7 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Im not arguing about anything, I am giving my opinion. I trust that Roushar, BJ and Poles will know what they see, of which we havent seen yet. As you said I am assuming they will be at least average but its the same situation as last year, it has questions. How did it turn out last year? If they thought there was going to be a problem, they would have brought in an old overpaid vet to play there.

I dont mean arguing like fighting, I mean youre making a case. a logical argument.

5 hours ago, Pixote said:

Every day, we read about players who have stood out from others on and off the field. Caleb, Rome, Burden, Loveland, Kmet, Davis, Thomas, Wright, Booker, ... the list goes on and on. You would think half of our roster is made up of Pro Bowlers.

Of course, we know preseason hype means nothing.

What worries me is that over a dozen players are getting so much hype, yet, with the exception of a few comments solicited from players when asked, little is said about Thieneman.

He has never been singled out in press reports as someone who was a top performer in one of the practice sessions.

I know he is a rookie, learning the defense, but it seems we should be hearing more positive feedback on his performance than we have.

It worries me.

Aside from the fact he had an INT today there is no reason to worry about Thieneman after 9 practices. You just have to read the tea leaves a bit and realize the coaches are moving him around. I don’t think that’s a case of not knowing where he fits. It’s because they want him as a chess piece to mask coverages. IMO you don’t do that with a guy who can’t learn.

1 minute ago, AZ54 said:

Aside from the fact he had an INT today there is no reason to worry about Thieneman after 9 practices. You just have to read the tea leaves a bit and realize the coaches are moving him around. I don’t think that’s a case of not knowing where he fits. It’s because they want him as a chess piece to mask coverages. IMO you don’t do that with a guy who can’t learn.

Biggs said Thieman has been making plays all over the place at training camp. He is in my opinion the best reporter as his opinions are grounded and he is clear when they are opinions yet he also brings a lot of insights from coaches and scouts he talks to. He doesn’t play the hype Olympics or the hot take Olympics.

Bears also signed safety Xavier Woods, has 100 plus starts his in career and started 10 games with Titans last year. He was best rated free agent safety left and a good move given Bryant’s injury.

23 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Biggs said Thieman has been making plays all over the place at training camp. He is in my opinion the best reporter as his opinions are grounded and he is clear when they are opinions yet he also brings a lot of insights from coaches and scouts he talks to. He doesn’t play the hype Olympics or the hot take Olympics.

Bears also signed safety Xavier Woods, has 100 plus starts his in career and started 10 games with Titans last year. He was best rated free agent safety left and a good move given Bryant’s injury.

I like Biggs. I like Herb Howard and Clay Harbor more because they’re more detailed on knowledge of what it takes to succeed on the field and how players compare to that standard. If it ain’t good they’ll say so.

10 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

I like Biggs. I like Herb Howard and Clay Harbor more because they’re more detailed on knowledge of what it takes to succeed on the field and how players compare to that standard. If it ain’t good they’ll say so.

I like Harbor but I feel he is overly optimistic…but he does a nice job to your point when it comes to some of the details. I’ll have to look up Herb…not sure who that is.

4 minutes ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

I like Harbor but I feel he is overly optimistic…but he does a nice job to your point when it comes to some of the details. I’ll have to look up Herb…not sure who that is.

Harbor has been complaining about the DTs and DEs all summer. Haven’t seen much optimism from him on those positions, at least until a couple days ago when he said the DTs overall were moving around much better than he anticipated. Still no single DT has really stood out as a problem for offensive linemen.

When you listen to press conferences at Halas Hall, Herb Howard is the one reporter who asks more detailed questions and does not typically ask the stupid and useless “what does it mean to you” style of questions. How people get paid for that garbage is beyond me. Today two reporters asked that of Jahdae and kudos to him because on the repeat he said “like I said earlier…. “

For PIX

Each day we’re getting a little bit spoiled as we hear about these good plays on offense. Seems like there are always a couple standouts each day.

For some perspective a coworker is a Bills fan. He smiled and told me the fans are really happy with DJ. He’s making big plays every day. I said yes he’s good, who else you got? The smile left his face and he said “nobody”.

Enjoy this ride it’s been a long time coming.

16 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Herb Howard has been around for awhile but this is the first year I noticed him because he is getting more facetime on the circuit. Being an optimist, I like both him and Clay, besides good insight, they are very positive about the season. When you look at players, you can see what is going wrong and what is going right. Since both occupy the same space, let hope define the talk.

Jayden Loving is getting his name mentioned, if would be nice if another UDFA gave us something. With all the bodies in the room, probably a PS member if he continues.

56 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Jayden Loving is getting his name mentioned, if would be nice if another UDFA gave us something. With all the bodies in the room, probably a PS member if he continues.

That’s what I’m thinking. The biggest surprise so far has been the fact that Dayo is almost exclusively taking snaps at DT. That continued even after Sweat went down.

2 hours ago, AZ54 said:

That’s what I’m thinking. The biggest surprise so far has been the fact that Dayo is almost exclusively taking snaps at DT. That continued even after Sweat went down.

Va Der Berg seems to be impressing the coaches - we know he has the tools so would be awesome to see him really emerge on the scene in the interior.

Rappaport reporting Burden is going to miss some time with a groin injury. He went down in yesterdays practice with no details - hopefully it is minor but missing some time makes me think more then a week.

Hopefully minor and it isn’t something that impacts him this year.

8 hours ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:

Va Der Berg seems to be impressing the coaches - we know he has the tools so would be awesome to see him really emerge on the scene in the interior.

VDB keeps moving up and now this news is starting to make me optimistic about our Dline. We desperately needed one interior pass rusher. What we don’t know is if the rest of the Dline is so average or bad that it’s easy for him to standout. We do know we have a good Oline inside. I’m watching for news on who he’s beating on the Oline to see if I should get on the hype train.

There’s been no talk here about the backup DBs we recently signed. I really like the pickup of Xavier Woods. He adds lots of experience and he’s a good football player. He is a bit limited in some aspects and a 25% missed tackle rate likely explains why he was available. Now we roll into the season with two good starters, and then Hicks and Woods as backups along with Cam Lewis. Backups are all backups for a reason but with that much game experience on the bench I think we have the best depth at Safety in a very long time. If you geek out on film as I do then here you go:

The Bears also added a promising depth piece at CB in Beanie Bishop. He’s little (hence the nickname?) but quick. Definitely not fast but as a UDFA he had some productive snaps for the Steelers in 2024 after making the 53 and ended up starter. Then cut, goes to NO, gets suspended for 3 games but don’t know why and now he’s here. I said he’s not fast but I see now on his pro day he ran a 4.39 forty I just don’t see that in pads. The Wikipedia link has the full pro day stats. He’s a football player player type, I like how he fights through blocks but for a 180lb guy I have to think there are plenty of times he just gets pushed aside. Seems like a fit in the slot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanie_Bishop

"Bishop signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent on April 27, 2024.^[14]Bishop notably made the Steelers' 53 man roster out of training camp as a UDFA, even earning a starting job in the secondary after an impressive offseason. During a Week 7 game against the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football, Bishop intercepted two passes from Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, both of which would ultimately lead to touchdowns for Pittsburgh as they won 37–15.^[15] During a Week 8 game against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, Bishop secured a game ending interception against Daniel Jones, Pittsburgh won 26–18.^[16] Bishop was named Defensive Rookie of the Month for October having: 16 tackles, 5 pass deflections, 3 interceptions, and 2 tackles for loss."