AZ54

Between the potential changes in scheme and new GM evaluations Goldman is definitely on the bubble. $5mil dead money but $6.6mil in cap savings

And maybe teach a protégé to take over for him? if this is being explored it would also mean Quinn would have to talk with those coaches he aligned with beforehand. Plus is Caldwell deadest on being HC? Seemingly the other teams are waiting on the Bears decision. At least the Jaguars might be since Eberflus is on their short list. I assume the Giants want Daboll so that’s a clear path. First time it’s felt like the Bears were in the pole position. No pun intended.

The crickets around all this means something is up.

Is the new GM trying to put together a HC with Caldwell as OC? Can be some delicate conversations working around that scenario.

Because the Raiders last $100mil contract worked out so well.

Imagine that approach when he was younger.

Sometimes people just aren’t ready. You could add Fangio to that list and it appears like most he’ll be coming back to coordinator level if he wants to.

If these 3 HC candidates had input from Poles and I presume the other GM finalists then so be it. As someone mentioned they likely had access to all the videos of the first interviews. I actually think that’sa good way to assess GM candidates. If I interviewed someone then you watch this and give me your assessment. I’m sure someone will point out that we’re comparing George and Teds opinions but they had insight from Polian on the post interview assessment. They get to compare Polian’s notes against GM candidates notes.

If Poles had a couple names high on his HC list that were not among the 3 finalists then he called them last night to setup interviews. We just haven’t heard about it yet. It is interesting that Daboll isn’t on Bears list. Not sure if that’s because the NYG job is considered a done deal or they simply feel he’s better as OC than HC.

Yes but I still don't think Allen is working with as much talent as Mahomes has in Hill/Kelce.

Goldman when he was moving well could fit a 4-3 front. These things always depend on what you want. We had 4-3 with two massive men. Keith Taylor and? Nobody could run inside on us and LB just had to clean up the edges. Downside was no pass rush up the middle. In the Lovie days he wanted nothing to do with that and wanted lighter quicker DTs to get upfield in their gap but LB had inside gap responsibility too. Fangio and Desai mixed it up. These are good questions and coaching choices should shape out offseason assuming our GM wants players that fit their schemes.

THE Pep Hamilton, who started out with Kyle Orton, Rex Grossman, and then Jay Cutler, coming back for a return engagement?

He's calling Andy Reid's plays within Andy Reid's game plan. Yet how much of KCs offense is simply the elite talent in Hill, Kelce, and Mahomes? Just watching the Buffalo game so many of the big plays get done off-script. To be fair there was some of that with Buffalo but who is Allen throwing to? I just watched the game and can't even remember any WR or TE beyond Beasley. I know him more from his days as a Cowboy. I agree that Poles will know, or should know, ( I sure hope he knows) how much of the success is attributable to Bienemy and how much is from elite playmakers doing their thing in the school yard.

If true about Khan that was smart heads up play using your GM interviewing opportunity to see if he's someone who can help next year when Ted leaves. Somebody has to handle the off-field stuff from marketing to the new stadium. You don't want your GM messing around with that, at least I wouldn't. You got 2 people reporting to ownership for two branches of the business on-field and off-field.

Bears hire former BC offensive lineman to be their GM. I hope this bodes well for our Oline and D line. I’m surprised how young this guy is.

https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2022/1/25/22900101/chicago-bears-hire-ryan-poles-general-manager-kansas-city-chiefs-executive-gm

That is the rumor. A link would be nice but his first order of business is calling the Vikings to say sorry not sorry.

Surprised as well to see Ossenfort as he wasn't on my radar. I have to credit the Titans for building a good football team with not just athletes but football players. Watching that team play it always feels like the team is more than just the sum of the parts. Vrabel gets a lot of credit too. Kinda like the anti-Nagy.

I thought Polian and Daboll had some connections over many years?

Who among our candidates is even thinking about that? In Chicago if you win they build statues of you. Whatever their faults these guys are not like Jerry Jones. They will not be walking into the draft room to tell you which player to take in Rd 1. They won't call the sideline in the middle of a game to tell the HC to throw deep. Under Michael McCaskey there were issues with being too cheap to keep good players but in the last decade I think they've proven they'll give a GM whatever is needed to get elite players like Khalil Mack. Their problem is they haven't chosen the right GM which is why they are offering the opportunity to this group of candidates. Please don't hire the guy who says he lacks confidence and needs the owner or Ted to help him make decisions. I do understand you need an owner to sign off on the checks for players like Mack. Any candidate worthy of this job is asking the owners what the budgets and boundaries are for FA, draft trades, and such. If they don't want to know that upfront don't hire them. Again it was clear Pace had free rein to make big trades on draft day and big trades in FA.

Despite our issues at WR for some reason I still lean toward fixing the CB/S position in Rd 2. That's not to say I wouldn't draft a WR there if the right talent fell to us. Maybe at this point I simply like the DB options in Rd 2 better than the WR options. Looking at WR who will still be on the board in Rd 2-5 I came across Justyn Ross. Physically he's an easy fit to step into ARob's role but he has some serious injury history having had surgery to repair a congenital fusion condition with his neck and spine. He missed all of 2020 for that but returned in 2021 and still played well. I like his skill set and he's a player I'll be tracking as we go through the scouting process.

Watching the Packers get owned like that on their home field was a very rewarding experience for me.

I’m really curious what he has to say about Nagy. Would he have hired him as HC and why?

It's the depth of the roster behind the "hits" and that defense just hasn't been there. I don't see Marcus Peters as a success much the same way as Anthony Miller was not a success here. Athletically he was a better talent than Miller but throwing away the 18th pick on just a few years of production is not a good investment. Admittedly that was a weak year for draft talent. "On December 6, 2017, the Chiefs announced their decision to suspend Peters for the next game.[43] Three days after the suspension was announced, it was revealed that Peters’ suspension also was the result of an argument he got into with an unnamed coach for the Chiefs. On March 14, 2018, the Kansas City Chiefs traded Peters and a sixth round pick (209th overall) in the 2018 NFL Draft to the Los Angeles Rams for a fourth round pick (124th overall) in 2018 and second round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.[51] Yet the scouts behind the scenes are not setting roster and cap strategy for the team so it's entirely possible he flagged Peters as a 1st Rd risk and it was ignored. As fans we know the history of draft picks or even pro player FA signings but unless you have an experienced GM like Rick Smith there is no way for us to know what strategy or philosophy they will use as a new GM. Thankfully we're heading into Rd 2 of the interviews.

If I were a Giant's fan I'd be concerned here that the new GM immediately goes back to the coaches he just worked with. Not that he shouldn't talk with them but this news is so fast and "going after them hard" that you almost wonder if the Giants chose the GM in hopes of the getting Dabol. I could certainly be misreading this but IMO it would have been more appropriate for the team to release a complete list of candidates rather than these rumors spreading so fast. Other HC candidates could be feeling that the team isn't serious about them which could persuade them to take a job elsewhere. Would any coach want to go somewhere knowing he wasn't really the one they wanted and that the leash would always be short? As a Bears fan I prefer my team taking the confident methodical approach as long as they keep things moving. They can't sit and deliberate for 2 weeks on who gets to Rd 2. If Dabol or Frazier are on their short list for in-person interviews they likely already know that and the Bears could move as fast as needed to compete with the Giants if desired. The same should be happening with the GM candidates and as soon as Rd 1 is done whichever morning they should already have their first 2nd Rd interview setup for that afternoon.