AZ54

He's definitely bulked up from last year. It's say at least 10 to 15lbs. Well have to wait for reports out of camp to see if he still moves well.

When looking at WRs it feels like run blocking is a big deal for Getsy. Mooney gives effort but given his size he's not much of a blocker. Velus and Pringle are both good blockers and reportedly so is St Brown and maybe Sharpe. I'm not sure about David Moore, Dazz, or Pettis. When looking at someone like TY Hilton Eberflus knows what he's bringing to the table and we chose to skip it so far. Where would Beasley fit in? https://kckingdom.com/2020/10/21/kc-chiefs-byron-pringle-needs-more-snaps-in-the-offense/ "Pringle may not be as athletically gifted as say Demarcus Robinson, but he is a very hard worker who is looking to prove he is an NFL caliber receiver. He has good hands, is a good blocker, is decent in route running, and is pretty good after the catch. The only thing he has over Robinson is the hands and blocking."

Wow. Good for him and he has a shot at getting a ring. Teams that are close are looking for the missing piece. Missed games aside he does affect the ones he plays in and that can get you home field advantage in the playoffs. Looks like they had $12mil in cap space.

I'm not sold that going big on a FA or two is the only path forward. If Poles chooses he can do several extensions for our own players and front load their deals. This could all be done in a creative way so that if you think Fields will be ready to take us deep into the playoffs in years 4 and 5 then we'd have more room to make that big splash signing or two to put us on top. Near term there are only 4 players deserving of big contracts in the next 2 years: Roquan and Montgomery after 2022 season. Jaylon Johnson, Mooney after 2023 season, and possibly Kmet could join them. You would think Roquan and Johnson are keepers and Montgomery's story plays out over the year. Behind them are a host of short term or expiring in 2023 deals they could choose to extend early: Morrow, Pringle, Angelo Blackson, AQ Muhammed, Cruikshank, Trevis Gipson, and Kmet (signed thru 2023). If they see enough good from a few here they could choose to do early extensions and save cap space for 2025 when Fields might get his new deal. Poles and Eberflus have done enough to raise the talent floor to where they can evaluate the roster, including Fields, this year. Bright stars among this cast (ala Mooney last year) will stand out. They will also know who is bought into their program and is a leader they want to keep.

You sure that wasn't a whole season off?

That also assumes he's capable of building through the draft. Early returns are good but we'll see what we get from the Day 3 picks.

It is interesting that Montgomery was averaging 4.2ypc until the last 4 games, and that includes his return after the knee injury. The last 4 games were MIN, SEA, NYG, and MIN where he averaged just 3.0ypc. He had bad games in other 4 game stretches but this is only time frame where he had no games over 4ypc. I don't recall what was going on during the last 4 games of the season but something changed other than everyone knowing the coach was getting fired. During those games Herbert ran 8 times for 41 yds, or 2.13 ypc. 8 carries is not necessarily statistically significant but it is interesting that both had a significant drop off in the last 4 games. FWIW in 15 games Aaron Jones rushed for just 800yds, just 391yds receiving behind the MVP QB and he's making $12mil/yr. Monty: 12 games rushed for 849yds, 301yds receiving While he might not be the ideal lead RB he's a guy you want in your team's rotation and he'll find work easily if he's a FA. At what price it's hard to say. James Conner had a similar year as did Austin Ekeler and although each have different styles I put Montgomery in that group. They make ~$7mil/yr. If he repeat's with a similar year Montgomery will easily get that and likely at least $8mil/yr. If he does better in the new offense his value goes up (call it the Nagy bounce) but I can't see him worth $12mil/yr like Jones is getting.

How about "judicious" with his spending?

They'd have to come out of the gate playing well. I'd be surprised if that happens with the new scheme and 2 rookies starting in the secondary, plus I have concerns about DTs. The same things go for the new offense with a 2nd yr QB having to learn all that with a nearly new WR corps, 2 new TEs, and some new Oline pieces. Fields getting used to how all these guys run the new routes is going to take longer than just training camp.

Let's just say no to Deebo and let SF (or someone else) make that crazy investment. He's a good football player but he's not a generational talent. We have Cliff Stein back on contracts so I'm expecting Roquan's deal to be front-loaded and maybe have a crazy cap hit of $30-40mil next year and then let it drift back down in the time frame when Fields next deal comes due. We need two legit Dline starters not these rotational players we have now, and we might need to replace Quinn. I like the DE backups but they are just that until proven otherwise. I also like AQ at DE he's really a stop-gap hustle player who fits into the rotation. Oline seems a likely choice for at least one 2nd tier FA addition (LT/LG/C/RG) but we'll see how the young guys play.

I have no idea how fast Montgomery is now but whatever he is doing in the offseason on his speed he's definitely faster than he was in college. He's not a burner by any means but he's likely closer to 4.5 now. In wide zone he's got be decisive because too often he will bounce twice before pushing forward. The defense will reading and flowing right along with the Oline. If there's a crease with this new Oline it probably won't last long.

I like Herbert but was less enamored with his performance than others. IMO he has room to grow but he does seem like a better outside zone fit than Montgomery. OTOH inside zone, which it appears we'll run ~30-40% of plays, is a better fit for Montgomery. The surprise I want to see is that everyone knows where to go and what to do on each play. Then we can better evaluate how well players perform.

The rookie Dom is quietly getting some first team reps and his athleticism had stood out. But there’s nobody blocking him and I really doubt he has the strength to bend around the edge. On the positive side coaches are saying he’s picking up the defense and is working hard on his new craft. At this point it seems he’s not going to the practice squad without a fight.

It's hard to say a practice squad player is being overlooked but I do think he has a great opportunity to find a role as a backup. If you've seen his photos from OTAs he's bulked up quite a bit and looks more prepared to contribute at DE this year. If he can earn the backup role behind Quinn I like our rotation at DE.

David Montgomery makes the value list. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-s-most-underappreciated-players-dk-metcalf-david-montgomery-among-nfc-picks

Watching this it's clear that the way the draft fell selecting Kyler Gordon was never in doubt. First off,, the card seemingly was turned in very quickly and Gordon was the first choice and Brisker was backup option. They'd have taken Brisker at 39 and been happy but they got him at 48. After getting Gordon, Ian Cunningham turns to Poles and says "are you shi**in' me? We did this mock this whole time and we were like, this dude is not going to be there". That is around the 20min mark.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/the-positive-signs-bears-coaches-see-in-justin-fields

and reading defenses which are better disciplined and more complex/multiple in their schemes within a game.

I never understood Nagy's affection for Graham. It always felt like they were drinking buddies. Amazingly throughout all of the mess that was Nagy's offense Mooney managed to shine. That's a young man building his own path to success.

Interesting names for how they chose to have the world view them. I'll wait.

I think we're ok at WR and TE. I think we're good at RB. All this depends on the Oline coming together, including the WR performance. After the chaos of the Nagy years where players often didn't know who to block I can't imagine it being worse. To be honest while I like the Oline draft picks and our new C is a good pickup to help the transition, this wait and see approach is an uncomfortable feeling. As always I'm optimistic but part of that optimism is simply based on Poles' background at KC, along with Cunningham plus the new Oline coach's proven history of success. We still might add to the LT position but at this point they are their 3rd week of OTAs and they are not panicking. We still have $15mil in cap space per Overthecap.com. They could (and IMO would) do something if they felt they had to but so far the players are doing enough learning the new scheme for them to hold off and see what happens. Getting in the right position for a zone block is one thing, holding that block is another. All eyes will be on the Oline the first day the pads come on.

Add this to the Nagy pile of #$&^$... https://www.dabearsblog.com/ A Tweet from Nate Tice seemed to capture the imagine of the internet this week: “the 2021 Bears drew up isolation plays in the redzone for 34-year-old Jimmy Graham with a straight face.” Aside from the insanity of the actual concept, this is also a reason I don’t take Cole Kmet touchdown production criticisms very seriously. Kmet didn’t score in 2021 because the Bears didn’t really give him many opportunities to score. Because, you know, they had Jimmy Graham! ...and on the silence of the LT FA experience we may just have to wait and see... As for the offensive line, there is still nothing to evaluate until we know how the players shake out. The Bears still don’t know where Teven Jenkins is going to line up. They don’t know if Larry Borom if going to be in their starting five. Similar to the QB, these guys are still learning how to play within a new scheme/structure. One thing I have heard from inside the building is Morgan likes Borom more than Poles and company did when they were first hired. Poles didn’t initially envision Borom as a starter. That may be changing.

...and in OTAs he's still maintaining the shorter throwing motion. Changes like this are difficult to maintain in live action due to muscle memory so we'll see how he does once the season starts but I'd say he's on the right path and over the next couple seasons this should become consistent as long as he puts the work in.

https://mobile.twitter.com/Veluzz_/status/1505022219843420160

This news isn't surprising... https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-coaching-staff-makes-one-key-change-in-approach "It was here where Tolbert described the change in approach by this regime." "It was to my understanding that they didn't come up to coaches' offices a lot of times in the previous regime and we told them it was an open-door policy for us," Tolbert said. "So he's always up in my office asking questions about different things."