.  TJ & Edmunds are both very good in coverage.  

8 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Sanborn I believe played on the outside last year for us - so wasn't an MLB.  I am guessing he'll play weakside, but we'll have to see.  TJ & Edmunds are both very good in coverage.  

I have seen it as WLB - Edmunds, MLB - Edwards, SLB - Sanborn

I'm curious how they do it;  Edmunds is the most athletic - wouldn't you want that playing in the middle?  Interesting to see - but last time we had a 4-3 Cover 2 shell - our LB corps had Briggs & Urlacher and that worked pretty well. Not saying either of them are those guys - but this defense puts its LB's in a spot to make plays and relies on having strong LB play. 

We also know we need to improve the line - to ensure the LB's can play with speed. 

46 minutes ago, jason said:

We sure about that? Now that they’ve apparently signed Edmunds as well, who is another ILB, that means Sanborn is nothing but depth.

He'll be the new Hunter Hillenmeier.

https://overthecap.com/player/t-j-edwards/8427

9 hours ago, jason said:

We sure about that? Now that they’ve apparently signed Edmunds as well, who is another ILB, that means Sanborn is nothing but depth.

Sanborn can play SLB, like a Hunter Hillenmeyer or Kwitakowski?

EDIT - oops Mongo you beat me to it.

10 hours ago, jason said:

We sure about that? Now that they’ve apparently signed Edmunds as well, who is another ILB, that means Sanborn is nothing but depth.

At Will LB Edmunds will be Shaq Leonard on steroids. They could have picked up Bobby Okereke that played int he Flus scheme and was successful but we now have a monster Will LB. 

Since Poles got here, he rebuilt the DB group, WR room and now will give us the best group of LBers in the National Conference.

Got work to do in the trenches .

Isolating Sanborn as Sam (Samborn?) means he will be asked to cover the TE. That could be an issue.

He would have to cover people at the other two spots. 

49 minutes ago, jason said:

Isolating Sanborn as Sam (Samborn?) means he will be asked to cover the TE. That could be an issue.

He should be ok with that.  We just don't want him near slot receivers that the Will will get.

2 hours ago, jason said:

Isolating Sanborn as Sam (Samborn?) means he will be asked to cover the TE. That could be an issue.

yes, but in a zone scheme. try to get that TE deep and Edmunds will be all over him.

I know a lot of people are assuming Edmunds will be our WLB, but I think his speed, size and wingspan means he will be the urlacher deep MLB in our scheme. That's what he did in Buffalo too. Its just they didnt play as much Cover 2 as we do, so his stats will be even better.

Also, Edmunds' stats are misleading. he has HORRIBLE hands, so his INT numbers are low, but he is an amazing cover LB, and often his tips that he cant manage to catch end up being caught by another zone player nearby.

Swift was saying that Eberflus wants his WLB and MLB interchangeable   i never heard Flushing say that but if true we may see them switch around depending on match-up   or just to mess with the offense   

7 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

Swift was saying that Eberflus wants his WLB and MLB interchangeable   i never heard Flushing say that but if true we may see them switch around depending on match-up   or just to mess with the offense   

For sure, when you have two great athletes next to each other you can always play games, and add that level of complexity to stress the opponent. Our coverage team looks amazing now.

Now we need pressure from the front 4. I am trying to be patient. It's coming.