East West Shrine Game (Thu Feb 1st)

[adam]

It is great that the Bears will have both Hightower and Borgonzi coaching there. They will get some great in depth looks at players that other teams won't. Hopefully they helps the draft values. With Hightower as the HC and Borgonzi as the D coordinator, I bet the Bears draft at least one defensive player from the East squad.

Here are the rosters: 

https://shrinebowl.com/rosters/

There seems to be a week of activities: https://shrinebowl.com/news/2024-game-week-schedule/ before the game, so we should get some intel as early as this Thursday/Friday.

[BearFan PHX]

yeah it's always a plus when you can get to know the players like that for a week. We got Bagent that way.

[adam]

1 minute ago, BearFan PHX said:

yeah it's always a plus when you can get to know the players like that for a week. We got Bagent that way.

Yeah the Bagent pickup was nice, but based on the production of some other players, Getsy screwed the pooch. Hopefully Hightower and Borgonzi will do better.

[Stinger226]

Who did we bring in that we were wrong on? Not sure who was last years acquisitions that failed.

[Mongo3451]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

Who did we bring in that we were wrong on? Not sure who was last years acquisitions that failed.

I think he meant we didn't get them.

[adam]

2 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

I think he meant we didn't get them.

Yes, like Puka and Tank Dell. Both were highly praised at the Senior Bowl, yet the Bears drafted Tyler Scott.

Here were all the players from the Senior Bowl last year that were drafted: 

https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/senior-bowl-roster-2023

We got Wright, Tyrique, Roschon, and Pickens from there. 

The Bears got up close and personal with Puka, Wicks, Trey Palmer, and Michael Wilson and selected Tyler Scott instead.

[Stinger226]

4 hours ago, adam said:

Yes, like Puka and Tank Dell. Both were highly praised at the Senior Bowl, yet the Bears drafted Tyler Scott.

Here were all the players from the Senior Bowl last year that were drafted: 

https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/senior-bowl-roster-2023

We got Wright, Tyrique, Roschon, and Pickens from there. 

The Bears got up close and personal with Puka, Wicks, Trey Palmer, and Michael Wilson and selected Tyler Scott instead.

It would interesting to see their scouting reports on them and why they took Scott.

[adam]

7 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

It would interesting to see their scouting reports on them and why they took Scott.

Scott was 7th in his conference in receiving yards, behind guys who got drafted after him. It was his speed. He was a junior Olympic sprinter, but that clearly did not translate to the field as he outran no one. College is weird because if you have a specific trait that is just better than your opponent, you can look very solid. Dudes that are older dominate 18 yr olds when they are 24. Dudes with speed outrun 90% of the players they face, bigger dudes dominate smaller players like they are playing middle schoolers. Once you make the leap to the NFL, 99% of the time, that edge is gone and you need more than just that to be a solid player. That is all that Scott had and it was normalized in the NFL. He was not a good route runner, he was not strong, so all he had was his speed.

This was one of his weaknesses: Limited catch radius and lacking hand size/strength. 

[Mongo3451]

16 hours ago, adam said:

Yes, like Puka and Tank Dell. Both were highly praised at the Senior Bowl, yet the Bears drafted Tyler Scott.

Here were all the players from the Senior Bowl last year that were drafted: 

https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/senior-bowl-roster-2023

We got Wright, Tyrique, Roschon, and Pickens from there. 

The Bears got up close and personal with Puka, Wicks, Trey Palmer, and Michael Wilson and selected Tyler Scott instead.

They took Scott at 133.  The other good receivers were gone by then.  We would have missed on Roschon, or Tyrique to get one.

[Stinger226]

3 hours ago, adam said:

Scott was 7th in his conference in receiving yards, behind guys who got drafted after him. It was his speed. He was a junior Olympic sprinter, but that clearly did not translate to the field as he outran no one. College is weird because if you have a specific trait that is just better than your opponent, you can look very solid. Dudes that are older dominate 18 yr olds when they are 24. Dudes with speed outrun 90% of the players they face, bigger dudes dominate smaller players like they are playing middle schoolers. Once you make the leap to the NFL, 99% of the time, that edge is gone and you need more than just that to be a solid player. That is all that Scott had and it was normalized in the NFL. He was not a good route runner, he was not strong, so all he had was his speed.

This was one of his weaknesses: Limited catch radius and lacking hand size/strength. 

It seems everyone thinks a rookie has to perform in his first year or he's a bust. History tells you most take 2 to 3 years to show their talent. With first and second rounds, that's a must, but later rounds might need more time to develop. You can't teach speed, but clearly Poles take a shine to fast players, Venus Jones for example. We will know in his second year if he gets better.

[adam]

53 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

It seems everyone thinks a rookie has to perform in his first year or he's a bust. History tells you most take 2 to 3 years to show their talent. With first and second rounds, that's a must, but later rounds might need more time to develop. You can't teach speed, but clearly Poles take a shine to fast players, Venus Jones for example. We will know in his second year if he gets better.

I am not saying that, but they should show something, anything. Even if the production is not there, show flashes. Scott showed that he can drop the ball on all routes, stop short and allow easy INTs, and fumble the ball when you do actually catch it. He may not be a bust, but he has a long way to go to even be a vet minimum bottom of the roster player. Not all 4th rounders work out, but man, he just looks lost out there.