AZ54

I came across this while doing some draft research. https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/david-montgomery-contract-chicago-bears I've already said I'm in favor or re-signing him and keeping him around while Fields' develops. However, as in that article, there is a good argument to be made about how difficult it can be to get value out of a RB on an expensive 2nd contract. With that in mind IF your decision as GM is to... 1) Let him ride out his existing deal (play next year) and then let him go seeking a potential comp pick in exchange 2) Herbert is good enough to your starter .... should we trade Montgomery this offseason? A good RB averaging over 4ypc who can catch with a cap hit of just $1.2mil should be attractive to teams in need of a RB. I think we could get as high as a 2nd Rd pick in exchange. If you are a playoff caliber team in need of a good RB do you prefer the 2nd Rd rookie or Montgomery to help you achieve your Superbowl aspirations? I don't think I do the deal for a 3rd Rd pick because we have the same benefit of his $1.2mil cap hit next year. Again, I lean toward building as strong a running game as possible to help Fields' next year. For me that's the 1-2 combo of Monty/Herbert. OTOH if someone offered me a 2nd Rd pick for Montgomery I'd have to take it because I think it makes the overall team better. Having two 2nd Rd picks makes things look dramatically better in terms of filling needs this offseason.

In general I like the concept but the concern I have is we must get one good starter out of this draft at either WR or CB. Metchie would fit that need but I don't see him being there at 56. We're more likely to end up with a chain-mover type WR in Bell. Since that's about all ARob is doing these days and we don't have anyone else on the roster like that it's ok. WR talent seems to drop off quickly after early 2nd Rd and you get to players who are going to need time to develop. We'll see who moves up as we go through the process because it would be nice to see more talent in the backend of the 2nd rd. Whoever is making the decision one of these glaring needs has to be filled at least adequately by FA.

https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/bears-wr-targets-senior-bowl-2022-nfl-draft

I read somewhere this is the best draft for safeties in a long time. Good for us because we need 2.

There is always speculation in the media but from what I read Frazier was being considered because of his success as a DC. He's going to be a HC candidate for other teams as well so Frazier likely already has OC candidates calling him.

That's the rookie he wouldn't let throw the football against the Bills? I know the weather was downright bad with the wind but when it was at his back he still didn't throw. I don't mind the Fox-ball approach given the weather but 3 passes? I'm surprised Fox didn't call into the post-game show to say .."I told ya so!" As far as McDaniels there is zero chance I'd ever hire him after what he did in Denver and then Indy. People have quit on me in dishonorable ways and then come back asking to work for me again a year or two down the road. Ain't gonna happen because I could never trust them. Who wants to work with people they can't trust especially when they are in a leadership position?

https://www.outkick.com/bears-looking-at-bills-dc-leslie-frazier-if-matt-nagy-is-fired/

Just a curiosity: Why is it that we don't hear about the defensive oriented HCs calling defensive plays? Is Fangio calling the defense in Denver?

Am I the only one who likes Jesper Horsted? I simply think Nagy either doesn't know how to use him or is being too stubborn sticking with Graham. How is he not a good fit for the role Trey Burton played for us years ago? I realize part of the issue is the Oline pass protection issues (need to keep better blockers at TE) and Field's learning curve. I'm not putting Horsted in the Pro Bowl just saying he's a viable chess piece who can exploit defenses in the right situations. He's an ERFA so I think we keep him around to see what happens with the next coaching staff. Baltimore can figure out how to get 3 TEs on the field and still run an effective passing game. We haven't been able to do this with ARob out for several games and we're stuck watching Damiere Byrd try to get open. I can't believe Byrd is an asset in the running game more so than Horsted.

I'm not a coach but sometimes i watch collectively the routes our WRs run and it's pretty boring stuff. Other times it looks like something that would make a defense think a bit. We used to blame this on Mitch Trubisky's limitations. I'm still staying with the fact Santa's Sleigh was the peak of Nagy's offense. At least since Lazor and Castillo showed up and got more involved in calling plays our running game improved. Castillo is the one coach I would like to see stay. He won't likely survive but I like Desai too and think he's got a bright future years down the road. He's made mistakes as a first time DC for sure but I'd like to see what he can do with a few more pieces in the secondary.

It's way too early to get a feel for draft rankings and I really need to start looking at CBs, but if WR Jameson Williams from Alabama is there at 37 I'm ok if we draft him. He's a football player which is evident on his kick return and coverage skills. He's got quickness in his cuts and enough deep speed to compliment Mooney nicely. Doesn't hurt that he played with Fields at OSU before transferring to 'Bama. I'd like to know why he transferred. I don't see him as a #1 WR, at least not at this point in his skill set, but having a couple good #2s can work especially if both are deep threats. Dazz Newsome should be our slot WR. Not sure what his issue is because they brought up Adams this past week. https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/dazz-newsome-2021-nfl-draft-prospect-interview You spent most of your time playing as a slot receiver at North Carolina. Is that where NFL teams see you playing at the next level? I imagine you’ve gathered some good intel on that through your Zoom meetings. DN: Yeah, most of them are saying that I’ll play in the slot. I spoke with one coach that said he thinks I can play the Z position for them. I feel like I can play anywhere, but most teams see me as a slot receiver.

Does Mooney have x-ray vision? How else to know if the cracks in the ribs have healed? These were minor cracks that the team did not want to become serious issues. I agree with that, we need to make sure Fields is playing at or close to full strength while he's still learning the game. I'm sure there was some soft tissue injury around the impact site. That might have been what caused the most pain breathing, twisting, and could well be healed up enough to allow Fields to throw. Reading Nagy's quote earlier in the week it was obvious that even if Fields is ready to start they are not going to release that until game time. That's the right approach. His deep passing skills definitely alter the defense's approach at least to some extent.

Well we're not in the first round so that's a done deal. Are you advocating trading out of the 2nd Rd? I wouldn't do that. Odds are good a starting caliber player falls to us at 37. Depending on what the board looks like when we're on the clock I might be ok trading back a few spots to add a pick. I have to see who's available before making that call.

If we did that I'd prefer to re-sign Ifedi and put him at RG.

I agree there are a lot of positives to our roster. We should have won the game against the Cardinals and likely would have if not for the 4 turnovers. We might have won even with 2 turnovers. I've watched a few Cards games this season and I know it sounds crazy but there's just a few players between their record and ours. QB is a big piece of it of course but I think Fields can improve in his 2nd season and if you want to compare 3rd season as Murray has. Although I'm not a big fan of Kyler Murray as I think he's a QB you can win with. The Cards have done a great job putting good players around him. After watching MNF (both Josh Allen and Mac Jones) I'm even more optimistic for Fields' future. I agree with Adams assessment on the D as well. We have good players on every level of the defense except safety which should be the easiest to fix. CB = Johnson, ILB Smith, OLB Quinn and Mack. Goldman is rounding back into form and his backup Tonga has shown the ability to make some big plays in a backup role. I'm not sure Tonga will ever have the endurance to be a starter. Fix CB2, and both safety positions. Say what you will about the offense we can run behind this Oline with either Montgomery or Herbert. That should only get better with Jenkins next year. I can't see how any aspiring HC candidate would not look at this as a great opportunity. Now that could all depend on Pace being here vs. another GM but in his defense Pace has largely given Nagy the players he said he needed. Patterson, Cohen, and I believe Nagy was a driving force behind the trade up for Anthony Miller and other acquisitions like Trey Burton. We can debate the merits of each but for a HC looking for a GM who will partner with him on acquiring players he wants Pace has shown he'll do that. https://beargoggleson.com/2021/05/16/chicago-bears-draft-free-agency-building-matt-nagy/2/ The team’s 2018 offseason has been nothing short of spectacular, with the offense picking up Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy as the head coach, going out and getting Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Trey Burton in free agency, and hauling it draft picks like Roquan Smith, James Daniels, and Anthony Miller.

He’s going to meddle as soon as he fires the coach and /or GM. It is interesting that some advocate for new ownership as if someone spending $3B isn’t going to meddle with their investment. We have to hope they are better at meddling. People who have made that much money usually didn’t do it by sitting on the sidelines and they aren’t likely to change just because it’s a sports team.

Sean Payton calls plays too. I think that was to his detriment years ago with all the issues. As he said at the time he did little to nothing with the D. That was with a HoF QB. How much more difficult is doing that with a young QB? We went with Nagy and Fangio. Tried to replace Vic with another experienced coach in Pagano. With Nagy on hot seat likely nobody experienced wanted the short leash as our DC so we have Desai. So we get that option or we go for the executive type like Harbaugh or Tomlin.

I don't care if our next HC is defense oriented as long as we get a good OC. It's always hard to know who the good HC candidates because the role is different from being a coordinator. Media hype being what it is doesn't make it any easier, and the coaching fraternity isn't going to say anything negative (nor should they). IMO Frazier belongs on the short list for the Bears. Looking at his resume he's been around the league, including a few years as a HC at Minn. He has the contacts and the reputation and knowledge to hire experienced quality coaches. In 2 of the last 3 years the Bills D has been ranked 2nd (2019), and this year they are 1st. For 2020 they were ranked 16th overall but it's hard to evaluate 2020. He never really got to that level as the Vikings DC but his defenses were always middle of the pack. I also like what Sean McDermott has done in Buffalo, especially his first season there. I think that's a great mentor to build off of, especially when Frazier combines his experience and lessons learned from his first HC job with seeing how McDermott turned around the Bills. Other NFL coaching associations: Childress, Reid, Dungy. He needs to be interviewed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Frazier FWIW I will not be surprised to Matt Nagy be in a similar situation as a HC candidate in 10-15 years.

If true I commend George. He wants (should want) a full accounting of Nagy and how he'll perform with his new QB. This is an indisputable NFL QB talent/prospect and there are no more excuses for Nagy on the QB situation holding back his offense. The worst thing would be to let Nagy go through this season 8-8 with Dalton as QB and us not knowing. George should want to know if Nagy is the right guy to develop Fields.

I think these stats are showing what physically talented rookie QBs can do as a baseline. Haskins has arm talent. As fans I still believe we underestimate just how much these first year QBs have to learn. I'm oversimplifying it (a lot) but it's basically backyard football early on in the rookie season and the arm (or running) talent will get you a base level of performance stats whether you are Trubisky, Jackson, Haskins, Lawrence, Jones (Daniel or Mac), Fields, Kyler Murray, etc. I get there are fliers out there like Herbert but if I could put rookie QB stats into a control chart we'd likely see a trend of upper and lower limits for the vast majority of these QBs. Like your grades in elementary school, I don't think the rookie season necessarily correlates to future success. Especially true for the first half. I definitely want to see continued growth from Fields in the last part of the season.

I think it’s more about the upward trend than overall stats.

If Dalton intended to show teams he’s still a viable starter it didn’t work. Detroit’s head coach is in over his head but there’s no way this win did anything to save Nagy’s job.

There is always a fog around any big organizational changes, in any company.

Might be the long term plan. I believe they’ll want Phillips to close the new stadium deal as that stuff is his strength afterward I could see Phillips retiring.

Missing from all this is the obvious point that if Nagy gets fired midseason it means Pace is staying. .