BearFan PHX

yeah. I like to think of it like a stone archway. if it needs 9 stones to hold up, you can 8 of them in place, but if you remove the brace, the whole thing collapses. But add that last stone, so they all rest on each other, and its stable. Our defensive roster has been getting better, but until we had a pass rush, you couldnt see it. Now with that last stone in place, the whole thing clicks. Football IS the ultimate team sport!

yeah no kidding. I never understood criticizing that pickup. Also, apparently they had Chase Young on the trading block and not Sweat, so Poles did an amazing job shaking him free at the last minute too.

yeah, and imagine when we add another edge player to the mix. we are definitely ascending, and the window is opening for us.

Flacco sacked again! HA! I once spent an afternoon with Drew Brees, and another afternoon with Joe Flacco. In both cases, it was a couple days after they'd won the Super Bowl. Brees is the nicest guy ever. Flacco is a total jerk. Love to see Flacco getting hit.

agree with all of this!

we are mostly agreeing. I just dont think tagging him and trading works, because if Fields is good, we lose him, and if hes not the trade isnt worth much. I just think we functionally have to decide if we are in or out by May. And I think that's the intention of the 5th year option in the first place - to force teams out of the middle ground.

I agree with this. I chose #5 to represent it, but I think we might mostly agree.

Maybe it's easier to lay it out this way: The two scenarios that would hurt the Bears are: 1) Fields becomes a fully dimensional QB and we fail to keep him 2) Fields never becomes the man, and we lose too much to keep him around In #1, we still have the mitigating factor of whoever our new QB is becoming great also. If you take a high first round QB with one of our picks this year, then you do buy a 4th year to look at Fields, but you increase the chance of losing him anyway without the 5th year option being exercised. So all Im saying, is that we kinda have to make a decision on which of those we think is going to happen before May, and functionally before the draft this year. I dont think Poles can tread water here, but either actual decision on Fields is possible. For me, I would pass on him, but going all in on him is also a coherent strategy. It's the middle ground I'm arguing against as an actual possibility that would work.

Pix, Im not mad at you at all. I respect you, and weve known each other here a long time. I thought we were debating scenarios, but I didnt detect anything personal here at all.

Here's something we can all agree on - Patrick sucks.

this is true if Fields doesnt ball out. But we arent trying to protect ourselves against that scenario. The idea is if you think hes the man you take the 5th year option and then extend him before or during year 5. If you think he isnt the man, you trade him now. If you want to wait and see and he turns out to be: 1) Bad - then no problem not taking the 5th year option 2) middle - then who wants to keep him? 3) great - then you missed the chance to lock him up

hes already played his 5th season tho? He is a free agent now.

no FG attempt?!! wtf

Nice 2 min drill. All comes from what Roschon was able to do.

link? Ive never heard of ANY money that is different if you trade than if you cut??

1) yes, if you give him the 5th year option, thats the all in on Fields option. Didnt really need Daniels then, but cool. 2) if you take the 5th year option, but then trade him, you pay $25 Mil on the 2025 cap, right when your current new roster players are coming up to be re-signed. This isnt a great option 3) if you dont sign him, he wont play under the franchise tag. he will hold out and you lose him anyway. So this is what Ive been saying. You can do option #1 and go all in on Fields, or you can do #3 and miss the trade value. I dont think #2 is a good choice for the reason you say, if hes good why trade him, if hes not why pay $25M? This is all basically what Im saying. You gotta decide if youre all in or not on Fields by May.

Look at Tua. Dolphins exercized his 5th year option (2024) this past May. His 2024 dead cap number is the full $23 Million. That means if you trade him or cut him, the money still counts against Miami's cap. So what youre saying is not correct. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/miami-dolphins/tua-tagovailoa-47598/

I think his toe touched in bounds first? I agree about the hold.

oops a third almost interception from Fields.

that TD pass in the back of the end zone looks just like "The Catch" from Montana to Clark. "Sprint Right Option"

I was thinking the same thing.

Bears defense is playing tough.

yes, he is the best at that. Ive said it all along. If he could also be a pocket passer, then hed be unstoppable. But without also being able to throw in rhythm, the rest isnt enough to win a Super Bowl. The question is will Fields develop that primary skill.

so to be clear, youre saying take a QB in the top half of the first round, keep Fields for 2024 and dont extend him? It does leave doors open, but then why would Fields resign with us after 2024 when we didnt believe in him? You could over pay for him to get him, but that makes your cap hell even worse going forward that a regular second contract. And again, there is nothing that says Fields has to take it either. I think that youve successfully mitigated the risk with this scenario if fields isnt the guy, but then you havent set yourself up well for the scenario where Fields works out? That's why I'm saying the cleanest thing is to firmly decide yes or no on him after this season. And that's what the May deadline is meant to force.

yup - no one is better on broken plays than Fields. nice TD to Kmet.