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I agree he did hold the ball too long a bunch of times last year. Im not sure Caleb was holding on too much because of some slow internal clock, since there are also examples of him getting the ball out fast. I think it was more a matter of the game being a little too big for him to digest. I think we can Blame Waldron and Flus for this. As we all already know, they never watched film with him!! wtf?! There is every reason to believe that Williams will mature a lot this season. He'll get good coaching, good plays, and just an overall plan for success that he will understand his role in. I can't imagine how it was for him last year with no coaching support and a plan that made no sense. It's criminal. But it also means the sky is the limit, it HAS to be a lot better this year, just because of all the bad crap eliminated before you even add in this staff, the new OL, his brand new LT Kelvin Banks... LOL

100% right. For fun I had a conversation with Grok the other day who told me that Membou would make a great LT LOL - I asked it not for an answer, but to gain insight into how it would answer the question. Of course it looked at a bunch of websites and comments and repeated the narrative. I read an article once that had a really interesting point. The author said that one of the ways we judge intelligence in animals is whether they recognize themselves in a mirror, or do they continue to think it is another animal. And given that AI LLMs are trained on human data, when we have a human experience conversing with them, and some people are convinced that they are conscious, it's just an example of us failing to notice ourselves in the mirror, or in this case in the LLM repeating our own patterns back to us.

Hey Stinger, you might get a laugh out of this. Erik Lambert has back to back articles today saying the Bears will draft Jeanty, and the other saying they will draft Henderson. All within an hour of eachother. LOL My prediction is that the Bears will take one of 35 guys with the 10th pick if they dont trade down LOL

Right, that's what Im saying. You dont draft depth early as a rule, you draft early for starters, but because the DL rotates, you can have more than 4 "starters" so a crowded room isnt a reason not to take a highly talented player. You can always use more on the DL.

of course he isnt, Im just saying while you dont draft a bunch of positions early if you already have good starters, you can always find room for talent on the defensive line, even if you have an already crowded room. The Eagles gave us all a master class in that this past year. Someone mentioned above that we already have a bunch of names on the DL, and we've probably all thought that too, but if you believe in a guy, theres always room for one more. Thats all I mean.

Right, and you'd ditch any of them for Aaron Donald, so you're always looking for more until you have that all time great. Dexter is good, and ascending, but if you see that guy available to you int he draft, theres no reason not to take him. You can always add to the D Line if the talent is high enough.

Sanborn has a great work ethic. Hes tough, plays downhill, makes tackles. He's a "Rudy." Reminds me of Hunter Hillenmeyer or Nick Kwiatkowski. Great effort players, but too slow to play coverage. I think Allen requires that all his LBers be able to play coverage.

Yes. I agree. I think that Ersery and Conerly are both better than Membou. Simmons is injured, so who knows where someone will pick him. I worry that the best name at OT by pick 39 will be Grant from W&M and he does not deserve to be a high 2nd round pick. *IF* youre someone who thinks we need a LT this year, it drops off fast.

Just to make the point - the oddsmakers set the odds to reflect what the crowd thinks about each player. They want to get even money all around so they win no matter what happens. And the crowd of bettors does usually know something, but in this bet, media narratives are figured in because they affect the bettors' points of view.

so interesting. I dont love Campbell but id take him over Membou any day. membou is an athlete, but he doesnt finish, hearts not in it etc to my eye. I can understand the love for Campbell more than for Membou, at least at OT. I would take Ersery over Membou any day. Everyone sees it differently I guess.

right. every snap they take is one where Kyler Gordon isn't on the field.

I'm a little confused by this. I personally agree with you and don't think we will take Jeanty at 10, but how is a player taken at 10 a "load back," but if you take them at 12, then they can share carries with another player? Aren't 10 and 12 pretty much the same thing?

It is interest for sure, even if the scenario I described is what's happening. There have been years where the Bears drafted a player they didn't visit with, even as they visited other big names at the same position. We agree that they meet with players to gain information on them as possible picks. Thats for sure. They dont just waste the visits on nothing, we are agreed. But it doesnt follow that the pick is more likely to come from the list of visits? They may have their eye on a big name player they hope to get in the first round, and if things fall another way, the player is gone, or some amazing talent drops that cant be overlooked, then they want to know their options in later rounds, and these visits help that a lot. Also, they can be looking at depth pieces. So yes, a 30 visit absolutely shows interest, but not visiting with someone doesnt imply no interest, and if they are taken at pick 10, then the same position is much less likely to go in the 2nd round, rendering the visit moot. So the value of the visit is to scout guys you might take, but not necessarily will take. And of course, in a few years when they become free agents, if they were guys you liked for a reason, they might still be on your list and the extra info from the visit comes into play again too.

This is a really good question for going forward. Obviously a lot of players with high RAS scores do end up as high picks, even from teams that dont care about RAS scores but do care about productivity, since there is overlap there. But guys like Velus Jones in the 3rd round is a pure RAS or speed move. It will be interesting to see how the new staff, and prior experience, affect whether Poles stays as connected to RAS scores as he has. Great post.

Yeah i think all the Warren talk is to shine him up so we have possible trade down options.

same here if they pick Campbell with Banks still on the board. This is precisely what has led me to believe we are taking Banks or an OT - that position drops off faster than HB or DT in this draft to my eye. Taken alone, there could be lots of good options at pick 10. DE, DT, HB, TE, WR - all have players that could help us, and look good. But there is a barren wasteland at OT if youre not SURE Ersery will drop to pick 39. That's a huge part of why Ive been on the OT at 10 train. Its not that OT Banks can help us so much more than HB Jeanty, but that HB Kaleb Johnson for example or HB TreVeyon Henderson can help us more than OT Charles Grant?

Or it means they know they want an OL, and they wanna know scenarios in case their guy is gone in the first, trade down offers occur etc. And they could be looking at depth pieces too. Its hard to tell what they are actually up to this year more than most i think.

You know I want OT at 10, but its not because Jeanty isnt a stud, he is one. I just think finishing the OL does more for us. But Jeanty IS awesome.

I definitely think that Warren nixed Harbaugh. And the thing is, as much as I love Harbaugh, I get it. He is a meathead. And I like meatheads. I like Vrabel and I like Dan Campbell too. At first i was worried that Johnson was too much of an egghead, but now i see more of his leadership. He's still got some genius boy in him, but he has some Jon Gruden to him too, so I trust him more now. The interesting question, which no one will ever know the answer to, is whether we could have had Johnson last year. And if we could why we didnt. Loyalty to Flus? McCaskeys saying they wont fire a coach with that many years left on their deal? Maybe Johnson wanted to finish in Detriot. Maybe a combination. But however the twisted road got here, we have a QB, and we have a coaching staff. I still think Poles has some issues, but they arent part of his job description any more, so, cool.

Yeah, I never believe anything he says anymore, unless it's a direct quote, usually from a tweet or interview, or a picture. Objective things that I dont need to trust him about? I certainly don't listen to him, or form any opinions from him, I mostly just read the headlines and then go from there. Anything not in quotes, I pretty much skip over. I use him more like a news filter than a source. If there's no link, then it's some stupid rumor he made up.

In the part where Poles is talking to Thuney, I felt Poles is a little introverted and uncomfortable. Same in press conferences, especially the last one he had with Warren. But with the new staff in the building, he doesn't really have to be a leader, he can just focus on being GM, and i think you're right he's learning and with the help of the staff we have now in evaluations, I think he'll do fine. He manages the cap very well and has a really good sustainable overall plan and doesn't step over those boundaries. He's been suspect I think in some player choices he's made, but I think he had no coaching staff that could tell him "please dont give us Velus Jones" I think Johnson has more juice in the building now than Poles, and I think both of them are comfortable with that. Poles feels to me like a team player who wants to make decisions to make everyone happy, give them what they need, while being disciplined with contracts and picks. On some teams the GM has a strong leader personality, and shapes the team. On others the owner has most input, and on some teams the coach is the leader and has a lot to say about which players are Bear players. This is a great structure. It plays to Poles' strengths.

0 to QB in 3 seconds

Well if it helps I think a ton of what he writes is absolute horseshit. Every day he has another scoop that we are drafting someone else. it's a lot of clickbait. I certainly dont trust him, or listen to him or his opinions as a source. The one thing that's good about his site is there is a ton of content, and on the rare occasions that there is actual news, he usually has it pretty fast. So from him i get lots of news fast, most of which is crap! But I saw the pic, and just as when he quotes other people, I am able to deal with what they said, and just that Lambert is repeating it doesnt trouble me as long as it is a picture or a quote. But yes, we totally agree, when he says unnamed sources say etc, I dont consider it true at all.

so snippy LOL "sources matter" OK Mr. Authority the pic is the pic.

totally agree, when hes healthy, he's a good player.