BearFan PHX

ha! good point!

Good ones AZ

Insurance against a BIllings injury, or Dexter looks so good at 3T that we need a rotational player at NT.

Hell yeah. There are specimens, and then there are football players. We got a GM who understands that. This team is going to be fun to watch going forward, hopefully for many year. We may have stronger years and in-between years, but we should be the kind of team that always gives you a fight.

exactly right

Right, they both measure really well, but it's important to remember that every player is a person, and uses their measurables in different ways, and with differing levels of talent. For a long time we've suffered through the drafting of physical specimens who werent football players. So we all have seen the difference. Finally, thankfully, we do have an organization that prioritizes not only physical traits, but human football players - the kind of thing that's invisible to PFF for example. It goes beyond the stats, and beyond the understanding of sportswriters during draft time who write looking only at stats; how long someone's forearms are for example, instead of who they destroyed repeatedly on tape. So we do clearly see that Poles definitely has a physical type he looks for on the OL. In drafting Wright, and keeping Jenkins. And both are nasty blockers too, so they have HITS attitudes. But they're not really the same level of player. Jenkins could well be a dominating guard, maybe a top 5, but Wright has a ceiling to be a Hall Of Fame Tackle. He is all kinds of special. You see it on tape, not in numbers. Jenkins at his most promising was the 39th overall pick. Wright went 9th. Anyway none of this to take away from Jenkins' ceiling. I believe he could become a very important piece of a dominating offensive line. He could be All Pro. I cant wait to see him blow people up and move them out of the way. But - and I realize it's early - I don't think people really realize yet what we have in Wright. This guy is gonna be a legend.

21 is not bad at all after the season he had last year. 21 is the sort of position that could increase to 15 or 10.

lol exactly

PFF is worse than stupid. It's a bunch of formulas that dont work, as evidenced by the output they create. And you cant argue with the guys from PFF because they can only tell you what their formulas say.| If I say 2+2=5, you can tell me Im wrong, and show me. If I have an algorithm that says 2+2=5, and you tell me Im wrong, I can say "no its true, thats what the algorithm says" PFF is worse than wrong, it's misleading and ridiculous.

Youre right about Ngokoue. And Houston can fill in, but he's getting old. I still think we might end u0 with one of these two as a one year band aid, but i wonder if Poles isn't hoping for a better fit. Maybe a trade for someone we arent talking about, or maybe just a cheaper deal for one of those two. But I totally agree with you, neither one is putting us in Super Bowl contention this year, and neither will be a significant part of the 2024 team, so maybe Poles is in no hurry to fill this gap with a piece that isn't really part of the build. Maybe he'd rather develop the guys he has now and see what the extra snaps will do for them. It's easy to want to be good this year, but i think Poles only wants to improve in ways that stick, so while I keep checking this page a few times a day to see if we signed anyone, it might not be in our best long term interest, and if it costs us a couple wins this year, maybe thats not so bad. I have a feeling Poles is more disciplined than any of us when it comes to this stuff. Thats a new feeling from Halas Hall - competence!

yup and he fell down too

me too. I hope we're wrong, but yeah.

for sure. but Harrison and Moore is a pretty scary combination too

I think the right side of the OL is gonna be nasty.

Yeah, it's time to put last year away. This is a very new roster with lots of new faces. They will make their own mark, and be judged by their performance going forward. Baby Bears! (who will soon grow to be ferocious!)

Cunningham will be a great GM for someone.

I dont think we will ever know what the one day PUP was about. And I dont think it matters much. whatever it was, he has to prove it now. we can guess whether he will or wont (Im more negative on it) but it will unfold on the field, and I would love to be wrong.

amen, race shouldnt be a consideration in a negative or a positive way. Ive got friends of lots of different colors and backgrounds. theyre all different people. everyone is. Does anyone really think that NFL teams pass on people who they think are the best candidate because of race? These people would sell their grandmothers to win.

I dunno what he is worth right now though. If he plays well in preseason and in September his trade value, and value to our team increases dramatically, but right now, here at the end of July with only his past, we probably couldnt even get a 4th for him. Probably a 6th rounder.

absolutely. and if anyone were to regress, it'd be a problem too. EVERYONE has to prove it on the field this year, and every year, but right now, we are looking like we are building something, but it's still very fragile. The good news is that going into the 2024 draft, we will have that extra first rounder, lots of salary cap room and a strong idea of who is working out and who needs replacing. I do think Mooney has at least put together a season to show he can do it, so there's that. But everyone's gotta ball out. Maybe this is why Vegas says 7.5 wins, hedging some of these pieces not working out.

yeah who knows what that PUP was about. weird. As far as the naysaying, I think Claypool has to show something this preseason. We didnt see any of it last year. We've heard the reasons. Maybe they're valid. I hope so. But until we see it, the perception remains. I am definitely cynical about the guy. I would gladly eat a bucket full of crow to turn him into a legit WR2. I just wouldnt bet anything on it right now, to his credit, either way.

absolutely. and that was MLK's dream as well.

I'm just waiting for equity in the NFL where no matter how many touchdowns you score (or dont score) every game ends in a tie.

I guess that if Claypool just needs a couple weeks until hes ready to go, this makes sense because it opens up a roster spot. With all the rumors and expectations swirling about us signing an edge rusher, if Claypool needs a minute, this allows us to sign someone and still get those couple of weeks to evaluate whoever is on the bottom of our 80 (is that right?) man roster. So even if Claypool just needs a minute, this lets you have your couple weeks of training camp to look at the bottom of your roster without having to get rid of one guy before you really saw him, and instead to see a bunch of guys to decide which one goes when Claypool comes back. Given that Claypool looked healthy working out with Fields recently, Im not too worried that Claypool is all that injured. I am still worried as to whether he can become a WR2, but that's a different question. This PUP doesnt really concern me at all and makes sense.

Fields did enough at Ohio State for us to laugh at anyone calling him a running back. He is definitely a QB. A lot of NFL QBs never get over the hump to greatness. They are still QBs though. Fields is on the threshold or trying to break through that ceiling. That's a fine place for him to be. I wouldn't bet against him ascending. At the same time, as we've all said a million times, he didn't have protection or anyone to throw to last year. There is every reason to believe that even 2022 Justin Fields would have looked a lot better with this current roster. And he is better than the guy that started in 2022. But of course he has to do it on the field before it counts. That's fair. But to say he is already a bust (looking at you Colin Cowherd, ya hack) is just stupid. I can't say that he will become a top 5 QB in the league. No one can until it happens. But if I had the choice to betting that Fields will become that, or taking a QB in this past draft to roll with, it's an easy choice to go with Justin. If by some chance Fields is no good, we can look for a QB next year. But we would be fools to trade or cut him now (or back in March) as he is just on the cusp of breaking through. But national media narratives are all about what has already happened. So we are a 3-14 team that lost 10 in a row to them. They vote Eberflus the worst coach in the league. They say Fields isnt a good QB. All they can do is regurgitate what they saw last year on the scoreboard and stats. They dont even interpret those stats, or try to figure out why they were like that. They dont know anything really. And, should Fields rock the league this year, the national media will do a Cinderella story that simultaneously sounds like a Hollywood movie (which brings eyeballs and $), and justifies their current narrative as having been the true story. Theyre fools for clicks and eyeballs. Justin's gonna be great.