AZ54

If only it were so easy. And from what I've seen (ignore highlights watch games) Gordon will make Trubisky look good if we draft him. Once again despite the numbers nobody had Mahomes as the consensus #1 QB in the draft.

With all the chatter about Trubisky there is on thing we know: He can hit ARob all day and he did it well enough for ARob to be deserving of a Pro Bowl slot. especially considering all the other offensive issues that held back to the team. I say this because Trubisky could find him accurately and he throws the high go-up-and-get-it passes quite well. He struggles hitting the smaller receivers downfield (Gabriel and Cohen) and he struggles to figure out where MIller is running to. Burton is not a guy who wins the the ball up high either. Claypool is. I don't know anything about Claypool's route running ability but IMO he's a player Trubisky (or anyone really) will be more comfortable throwing to especially in the red zone. Pretty much anyone we put at the U TE position is going to go through a steep learning curve but in the red zone I could see Claypool contributing early.

Corrected that for ya.

Among this WR class Claypool is way down the list and is ranked as a 4-6th Rd pick. As a WR he's not really running away from anyone but he's still got good enough speed to get deep. At 6'4" and reportedly around 230lbs is he a good fit for the U-TE position Burton plays?

No concerns for me. The only real concern is at what cost because we have so many holes to fill.

Skip McCarron...his arm is too weak for the NFL. Does that jacket come with a cigar because it sure needs one?

Kyle is really good on TV. I saw him for a little bit on NFL Network and he was both informative and entertaining to listen to. He's going to land somewhere either local or national.

That's a true statement but it does not mean he is the best option for us.

Everyone has tried Patterson as a WR but he can't catch on. Being a "U" TE won't be any different especially in Nagy's complex offense. He's always going to be a specialty player who will occasionally catch some passes. On to bigger things our cap space just went up to $26.3mil with more moves to come. Hopefully they can extend Allen Robinson's contract and also Floyd's, if they intend to keep him, and free up another $10mil or so. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/chicago-bears/cap/

There is a reason Bill Belichick collects so many draft picks each year. He doesn't get that many right either, he just plays the odds.

Yes, and the same sources who said Mahomes was a 2nd Rd pick.

Our need is greater than Seattle's and our cap space is tight. Gotta make it right.

It's not a good sign for the future when half of his highlights are of times the defense ignored covering him. There are still some contested catches in the mix but he's a depth player. But then I decided to compare him against Shaheen's highlight and I thought well then he is better. This is classic Pace hedging his bets before Free Agency and the draft by adding some veteran depth pieces to a position of need so he doesn't feel he must draft a TE early. From what I saw I'm not sure he's any better than either of Holtz or Horsted (different skillsets of course) but he puts pressure on them to make the roster.

He's even listed as a mid-Rd prospect. If we don't draft one early he certainly should be on our list.

When I watched the short video (I think on ESPN) about John Runyan Jr it was apparent that his son has his father's work ethic but not his physical talent. CBS Sports has him rank 349 overall. Other places I struggle to even find his name.

I'm glad for him to get a shot at a Superbowl but given how weak our TE position is we can't possibly afford the risk giving him that much money at this point in his career.

We are definitely searching for Shaheen's replacement.

It's everyone's problem with Floyd. I don't think it's likely but I'd be happy if Pace signed Ngakoue for $17mil/yr even if it leaves a bigger hole in coverage than I'd like. With this approach we would likely find ourselves with one of Baun, Lewis, Anea, or Okwara from ND. Of course Yannik could see nearly $20mil/yr. We should probably be discussing more about Okwara as a good fit for us. He can do in coverage what Floyd does but he's not as good against the run. Then you take NYC's proposal and go find a good 1st/2nd down OLB which will be cheaper to fill.

I'm in agreement with most of what you have here. Floyd will easily get $7-8mil/yr because that position is so valuable and some team will have a huge hole they must fill. Of course that team will be us if we cut Floyd and there is no 2nd Rd pick that will be nearly as good as Floyd is. Nor do I see any $10mil FAs at OLB that are as good as Floyd in all aspects and who we can slot into his place. Besides that cutting him early on really hurts our negotiating position. If the plan is to cut him we should go hard after the better OLB FAs but there is not much there... https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/all/edge/ Even old players who were considered "good players" like Jamie Collins are expected to earn $8.8mil/yr. He's averaged a whopping 3.6 sacks per season since he got playing time. That's why I feel Floyd stays with a new extension that lowers his cap hit while we draft another OLB early. IMO the only situation that makes sense for cutting Floyd is if we go after and land a bigger fish like Bud Dupree. He's not even that great of a pass rusher having only hit double digits last year with 11.5. Prior to his "contract year" his best was 6 sacks. That's concerning for a player expected to earn $16-17mil/yr. I'd prefer Ngakoue because I think he can spend some time working inside the tackles but he'll likely see $17mil/yr. Pace could make it all work with the other proposed cuts.

It would be nice to see an occasional 10 yd pass turn into a 50yd TD.

You win the day if you are right on this one. Love how McFarland keeps making guys grab air. That's acceleration we haven't seen since Hester was on the roster. I'm not sure Hopkins last that long in a weak TE draft.

His draft profiles are all over the place. Some read good as pass rusher, others say he'll never make it there and has to be off-ball LB. I see him as a versatile player from coverage to pass rush; a good football player (in the complimentary sense), and the type of defender the Patriots love to draft so they can change their scheme weekly depending on their opponent. We sometimes go into 4-3 sets so having Baun, Kwit, Smith is pretty good with KPL as backup. Any of those 3 could delay rush depending on what the read is post-snap.

Good points and that bigger stature (taller, longer arms) is the type of player I've been looking for. OTOH there are more than a few players who are shorter but still can be effective as pass rushers if they have the quickness and a strong enough base. These players sometimes win the leverage battle even if they are stopped initially. He seems to be pretty stout even on inside rushes. I like the fact he makes tackles like Kwit does where he is usually the one driving the RB backwards. There a multiple plays in this film where he wins the battle against bigger blockers including an inside rush at 1:40 against Penn St, against Purdue at 2:30, against Iowa at 3:00, Illinois 4:14. If he were taller he'd be gone in the first round. Around the internet I can already see a lot of fans are looking at him as a solid day 2 selection. IMO the worst thing we end up with is a really good ILB who can both cover and fill the hole lined up next to Roquan, but one that can also provide some pass rush. Baun is better than Roquan was working inside against the big boys. It will be interesting to watch his draft stock as this process moves along.

IIRC the draft we took Floyd was somewhat weak at the top and at the time OLB was a huge hole on our D. I'm sure someone will pull up a pick later in the first round that has done well but that's hindsight. Floyd at least solidified the weakness and his biggest weakness in the draft, run support, is oddly now his strength. He provided Fangio with the guy he wanted who could do a lot of things on the field including dropping into coverage and running with TEs and RBs. I'm not sure comparing the two conferences these guys played in is a good match. I also see that Anea lines up almost exclusively at OLB/DE while Floyd lined up all over the field at Georgia, often off the LOS. Just saw a mock with us taking this kid from Wisc with our first pick. He looks like a really good football player, dynamic in both the open field and as a pass rusher. I need to learn more about him but I like his style.

I have trouble watching this game and believing Anae will be better as a pass rusher than Floyd is. He's generally easily controlled by a single OT all game with some occasional chips tossed in. He has one splash play in the entire game and a couple missed tackles that don't bode well for his agility. I don't even see 2nd Rd talent but I'm going to find more games to watch.