AZ54

One thing is certain, with Montez locked up and high draft picks, at least one likely to be used on Dline taking over the Bears defense is a good job opening for any talented coach. We have good talent at al 3 levels now, just need to add another Edge and FS.

I was thinking 4/100 but that was pure guessing game. The guarantee is much higher than expected. That makes me wonder if there is 2 years out clause for the bears. As in another big bonus payment they can avoid if he’s cut.

I'm dizzy after that long scroll. I have a couple thoughts... If we are drafting a QB in the 1st, then we're trading Fields and that should garner a 2nd Rd pick. I haven't decided which of the top QBs I like best but I've seen enough of Shedeur Sanders to know there is no reason to draft him. At best he's a backup QB, more likely he's a practice squad QB. We've got Bagent in the #2 role and I think he's got more talent than Sanders but at a minimum he's equal so why waste a draft pick? I feel the same way about Penix. Actually I think he's worse than Sanders because Sanders seems to read the field much better. McCarthy has never impressed me in a game but I haven't watched him this year. I saw Dorlus play last week and he impressed me. I'll try to catch more Oregon games. The OG from Duke looks good. Can he play Center because we've got two starting OGs on the roster? I'm not real high on Tui at Edge. He's a good football player but I'm not sure how well his skillset is going to translate against NFL OTs. I need to see him in the CFB playoffs against good OTs and then how he measures up at the combine. If there is a Von Miller in this draft it's Chop Robinson fast, agile, and bendy. Jared Verse just looks and plays like an NFL DE.

Yeah, after the Bears offense came into town on a short week and put up 40 on them that's a problem. Of course he's getting fired, the owner is giving away good talent for draft picks. That means his evaluation of the coaching staff is complete. This was equally evident in the last minute addition of Montez Sweat to trade talks when they couldn't get anything decent for Young. If Poles is to be believed the Sweat deal was done in 3hrs. High draft picks don't just help build the roster they help recruit HC candidates, and maybe GM candidates.

As a receiver yes but if that’s all you want in a player you can just go draft a receiver. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/10/kyle-pitts-not-100-after-knee-surgery-blocking-ability-affecting-playing-time

He's got family in Chicago, he's played well for us, and worked hard in the offseason. Glue guy, gives us some depth and time to bring in better talent. Two years. $8.5mil. $6mil guaranteed. All that is relatively cheap these days for a guy who is a starter now but likely backup in the future.

On our side this could also be Poles deciding he needs his 1st Rd picks to select a QB. Get DE out of the way now because he'd never get similar talent with his 2nd Rd pick. I doubt that is his logic because if you want one of the top 2 QBs you keep all draft picks for the potential trade up. OTOH he when asked about the QBs yesterday he was very vague and really didn't answer the question.

That's the way I see it too.

RAS is very limited and was never intended to be anything more than just a quick summary of athletic ability and stature relative to other players. It has nothing to do with football skill. It was all started by a guy just like us as a hobby. It’s still a useful metric as a baseline or starting point to assess potential, or fit in scheme, or position. Reality is successful NFL OTs have longer arms than OGs. Just because a player has tools doesn’t mean he knows how to use them. Sweat uses his long arms to keep OTs away from his body particularly when setting the edge. He holds them off with one arm keeping his outside arm free to make a tackle.

It is interesting to hear Ryan Poles state that they were not in trade talks for Montez and that his name didn't come up as available until just a few hours before the deal was done. That means we were looking to trade for Young, and also that the Bears valued Sweat more than Young and immediately pivoted away from Young. Why at the last minute did the Commanders decide to move Sweat and Young? The only thing I can think of is that they weren't getting a high enough trade value for Young and they really wanted a high 2nd Rd pick. Which I'm going to assume this means they intend to be all-in for a QB this draft. They are already trending toward at top 10 pick. Get rid of your starting DEs only helps keep the tank on track. Getting a high 2nd is ammo to move up to #1 overall. All this could be funny if we end up with #1 overall from Carolina and then trade that to Wash and get our 2nd Rd pick back in exchange.

It'll be interesting if they try to mimic what the Chargers did to confuse Bagent. If they do we'll get to see what kind of a learning curve he's got.

I wouldn't change the Wright pick either just saying DE was a glaring position of need that wasn't addressed. Maybe that gap didn't leave you wanting but it did for me and it has affected several games very negatively this season. DE likely would have been addressed in Rd 2 but edge players went earlier than expected at the back end of Rd 1 and early 2nd so we grabbed a DT in Rd 2 and 3. It was all good for me since that was a huge need too and now we have a good run defense. We were never going to fix all that was wrong with the 2022 team in one offseason. Some gaps, like OC, have been minimized by better play from Patrick than we had from Mustipher last year but it's still a need.

I haven't even seen him play this year and I know Bowers is a more complete TE than Pitts just based off last year's games. He's also a freak of nature with his contact balance, strength, and speed not to mention his great hands.

DE?

Don’t overlook Keon Coleman. MHJr gets all the press but Coleman looked really good in a recent game I watched.

Yes if they are suspended for rules violations. Why, in a thread about coaches behaving poorly, are we recruiting a coach who has history of bad behavior and is currently under investigation?

I don’t think we’ll spend big money there. I’d say we’re more likely to use a 4th rd pick and maybe even give Patrick one more year to compete. If not Patrick I could see another second tier FA just not the top FA center because those guys always get overpaid.

Now that the deal is done, cost is sunk, what do we have for a defensive front? Sweat immediately pushes all DEs down 1 notch. That's a very good thing because Ngakoue is not a starting level player and playing less run down snaps should keep him fresher for his specialty pass rush. I like Walker but he's a limited athlete, more of a good hustle defender. Give him the early downs and Ngakoue the 3rd and longs. Of course Sweat needs to get a break too but those top 3 DEs as our primary rotation should make us more productive than we've seen so far this year. They'll toss in either DomRob or Green and who is active on game day likely depends on special teams. Where I really think this will help is with our interior rush. It appears to me that Dexter is garnering more double teams lately. Perhaps it's better to just say that with no edge threat on a pass rush teams are just using 3 IOL to block our DTs. We certainly don't have anyone good enough to get through that.... yet. Sweat changes that calculus a bit. He's not elite as a pass rusher but if a team has a weakness at OT, or the OT makes a mistake he's more than good enough to take advantage of it. That can either draw some attention from a RB or OG to shade his way a bit, which can free up the interior a bit. As a run defender he's top shelf and will only make our run D even better. I also like the idea of having Sweat, Ngakoue, and Walker inside at 3-tech on 3rd and long.

I think Chase Young is at a minimum just a rental for a hopeful Superbowl run this year and this likely means Purdy isn't their QB of the future. As of now they have just $1.4mil in space next year with almost nobody of note they can cut without a massive dead money hit. Cutting Randy Gregory in 2024 will free up $14mil and so, if they want to find a way, they could squeeze in a backloaded deal in for Young next year. But there'd be no big spending on a QB in the near future. 2025 is tight for them too. With only 36 players under contract in 2025 and just $45mil in cap, tons of big dead money deals, they can't likely add a big deal for Purdy and Young. Bridge QBs like JimmyG get around $30mil/yr so they might get Purdy for that. So swing for the fences on a DE and if it works, fit him in for a good 2-3 years of playoff runs.

We do not have the worst Dline in the NFL. There's no way you can get to top 3 run D without a good Dline. This is after 8 games so at this point it's statistically significant. We do have the worst pass rushing Dline in the NFL, or at least we did. Certainly one helps the other (meaning teams can pass on us so they run less but we're still 19th in rushing attempts against - so middle of the pack. I'll also add that half of those pass D stats have been affected by us missing most of the secondary starters. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2023/opp.htm#all_rushing

True.

Yeah that makes no sense to me. Mostly because Wash had no reason to trade both players. The fact they got rid of Sweat and still came back to unload Young is suspicious with his injury history. We gave up too much for Sweat, a player who has never had double digit sacks. Then again if he had then we’d have had to give up a first round pick. Chase is the better pass rusher but Sweat is the better DE and the stats back it up. 32 tackles to 15. 10 TFL to 6. 6.5 sacks to 5. Jurors Leah the other way with Young in the lead 9 to 5 but Sweat has 6 knock downs to 3. Plus Young has more snaps. The question is will Young improve his run defense over time?

He’s here to rush the QB but he’s also really good at setting the edge. Go back and watch the Bears game. Complete DE.

I agree he stayed composed for the most part for his first road game. We can see the arm strength limitations but OTOH he has enough arm strength to make it in the NFL. Certainly as a career backup QB. Maybe his ceiling is as a fringe starter like JimmyG? I was most disappointed in the defense and all the missed tackles. Everyone wants to blame coaches but players were in position to make those tackles, and the coaches job is to get them in the right spot. They righted the ship in the 2nd half but it was too late. Losing Brisker, who I think had been playing very good lately, was like losing the glue that held things together. With Brisker taking care of business closer to the LOS we can get by with Hicks on the field. There is no safety depth behind him.