AZ54

Good find. He fits the downhill role perfectly and the way he gets off blocks is outstanding. Downside is listed below. I'd be perfectly good adding him to the roster late in the draft, even if we drafted another safety earlier. I like having good hard-nosed football players on the defense. I'm not that enamored with Bush or DHC either and while he's limited in coverage somewhat he brings a lot to the table in and around the LOS that those other safeties don't have. Since we have ILBs who can cover TEs or RBs Pagano could mask his deficiencies if he had to be on the field due to injury. https://www.thedraftnetwork.com/prospect-rankings CONS: Total liability in man coverage. Tight hips and heavy feet make him a liability carrying anyone into space. Doesn’t feel vertical push well at all in his pedal. Zone drops are erratic and he rarely reaches his landmarks. Cover spacing is mostly off and he gets caught between zones or covering grass. Has minimal range and well below average makeup speed. Cannot be trusted in deep zone coverage.

I liked him when we signed him but that is what happens when you show up to camp out of shape and not knowing the playbook. It's the biggest job interview he'll likely ever have and he failed to prepare. More than anything it calls into question his love of the game. Then even though he was on the practice squad we had to go outside to find other FAs to get players on field. We've kept him around but that feels like just part of throwing as many darts as possible at fixing the TE position. Maybe he's focused this offseason but it's hard to be optimistic.

Kwit is not a bad comparison. He also started out as a safety in college.

I'd be happy with the first two. Eason drives me crazy when I watch him play...don't need to see more of that. Tanner Muse is an interesting prospect but he's not very agile. In a straight line downhill he'll make some big hits but I think NFL players will just cut around him. He's like the safety version of Ryan Nall.

Lots of character and injury issues caused him to drop. I remember his family showing up to training camp to support him his first year and some stories about helping him to get back on track. He has the physical talent to succeed. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/kevin-toliver?id=3219544f-4c42-6207-7d7a-0c03abd108b9 Football character is considered a problem Former coaches fret over his attitude and immaturity

He was never that good at OT. In the draft I thought he'd be a decent prospect for us but now we get to find out. I view this as competition for Coward.

The question with Burton was always going to be his medicals. At the beginning of the offseason the Bears said they were more or less cautiously optimistic (paraphrasing of course). I assume he's not recovering well and we're moving on exactly as many anticipated. The real question is who takes his place in a weak draft for TEs. Or is Graham the U TE with Horsted the heir apparent? In which case we're more likely to search for always-available blocking TE.

Advanced analytics clocked Jalen Reagor at 22.6mph. Cordarrelle Patterson clocked the fastest speed in the NFL in since 2016 when he ran 22.2mph. https://twitter.com/RecruitAlytics1/status/1228767700245151744?s=20 https://www.radio.com/sports/nfl/bears-cordarrelle-patterson-clocks-fastest-speed-since-2016 "On his 46-yard rush against the Denver Broncos, Patterson reached 22.23 miles per hour, the fastest speed by a ball carrier in the NFL since a 45-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Brandin Cooks Week 15 while playing for the Saints in 2016. Cooks reached 22.4 miles per hour." For further comparison from the same article: "No surprise, Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill recorded the two fastest speeds in the Next Gen Stats era, both on kickoff returns in 2016. The man nicknamed ‘Cheetah’ reached 22.77 miles per hour Week 12 on an 87-yard return for a touchdown. Earlier in the season, he recorded the fastest speed ever measured by NextGenStats, 23.24 miles per hour Week 2, on a routine 27-yard return."

Wow the competition or depth we have on special teams coverage is getting really good. Mingo, McManis, Patterson, and even Shelley made some plays last year IIRC. Can someone like Denmark step up and join the party?

We didn't even know who KPL was at this time last year. Perhaps as Ashkum says we can find a similar depth player in FA after the draft.

That should tell us all we need to know about his value. You know Tom loves to throw to TEs and if he wanted him there he'd be staying.

Todd Gurley dragged the LA Rams into the playoffs with Jared Goff as their QB. Then he was injured and we saw what the QB really was. As far as Zeke there is no denying his impact on that offense. Dallas did have a very good Oline but they were using late Rd picks at RB for years with ok results. Zeke changed it overnight. He and Gurley kinda started this little resurgence in the popularity of RBs early in the draft. As far as Leno: If he's playing like he did last year, I don't think it will be much of a challenge to find an OT at 50 to take over for him. That might even be easy to do if we trade back into the 3rd Rd. Massie we can hold onto another year especially if we're running the ball 50% of the time (or more). I just know we need speed on offense having one legit home run threat on the field will help. While we can find fast RBs or WRs late in the draft they are not nearly as polished as Taylor is and won't be able to contribute as much in their rookie season. A WR at 43 like Reagor or Aiyuk should be to contribute this year too but I'm keeping all 3 of these guys on my wish list at 43.

Bobby Massie has been a starter for 8 years, soon to be 9.

Can we get this approved by the Commissioner?

That's generally the way I see it too but I thought it was interesting to go through the "what if" process. Taylor is the only one who really fits this need for speed. I have no interest in Swift or Dobbins early even though I like both as RBs. There are couple RB options with speed later in the draft but they have significant holes in their game: McFarland, Gibson, Darryton Evans but they might be the right complimentary piece to Montgomery.

No doubt that would be a good haul.

My mock at https://www.thedraftnetwork.com/mock-draft-machine looked like this: 43 Jonathan Taylor, RB Wisconsin 50 Jeremy Chinn, S Southern Illinois 163 Jack Driscoll, OT Auburn 196 Trevis Gipson, EDGE Tulsa 200 Dane Jackson, CB Pittsburgh 226 Tyrie Cleveland, WR Florida 233 Trey Adams, OT Washington

We've all talked about the need to add speed to our offense. At 43 there is a good chance Jonathan Taylor is on the board. He ran a 4.39 forty and that speed shows up on the field all the time. You constantly see players grabbing air. Or he just runs them over with his power. If we can't solve our QB problem, and there is little reason to be highly optimistic on either Trubisky or Foles, why not do what the Ravens did with Trent Dilfer: Run the ball behind two good RBs and let your defense do the talking. Of course Nagy will have to find a way to call a running play. I know there are concerns with run blocking but Ifedi is actually a very good run blocker. Same with Daniels and Whitehair. Massie does well too at least he's better there than chasing edge rushers. Leno would be the weak link of course but he can usually get in the way of someone (sadly not always). In any case we could draft an OT at 50. Or we get the ideal trade back from 50 and use those two picks on OT and then S. There are some decent WRs that can be had late in the draft if we want some speed (Devin Duvernay) and with so much depth at WR teams at some point will be done with WR and be focused on adding other positions. I haven't done any of my mocks this way because I've been of the mindset we can grab a RB on day 3. Yet this option fills several needs: 1) Don't put all your eggs in the TruFoles basket 2) Add speed to the offense and 3) Be able to run enough clock on offensive possessions to get the D some rest so they can still shutdown the other team in the fourth quarter. Toss in the fact rookie RBs are much more likely to be effective in their first season as opposed to rookie WRs. Wear down a defense and now your jet sweeps with Cohen or Patterson suddenly look like much better play calls in the 2nd half. I have to say watching defenders tackle Taylor and Montgomery all game long would make me smile. I don't think it can be done for 4 quarters as long as our Oline is decent. My biggest hang up here is I can't envision Nagy calling 7 running plays in a row even if he's gaining 5 yards each.

Thanks. Matt Miller I check on weekly. I really like his insight on the later rounds. I haven't stopped by GBN or Ourlads in a long time so I need to do so.

I see the logical thinking in that but IMO it fits if Nagy is 100% confident, or even highly confident, he's working on a 2 year timeline. However, I think Nagy's seat is just as hot as Pace's, if not more. The play calling was horrendous at times last year for a guy that was brought in primarily to fix the offense. Right now we're sitting with a coaching staff composed of a former HC (Pagano), former OCs (Lazor, DeFilippo). If the offense struggles especially in the run game play calling like last year then I could see Pace make a last ditch effort to save his job and fire Nagy mid-season. Remember Pace gave Nagy the backup QB he wanted in Foles which is supposed to ensure the offense is somewhat effective. Foles was a Superbowl MVP in a very similar offense with the same QB coach so this expectation is reasonable. If the offense isn't clicking decently with Foles at QB then where does the problem lie? If the ship is sinking mid-season why not see if Pagano can right it and get you into the playoffs? Let Lazor run the offense with Castillo taking charge of the run game while Pagano still runs the D. If you were in that spot would you want to use a 4th or 5th Rd pick on a Safety to pair up with BoJack? Or on a QB who definitely won't help you win a single game this year, maybe not even next year, but possibly will two years down the road? I wouldn't. I'm taking someone that can help this year even if it's special teams or as a backup I can have some confidence in if needed due to injuries.

Geno Stone would fit the bill as a late draft pick, he's very good as a downhill player, but his highlights don't include anything in man coverage (zone yes) so that's telling. This late in the draft you pick and choose your strengths/weaknesses. JR Reed seems like more of a smart coverage type, maybe without the deep speed you really want on the backend but versatile. Jones looks like he's somewhere in the middle of the two. All are good options for us. There are a few others in the 4th/5th Rd range that look like they can contribute this year. Where did you get those overall rankings? That's the first time I've seen Delpit ranked ahead of McKinney. It's more data proving the point that DB rankings both CB and S are all over the place in this draft.

He looks like a decent late round prospect. That 3-cone time of 6.8 is ridiculous. His biggest drawback is his short arms (31 3/8") and NFL OTs will make it hard for him to get off blocks if he can't win early. That will keep him from ever being a run down player but his quickness and agility might get you a rotational pass rusher and good special teams player. He might bring more to the table than Irving does.

While I have been adamant we should not draft a QB this year we absolutely need to sign one. Tyler Bray signed a deal that pays him handsomely for the work he'll put in. With the roster expanding to 55 players we might keep 3 QBs. We might not but either way I expect we'll at least have one QB on the practice squad because Bray has no more eligibility. Also teams usually have 4 QBs in training camp we only have 3 signed right now. I still don't see Pace using a draft pick not even a 7th Rd one this year but finding and paying a decent UDFA QB makes a lot of sense. Long term we're not going to keep paying Bray $1mil to be a 3rd string QB so we might as well start getting someone else in the pipeline for that role.

Pray he's fast enough to get wide open.

I never said I don't like Mahomes and you can go back and see my pre-draft thoughts where I said I had Trubisky as 1a and Mahomes as 1b. Watson was #2. It is correct that I don't see much difference between Watson and Trubisky but we'll find out now that Watson no longer has a top 3 WR to throw to. Certainly Watson has had more success but watching him in his last playoff game (which he won) was as painful as any of the worst Trubisky games. Even the announcers were struggling to put a positive spin on it but in the end he ran multipe times on the last drive for the winning TD, which was probably smart given how he was throwing the ball that day. If Mahomes didn't throw so many multiple INT games in college I'd have preferred him as 1a but after all those years with Cutler doing the same I was a bit gun shy. He's had some of those same games in the NFL too but I never denied his arm talent. I definitely think that offense has masked some of his tendencies to take risks and there's so much talent that it still often works for the best. Alex Smith was Pro Bowl QB, and even MVP candidate running that same offense. Nobody really wanted him. I live in AZ, I watched a couple games with Gordon with focus that maybe he'll be a good prospect for us. I never saw it, in fact some of the stuff he did made me as frustrated as what Trubisky does. On a positive note, like Trubisky he'll make some really nice off-schedule, off-platform throws that make you think there's much more potential there. Then the arm strength is a bit lacking especially for our stadium. For those reasons I think he'll end up a career backup. By the way that Morgan guy out of FIU has the same issue Trubisky has with side stepping as he throws and it causes him to throw off-target a lot, or short on deep passes. I don't want him either as a draft pick. I'd take either him or Gordon as a UDFA because that costs us nothing and we can try to fix the issues on the practice squad. I simply view other positions or players as having better value for our roster than a guy I see as a career backup QB. That's especially true when we already have two backups on the roster, and a 3rd stringer in Bray. I just think the most likely scenario is that we're looking for a new starting QB next year. Trubisky has the physical talent to succeed but he fades in the spotlight and that hasn't changed at all in 3 years. If we will need a legit starting QB in 2021 I think we should make the entire roster as good as it can be with our draft picks this year. Fix OT, at least one side. Then at least it's one position we focus on fixing next year. Maybe it's Derek Carr we end up with in 2021? That's why I like that Pace went out and got Quinn opposite Mack for the next few years. Trevathan too along side Roquan, Jackson signed long term. The D will give us a shot to win it all this year and next, with a little luck maybe in 2022 as well. Maybe Andrew Luck decides he wants to play again?