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So it looks like Micah Parsons wants a trade. Hes only 26 and hes a dominant edge rusher. We sure could use him. Trade values I've seen look like the Khalil Mack trade tho. 2026 1st round pick 2026 2nd round pick 2027 1st round pick Montez Sweat and more Its a steep price, and Parsons would eat up a lot of cap with a new deal too. But as i think it through, a few thoughts come to mind: 1) Next years 1st is no problem, because we were probably going to use it to draft a DE anyway. If we took Micah Parsons with our 1st rounder next year, wed all be thrilled. A proven vet etc. 2) Where will the salary cap space come from? 3) We are flush with DBs, and all DBs play better with Micah Parsons in front of them. 4) With Trey Hendrickson also still not happy, the price might be lower than it would otherwise be. So it makes me wonder if this trade would work: 2026 1st rounder 2027 2nd rounder Jaylon Johnson Braxton Jones, Cole Kmet, Dayo or Dom Rob - Dallas picks one. I think I would do that trade, and it would be a good trade for us. Thoughts? And if you immediately go back to the "no those guys are valuable" take the fandom out of it and ask yourself, if we had Micah Parsons, would you trade him to get Jaylon Johnson, Braxton Jones and a first round pick? Of course you wouldnt. So it's a pretty good deal for both sides?

Ok, but this is the last year of Braxton's rookie deal - do you think we will pay him what LTs get paid in the league next year? If not, then this is his last year. And dont you want your OL to gain cohesiveness going forward? It is very likely in my opinion that Jones will not be the starter, and unless someone trades a 3rd or better for him, he will be our swing tackle this year, and gone next year. if we are gonna get a 3rd rounder in compensation for losing a free agent, then cool. If we arent, then we might look at a trade now or at the trade deadline. As for Kmet, I dont think hes as good as you do, and thats cool. If he plays really well this year he could well stick around - having two great TEs is a luxury. But if he plays not so great, then i think we would rather allocate his cap space elsewhere and he will be gone either at the trade deadline this year or next offseason.

To the point about no one trading a 3rd or better for Braxton, I generally agree. But you never know, if a LT goes down in preseason and a team is stuck, they might pay a 3rd for him. To the idea of not moving good players in trade, I think when you look at the good teams, they all do this. You wouldnt CUT Kmet, but he is definitely trade bait at the trade deadline, or next offseason. As Ive said before he can play himself into staying, but hed have to do things he hasnt before. You just look at the players that are eating the largest slices of cap space, and ask yourself if you have a replacement on the roster already. if the answer is yes, you get the trade value for them before the next contract comes. Thats just smart - and yes it means players that can help you go, but thats what the good teams do, and if we are smart, we will follow their lead when we can. That means names that are GOOD too. Thats the point!

If we were to trade Jones it would have to be this year, because this is the last year of his contract. Letting him walk after this year could also likely result on some compensation. But assuming he isnt in the long term plan, then if he is equal to Trapilo, or even a little better, then Trapilo should still win the job to build consistency on the OL. Same for Amagadje. And i do think if he was rehabbing his ankle, he wasnt able to go all out in the weight room for the things that matter in anchoring and stopping a bull rush. Both Jones and Kmet are in a similar position - both will take cap room next year, and each has a rookie competitor who is probably better than them already on the roster. When your roster is good, like ours is becoming, then you start trading and cutting GOOD players, and thats new for us here, but it's what the good teams do to manage the cap and sustain winning programs year after year. For those who become attached to those players its going to be a difficult ride, but it is good for the team int he end as long as the new talent coming in is up to the task.

I didnt know this, but the Dolphins were the 4th ranked defense, and the BIlls were 17th for yards allowed. Good that the Bears offense will get a test.

of course. and maybe Trapilo will be great against the bull rush and have a weakness to outside moves - who knows. But we KNOW Jones' weakness, and having been injured instead of building leg strength is going to hurt him - I dont see any reason to assume that he will be better against the bull rush than he was before he got injured? He hasnt been learning or working out or anything. And also, remember that this is probably Jones' last year of his rookie deal. Paying him like a starting LT is going to be a lot more impactful on our cap than if Amagadje or Trapilo gets the job. And we want to get familiarity on that OL going forward for several years... So unless Trapilo and Amagadje are big fails and we NEED Jones as a stopgap this year, i think it is more likely that Jones will not be the starter. He will be trade bait, and also free agent compensation bait. If Jones comes out of nowhere and plays like an all pro LT in ways weve never seen, then he will be worth the second contract money, but unless he is superman all of a sudden, or Trapilo and Amagadje are not ready for the NFL, Jones is odd man out.

It's always hard in training camp when you hear good or bad news to know whether the LTs are all playing well, or the DEs are sucking. And they kind of said a little of both. Our coaches will know a lot more in a couple weeks when we scrimmage against the Bills. It's too bad most of the action these days happens during the week and not in the preseason games where WE could see it. We probably wont see anything we can count on until week 1. But Johnson will know, and for the first time in a long time it seems the coaches have vision and courage to act. So we have to just trust in them for now I guess. I wish I had a more well informed opinion about the LT battle. But we dont get to see anything firsthand, and I dont really trust any of the pundits to tell me which of the three is the right choice based on a few plays, good or bad, that get blown out of proportion and become narratives. I suppose we will get to see LT2 and LT3 in pregame action vs second and third stringers but Im not sure how helpful that info is either. I expect all three of them to easily handle second and third string DEs on the opposing team, if they are realistically in competition to start. I guess Im just saying Im gonna hold my powder on this until I see something. If we see fails, we will all certainly notice that, but im not willing, for example, to assume Braxton has a shot at starting until I see him block a good DE who has a strong bull rush. That's what he has to prove to win. Him handling Booker or even Dayo isnt gonna prove anything. Hopefully the Bills will bring some challenges for these guys with Joey Bosa and others. EDIT - just looked at the schedule, and Miami is first, August joint practices and the game is the 10th. Bosa will still be a great test the week after, but hopefully Miami brings something to test these guys too.

yes, I expect Kiran will be swing tackle this year - but hes too good, and we wont keep our guards forever, Thuney may have one or two years left, and I think when its all said and done, Amagadje will start at OG sometime in the next few years. But this year, he is swing tackle for sure, unless he wins the job, then Trapilo is the swing tackle, but i do not predict he will play guard ever.

My guess, which is based at least 50% on gut instinct also known as total BS, is that Trapilo will win the LT competition, Amagadje will become a backup OG and a future starter at OG, and Jones wont be with the team next year. Maybe he will be traded, or leave as a free agent - whatever formula gets the most value for us. Maybe a compensatory pick, or an actual traded one.

as would anyone at all interesting

right, she wanted Banks like I did. And I have to admit at the time, I did not consider Trapilo at all at LT, so it looked like a really bad move to let the LTs including Ersery go by. But time might well prove that Poles was right about that and I was wrong - right now tha'ts what I personally currently believe.

A freakin MEN

I agree, but it doesnt mean her sources were unreliable. She reported that there was a lot of interest and activity around the Bears and Jeanty. The fact that the price was too high and the deal didnt happen doesnt disprove any of that?

absolutely possible. in that case shed still be telling the truth, that insiders told her this. The idea that she made it up herself for clicks is what I'm pushing back on. That doesnt sound like her. But the simplest answer is probably right: of COURSE the Bears went asking about the price for Jeanty. Who wouldnt? Doing due diligence, maybe even a little more. And obviously the deal didnt happen. After Cleveland and the Jaguars did a trade for a non quarterback and the price was a 2nd round pick, a 4th round pick AND a next years number one to go from 2 to 5, it was clear the price to move from 10 to 6 would be steep. So it all seems pretty obvious and likely to me what happened. I do think the Bears would have liked Jeanty if they could afford the trade, but not if it was a first next year and a 2nd this year?

Im not ready to call it a pattern yet I guess. When we get to where there are more substantial issues to ask about, if she keeps doing this, then I have to agree with you that maybe someone is writing her questions or making her do this?

that sucks. I hope its sooner, but that isnt good at all.

and what do you base that it was never in play on? I dont get it. She says she has league sources that were telling her the Bears were serious about Jeanty, but the deal just never got made because they couldnt find middle ground on the price. How can you disprove that? And why would you want to?

OK, I went back and found it. Apparently when a college player comes out their junior year, the website she uses for stats calls the players last year their senior year. so there were stats for his sophomore year, and then his "senior" year and she was confused about that. Its understandable - i dont think it's a knock on her, it was just a mistake based on her not fully understanding why there was a gap from Sophomore to Senior on the stat website. In explaining this she said she wasnt sure what the gap was about, and mentioned covid as an example of these things being weird in stat books. And I remembered that, but she never said it was covid, that was just my poor memory. Anyway, here it is if anyone cares. Watch from 40 minutes in to hear the story.

but her reporting was just that it was likely, or heating up - and that could still be true even if it didnt end up happening! I still believe she was reporting facts - that we were interested - that talks happened.

she never guaranteed that both sides would make the trade - she said there was strong interest and they were talking. And i am sure that we did talk to them, but it sounds like the price was too high. But thats not a narrative. A narrative is when you conclude some total outcome, like that a player will be good or bad based on one detail. It's a story more than a fact that gets passed around again and again until people start making conclusions from it. "Bears will fail because Caleb paints his nails" is a good example of a narrative. "Bears wont take ______ because his arms are too short" is another example of a narrative. That the Bears were sniffing around Jeanty isnt a narrative, if shes hearing that from league sources. If instead she said "Bears are sniffing around Jeanty so they wont take Henderson" THAT would be a narrative.

The question to burden was about her misreading the year code. It got messed up due to covid or something, and she saw 2 years, but didnt realize he wasnt a sophomore. She owned that one, and while it was dumb, it makes sense what confused her. As for those personal type questions, often reporters are looking for quotes. They might want to write about Grady's leadership for example, and so she asks who he sits next to, maybe hoping to hear about a young player he is mentoring? When things are more visible, we will see if she gets back to the tough questions. For a while there she was the only one really asking them.

And the thing is Trapilo is less athletic when you measure him, but if you watch his tape, he is very fluid, and rarely gets caught reaching. He's pretty polished from what Ive see on him at RT. hes not stiff, and he moves laterally well.

this is right. some little thing gets reported and then it becomes all anyone talks about and then the analysis where they predict the entire career of someone based on this little tidbit. And the funny thing is the tidbit is random, there are thousands of them but only a few get reported. Its all narrative and no analysis. As for Courtney Cronin, I have always liked her and she does seem to ask the tough questions. I havent noticed her falling into that category, but then again I dont watch her on Pat the Designer, and that is a highly narrative driven show, so maybe shes fitting in I dunno. Im not saying youre wrong about CC I just havent seen it (yet?) - I hope she returns to form if shes off, because she is (was?) one of the better ones.

that all makes sense, but i also think that BJ is committed to being a heavy play action team, and leaning on the running game - and that means Caleb has to learn to be productive under center?

No worries - hopefully you saw my later apology, because it is more than one interception, and i didnt know that yet! I hate hearing bad stuff too - hopefully Johnson will get them all right. I have optimism for it, and even expectations, but like you, Ive been burned too many times, and I want to see it on the field against real opponents.