AZ54

Guess who is #1? Some of this is situational of course and so landing on a good team helps. Plus, in this past draft there really wasn't an elite RB talent. IMO there isn't a whole lot of difference between Montgomery and Jacobs, except for draft value. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001033290/article/2019-nfl-season-projecting-the-top-five-rookie-running-backs

We can ask Rodgers if his WRs make a difference but he's already made that public knowledge. Yes, having AR12 makes Trubisky better just as he made Bortles better. The Rams game is the one Trubisky came back from injury and it was clearly his worst game of the year IMO given his experience in the offense at that part of the season. He acknowledged trying to do too much in that game and then responded with Completion % of 71, 86, and 69 along with QBRs of 120, 113, 86 to finish the season. Then he threw for 300+ yds in the playoff game and had a likely game winning drive with seconds left in the game IF anyone other than Cody Parkey was our kicker. That playoff game wasn't pretty for the offense. Howard ran for a whopping 35yds.

I've watched a few of the videos from the celebration over the weekend. The funniest of all was this clip from Viriginia...

I stopped reading after "PFF data scientists"... On the other hand I respect the fact that Trubisky went to the Pro Bowl not because of fans or PFF votes but because of player votes. Just getting there as an alternate doesn't mean he's a HoF caliber QB either. I think, in the end, much of this noise is a byproduct of our instant society and everything thinking the world is digital (good or bad) with no in between and no room for people (athletes) to grow into their job. These naysayers would never draft and develop a player like Hicks. We could name dozens of others who developed into great players including many QBs like Steve Young, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Tony Romo, Terry Bradshaw (he was really hated by Steelers fans), or in basketball a player like Scottie Pippen. There is nothing necessarily wrong with a young inexperienced Trubisky struggling with his new offensive scheme and new skill position players. I see criticism of his play and to back it up I'll see a highlight from week 3 against AZ, while ignoring the fact against the same blitzes later in the year he handled them well. People also forget that he was injured and stayed in that game against Minn. Then when he returned to the field he still wasn't quite himself against LA. Against Philly in the playoffs he threw for 300 yards and if that kick goes through then I'd bet the narrative changes to a young improving QB. It's not hard to see he grew tremendously in the offense from the first 4 games to last 4 games. It's also not hard to see he still has a ways to go to be the QB that he, his coaches, and the fans want him to become.

Regardless of the details it's nice of the Bears organization to do that for you.

Mack was just rounding into shape when got injured. MT looked lost most of the year but in the last few games it seemed to be coming together. Just improving those two issues and the first half of the season figures to be much more fun.

Interesting setup for next year as we need cap space. Skrine's contract says he'll be here in 2020, too much cap hit to let him go. Daniel I don't see us keeping him around at $5mil/yr and at age 33/34 he won't have much value around the league. I could see us doing something in the $2-3mil range or going with someone much cheaper like a draft pick. Larsen is a 1yr rental but he's really a min contract player so someone will fill that spot for a similar hit. McManis figure to be gone and that is quite likely to happen this year. That leaves Kyle Long and his status will be hotly debated at the end of the season, unless he finishes it on IR.

Most of us weekend warriors have had that happen where the day of the injury it doesn't feel like much and the next day the muscle is tightened up and you can barely move. As Bearfan2000 said via Monty Python: "it's just a scratch, I'll be alright."

Yeah, not much more than a dart. But it means the job won't be handed to Coward so he needs to earn it.

Nobody has said anything about better throwing mechanics so we'll see. The excuse of dealing with a new complex offense is gone.

Generally you get all the fluff stuff at this time of year. What matters more to me is what Helfrich and Nagy are saying and how they are saying it. These guys might say positive stuff about the players but usually aren't this effusive with praise. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2019/5/29/18644961/mitch-trubisky-growing-up-fast-in-nagys-offense “Last year he learned [this offense]. Now he’s trying to master it,” Nagy said Wednesday after the Bears’ fifth offseason practice at Halas Hall. “He’s done a wonderful job at trying to get to some of the adjustments we have within the plays, concepts and schemes. “It is literally night and day, in all the right ways,” Bears offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. “Our standard for him is extremely high. But as far as the operation of what he’s supposed to do, what the defense is doing, manipulating protections — just the air about him — it’s way different.”

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2019/5/31/18647431/bears-t-j-clemmings-sign-vikings-free-agent I liked him years ago in the draft. I think he was a mid-round prospect. Obviously he's never put it all together and I have low expectations for him here but at least we have someone with more experience than Coward on board just in case. Remember Sowell is now a TE.

Angelo was alright. He had a better vision of what a football player was than Smith did. Smith seemed think he could coach up any good athlete to be the player he wanted especially among the DBs.

Fangio: 'What's a suit?"

Not sorry!

This is OTA news and everyone in the NFL is happy (and doing great) at this time of year. So I'm always cautious with what's being said. In fact I put more value in watching the press conferences because you can see how the words are said. Facial expressions, pauses to think about what to say, all make a difference. At least for the moment it does look like Trubisky has taken a step forward with this offense. Will that lead to a more relaxed player who is more focused on his throwing mechanics? https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2019/5/29/18644961/mitch-trubisky-growing-up-fast-in-nagys-offense

When we hired Pagano the rumors were that he would be more aggressive calling defensive plays than Fangio was. At first Pagano insinuated he'd be the one learning the Fangio terminology and by default it sounded as if he wasn't going to change things much. In the OTAs we've already heard Nagy talking about the different coverages they are seeing and players have talked about differences they have to learn, albeit generically so nobody gives away any secrets for week 1. In this video of Trevathan mic'd up around the 1:10 mark you will see Trevathan, Floyd, and Skrine rushing off the left edge at the same time and keeps RRH and Hicks on the other side. I don't recall seeing that kind of blitz from Fangio. He might send the NB or, less often, the ILB. Changes are coming.

It's only a story because a reporter asked Nagy where Burton was during the OTAs. That was clear during Nagy's press conference on Wed so it's not on the Bears for making this a big issue. Reporters are covering it heavily since so many fans (and media) thought Burton was faking his injury, or was too mentally weak to compete while injured.

I'm not ready to say that yet but we are better at RB now than we were last year. We are better at WR because all are in their second season in this offense and we have more depth, AMiller will be playing with two arms instead of one. We are better at Oline simply because Daniels is now in his second season. We are the same at TE, maybe better if you consider Sims being gone and Sowell taking his place as a much better blocker (cheaper too). MT won't be anything less than what he was the last 4 games of the season so we should at least be better at QB than we were the first half of last year. On D we are the same at Dline, same at OLB. At ILB we are better now than last year with Roquan starting his second year in the NFL and having a full offseason. At CB we might be different with Callahan to Skrine but they offer different skills so there is some trade off among the pass defense and some improvement in the run defense. Fuller and Prince remain the same but depth with Tolliver and this rookie out of Kansas Duke Shelley we should be better. Who was our backup NB last year? At Safety we are better with HHCD vs. Amos. Packer fans won't admit it now but if you were to ask them 12mo ago if they wanted to get Amos vs. keeping HHCD they'd have laughed at the thought. Special teams is a wildcard but we won't be worse than last year. You can pretty grab any FA kicker off the street and have them do what Parkey did for us last year. We were also out of the playoffs in the first round. So I have to be realistic we have a ways to go but if numerous players take a routine step up in their production we could see a very good team this year.

Unlike years past this year there is so much continuity among our starters. I think there's potential among many on the roster but I'm not sure we'll see it because they can't get snaps. I include Tolliver and Wims among those. I'm going to go with Leonard Floyd. He has a new position coach who thinks differently about how to get him to best use his talent. https://sportsmockery.com/2019/05/new-bears-olbs-coach-says-leonard-floyd-can-surpass-khalil-mack/

That's a good analogy. Been there done that. Last year Mitch was still learning the language of the plays plus what that meant for who had to line up where, motions, who ran which route, blocking schemes, RPOs, read options, and then he had to read the defense after the snap when it all changed.

At the moment it doesn't hurt to have Mizzell on the roster as he knows the offense. With 90 players practicing it doesn't hurt having a little experience on the field as it helps to evaluate other players (i.e. defense) who may actually be worthy of a roster spot or practice squad spot.

I thought Jason would be all over this. I think it was always inevitable. Now after a season to adjust to the NFL and learn our playbook it's time for Daniels to take over leading the Oline. I don't know much about blocking schemes but Daniels has better mobility and will either handle reach blocks better than Whitehair or will be better when pulling into space. Whitehair likely is moving back to his more natural position too. Will we get better snaps to Trubisky in the shotgun instead of those floating snaps that sometimes took forever to arrive? https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2019/5/22/18636528/bears-james-daniels-center-cody-whitehair-guard-switch

Coward looking good at OT was my first thought as well. It's not like we have a lot of other options. If you get in a bind you could still slot Sowell into the spot for half a game. It also keeps Nagy's play calling options a bit more secretive as Sowell no longer has to report as eligible. The flip side here is what this means for Shaheen because I don't think it's good. We have to see how everyone performs in the preseason but with Dax Raymond there will be competition. Raymond will be a better blocker in the open field than Shaheen, less good as inline blocker. If Raymond's getting the playbook down I could see us keeping Sowell, Burton, Raymond, Braunecker (special teams). Shaheen could be cut or traded for a day 3 pick. I think that's a long shot for Raymond as he's more likely to end up on the practice squad but if Shaheen struggles at all or is injured again, I could see them going with the new guy. Mizzell I think is being groomed as a practice squad WR who might get called upon as a slot WR in an emergency. He still doesn't have the athleticism needed to succeed at this position either. I'd much rather see a practice squad spot go to someone else with more potential.

I was surprised to see Montgomery listed among the top 5 on this list. I think he's a good fit for what we need and his ability to make the first unblocked defender miss will add significantly to our offense even if he doesn't have breakaway speed. Regardless I'm not sure I see him as a top 5 RoY candidate. If he's in the discussion late in the season it means our offense is kicking some butt. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001030975/article/top-25-nfl-rookies-in-best-position-for-year-1-success 5) David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears: We're riding the Montgomery hype train with colleague/conductor Adam Rank. This former Cyclone breaks tackles with the best of 'em and has one of the league's better offensive lines in front of him. As long as Matt Nagy is willing to lean on him, he's going to do work.