AZ54

No way Pace and Fox are bringing in a guy who was cut for fighting with his teammate. They've already worked through the Kyle Long issue. On top of that I think our starting safeties are good. Jackson has impressed me throughout the preseason. Demps knows where he needs to be and will help organize the DBs before the snap. Amos is a good versatile backup and can fit in on special teams. The biggest question mark is Deon Bush.

Just saw that the Ravens signed Jeremy Langford to their practice squad. So we swapped RBs with them.

I know he doesn't have Cohen's speed but his running style appears most similar to Cohen's among our current RB group, and he's a smaller back. Mizzell has fumble issues too that hopefully Cohen doesn't have. It's still not clear why we have one guy who is really good at this in Cohen and we felt the need to bring in another who is just "good". Unless we think he might be a better option than Cunningham once he learns the offense?

I believe that's his total for his college career. Still he is versatile like Forte was and with the WR issues we have being able to use Cohen, Cunningham, or Mizzelle on routes will help us.

Tre McBride compared to Gentry already has two years of learning how to run routes in the NFL. He should be much more prepared to contribute early this season even if he is new to the offense. Pace has film from all 4 preseason games to compare the two.

The defense not the offense will carry this team therefore Floyd is most critical. We lost Houston and McPhee is very suspect in his ability to stay on the field. That leaves Floyd and Willie Young as the mainstays. Willie has already shown that he's not an every down player and when he plays heavy snaps his performance drops off quite a bit. Lose Floyd and we have nothing off the edge. In fact, we need to start scouting OLB prospects for the 1st Rd next year. The lack of OLB depth, especially now while McPhee rounds into game shape makes me suspect we'll see RRH line up at LDE on downs if we're in a 4-man front. After what I saw him do at the Cards game he still has the athleticism to handle the edge well. Behind Floyd I'd say Kevin White but he's less of a proven commodity so it's harder to quantify what we'd lose without him. I think Cohen has shown enough to make Howard less critical and he (Cohen) could still pair up with Cunningham and we'd have an effective running game.

Most of the offensive players are new to the team, or even new to the NFL. We will have mistakes early in the year.

Yes but why did we sign Taquan Mizzell? He's a small RB, 5'10" and 190lbs who can't break tackles. He is very quick and shifty, decent speed but doesn't appear fast enough for long runs in the NFL. I see no KR/PR history but he can catch well. In other words he's more similar to Cohen and Cunningham.

Last year Atlanta's defense was ranked 25th overall. 28th against the pass but 17th against the run. I never watched enough of them to know if the pass D was so bad nobody had to run on them. Regardless, we must run against them. If the NFL depth chart is correct, their starting ILB are 222lbs, and 232lbs. Then with Vic Beasley off the edge at 242lbs, he's light like Floyd but can't play with as much leverage at 6'3". If you look at Beasley's sack stats 12 of his 15.5 total came in the first half. He's not much of a 2nd half player. We need to wear them down and then find success in the passing game with the TEs.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/tre...ride?id=2552428 Seems like a worthy prospect. It appears he is quicker than Gentry but we'll see if he ever gets on the field. There is more film on him this preseason so Bears scouts have seen how much he's improved. Highlight catch.. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlig...-tre+mcbride%22 http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlig...-tre+mcbride%22 From the history bin... 09/05/16 - WR Tre McBride was waived Monday to make room for Marc Mariani. There is the chance that McBride could re-sign onto the Titans' practice squad.

I'd have been interested months ago. Even though it's now reported Ward is headed elsewhere (Tampa I think) I doubted the Bears would make a change with Demps. That's in part because of the working relationship Demps appears to have with Eddie Jackson. Demps is the present but if he's a good fit for helping the future (Jackson) then we should stick with it. Demps isn't a special player nor as good as Ward, but he's a good player. We can take that money we'd use on Ward and put it toward a new contract for Hicks.

5 RBs (if you count the FB). We don't have room for 4 RBs so one of them is being kept around for special teams and that has to be Cunningham. 5 TEs too with one of them, Braunecker, mostly just a special teams player. Just 5 WRs with one of them, Bellamy, being not much more than a special teams guy. 11 DBs again one of them a pure special teams player, McManis. Jaye Howard cut so just 5 DTs and 4 OLBs with McPhee coming off injury? There's too much duplication here especially on the special teams role players. My question is who are we trying to trade and trade for? Or who are we hoping to add via waivers? The position we most need help with is WR but OLB is right there with Houston gone. I don't think anyone is trading for one of the special teams players but I can see someone like Brown or Miller getting traded. WRs will not be a strength of our offense so using 3 TEs during a game figures to be on the table. If you want to do that consistently then you likely need 4 on the roster. Did we hedge that by keeping Braunecker around until the dust settles? Same goes for either Cunningham or Langford if someone is really in need of RB help. It just feels like Pace is holding onto some cards for special teams until he sees who he ends up with and then he'll cut someone. I'll wait to see what the 53 looks like Monday night. For all the Gentry fans, myself included, my one question with him was why didn't we see him being productive on more types of routes? Still I thought either he or Davis would stick but I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one, if not both, on our practice squad. In contrast I think we can move on from Braverman even in terms of a practice squad spot.

When I watch Kizer play he clearly isn't ready for the NFL. I think Cleveland making him the starter is a mistake. Regardless of how bad the other two QBs are they should let him sit and work on his fundamentals while he learns the offense. Maybe later in the year give him some starts to see what he can do. Throwing him out there now will not help him improve his fundamentals because when people are under pressure they will revert to their habits, and his are bad. Trubisky has gotten away with a couple bad reads that could have or should have been intercepted. Mahomes has had his share of those near misses too.

it is worthwhile now after the preseason to step back and evaluate how the rookie QBs have fared so far. At the top of the list with an A grade from Daniel Jeremiah is none other than Mitchell Trubisky. I felt all along we drafted the best of the 2017 group and I still feel that way after watching Kizer and Watson play. I haven't seen much from Mahomes but with his work ethic and raw talent I think he'll likely end up the other long-term starter from this draft. --- I'm not comparing Trubisky to any of these players but looking back at the two previous drafts under Pace (2015/16) the only other QB I felt we should have gone after heavily was Mariota. After what I saw from him last week I'd say I was wrong. He looked very unsettled in the pocket with too many errant throws. Will his career end up similar to Alex Smith's? Jameis Winston has continued his college INT issues with a Cutler-esque 18 INTs last year along with 10 fumbles. He threw multiple INTs in four games last year. Which way will his career go from here? In 2016 it was Goff and Wentz. I was always leary of Goff's backfoot toss-up throws when he's under pressure. We'll find out more this year. I feel Trubisky at this relative point in their careers (week 1 rookie year) is ahead of Goff. I think we'll find out for sure by week 9. I'd have been ok with drafting Wentz but the Eagles made that a mute point. To be fair I wasn't jumping on the table for us to take him either. I think his NFL future looks bright. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000083...ne-kizer-uneven

I don't think so. I believe they simply don't care about what Sanchez can do throwing the football (it is what it is) and would rather focus on Trubisky's development. With limited to non-existent reps Sanchez is more likely to stay with the team, if they keep 3 QBs.

Since Clay Matthews Green Bay has never been able to draft well to fill their OLB position. They are struggling there with injuries as well. https://www.thepowersweep.com/blog/three-wa...elp-the-packers

We need to be careful here because Cleveland has Greg Williams as their DC. He's going to be bringing pressure like crazy and we all know he likes his defenders to injure opponents. I have to add: This could be interesting because anyone who has seen him play knows there is no way the Browns' Kizer is ready to start in Week 1. It is quite possible that we'll see Trubisky starting for us and Kizer starting for the Browns.

I think Wheaton makes the team over Cruz based on his contract and what he offers in terms of a deep threat. Cruz just doesn't offer much of anything and we'd be better off going with at least one of the younger WRs. Plus I still think Cohen fills in as a slot WR for us and offers far more there than Cruz ever could. Kendall Wright has bad hands, but he's at least mobile enough to get open. The RB situation is interesting because Langford showed some patience and looked ok there. But he offers nothing on special teams so I think Cunningham is ahead of him. I don't think we'll keep 4 on the roster but we will keep a FB (Burton) and likely see Stevenson on the practice squad. I think we'll look to offset the loss of Meredith by keeping 4 TEs too. That helps both the running game and between Brown and Miller can provide some decent mismatches when they are split out wide.

It is preseason and he's learning a new offense with almost all new WRs who are learning this as well. It should have been no surprise that Meredith, the one WR who knew the offense the best, was his favorite target. More than anything for me the inaccuracy on his passes over 10 yards it was worries me. I just think that's his own limitation and it will never get better. Other things like reading defenses, knowing the playbook will. At least for once we can say he is just keeping the seat warm until our rookie QB is more comfortable with the playbook and reading defenses.

Have you looked at the Jets roster? Of course for them it doesn't matter because they don't have anyone who can be a decent QB.

If we keep Wright, and it appears that we will, then we should go with the youth movement in someone like Gentry or Davis. I was very surprised Davis was out there so early in the game. It seems we might have two options who have been productive this preseason to backfill Meredith's spot. That's not to say either can replace his production just that they might be viable NFL receivers.

I'm good with the players we have. Yes, that includes Houston. However, if Lord Fangio wants him over Houston then so be it. I know he's better than Acho but can or will he play special teams as well as Acho?

...and this is how Meredith got his start.

We almost paid Ricky Wagner $8 or $9mil/yr. It's impossible to know how high Pace was willing to go on his contract but he was in negotiations nearly to the end. Detroit ended up paying him $47.5mi, $17mil guaranteed, or $9.5mil/yr. That's for a RT which carries a bit less of a premium although the gap is no longer what it used to be since so many pass rushers line up at LDE (see Von Miller). Leno is making $9.5mil/yr. Look over the LT contracts in the league and, considering Wagner's deal, there is no doubt he'd have found at least this much and likely more in FA. https://overthecap.com/position/left-tackle https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-r...hit-free-agency Wagner has been a starter for the Ravens for three seasons now, and his play has been all over the place during that time. His best season came in 2014 when he just missed the top-10 in overall grade, but did rank eighth as a pass blocker, along with an above-average run-blocking grade. Wagner is coming off a similar performance in 2016, with just slight steps back in both aspects of blocking. Sandwiched between those two seasons was a disastrous year in which Wagner allowed a career-high 52 total QB pressures, 20 more than his next-highest season. He also struggled as a run blocker on a fairly regular basis. Wagner very well may be the player we saw in 2014 and 2016, but teams will also need to be wary of what exactly happened in 2015 that caused such a stark drop in performance.

Unfortunately the media just wants to play up the Trubisky angle because it's a better headline. Look at these photos and you will see that he gave "pointers" to several players including Trubisky, Meredith, White, and Glennon. https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/900...ars-practice%2F