AZ54

I don't think I said he couldn't become a core player on the team. I don't believe he is that right now but I think he's a good player. I'm not one to think we need Pro Bowl players at every position to win the Superbowl and iMO it's a good idea to re-sign good players that fit your scheme, and are who fit the character you want among teammates in the locker room. Amos is ok in coverage but he's not great. Nor do I think he ever will be very good in coverage. He's just not that type of quick-twitch change-of-direction athlete. As long as he is sound in his assignments and technique he can be in position to prevent big plays, and maybe get the occasional pass-defensed, which is mainly what he does in coverage. On the other hand he's very physical and good at his reads in the box. All of which makes him a good player to keep around iMO and he won't be that expensive. There's been very little talk here about training camp but this year Deon Bush is starting to play well. Like everyone else, Amos can see that too so he's starting to lose a bit of leverage. Of course that could also be changing Pace's thoughts on an extension which was reportedly floated around earlier in the offseason. The prevailing thoughts in years past was that we had to go to FA to replace a starter but we might finally be seeing a change in that pattern. I still think Pace prefers to get the bigger deal for Goldman out of the way first before he moves forward on discussions with Amos. That could change quickly if Amos comes to the table with a proposal Pace likes.

By the way nobody noticed that bit about Goldman weighing in at just 318lbs. He's been off the radar of the media and fans but at that weight he should be quicker and have better endurance.

Amos IMO is not what you'd call a core player but he's a good player and while we are searching for our core players (possibly Eddie Jackson down the road) we should keep good players on the roster. I don't want to be the winner in cap space every year.

This was talked about in the off-season and then it got shelved when we went after big targets in FA. I"m glad to hear it's back on the table and hopefully something gets done soon. When this is done it'd be nice to see the Bears extend Amos as well. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/bears-working-re-sign-goldman-factor-linchpin-their-top-10-defense

I agree about the offense and inconsistencies early on. At this point I'm looking at the concepts we're practicing not so much execution. So far we're hearing about a fair amount of 2 and 3 TE sets with a wide variety of routes being run by Sims, Shaheen, and Burton. Everyone is getting in on the act. Yet in some of the practice video today we see a lot of bunched up WR sets, 3 or 4 WRs on the field. All this is a lot for Trubisky to process and then get comfortable with all those route runners. I think we'll need to rely on the big plays early in the season and especially in week 1 against GB. Fortunately we have plenty of options among our skill players to create big plays. Green Bay will know to prepare for KC/Philly's offense but they really won't know where Cohen will line up and what routes he'll be running. Does your NB cover Kevin White or Taylor Gabriel when they break the huddle? After they shift? Yet we still have a strong running game behind Jordan Howard.

This is something I don't recall seeing last year. We have Isaiah Irving, an OLB, lined up very wide in coverage responsibility yet he blitzes off the edge. Meanwhile Kylie Fitts drops into coverage on a TE. I realize this is all backups but with Lynch hobbled again on his 3rd injury since signing with the Bears (he seems destined to take McPhee's place) these two are the leading replacements. Fitts is clearly comfortable in his backpedal and cutting underneath the route. Irving adjusts into a Wide 9 alignment before the snap but is too easily pushed around the QB, of course they aren't in pads. Fangio appears to be mixing it up a bit with the younger and faster OLBs. https://twitter.com/i/status/1021394079672930304

Just looking at a few photos and some of the early parts of camp a few players standout. First is a leaner but hopefully stronger Adam Shaheen. Leonard Floyd looks like he's finally added enough bulk to be a more consistent threat as a pass rusher but he's still lean and should still have his quickness. Tarik Cohen is definitely stronger this season too. We'll see how this translates to their play on the field. Today is the first open day of practice so we'll get plenty of reports. https://www.chicagobears.com/photos/practice-snaps-training-camp-day-1#ec7f2489-aacd-44df-b1dd-1c73e5a99151

Excellent news with Kyle Long and Allen Robinson https://www.chicagobears.com/news/no-bears-expected-to-open-camp-on-pup-list

He's a no-show at training camp. Veterans haven't arrived yet so not an official holdout. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000940502/article/roquan-smith-not-at-start-of-camp-with-bears-rookies

Keep an eye on Isaiah Irving as camp unfolds. He's reportedly in much better shape this year for the OLB role. I'm not saying he'll be a starter level player but he may challenge for reps as the backup. Between Fits and Irving I don't think Lynch is a shoe-in as the starter although he may end up starting and being more of a run down OLB.

If Kevin White can be good enough to split snaps with Gabriel then defenses are in trouble. More importantly is the fact I think we have a HC who knows how to exploit a defense's weakness. With the combination of talent on offense we can go across the spectrum from full spread offense with 4 WRs (Robinson, Gabriel, White, Miller, Cohen) to 3-TE running formations in front of Howard. And our QB can run and throw on the run as well.

With one agency representing 5 of the 7 unsigned top 10 draftees, including Roquan Smith, this situation won't end quickly. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/07/05/offsets-re-emerge-as-a-top-10-contract-issue/ The Bears gave Trubisky everything last year so where will they draw the line this year? "The only other player in the top 10 from 2017 to get anything close to that was Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who had the offset language removed from his guaranteed training-camp roster bonuses."

In the draft I preferred Edmunds over Smith but after watching this video on Smith's background I understand better why we went in this direction. If we consider the on-the-field abilities relatively equal, even if Edmunds and Smith are different types of players, then the leadership qualities and work ethic Smith has will put him in position to become the new leader of our defense. https://www.chicagobears.com/video/meet-the-rookies-roquan-smith

Friends and family is one thing but for NFL players, especially high profile ones that stuff can easily become distracting. Both from too much concern about the criticism or the hype.

There is a maturity to this young man I didn't expect to see so early in his career. I like it. Focus on the task at hand. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2018/06/07/mitchell-trubisky-no-longer-uses-social-media-its-just-a-distraction/

He said he just recently had the sensation of touch in his foot return so the nerves are regenerating, which is great for him long term.

What a great move by the team to make this happen for Zach. One way or another he's going to be around this team for many years to come.

Nothing about he RPO says it has to be the QB running the ball. He simply has to decide if he wants to make it a running play or a passing play. Read-option is where, on a running play, the QB decides if he's handing off or running with the ball himself. In the highlight video where they breakdown the RPOs Nick Foles has exactly zero runs with the football. He either hands off or throws a pass.

An old guy like me will say that it was exactly what you said: Just that here's what RPO's look like as the Eagle's ran them last year. It just helped me to envision how our new WRs would fit into these types of plays and what it really means. Yes, the discussion got side-tracked but that is normal during the offseason but there's little to talk about this time of year. I don't view RPO's as some type of play that's going to make this an excellent offense. In fact I view even less challenging to a defense now that I studied it a bit. Like anything on offense having it in the arsenal means a defense must prepare for it and it has to stay in the back of their mind on each play. For me the real benefit to this is the hesitation in a defenders reaction at the start of a play. After seeing stacked box after stacked box defending Jordan Howard last year this could be a welcome addition to watch. There's a combination of things needed for this to work or the box stays stacked. We need legit deep threat, ideally on both sides of the field, and legit running game. Howard provides one, Gabriel and Cohen another but perhaps Kevin White will see some action on these plays... https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/takeaways-bears-ota-good-things-coming-kevin-white

I'm afraid to have high expectations for anything on this team but I admit the D should be good this season. The fact Fangio went out of his way to single out some young veterans for their improvement makes me feel like we can consistently be good this year. Barring a complete disaster at any one position we should be able to avoid the huge dips in performance like we saw last year when Trevathan was out of the lineup. That Vikings game where Shurmur called screen play after screen play was painful to watch.

According to Fangio there may be some depth on our roster. I've somewhat written off our depth at safety but there is a glimmer of hope there that Bush finally knows where he should be going. RRH has buiked up over 290lbs and it sounds like he's much more comfortable inside. We'll see when the pads come in next month. Between RRH and Bullard I think we'll be ok at DE even if replacing Unrein isn't a high bar. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/talking-points-five-things-learned-from-bears-defensive-coaches/

There's not a lot of difference to their games. Big body WRs who win with strength and positioning, as well as going vertical (jump balls). Both left their draft teams in part because they didn't like the QB situation. Both were injured in their contract year. Robinson plays quicker IMO than Jeffrey who is bigger and uses that size well to help him. Jeffrey probably has better hands. Neither are the slot WRs in this offense and I'd say both are likely to play the same role as the X.

I look at it this way. Nagy said he wanted to personally help White succeed. Then we held a minicamp and right after that we traded up into the 2nd Rd to draft Anthony Miller. We all knew they weren't going to rely on him but IMO that couldn't have made it any clearer how far he has to go. Although it was light on elite talent this was still a deep draft for WRs. We could have made a similar but much cheaper move in Rd 3 or 4 to draft a WR. That didn't happen and they clearly wanted a WR with excellent route running skills so it was trade up for Calvin RIdley (as we tried to do), or go hard after Miller when he fell a bit.

He can't just stay healthy, Kevin White needs to learn how to run routes.

I'm curious to see how he plays this season after the change in workout strategy. As I've said before this is his first offseason in an NFL training program and it should help him quite a bit. He moved fairly well for a big guy last year but a bit more quickness in his cuts would certainly be beneficial. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/what-does-bears-coach-matt-nagy-have-in-store-for-te-adam-shaheen/ When the Bears designed their offseason training plan for Shaheen, their goal wasn’t to increase his power or strength — ‘‘I was pretty damn physical last year,’’ he said — but to make him more fluid, mobile and flexible. Part of the Bears’ focus was to eliminate what Shaheen described as ‘‘nagging injuries that I had over the season’’ by improving his core strength. But the Bears also wanted him to improve as a route-runner. ‘‘[It’s] just to be able to move and run better than I did last year,’’ Shaheen said. ‘‘Just to be able to run, cut, get lower, everything in blocking, better leverage. Just core stability is huge. I think it’s helped a lot.’’