AZ54

I saw that and immediately went to Draftbreakdown to see if they have any of his games from 2016. They don't. Regardless, I think an OT is more likely to be our 1st Rd pick next year.

Don't forget all the big money deals Philly handed out in the offseason to Bradford and Daniels before they gave up the farm to get Wentz. I wouldn't be surprised if, at some point down the road, we learn that what Philly did in 2016 sort of set-the-table for what Pace did this offseason.

Out of curiosity, for those who are engaged in this thread, what do you consider a franchise QB? I think my definition of a franchise QB is different than others. IMO a franchise guy is one who makes anyone around them better. They are QBs who consistently perform among the best in the league despite the roster changes all teams deal with. Below that level are good starters who, because of the rules in today's game, are needed to win but you will have to give them some elite pieces to make it happen. When all the pieces fall into place they can have a great season (ala Ryan last year or Stafford some years) or you might find yourself drafting in the top 10. I'll list the 2016 passing leaders (top to bottom in yards) and comment who I think are "franchise" guys. Brees - Franchise Ryan - good QB Cousins - good QB Rodgers - Franchise Rivers - good QB Stafford - good QB Flacco - good QB Luck - good QB should and could be franchise just hasn't played like it the last 2yrs Palmer - good average QB most of the time but has his Cutler-esque moments Wilson - Franchise Dalton - good QB Winston - good QB E. Manning - good QB Carr - good QB Bortles - meh Bradford - meh, maybe good QB Roethlisberger - Franchise Wentz - pending Prescott - pending Brady - Franchise Newton - good QB Smith - good QB (lower tier) Mariota - good QB I see 5 franchise types, and 14 good QBs of varying levels several of which have already caused their teams (current or previous) to go after other QBs such as Palmer, Bradford, and Smith. -------- Part 2 of this: How long does it take for a QB to reach franchise level? Brees certainly wasn't there early in his career. Nor was Roethlisberger, Wilson (I think he showed it last year), Rodgers warmed a bench for a few years. Very few make it through from being a good QB to being a great QB. Is Matt Ryan finally a franchise QB?

Manziel was an idiot in college and there were tons of red flags on him before the draft. The physical talent to play is there in a simple college system where he can freelance. The willingness to put the time into film study and practice were never part of his work ethic in college. Locker was horribly inaccurate throughout his college career. I watched quite a few of his college games and he's a great athlete, but was never a great (or even good) passer. Add in the mental side of the NFL game and you could see the very high risk with picking him. Bridgewater had limitations based on his lack of arm strength. Playing indoors in Minnesota makes him viable. Playing outdoors in places like Chicago, Cleveland, Green Bay, Buffalo less viable. I watched Luck in college a lot and there's no way I'd put Trubisky ahead of him as a prospect. ------- I was curious about Goff's performance in mini-camp last year and his reviews were glowing. Now maybe that's because it was a high school offense they were running as per Gurley. We can't get ahead of ourselves on Trubisky based on mini-camp. What we know from reporters is that he has the arm strength needed to play in Chicago. Whatever small piece of the playbook they had him learn beforehand he was able to pick it up, call the play in the huddle, and then throw to the right read. Other than that minicamp is a lot of nothing. The second part of the OTAs will give us a better indication if he's on the path to being a viable #2 QB this year.

Darnold is the one I'd be most interested in. I haven't liked much of what I've seen out of the UCLA QB, Rosen, but he has most of the physical tools needed to be a good pocket passer. The Wyoming QB is not consistently accurate but he has a strong arm. Someone will fall in love with the "prototype" traits and take him early.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000080...bs-in-next-wave

I only voted to put Grasu at C, Whitehair slides to RG, and Long to RT. That's only IF we have to make a change which is likely due to injury but after his lengthy recovery from the ankle surgery I would rather not put him back outside. My preference is that we have our absolute best interior group which should be Sitton/Whitehair/Long. If we really need max protection just keep Shaheen and/or Sims next to the OTs. Both are good enough to adjust on the fly and run routes depending on what the defense does (i.e. rush 3).

He's apparently very optimistic about Leonard Floyd this year. http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/bigger-...n-be-in-year-2/ ‘‘I feel good about him,’’ Fangio said. That's about as positive as you can get from Vic but with Floyd weighing 250lbs he should be a much different player around the LOS.

Always like listening to Fangio's press conferences. This time around we know there are a couple players he's really looking forward to getting back on the field: Goldman and Trevathan.

That would be awful. Harbaugh has become an arrogant selfish individual and I want nothing to do with him. I was the first one on this board to talk about the Bears grabbing him to become the HC way back when he was in his 2nd and 3rd years at Stanford. He knows football but his act wears thin quickly. I keep seeing the same things about Fox being a bad HC then in the next sentence people praise his former OCs (Gase, McCoy) and both were his promotions into the OC role, or praise the elite Defense he built in Denver. On the other hand they'll ignore that he ran the best offense in the NFL for a couple years with Peyton, or praise his current DC Fangio (I'm on board). Harbaugh gets praise for the D he built with Fangio but Fox can't get credit if he does the same here? At some point people gotta look back and say he has a really good record building coaching staffs and a winning program. We'll get to see how successful the 49ers are with Matt Barkley and Brian Hoyer as their starting QBs because they have a great offensive coach and that changes everything.

With his first practice out of the way we can now settle down for the long haul with Trubisky. Of note from Moon Mullin are these comments from some scouts around the league: ---------------------------- http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-bears/ju...-mitch-trubisky Two AFC scouts revealed that they had the highest grade on Trubisky that they’d had on any quarterback over the past six years. That means: higher than Jameis Winston; higher than Marcus Mariota; higher than Cam Newton; higher than Russell Wilson; higher than Andrew Luck; higher than Derek Carr; higher than Carson Wentz. The evaluation of one NFC regional scouting team was that “Trubisky is an almost perfect quarterback prospect” and that 'the Bears should count their lucky stars he only started 13 games because if he was a two-year starter, he goes 1/1 [overall No. 1] without hesitation.” ---------------------------- Other than that we only know that Trubisky was able to at least handle getting rookies in/out of the huddle reasonably well for his first day. That ain't much but it's far better than Goff last year.

Add in that franchise QBs aren't always playing elite football (see Andrew Luck). You do need a decent/good QB to win but the elite franchise QB is not necessary and spending a ton of effort (picks) year after year in search of one can kill the team (see NYJ, Cleveland). That's really where your GM has to hit it right: Just find a good starting QB and there is usually one in every draft. If we have our good QB in the fold then from here on out it's about building the winning defense while giving Trubisky enough weapons to be productive on offense.

Glad to see these cuts. I don't know what Victor Cruz can offer any team these days.

Tarik Cohen makes the list of rookies he thinks will have an impact this year. http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/0ap30000008...timpact-rookies

We are taking requests today! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmcUtQpG-UY

If it's physical WRs you prefer I think you'll like how Gentry plays the game.

House looks too slow, at least in what little I could find of him running drills. I'll be surprised if he makes the practice squad. The UDFA prospects I like the best are Mitchell Kirsch OT and WR Jhajuan Seales https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-jJXH-Xd-s

I don't think Gentry has the quickness needed to ever become a starter in the NFL but he's a much better receiver (hands) than Bellamy. That's the roster spot I think he challenges for if he's good on special teams. I watched an interview he did with the media at his school, he's just a kid who came out of nowhere and worked hard to become a good player. In that sense he's like Braverman, although they are different styles of WR.

One big difference between the self-made Shaheen and Davis is their work ethic.. "Davis lacks great quickness off the snap and hasn't shown the willingness to work hard to improve his route-running and blocking." "Davis hasn't demonstrated the work ethic to improve and his 2006 arrest for an off-field fight will scare off some clubs. Still, a team will fall in love with his potential and draft him higher than his production and past work ethic warrants."

Excellent depth signing and he knows the system so he can step in day one and be productive. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-r...4f-1a35f8bb4bd0

There's a lot of crap out there about this pick. Fox was all smiles the day Trubisky arrived at Halas Hall. He certainly didn't look like a head coach who was handed a death sentence now that the plan is to have Trubisky sit for a year. If Fox or his coaching staff didn't like that plan they could have easily leaked out more tidbits about how much the Bears liked Trubisky. It wouldn't have taken much to convince Cleveland they had to trade up to #2 before the draft. If they had an idea the Bears were taking Trubisky on draft day they could have easily out-bid the Bears' offer with SF. Instead Pace had Cleveland on one phone talking trade down, and SF on the other completing the trade up deal.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/02/nfl-chi...-2017-nfl-draft

I believe it was already announced RRH will be moving to DE this year. He might find some spot duty in the 3-man front and also play some DE in a 4-man front. It'll be interesting to see how they use him during the preseason.

I'm actually very surprised to see him in this role. Both because I never thought he'd want to be there and because I never thought a broadcaster would want him there. It will be interesting to hear his analysis. "What you're really looking for here is the guy who is in blanket coverage between the FS and CB." http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/former-...oins-the-media/

... as seen on that Twitter feed: Can the Bears defensive front be referred to as HGH (Howard/Goldman/Hicks)? Anyway, I like this signing. It is hard to say how he failed KC's physical but passed ours two weeks later. That concern will stay with me until we see him in the preseason.