BearFan PHX

cutting Leno gains you $3 mil on the salary cap. If I had both, Id play Peters over leno in a heartbeat. I dunno what he wants for $, or what we can give, but strgith up Id take Peters in a heartbeat. Not long term of course, just for right now.

yeah, but not to win the bet, its the other way around LOL the reason there is a bet is because Im so dogmatic about changing the OLT!! If we get a deent OLT, then Nagy gets one more chance to prove his stuff works, and it was Trubisky and the OL that was the problem. Maybe he LOVES to call the run, and just couldnt because they werent blocking it? If we get a new OLT Ill be a very optimistic fan indeed.

any thoughts on 38 year old OLT Jason Peters? His age is scary, but he is still performing at a very high level, comes from Philadelphia, and will likely be available on a cheapish deal. You can sign him, cut Leno, and draft someone to take a year to grow under him (in the weightroom too, as most rookie OLs require) He could be the missing piece that makes us a real threat.

I think once the market shakes out, we might end up squeezing a cheap last year or two out of Jason Peters. THAT would be amazing. Id win my bet!

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2020/3/22/21189967/bears-free-agency-2020-jordan-lucas-agrees-contract-chiefs-safety-ryan-pace-deon-bush-matt-nagy

I think that you can only target so many positions to go after early in free agency when longer term deals at higher prices are available. If instead, you dont think the best free agent option at a position is that much better than the 8th best, then you wait for the music to stop and grab one of the guys who are left on a shorter term deal thats much more cap friendly. I assume that is what Pace is doing regarding the OL. I strongly suspect we will be bringing in free agent help on the OL before this is all over. Obviously it's not going to be a high priced stud, but Im not sure we could have afforded the top salaries at the position, and probabl;y dont see a huge difference in talent on the next tier. Of course you know I think we need serious help on the OL, but paying a journeyman a mot of money doesnt turn him into a Pro Bowler either. I guess we just wait and see.

I think Tre Roberson is a wild card here. He miight just be a depth signing from an inferior league, but he was playing pretty damned well there, and a number of teams made offers for him. Who knows? I won't be counting on him, but he could well surprise.

And here is new QB coach John DeFilippo who tutored Foles in Philly AND Jacksonville doing some film study on Foles. I gotta say, hearing him talk does inspire some confidence, and shows maybe what Mitch should have been doing, and wasnt.

I knew a bunch of this stuff, but maybe not all of it. It's interesting to see how connected Foles is to Bears coaches and current and former players. From Alshon Jeffries, to Burton on the Philly special. Like did anyone realize yet (not that it means anything) that we have the passer and reciever of the play that beat the Patriots in the Superbowl? Anyway, here's a better look at Foles' history in the league. He seems to do well in certain systems (like ours!) And

+1 to two OL, although it might help me in our bet

I'm all in on Monty, but I need to see more actual production too!

I think the main thing NO did was to have him when he was younger. This may be a nostalgia / Saints mistake by Pace.

Oh boy. Pace really blew it. Hopefully Graham can be productive, and maybe even a good player, but Ebron signed cheaper. Ugh.

we will draft a safety with one of the later round picks. SUperstars at any position are hard to come by, but reasonable talent is available at RB and S lower in the draft than any other position for the simple reason that the positions dont require freakish athletic ability and physical size. There are many more 5' 11" 220 pound people who run a slower 40 than 4.4 than there are 6' 7" athletes, or guys that run faster than 4.4 in the world, so the 80th best RB in the world is a better fit in the NFL than the 80th best OLT or CB

bwahahahaha

Ive wondered about this too. It was in my pre-Free Agency thread about who to cut or trade etc. A lot of the moves i mentioned have come to pass, even though people said they wouldnt But I worry about this too. I hope that Mike McCaskey told him not to do anything like that. I even included a quote where McCaskey had signed off on the various trades that Pace made, so one assumes that to trade future picks he would need a green light. But I surely dont know for sure. Its a real question, especially with their backs against the wall as you say.

Im not all in on Foles. I really dont know how good he can be. But there is reason to think there may be upside to him and/or Trubisky. They've both shown flashes, and they've both regressed. If we can get one of them to make the right reads, and get the ball out on time, we should have enough skill players and defense around them to win some games. (we need OL help or none of it matters)

I think BIll meant face to face meetings becasue of the virus - you are correct the legal tampering period makes it all OK in terms of that. But a meeting could have been over skype etc...

AZ, good points, thanks for the info - youre right about the cap being an unpredictable thing. Still it's almost as if they assembled this staff specifically for Foles, given how much history he has with all of the new hires.

Foles has had success in this system and has a history of working with Nagy and the new coaches we brought in. Im sory of surprised now that I know the history that this wasnt already predicted. He doesnt have to be great and win games, he just needs to manage the offense while the defense plays well.

We agree!!

We didnt have the money to get a top flight QB, so we put the money into Quinn instead and we are going to ride a dominant defense front 7. This is good because Nagys offensive play calls are a bit mitigated by this. That said, Foles has upside. Heck, Trubisky has upside. The odds that one of them will at least be serviceable is high. We still need some players at S and CB, and of course on the OL too. I think those are all coming, not big name first day signings, but solid $5 Mil a year type guys. While I am a bit headscratching the Jimmy Graham move, between him, Burton and a possible rookie, I think we will be OK at least at TE. I think we are about in as good shape as possible at this point int he process, and I am thankful that Pace has done this pretty well. Of course it's all necessary because he whiffed on 1st round picks Trubisky and Floyd in the first place. Now clean up your trainwreck on the OL Mr Pace. (And I do think he will, and Im not critical that it hasnt happened yet - for cap reasons)

nah, if we had 30 Million in cap space we could sign a better QB, but we dont, so whats thew option? To get in early and overpay for a mid tier guy? We tried and Bridegwater got more than we could afford. What did you want the Bears to do?

lol - I think Montgomery is a tremendous north south runner too. he is so strong and moves the pile his way. He reminds me a little of Raymont Harris in that way. In other ways he is different.

Grizz, Montgomery is awesome, and he is MUCH better than Howard. I know the overal running game asnt great last year, but Montgomery makes fast decisions, hit the hole with authority, has a wicked cut, and fights hard for extra years. THe stats arent there, but if you watch him, you see that he gets the most yards possible out of every run he had. Oh, and also some personal attack. I dont have time to think of one, so just imagine one. Thanks