AZ54

In the right scheme I think he's good enough to be a starter. He might not wow anybody but if you don't have a starter and are looking to draft a young player you could do a lot worse than what Kwit has put on tape. It's no different from teams paying vet QBs to hold down a job for a year or two.

With the recent contract updates both Howard and Kwiatkoski have earned pay raises and now have $2mil/yr salaries based on playing time. Both have earned it, especially Howard. However, we are tight on cap space and depending on how things go with Iggy, Kwit might be the 4th ILB on this roster. That's not a spot we can afford to spend $2mil to fill. Nor is he the ideal fit inside due to his lack of speed. I don't know for sure what Pagano wants in his ILBs I can't imagine it's much different from Fangio. Kwit is a good ILB and could easily fit well into someone's 4-3 scheme. I think the Bears should try to trade him for a day 3 pick. We can likely sign a vet FA ILB on a minimum deal to fill his spot or replace him with the draft pick. We should get a 4th Rd or worst case a 5th Rd pick for him.

No doubt Reid has better prepared his assistants for more responsibility. Somewhat analogous to coaching development is QB development. Whereas Fox took the Belichick approach and it was do as I say, execute this and only this. That does not come with deep learning and ultimately the understanding to think independently as things change. It takes time and commitment to help someone along that deep-learning path. Now we compare Goff/McVay after 2 years together with Trubisky/Nagy after 1 season. It seems safe to say that the hand-holding that McVay has done for Goff these past two years have really limited him seeing things for himself. OTOH Trubisky seemed to grow each quarter of the season in reading defenses. He's not a finished product yet but if he continues this trend throughout their second season together I feel really good about Mitch/Nagy going into the playoffs next year.

A couple things I learned watching the Superbowl: The book is out on McVay's offense and Jared Goff. We knew this after the Bears beat them. When he has pressure he's throwing off his back foot as he did in college and as he did when he threw that game killing INT. The Patriots mixed up their rush and coverages enough to confuse Goff and he never got comfortable. Nor did McVay seem to have an answer in his playbook. I won't display it in this post but if you aren't sensitive to a bit of foul language this is a good summary of what happened: https://i.redd.it/mtgver5rlhe21.jpg Morrisey of the Suntimes said Trubisky wouldn't have done any better than Goff did. This is just one more person trying to self-validate the fact they don't like Trubisky. Nobody can know how anyone would fare in a game that was never played. I do however believe that after playing them earlier in the year and putting up 31pts against them that Nagy would have put Trubisky and the offense in a better spot to compete than what McVay did. Morrisey also ignores the fact that in the Eagles game when it was on the line Trubisky stayed in the pocket and delivered a strike down the right sideline just before he took a big hit. We do know this: Trubisky outscored Brady against the Rams defense.

https://wgnradio.com/2019/02/04/hoges-10-bears-things-everything-we-learned-at-super-bowl-liii/ It's a good article with some interesting background stories.

Biggs finally posted the details on the deal. https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-cb-chicago-bears-contract-details-2019-story.html It is as hoped, essentially a 2 yr deal with $15.8mil guaranteed, and then has 3 team-option years beyond that. Cap hit this year is a mere $3.8mil which opens the door to re-sign Callahan and Amos.

He's a big name player and he's going to cost a lot to sign. His production doesn't warrant what he'll get paid and we have other more important contract extensions I prefer to get done (i.e. Whitehair, Callahan, even Amos).

There are a lot of rumors that Whitehair is getting an extension too. He is signed through 2019 so they could add on years and be creative enough with the guarantees that his cap hit stays low this year.

Just keep throwing the names out there. This early it's hard to figure out who is worthy of Day 3 picks and draft boards are all over the place.

So far this is all I can find on contract details. I'm hoping the average is inflated by higher values in the last years of the deal giving us a chance to get out of the contract if Coward, or someone else, is ready to take over sooner. Pace usually structures his deals to pay the guarantees early so he has flexibility later. At 29, In 3-4 years Massie's issues with speed are only going to be much worse so he's probably got a couple years of performance similar to last year. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-football-nfl-notebook-idUSKCN1PL00U Terms were not announced, but NFL Network reported the deal is worth more than $8 million per year, a figure that would put him among the four highest-paid right tackles in the league.

At his contract level getting an extra $200-300k a year is a 40% raise.

I like Kris Boyd. I'm not sure he's got the short-area quickness needed to play inside but he's physical and seems to match up well outside. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUbOjt9J0o Deebo Samuel in the 4th Rd would give us some really good depth in the WR corps. He's fast but I'm not sure he has elite speed. He might run between a 4.4-4.5 forty but he's quick in and out of his cuts. I think Bellamy is locked in as our special teamer so we'd keep 6 WRs. I'd cut Mizzell and go with just 3 RBs one of which won't be named Cunningham. I'm not sure about Wingard. He looks like a player who will struggle against NFL competition. I just watched this game against Wash St so small sample size but he's not all that physical especially in traffic. If the play is right in front of him he'll make it but so can a lot of players. His teammate and #6 Marcus Epps caught my eye on several plays. He's not that big and it's hard to say how fast he is but he sure plays with a lot of heart. If he has enough speed I'd bring him in as a UDFA and let him compete for a practice squad spot and see what happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KauORdzkkzg https://county10.com/wyoming-footballs-marcus-epps-a-finalist-for-2018-burlsworth-trophy/ Brandon Fritts looks like Ben Braunecker. I'm not seeing any special traits and since we already have Braunecker I'd pass. What I want is a George Kittle type with the speed to stretch the field and fill the Trey Burton role down the road. Ravian Pierce looks like a Burton clone. Bryce Love in the 7th Rd? Absolutely.

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.”