AZ54

I believe Sowell was the swing OT. Didn't he line up as an extra Oline on both left and right sides during the season? I know he lined up at FB on several plays. It is possible we go with Coward as the swing OT next year but he's so new to the position and the Bears made it clear they don't see him ready to take over at RT, which is the only Oline position he's played. From there I find it hard to believe the Bears would be comfortable with him as the backup at LT. I think from here we try to get one more good depth piece on the interior. By the way, that in itself doesn't stop us from drafting an OT. Many young OTs start out on the inside for a year or two until they get comfortable and move outside. Plus we don't need an OG who can backup the Center position because we already have Daniels. Bring back Witzmann and some other young players to compete. Whatever the Bears may think of his future potential, Coward just lost a bunch of negotiating power for his next contract. Coward will return but it'll be on a deal where he's expected to compete for a backup role.

It always depends on the value of the deal but Massie does offer some valuable traits (run blocking, work ethic, good teammate) and continuity for the near term while Coward develops is good. His biggest weakness against edge speed can be negated somewhat by Trubisky's pocket awareness and escapability. You saw that in the 2nd Vikings game where they were a bit reluctant to rush to too hard around the edge and give Trubisky an easy escape from the pocket. Clearly Pace didn't want to go into the offseason with a glaring need on his Oline and chose not to let Massie test the FA market. In the past Pace has often been ok letting the market set a players value (Fuller, Meredith). For Massie to sign this early I think he'll be making around $8mil/yr. Does this mean Amos is gone? At a minimum it means Kush is gone. Witzmann took over for Kush anyway. Given how much he was utilized I have to think we'll keep Sowell. He is signed through 2019 at $1.8mil but maybe they work to extend his contract for another year with some guaranteed money and a lower cap hit. That roster spot might come at the expense of FB Burton.

You are right, we can just sign Kareem Hunt and use the pick on another position.

How do you know he's been deadly accurate?

We are going to be a more dangerous defense that's for sure. Pagano's going to cut these guys loose to get after the QB and he's got the players to make it all happen. As you point out at several levels we have young players who are still ascending in Nichols, Tolliver, and even Floyd. I want Callahan back he's too good to let go so take the risk on his injury history. I may be the only one but I'm still optimistic for Fitts this coming season and I think he can replace Lynch. Fitts often showed the strength to hold off blocks in the run game and set the edge. That will only be better after an offseason in the weight room. In pass rush he was completely lost and had no moves or continuity to his attack. That should improve with another offseason and good coaching. Yet pass rush is not what Lynch provided. He mostly handled some run down reps to keep Floyd or Mack fresh, with some occasional pass rush. Irving looks better slotted to fill the versatile role that Acho had for us: special teams and some pass rush snaps. Even though I like having him on the roster, cutting Acho would save $2mil in cap space which I would use toward Gould's new contract.

Once he was put on the Commissioners Exempt List he was effectively suspended by the NFL. Those missed games will count toward any suspension. If I were running the players union and they tried to do otherwise I'd be challenging them in court. If I'm not mistaken that's what happened in the past and they came to an agreement that the exempt list was in effect a suspension. He's missed 5 regular season games and two playoff games. This is not technically a domestic violence case but will likely be viewed within that punishment framework. In that case I think the baseline suspension for a first offense is six games. I don't know where this fits in with his past as I"m seeing reports of other issues of fights with men but no details. That appears to be back in his college days. I believe the league has viewed other's past events as part of their evidence in these situations so it'll be interesting what suspension they hand out. I suspect they'll at least want him suspended for the first week or two of the season but how far can they stray from the baseline first offense of 6 games?

And if he has 5 turnovers in one game?

Many are in disagreement, and not just here, immediately discounting the recognition our players are receiving. The math is simple there are 32 teams in the NFL, 16 in each conference. Of the 16 rosters 3 players are selected to the Pro Bowl and 3 more are "alternates". Depending on the exact mix alternates are roughly in the top 37% of players in the NFL. I get that there are always the players (like Hicks last year) who get snubbed each year so that top 37% is really cast a bit wider. We can call it top 45% or even top half of the league if you want or even top 50% if you account for elite players who were injured (i.e. Eric Berry). We just won 12 games but how did we do this if none of our players are good? Keep in mind 2/3 of the votes come from players and coaches so your alternates quite often come from the NFL community and not the fans. These are not All-Pro honors and so I think it's realistic for us to have a fair amount of players who are in the top half of the NFL performance wise. After four years of last place finishes I'm happy to celebrate the 12 wins, a playoff game, and several players getting recognized for helping achieve that. Is Charles Leno in the top 45% of LTs in the NFL? I think so. Same for Whitehair. Enjoy a winning moment.

So easy yet we waited how many years since McMahon went to the Pro Bowl? Trubisky wasn't put as an alternate by the fans, reportedly he was named an alternate by voting from players and coaches.

I'm ok with them I just wish they always followed a bye week so players can better acclimate to the time switch.

https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears Bears on the road against the Raiders (means we don't lose a home game).

We really need to give a hand to this entire (first rd) QB class because now Trubisky, Watson, and Mahomes are all Pro Bowl QBs. FWIW Jim McMahon was our last Pro Bowl QB. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001012442/article/mitchell-trubisky-deshaun-watson-added-to-pro-bowl

It is interesting what is going on with Robbie Gould, or what has not happened. First off, the 49ers have a ton of cap space and nobody of note among their own FAs to worry about signing. As good as Gould has been for them why didn't they already extend his contract? That seems like a slam dunk decision given where their roster is at. They can easily franchise tag him so it's not likely he departs to return to the Bears. What is the "situation" Gould is looking for? https://www.sfchronicle.com/49ers/article/49ers-Gould-caps-brilliant-two-season-stretch-13507138.php Gould said the 49ers “check a lot of boxes” for me and cited everything from their community-relations department to what he termed one of the most cohesive locker rooms of his 14-year career. Still, he’s clearly not ready to fully commit until he sees what type of financial commitment the 49ers will make to him. These “are situations you look for,” Gould said when asked about returning to the 49ers. “When is it going to happen? It will happen when it happens.”

LOL. Mahomes cost his team that game. Then he also got them back in it. He missed an easy wide open TD pass early on; talk about overthrows. He also took a couple horrible sacks that put his team out of FG range, or forced them to punt from their own endzone. That was all in the first half then I went out and came back to see him throw a couple quick strikes and tie it up to force OT. Trubisky still has a couple things to improve upon but so do Mahomes and Watson. My take out of the playoff games is that I'm glad we have Trubisky.

After reading about him and then watching some highlights I wouldn't like the pick. If he were a better route runner then yes. https://thedraftnetwork.com/2018/12/01/2019-nfl-draft-player-profile-parris-campbell/ I saw how Miller struggled to learn this offense and guys like Wims and White just never got it. Kevin White is his own special case but it's still clear you better know your assignments in detail in this offense. While Campbell fits what we need athletically it won't matter if he can't learn how to run the routes correctly. If the route runnings issues are correct then that means he's basically a KR early on. We have a chance to compete for the Superbowl this year so from our 3rd Rd pick I'd like to see more significant contributions. Or maybe it's worded better to say we should draft someone more capable of contributing their rookie year. I'm not sure who can be that player for us in Rd 3 but in my mind it's going to be someone who drops. It could be an OT and even if they end on on the bench behind Coward they could still be more capable of contributing than Campbell will be his rookie year. Pace has his work cutout for him with this pick.

Just read that Whitehair is expected to get a contract extension this offseason.

3 years down the road is when we need the big money for Trubisky. At that time players like Amukamara and Trevathan will be off the books, or if they are here it will be at a much lower cap hit. A year earlier we'll need to re-sign Jackson and that will be at least $12mil/yr. I think adding a year or two to Trevathan's deal is possible, especially if it lowers our cap hit in 2019, and then we let Iggy take over. I need to add that Floyd will play into this. It might be a decision to keep Floyd over Trevathan and let Iggy take over in 2020.

If we let Massie go then we can re-sign both Amos and Callahan, if we want to. Regarding Coward my question to Harry Hiestand is can he be as good as Massie (or better) not in Week 1 but by Week 16? If that answer is yes then I'm absolutely moving forward with Coward. I don't think we'll target Amos as a priority at all. We might offer him a deal but I suspect it will be in the middle range for SS which on Spotrac appears to be around $4mil/yr. Last year I said we should extend Amos' contract but at the time I thought we could get that done for $4mil/yr. Considering that Tony Jefferson was given $8.5mil/yr by Baltimore, Amos is likely to find a team willing to give him $6.5mil/yr. I don't think we'll be keeping Amos around. Deon Bush didn't play that poorly when he filled in for Jackson. He's not Eddie Jackson of course but I think he can be Adrian Amos, even if their skill sets are a little bit different. If Coward gets your proposed $2.25mil/yr then the cap savings we'd see from letting Amos and Massie leave is about $10mil. After cutting Sims we'll have $26mil but we'll need $3mil for rookie pool. Give Callahan $5mil/yr and then we have some reasonable options in FA with about $13mil to spend. I've seen elsewhere someone propose extending the contracts on Trevathan and Long. I don't mind giving either player 2 more years with some guarantee now that can lower their cap hits. When he next hits FA Trevathan will be 30 years old. That's the beginning of the decline and is a tough spot to be in for an ILB. Trevathan is still a good player but he's already being shown up by Roquan Smith. Next year Smith will make him look even slower. Kyle Long's incentive would be to retire as a Bear. He'll be 32 when his current contract ends but he has a $9.6mil cap hit next season and $8.9mil in 2020. If between these two extensions we can save $3mil then it helps. With $16mil Pace can re-sign Bellamy, RRH, Scales, Irving, Witzmann, Kush, and Braunecker. He'd have a little bit extra to sign a vet FA SS, or he could easily go after Gould if he's not franchise tagged.

I'd like to keep him around because I think there's a comfort zone there. He still struggles with speed but did improve this past year. Whether that was the result of better Oline coaching or just his own work it was nice to see. However, he's going to get a pay raise via FA so how much he wants to stay here on a slightly lesser deal remains to be seen. I can easily see him getting your target $8mil/yr. Just in terms of net % cap hit that's roughly the same salary as he received on his $6mil/yr deal with us a few years ago. Then the business side of things gets in my way and I start thinking what if Coward is ready? He clearly wasn't ready this past year but he showed a ton of potential as a pass blocker IMO. Coward is a FA as well but won't command anywhere near the same contract. Ryan Pace has to sort out who's who in this battle and he has to keep it under wraps as long as possible. Let Coward know he's going to be the starting RT too soon and his contract demands likely go up. Tell him he's likely a backup next year but can compete for the starting job and he signs for less money. If Massie is worth $8mil and Coward is worth $2-3mil/yr then the extra 5-6 mil can be used to sign someone like Gould. Now it becomes a question of are we a better team with Coward and Gould or Massie and Parkey? Insert whatever FA you want there instead of Gould because it's that simple: $4-5mil for a FA plus Coward.

Ed Reed played for Pagano in college too so they have a lot of experience together. I'm not sure Ed will be a good coach simply because great players aren't always the best coaches. If he's an assistant to the DB coach that might be ok.

Found this on the web and thought I'd post it here. https://www.chicagoaudible.com/four-players-pagano-chicago/ I don't think Lynch will be back, and certainly not at $4mil/yr. That leaves the option of bringing back Acho and letting Irving or Fitts step into a more active role. They could let Acho go and bring in someone like John Simon to take Lynch's spot while letting young guys get more snaps. That would save about $1mil.

I think after his little Today Show escapade he's definitely gone. When asked about it, Nagy was not happy at all in the press conference saying that "we win as a team and lose as a team. That was not a we thing." Apparently it was never discussed by Parkey during his exit interview. On this point Parkey is right about his future: Being a kicker in the NFL won't define him.

If you want to get a sense of what's to come with our defense read this article. https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-0825-20110824-story.html

I'm the opposite because I don't see either Mizzell or Cunningham as good 3rd options on the roster. Cunningham was a good versatile player but he's slowing down now and Mizzell just doesn't offer much in either size/strength or athleticism. I see no reason to get rid of Howard this year. Just let his contract play out and draft his replacement in 2020. This year, I don't care if we draft someone or sign a cheap FA but somewhere we should be able to find a better option for our 3rd RB position that offers more on KRs and special teams coverage, or has some home run speed to help spell Cohen on some plays.

I wasn't familiar with Pagano's background but after doing a bit of research I think he's the perfect fit. Scheme wise what he does fits our players perfectly. I was always one of those fans who didn't like how often Fangio would rush 3 and just cover on 3rd and long. Sometimes he'd even rush 2 and drop 9 into coverage. Overall Fangio's defense worked very well and I regret losing him. However I believe the talent we have now can do even better with the right timing on aggressive play calls and we won't see those games where we shutdown a team for 3 quarters only to give up 10-14pts in the last quarter. We have the coverage ability in the secondary plus with Trevathan, Smith, and Floyd, Pagano can mix up coverages similar to what Fangio did but he'll blitz more often. Everything I've read says Pagano likes to make the offense do things according to his schedule, meaning speed up the play force the ball out early. On top of that his background before being a DC was as an outstanding DB coach. He coached some of the best pass coverage units in the NFL before he was the DC in Baltimore and that wasn't always done with Pro Bowl talent.