BearFan PHX

I totally understand you, and you and i both agree on things like how important a good OL is etc. We really are aligned on that. The only difference we have is that I think it's all exhibition unless you have that world beater QB. I think without one, you can be a playoff team, and possibly sneak into a superbowl victory with a lot of luck, mostly relating to the leagues world beater QB not making it that year, but unless youve got that guy at QB, you're not realistically in the hunt. And I think most years there just isnt one available. And every now and then one does come along, and usually your team isn't in position to get them. But right now, we have a shot at one. Now I cant say he IS one of course, i agree with you again there, but I think he has a good chance to be one, and so you gotta take a swing at it. None of that defeats anything you say about building a roster either, although I think Poles is well on his way to that, and by September you might even be happy with the state of the offensive roster too. I expect another free agent OL, and either a stud LT or a stud WR (or Bowers) with the #9 pick. probably an interior rookie OL to compete with what we've got too. We added a running back today too, so the 2024 Bears QB should have a lot of support.

no you dont understand. GMs of teams NOT in the hunt for a QB give their opinions on Fields off the record. Multiple reporters said when they asked around that was the prevailing sentiment on Fields. I wouldnt ask Washingtons Gm for example, but you could ask the Chiefs GM that question. The thing is, you only care about facts that support your narrative. Thats why youre so confused about all of this - youre not thinking it through, youre just reaffirming your own bubble.

he had a hamstring in 2022 - thats not a concern, nor is it anything that w0uld show up on a medical.

100% and it wouldnt stop GMs from giving their opinions too, and around the league that is that Justin isnt good.

Greg Gabriel is full of crap. He says he knows secret bad things about Caleb but wont report on them. OK I know secret bad things about Justin too - and if you knew them WOO BOY youd want him gone. So many bad secrets about Justin, but I just wont say them. Right.

LOL Imagine thinking you have a franchise QB but now youre gonna keep Fields because you have to wait a month for medicals on a guy whos never been injured. Some people just dont know how the world works.

exactly

THIS

it would bring us a crappy QB.

Reporters are asking GMs around the league what they think Fields trade value is. You oscillate between telling us no one can know anything, and then other times you say things you are sure of that you couldnt possibly be. Youre all over the road.

thats how I see it too

all the reporting is that the market is soft for Fields. There are dozens of stories saying that. Youre just in denial dude.

I think they aren't as high on Herbert as we are?

I just read that we signed him to a 3year $24M deal - not bad at all! EDIT - oops Dawhizz you beat me to it!

I disagree. The NFL is a QB league, and in truth if you dont have one of the top 2 QBs, your only chance of winning a superbowl is to get lucky in a year where one of those top 2 dont make it. If you dont have a top 2 QB you have zero chance to win multiple superbowls - it just isnt a plan. Now I agree with you entirely that football is the ultimate team sport, and a QB cant do it alone. You need an OL and WRs and a defense etc. But there are ways to build a roster that dont require trading down the #1 pick overall. I see Poles stacking the defense, and i think he will put more talent on the OL and get new WRs too this year. And all of that works if you have a GREAT QB - and the only way to have on of those is to draft someone like Caleb, develop them, and have a little luck too - but not so much luck. He's a pretty good bet.

every interview done by reporters at the combine with teams around the league is telling us in strong terms that the league is not as high on Fields as some fans seems to be. And that makes sense given what he put on tape.

the problem is that its a recipe for mediocrity. youre saying instead of swinging for a big win, you want to swing a bunch of smaller times, some will miss and some will hit - so you have a better chance of not losing it all, but you also have a lesser chance of winning big. It's like buying every lottery ticket, you cant lose, but you spent so much to buy them all that you dont win either. When you take all the risk out, you end up with a more likely middle outcome. We have a shot at a top QB, which is everything int he NFL, and because it's not a 100% shot, you want to buy insurance and lose a chance at winning. So the question is, in the NFL, is it better to reliably go 9-8, or is it better to try to win a superbowl?

Yeah he looked really smooth in that film. I want that guy to be our QB. I watched the all 22 Alabama game too and he was incredible in that one. I cant find it not behind a paywall though. Even the Notre Dame game which was his worst, you can see he picked himself up after the half and came back strong. I think he has everything we need in a QB.

lol

That was the year he was running - and he's great in the open field. After that, they told him not to put any moves on approaching defenders, but to slide instead, and that took away his best weapon. Also once defenses realized he couldnt punish them for not playing honest in the middle, they had schemes to contain his run too.

yeah but we saw on film when Fields had all kinds of time and a man open he was looking right at and didnt pull the trigger. That happened a lot. And also, there are #1 picks and #1 picks, they arent all the same. No one thinks that Young was rated as highly as Williams is this year.

More info: Caleb against ranked opponents in 2023: at ND (16) 20-48 loss at Utah (14) 32-34 loss vs Washington (5) 42-52 loss at Oregon (6) 27-36 loss You can see Caleb is scoring well, and the USC defense is terrible. Also, USC didn't have any players who will be drafted in the first 3 rounds of the draft this year, so Caleb did that with lesser talent too.

Grizz - thank you SO much for watching and for that long post! That's awesome! I agree with what you wrote too. I'm glad we are seeing the same things. I would say a few things in response. First off, I'll bet you agree that you didn't see Williams holding the ball, and the ball usually came out quick, on time. So that huge narrative just isn't in the film? Secondly, there is nothing wrong with "hero ball" - it's a very important part of being a successful QB in the NFL. When a play breaks down, this is how a good QB can make something from it, so I LOVE when a QB can do that. My knock on Fields was that he only did that, and almost never got the ball out in structure. Williams definitely can do both. I agree about the accuracy on those long balls. He's not always like that, but for sure in that game he missed on three long balls in a row, although one was a pass interference call. He did recover though and score a touchdown on the same drive he overthrew those balls, and threw some other nice long balls later in the game. To your question about "scripted" plays, I'd say that ALL plays are scripted, but what I meant by it was the opening plays for Justin in each game were preset, so he knew what was coming early and could work on those plays especially, rather than learning the whole game plan that deeply. After the first handful of plays, Justin's productivity drops off and he almost never throws in rhythm for the rest of the game. Caleb gets better throughout the game, and seems to be able to play in structure a lot. You said he lost to better competition, but that was because his defense gave up too many points. Caleb still put up numbers against every opponent, and scored a lot. USC scored these points in 2023: 56, 66, 56, 42, 48, 43, 20, 32, 50, 42, 27, 20 - I think you can say that the losses are not on Caleb? Also, did you love his compact delivery? I am blown away by it, i don't see anyone how throws with so little motion and the time from starting to throw until the ball comes out is insanely fast. Also, you saw the accuracy on short and intermediate routes? How he leads the receivers etc? To me he looks NFL ready right now, and I cant think of another QB since Luck that looked that ready. Dude, thank you SO much for doing that. At least now we are talking about the same things.

I agree. But if he did, we should grab him in a second.

Justin is definitely electrifying at times, but i dont think you can call him solid at all.