AZ54

Finding a better option at Center is still at the top of my list. Regardless of all the other talk about pick this guy or that guy, the reality is Caleb appears to be happy to be in Chicago and it wasn't clear to me early on that would be the case. I can't argue with Odunze either. I also realize pairing a rookie QB with a rookie C is a really bad idea. After Fields was cut and it was clear we were all Caleb or nothing pinning my hopes that we'd get one of the top two or three prospects at C was fantasy. But we could we have at least had a Day 3 prospect in the chute instead of a punter. This punter better be eye opening good. Bates needs to be sufficient at C and Waldron needs to be better at play calling than what we've had to endure recently. Williams needs to play on time for the most part and we should be ok.

Pix, My condolences. I just lost my mother about 10 days ago so I haven't been online much recently. I cannot imagine what you have endured. Your message rings true. Our families are a gift, Bear Down and make the time for them.

The bears are coming to AZ. I’ll be at the game. I’ll bet we’ll have a huge Bears crowd again.

I didn’t say he’s just an arm. I said it’s his arm talent that is generational. Other traits as you said were not even best in class. Of the top 6 QBs if you ranked them in each category I’m confident Caleb is top 2 or 3 in each except fumbles. He might be last there and if I wasn’t using my phone I’d look it up. Overall those traits made him the best prospect but he’ll need time to fix those bad habits. He gets one big advantage because our offense is all new with many new skill position players. Nobody knows what to expect in the first few games.

Caleb is a QB with generational arm talent. That's it, although he has other positive traits. He has a ton of learning to do. Ball security is horrible with 30 fumbles in college. Deep passing is inaccurate but should improve IF he can improve his footwork in the pocket. He needs a lot of work to get rid of the happy feet. He is a rare arm talent that can get away with that on shorter throws simply because he can throw off-angle but IMO when you start getting beyond 20yds it really affects his accuracy. A bunch of his "big play" highlights showed open receivers having to make big adjustments to the ball, adjustments that usually brought the coverage back into the play. Over-selling him for what he is at this point won't change any of the bad habits. IMO he's got the work ethic but he needs to hear the criticism to drive him to improve. I hope our coaches are already in his ear doing just that. To start with, this year he needs to do what he too often refused to do at USC.... take the easy read and let his teammates do the work. There will be times when plays break down and then he can go do his thing. I just hope the plays aren't breaking down because he is still bypassing the open early-read while looking for the big gain. Bottom line for me is that this year his teammates need to lift his play. He has the players around him to do that if he just lets them do their job.

Not without an elite pass rush.

If they signed two vets and don’t know what they have in them then we have bigger problems with this organization.

I'm 100% on board with this and it's possible Poles had an agreement with him to re-visit talks when he was healthier. (i.e.don't go anywhere without talking to us). There's no doubt Williams would prefer a longer term deal and most teams likely wanted to give him a 1yr deal or at least less guaranteed money. Maybe this is why he bypassed the center position in the draft. He kept enough cap space to make a deal like this.

...and yet I'd bet he finds work in the NFL for the next 5 years.

Gosh, I sure hope our 3rd pick can be out a UDFA for the swing OT job.

Hmm... what do we have here? You've got the arm length and strength needed to set the edge. With a 1.6 10yd split on his forty he has a very quick first step which can be seen when he lines up at 3-tech. Watching these highlights he's got a little bend to him. Competition level is an obvious concern but there are highlights here where he is shedding a double team to make a tackle. 600lbs of whatever is still 600lbs. They used him across the front too which won't help his development at DE but does showcase his versatility. Very similar to DeMarcus Walker but quicker.

Bates is a lot stronger anchoring than Patrick. He just doesn’t always have the best footwork. As long as he gets it right early in the block he’s good. Can the coaches get him to avoid the missteps? Caleb and I both hope so.

Possibly but TE is a tough position to learn. Seems like we’d be better off grabbing a cheap vet.

There is a big difference in the roster we have going into 2024 versus going into 2022, or even last year. There is a glaring need for a 4th DT on our roster and that gives Randolph a fighting chance but beyond his hustle on plays he doesn't offer much athletically. I expect Poles will be looking to bring in more vet FA competition for that spot. We might not even know who the 4th DT is until other teams make their cuts in training camp. Everywhere else it's going to be tough for any UDFA to make the roster. Somebody will have to show they are a special teams maven to stick.

There was some weird karma going on with the fact we were drafting him as I was posting this.

That's good value. Booker is almost certainly a 3rd Rd pick next year if he stayed in school. Maybe even high 2nd Rd and athletically he has traits to be a low 1st Rd talent. Lots of development needed but he's already better than DomRobinson (super low bar) and might compare as a pass rusher to Walker. By the end of the season he'll probably be better than anything we saw out of Ngakoue last year which was a horrifying low bar considering what we paid him.

All smiles here in AZ! At least in the East Valley.

Has to be the biggest disappointment of this offseason. Odunze was just too good for them to pass up.

There has to be some character or health concerns with Austin Booker. It's not just us avoiding him.

As long as the QB pans out nothing else will matter but overall this was a good offseason for our roster. We're finally getting to some depth in places that nobody talked about all offseason (i.e. LB, CB except for Jaylon's contract). Two years into the rebuild with 3 offseasons behind us, the first of which was the tear down phase, this is a good effort by Poles. This year's draft didn't have a ton of depth so he used some of the late picks 4th/5th on adding good depth that can contribute this year. We have good draft capital next year which will have a much deeper talent pool. Plus we're in good shape with cap space. For 2025 the only key contributors I see on OTC that we'll have to make a contract decision on are Teven Jenkins and Keenan Allen. We only have 33 players under contract but $76mil in cap space. Poles will be in the driver seat. Add in that he said in the press conference that it's getting easier to sign FAs as the team improves. If the team plays well this year some of those vet FAs that are looking for a winning team might come our way for less money.

Absolute specialist at putting punts inside the 20. It really sucks the wind out of our sails drafting a punter right after we supposedly drafted a generational QB and WR to score points.

My WTF moment arrives in Poles 3rd draft. Now I have to go figure out what this kid has to offer but NFL Network (Rich Eisen) spoke glowingly about him.

The only thing helping Velus are the new kickoff rules.

Let’s hope the Tom Brady type traits start to show up in year one.