AZ54

I've been critical of Porter as well but I read today that he's been getting his knee drained regularly. He's playing with a balky knee is not easy at CB. He has a reasonable cap hit for next year and given our lack of depth at CB he needs to return. If other young players light it up early and he's the first man off the bench that wouldn't be a bad deal at all.

I agree as well. There are still quite a few pieces to find but with this much cap space we should be able to at least fill out the depth chart. Instead of throwing money at Jeffrey who is likely the top FA WR I think I prefer to go after Terrell Pryor. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlig...ryor-highlights

If we got John Ross in Rd 2 I'd be ecstatic. He's a big time playmaker and home run threat every time he touches the ball and has very good hands for the difficult catches. Coming back from two serious knee injuries will certainly hurt his stock in the draft but I don't think it will take him to Rd 2. I can't wait to see the matchup against Humphrey in the playoff game.

He's still on the team because Miller is out and we have two others in Braunecker and Brown who are still learning the offense. The team signed Pruitt to a 2 year deal and he has enough talent to be on the field. If he can learn quickly we'll see him soon. Unfortunately for your request it's likely going to be at the expense of Braunecker who will go back to the practice squad.

Good analysis. There's quite a bit more to the data than what is shows on the surface. The eye test says our offense runs best with Barkley. He's a combination of Cutler, who can get points on the board, and Hoyer, who minimizes mistakes but can't get a the big plays. I'm still not sold on him as a starter, nor do I think I will be. I will say that with each game Barkley gains more confidence and we see him exploring more of the offense such as those deep throws over the middle. I view some of this as a good thing. He's pushing the envelope to see what works and what doesn't. What will be key is to see how he learns from this. Both of the those deep middle INTs came off of some Packer DB interference but this is still part of what he has to learn to read when deciding where to go with the ball when there's a safety sitting over the top. There are things he's shown that I was concerned about such as the ability to handle playing in bad weather. He's passed that test the last two weeks throwing with confidence in cold and rain. Regarding the draft we still need a prospect and at this point it's going to take our first pick to get one. I view all of the 2nd Rd and later prospects as nothing more than future backups for the simple fact I haven't seen any demonstrate accuracy on deep passes. If a QB can't threaten a field beyond 20 yards then it's easy for a defense to matchup. Each of the top 3 QBs: Kizer, Trubisky, Watson have question marks but each has also shown the ability to be accurate all over the field, even if inconsistent at times. We can at least think that some coaching on mechanics and practice will improve the consistency. For that reason IMO if we're serious about taking a QB with starting potential it needs to happen in the 1st Round. Doesn't mean we can't trade back to make it happen. I hear talk about Watson having a 2nd Rd grade but I just don't think he makes it to us in Rd 2. Bad QB draft also means if a team wants one of the top 3 you better go after them early. Right now I would stay where we are and see if we can get Jonathan Allen.

Elite quickness and he has enough speed to take it all the way. That is exactly what I'd want to see on punt returns. Not a single highlight of him doing that. There is no doubt he'll be working on catching punts in the lead up to the draft. As a RB he's good but he offers zero in pass protection, and that's at his collegiate level. We're talking about replacing Carey and there he offers much more as a runner and receiver, and hopefully as a returner.

Exactly. Timu, Anderson experiment has run it's course and we need a better 4th ILB on the roster.

I don't see this team quitting. If nothing else Barkley won't let them quit. I do see a ton of backups out there as starters, some of which probably won't be on this team next year: Timu, Unrein, and Hurst. LeBlanc is playing out of position which was never more clear than on that last pass of the game. He's still the best option we have on the outside right now with Porter, who again didn't play well.

Clearly Packers got away with defensive holding on both plays but Braverman quit afterwards and didn't even work to come out his cut. I won't fault Barkley, as I wouldn't fault Cutler on these situations. Barkley especially is out there with a bunch of guys he's barely played with. It was clear though that after the Braverman crap Barkley went right toward Jeffrey and stayed there for a bit. Barkley does need to improve his pocket awareness. He could have easily avoided the fumble if he takes one step up but he has also improved quite a bit in this area since his first start. At least Jordan Howard ran over Clinton-Dix twice.

We have two candidates for Rookie of the Year and there hasn't been much discussion. On offense we have Jordan Howard. Given the Cowboys record it's likely Elliot wins the award on offense but when you consider that Howard, behind the Bears Oline, is averaging 5.0 yds/att vs. Elliot at 4.9 yds/att he should be in the discussion. Add in the QB carousel the Bears have had and still Howard has been productive. In fact if he'd have played the first 4 game as Elliot did they would likely be close in total yards. These awards don't go to Oline but if they did Whitehair certainly should be in the discussion as well. On defense Leonard Floyd is in the discussion. He started off slow but has come on strong in the last 6 games. His stiffest competition comes from Joey Bosa. Right now I'd say both end up 2nd in the voting but what happens in today's game will go a long way to deciding this. It's cold weather and the Packers will no doubt be dialed in to stop the run and force Barkley to throw. Regardless it is nice to have two draft picks in the discussion on both sides of the ball in the same year.

I like Brian Hill as a good compliment to Howard, strong between the tackles runner. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/brian-hill...ew-mexico-2016/

I don't see him as an outside CB. He's just too slow for the deep coverage. His quickness and instincts make him a good fit inside covering the slot. What's amazing to me is that even when he's on the outside he always competes hard. I like Callahan a lot as well but he's also best utilized covering the slot WRs when he's healthy. I see a tough competition among these two in camp next year. Both are good enough to be backups for the outside CB position covering a #2 WR. If we put one stud CB in this group, and with a little good health we could easily have some solid depth at DB. Porter is ok for next year covering a #2 WR but he could give way Fuller, or to someone like Hall. There's a couple youngsters on the practice squad that showed some flashes too: Bausby, Jacoby Glenn. Among those 4 names I think we will have a good #2 CB next year. When I say stud CB I mean stud as in Pro Bowl caliber. I have zero problems with the work Donatel has done since he arrived. He and Fangio will not keep a player out on the field if they aren't performing well despite draft/contract status.

Both will be gone.

Just 3? Looking back over the last decade's QB drafts I see on average about 1 who becomes a decent starter. There are probably 8-10 QBs taken each draft. About once every 4 years we see a draft that produces 2 good starters and right now those are Wentz and Prescott. It might not stay that way because Kaepernik was once part of that club. On the flip side about once every 4 years we see not a single good starting QB drafted such as 2013 when Matt Barkley, EJ Manuel, Mike Glennon, and Geno Smith were drafted. You have a 10-15% chance you'll get it right in any given year. If you're in Cleveland you have a 1% chance of getting it right. http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?type=position

When I read it, I see him saying that other coaches, or personnel guys, or media talking heads from around the league think Fox will be gone. Not a single tidbit from inside the Bears org.

With the way our Oline and offense in general was playing early on in the season they'd have said that's why he lasted until the 4th Rd. You should be able to fill in the blanks on that one. I certainly think he's done well as a rookie but there are limitations to his game that are hidden by that Oline and running game. I said during the draft that I liked his honesty on what he had to work on improving, and his work ethic to get it done. I do like his long term prospects but I'm not 100% convinced he's a long term answer for them. As 4th Rd QB picks go that's pretty good. Passing yards the last few games (195, 139, and 165) are a bit of a red flag and we'll see how things end up this last part of the season. Regardless Romo is gone from his view in a couple months and then the pressure really changes.

Though choice but I'll go with the defense just because I enjoy watching a great defense play. Then I'll spend my money in FA on offense. I think you have Kpassagnon going too early but if we take him can we just call him Kpassa? We've already argued this point of taking another RB, but if we went with your all-offense I'd replace Chad Kelly with Nick Chubb. Yes, Howard is the starter but this will be a nice change of pace. Keep Langford too and say goodbye to Carey. We would either have a rookie QB, Barkley, Hoyer, or some other retread like Cutler handing off. Anyway you look at it having a very good and durable running game is important given our QB situation. You need a 1a and 1b to pull it off for 16 games.

Peppers will go high simply because of the name recognition and he's a very good in-the-box safety. Unfortunately this is now a passing league. Guys like Tyrann Mathieu who he gets compared to can actually cover well, at least one 2nd or 3rd options. I don't see that in Peppers game although he has the quickness and speed to improve in this area. I just hate projecting that when you're talking about a top 10 pick. I haven't even watched him play yet but I still prefer the safety out of LSU ahead of Peppers.

If we're going Alabama then this needs to be our pick: Marlon Humphrey CB Fangio wants bigger CBs who can reroute a WR, then watch this kid play. Those smack downs on WR bubble screens would be nice to have too. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/marlon-hum...-texas-am-2016/ He's listed 5th overall among draft prospects by NFLDraftScout.com. CB is need 1A behind QB so where we pick he's not even a reach. Given the status of our defense (Dline is far ahead of the DBs in capability) he could be a better pick than Allen should both be on the board. Personally I prefer the sack over the pass knocked down so I'd take Allen but I wouldn't argue if we took Humphrey given the huge need. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospec...&school=All

When did Prescott become a great QB? This had to happen somewhere between the end of that Sunday Night game and Monday afternoon.

Massie isn't going anywhere. He's played the second half of the season and we're in no position to take a huge risk cutting him. He's only making $4.2mil in 2017 well within the norms for an average starting RT in the league. Adams just went down with a back injury. Zach Miller will be back for the exact same reason. Who else ya' got? Porter? Who else is out there among our DBs and the typical FA CB salary last year was about $8-10mil. Leno? Our Oline has done well this year IMO with the backups. Leno might not be world class LT but he's more than serviceable. We should sign Leno to an extension, which will be reasonable, and secure him for the few years it will take to find a replacement. Would I like to have an upgrade? Sure. Is there on in this draft? With the possible exception of the OT from Alabama who has questions about his fit at LT, no. Is there one in FA? No. Houston is interesting. McPhee will go into next year with question marks around his knee. He'll still be a good player for us but might not ever return to full time starter. I'm keeping Houston around for now but my money is still on Roy Robertson-Harris to take his roster spot. I see a late cut but if we need his $5mil in cap space earlier I could see us negotiating an injury settlement. There's no way he gets to the $9mil salary in 2018. Royal is a legit cut IMO. I see no reason he'll be able to stay healthy next year and we have Braverman and Meredith in the wings. Wilson is a FA. At best he'll get a small signing bonus on a 1yr deal. From his perspective his best shot to show he deserves a multi-year contract might be to stay in the offense he knows for another season. If the price is low why not bring him back? We'll be drafting a WR somewhere in this draft, or we'll use Royal's money to sign a FA in the 2nd-wave to fill out the roster. Alshon only sticks around if he's willing to sign the deal he had on the table last year.

I agree with much of what Gabriel says about Barkley's strengths/weaknesses but it's just stupid for him to say he's not very good when he doesn't practice. I wonder for how many other players in the NFL, especially 3rd string QBs, we can say the same? Gabriel and I differ on Hoyer vs. Barkley. For all his experience Hoyer was unable to hit guys in tight windows on intermediate passes. Barkley might not have great arm strength but so far I see him better able to place the ball in the right spot on the sidelines, even in the middle of the field. That last pass Bellamy dropped was in a perfect spot despite tight coverage. Windy conditions for either of these QBs is a problem. Probably also true for Shaw. Among the draft QBs I'd say Kizer can best handle the Chicago conditions but the occasional short throws into the dirt that he makes is odd. I don't know if he's rushing the pass or poor mechanics but the clock only speeds up in the NFL. Trubisky is ranked a mid-1st Rd pick. He's a QB so he's only going to move up as the draft process continues just because of the value of the position. The only QB in recent drafts that didn't have a lot of question marks was Andrew Luck. Take a stroll through the mine field of QB draft history and remember both Vince Young and Matt Leinart were drafted ahead of Cutler. http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?type=position

If Trubisky is there I take him. Otherwise I strongly consider that trade back.

I'd take him too, he has great mobility for a big man.

I completely agree except, if we move on from Cutler, Barkley could well end up our starter and compete with a rookie. At this point I've seen enough of Barkley to know we can say goodbye to Hoyer. Bring back Barkley, Shaw, and a good rookie prospect (plus a camp arm). Sutton only has dead money of $2mil next year. I agree he hasn't played that great but he also joined late and is in a totally different system. I'd give him a full offseason to get with the program and see what he's got next year. If the youth steps up in preseason and are better just cut him and save $4.5mil. I think Sitton will improve and we'll be solid across the interior Oline. I do like Brown and coaching him through a full offseason program should only improve his performance. Having him and Miller on opposite sides will really stress a defense and opens up the playbook equally on running and passing plays. It may not show in the record but Pace is finding talent that can play in this league. Top priorities this offseason are to sort out the QB situation and DBs.