BearFan PHX

Amazing! Good luck to him!

This is how I see it too. And your last sentence is gold.

sounds right to me too

out of the gate, for sure. Poles has shown an ability to find later round defensive backs though - I think this is more a matter of not having as many picks as we might like, and needing stop gap measures for a couple years to fill a hole? He might also be doing his due diligence on this guy in case Byard doesnt get signed quickly due to age, and is available on a cheaper one year type deal later. Who knows. The next few weeks are sure to be interesting.

Bears meeting with Safety Kevin Byard today - a perennial all pro who played most of his career in Tennessee. He's 30 years old, so probably a 2 year deal to fill a hole and then draft a replacement next year if we make an offer at all. Expected to command $7.2M a year.

I think if Poles gets a decent offer in Fields he will trade him before Caleb's medicals are in. If he doesnt get that offer we will never know who was right, but i think Poles has enough data to make a decision now rather than lets a decent offer go stale and possible lose it?

ah I see what youre saying. Youre saying if someone blows him away with a trade down from #1 he'd keep Justin. I think if he trades down it will be only to #2 or #3 and he'll draft a rookie QB anyway. But having watched film, i think Williams is the clear best one in the draft. I watched game tape on Maye too, and his accuracy is all over the place, One minute he's throwing a beautiful ball and the next hes way off. He's also young, and so he may be able to correct those things in time too. I just see Caleb as the total package, and someone we can actually contend for superbowls (more than one!) with.

I think the "blow him away" comment was about pick #1 not Justin?

I dont think Caleb would be scared of Fields' competition, I think it's a matter of establishing leadership and respect. You can imagine the locker room might not be so happy about watching Caleb take it from Fields after all weve read about the love for Fields in the locker room - and if this board, or all of Chicago sports talk, is any indication, it's a contentious emotional issue? And I would imagine Fields would HATE it. I wouldnt be at all surprised if we sign a vet QB to give Caleb a month or two to develop, and I see the logic of keeping Fields since he's under contract, but I dont think hes the guy for that role, so I think he will get traded.

ok good, we're back to that I guess.

that sounds like a reasonable price, but if no one wants to pay that for Justin, im not sure you can blame Poles for that?

nice view!

and a CYA/depth at FS, even though our worst case scenario right now would be Elijah Hicks at FS, which isn't SO bad.

Well it sure does sell clicks, so expect it to continue. But in reality, the Bears are not keeping Justin unless no one trades for him. Can you imagine how Caleb's camp would feel about keeping a fan favorite around? It's a recipe for royally screwing up what could be the best thing you ever had. At this point, I can't say that anyone is trading a 3rd or better for Fields. I think they will, but I cant know that. But I do know that keeping Fields into training camp and having him participate is just asking for trouble. I think Justin's market is fast becoming a backup QB spot somewhere. And I think that says a lot about how he is as a QB. I can't imagine JF would be happy with that on any team including ours. If the Bears keep Fields and draft Williams, I could easily see Justin holding out to demand a trade. Wouldnt you? I would.

Bears signed a FS / SPecial Teams guy who worked with Hightower in SF. He was a Packer last year but was injured. Good depth, special teams move. ANd protection at an open position before free agency / the draft as a CYA too. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2024/03/08/bears-free-agent-signing-safety-tarvarius-moore-collin-johnson-special-teams-stalwart-san-francisco-49ers-richard-hightower

omg what is happening?

I agree, and I'm on your side of this debate as well. I'm just saying Fields isn't good AND the Bears did him no favors. And whatever the case, Caleb is the real deal, and we have to take him. It'd be "crazy" not to.

RIght. ANd if Poles respects Justin as his QB1, then he'd have said something about that in order to respect Justin. In fact, he has said that in order to "do right by Justin" he's trying to get things resolved as fast as possible. Well if you know youre keeping Justin as your QB1, then you could just announce that. So to me that says they are at least trying to trade him.

right, so Chicago is iffy at best on keeping Justin at QB1. Thats all Im saying. Chicago hasnt been telling everyone that they love Justin and want to trade the #1 pick down. Theyve been acting like theyre looking to move Justin. I dont think thats a really controversial thing to say?

I said "with our actions" they havent said it with words, but you dont treat your franchise QB the way we have treated Justin. Compare to Arizona tweeting out that Murray is QB1.

There's a rumor today on Adam Ranks podcast that Justin is staying in Chicago, and it supposedly comes thru a reliable source from "as close a source to the Bears as you can get" so I just wanted to share a few thoughts. First off, as you all know, I don't believe Justin Fields will ever be a great QB in the league. But I wanted to underline a few points. First off, about two months ago I changed my stance from "if the Bears don't get rid of Justin it will be a fatal mistake" to "if the Bears dont draft a high first round rookie QB it will be a fatal mistake" so while I think keeping Fields is an error and will cause morale issues if they bring in Caleb (or another high rookie) I don't think that would be fatal. I do think putting the future of the franchise into Justin's hands would be a fatal mistake. But as long as they draft Caleb it wont kill us. We desperately need the new QB, but keeping Fields around another year while i think it's a bad idea, isnt a knife to the heart as long as we also draft Caleb - Fields will be riding the bench before week 7 anyway, maybe have some wildcard sets - minor stuff. I also think this rumor could have been released by Poles to create leverage in trades. Hes not getting the offers he wants, so he wants to create the appearance that we want to keep him. So while I dont think keeping Fields is a good idea, what actually matters to me is that we get Caleb, and as long as that happens if Fields stays it won't kill us.

well you know I think Fields isnt a good QB, but Nagy did screw up the team, and we gutted the roster in 2022. Those things happened too. But while the excuses do explain the lack of wins, the lack of plays where Fields made a read on time and then threw the ball says to me that Fields is deeply flawed as well. When we drafted him, he had fundamental problems that needed to be fixed, and so far they still haven't been. maybe a QB guru would have helped, but Fields could do it any day he decided to. No one made him hold the ball when he was looking at open receivers. Whatever that was probably needed a sports psychologist rather than another coach. And Im not saying Fields has mental illness! I'm saying that he has some kind of mental block in his game. lots of players see sports psychologists who arent crazy to gain an edge on their mental game.

Caleb certainly has all the football tools coming in. From here, the most likely bust scenarios come from the Bears failing Caleb rather than the other way around. I'm sure Fields fans can agree on that. I don't know a lot about Waldron, but the little I do know looks good. I'm also hearing that our passing game coordinator, Thomas Brown, is an up and coming dynamic talent that's expected to be an amazing head coach some day by people around the league. It seems they're grooming him for an Offensive Coordinator position. He'll be working closely with Caleb, and supposedly provide feedback and a check to those above him about what works and what doesn't from Caleb (and his) point of view. He's going to be unsung but very important for us, and his apparent reputation is another reason to hope things are going to go well for the Bears development of Williams. I dunno how long we will be able to keep them all, but we seem to have assembled a hell of a staff.

yup - it's the beginning of the Bears window opening. Gonna be very exciting to see it unfold. We have certainly paid the price in failure to get to this moment, and it will be gratifying to see Poles turn possibility into a winning roster.