AZ54

Up to the minute scouting!

The NFL and media have fallen in love with the passing game in recent years but this year the playoffs are proving that you can still win by running the ball. The Titans have taken down the Patriots and Ravens behind a middling QB, a strong running game/Oline, and a strong defense. We have two of those pieces. FWIW the Ravens got to the 1 seed by running. We all know we need the Oline fixed but we also must find a good RB to compliment Montgomery. A RB with some speed. Then we need someone to call the running plays.

Based on what Watson did in his playoff game likely in the exact same place. He was horrible and only pulled out a win by running in the 4th quarter. He has one of the top 3 WRs in the NFL at his disposal and still struggled to read coverages and hit the open man.

Floyd

With Leno the money is spent either way so if he can't perform well (again) and someone else can we have to go that down that path. Money is one thing, losing games is another. IIRC Daniels went back to school last year in the spring to finish his degree. Kudos to him for that BUT he wasn't in the training facility improving his craft. Maybe he felt working out at Iowa was all he needed. To be fair they produce good Oline players but as a young player switching positions he needed to be studying. Hopefully he can correct these issues with improved focus on his job.

Interesting tidbit about our new TE coach. What I like is that Nagy is bringing in successful NFL experience with both his Oline and TE coaching hires. I said he needed to get rid of "yes men" and hire people who will challenge him. FWIW Clancy also worked with Shurmur in Minn so Nagy now has two offensive coaches with ties to Shurmur. Maybe he isn't done yet although it's odd to hire these two ahead of the OC it could be we're in final negotiations with Shurmur and this was just one of the pieces he wanted. https://www.chicagobears.com/news/bears-hire-clancy-barone-as-tight-ends-coach "As a tight ends coach, Barone has had four players voted to the Pro Bowl with four different teams: the Falcons’ Alge Crumpler, the Chargers’ Antonio Gates, the Broncos’ Julius Thomas and the Vikings’ Kyle Rudolph." On the other hand, there's this connection... "Barone worked at Eastern Illinois when Bears general manager Ryan Pace played defensive end at the school. Barone, who doubled as EIU’s recruiting coordinator, was quoted about what he saw from Pace as a high school player in a story in the Mattoon (Ill.) Journal Gazette on March 5, 1995, saying: “He showed good toughness on film. He was quick and a good athlete.”

If this new Oline coach can get his players to know who to block on every play they will be much improved even with the same talent. Keep in mind we're coming from deep down in the Mariana Trench in terms of Oline play, long way to go but that would be step 1.

We are not in position to draft Trubisky's replacement this year. We might find a suitable short-term replacement in someone like Alex Smith if his price drops way, way, down. Meaning I'd pay him backup money only. Mariota is not the answer. That's why i say regardless of what you think about Trubisky or his 2021 replacement the best thing to do this offseason is build the best supporting cast roster possible. If Trubisky fails in a dream world you follow what KC did and in 2021 trade up/whatever and draft the next QB who goes right into a completely ready Offensive unit. If Trubisky succeeds you still did the right thing by building the roster to best compete in the playoffs. This is the way.

When Nagy arrived the RPO was the latest fad and it was supposed to be a small complimentary piece of the offense. It is not that hard to defend and now that defenses have seen it for 2 years they know what to read and how to handle it. Our Oline couldn't block much of anything. It was so bad so often that it had to be poor communication/coaching. I don't care if we keep it in the offense and use it as a very small part of the offense as it was intended to be. It does force a defense to practice for it but it also has to be something the OC knows when to call. If we went away from it that wouldn't bother me one bit if it reduced what the Oline/QB/RB/WR have to practice so we can get better at executing plays. We need to get good at something on offense.

List of top offensive needs and not one lists "play caller". Nothing Nagy did worked last year from Oline, RB, QB, and most WRs. I literally put OC at the top of the list. Nagy actually managed to get his QB to perform worse than he finished the previous season. Any discussion that doesn't acknowledge that weakness is just worthless IMO.

Long was big nasty beast but I don't think he was ever the most technically sound blocker. I'd love for him to stick around as well or at least keep some association with the team and city. I think that will happen.

I watched the game with my Trubisky glasses on where we criticize every minor mistake. Watson only made plays running and kept hitting a lot of underneath stuff. He had poor pocket awareness often backing out of the pocket too early when he could have easily stepped up. Every time I watch him he's the QB I expected him to be, which is not bad but is not elite either. How many times did McFarland criticize him for missed reads and not throwing to open receivers? Given his game experience over Trubisky you'd expect him to be better but I see them pretty similar. Can Trubisky get his head on straight and step up to the next level?

We need pass rush help. This kid has the right moves to get to the QB but... https://thedraftnetwork.com/prospect-rankings "...CONS: Career production doesn’t match his talent. Run defense is not his strong suit. Can get bullied at the point of attack... doesn’t have ideal play strength. Often gets solo blocked by tight ends. Could use added muscle or bulk to his frame to be a reliable three-down player. At this point, he’s just a pass rush specialist only."

Agreed. Give me the guy who can rush the passer and not so good defending the run. The ones who can do both will be gone in Rd 1.

Looks like a Trey Burton clone. A bit undersized but has good speed and can work all areas of the field.

This Terrell Lewis looks worse than Floyd... it's just one game but his lack of hustle on plays away from him is really concerning. He just looks like he's going through the motions and doesn't play with any passion. We have to start a thread for Edge defenders.

100% with you here. Great move on Pace's part to get ahead of the market. Jamal Adams will soon set a new high. I have read elsewhere but have not seen the data that Pretty Far Fetched (aka PFF) ranked BoJacks coverage ranked really high among safeties. Tackling eh not so much. This is the hardest piece to find among safeties, an elite center field type who can cover both sidelines. Finding a legit SS to handle the underneath stuff is a definite need in this draft. I think we're likely to go elsewhere in Rd 2 but safety just behind the other needs IMO. If a RD 1 graded safety who fits the need drops to us just take BPA.

I liked Hooper for us back when he was in the draft.

Yes, Alex Smith was a pretty good runner very similar to Trubisky coming out of college. One of the criticisms he had early in his NFL career was that he left the pocket too quickly. Of course later he was benched by Jim Harbaugh for Kapaernick because Kap was a better runner. All that has slowly evolved into the read-option stuff we see a lot of today across the league. I had similar thoughts about Rivera struggling with Snyder's meddling ownership. I wonder how their conversation about Haskins went.

This is interesting and while it's PFF it's still telling that Daniels improved quite a bit back at his natural spot. Whitehair too is a better OG. Maybe instead of focusing on drafting a RG early we should be looking to draft OC and move Whitehair to RG? https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-offensive-line-rankings-following-2019-regular-season A silver lining for the group came from James Daniels after he switched over to left guard. Daniels’ 73.9 overall grade at left guard ranked fifth among all qualifiers at the position. With that said....this guy has a little Quenton Nelson style in the way he blocks.

Doesn't that fit with our WR corps?

He might as well just say come and get me. Ebron has been a classic talent tease for most of his career but he was very productive in 2018 with Luck as his QB. He is just 26 too which is the age where most of us finally decided to give in and act like an adult. https://sportsmockery.com/2020/01/pro-bowl-te-sends-chicago-bears-cryptic-instagram-message/

I would love to see some plays like this in a Bears uniform next year.

I hate the cap hit but it's hard to disagree after watching his turnstile moves all year. Even a modest level of proficiency and consistency like only getting beat off the edge would help Trubisky.

What we really want to know is does he have a Walter Payton jersey?