AZ54

Now we know what their job 1 is on defense. It's going to be interesting to see what this means early on in the game. Is it just rhetoric or are they going to commit 8 to stopping the run and leave guys 1on1 in coverage? That's twofold because if they don't think the Bears can pass protect you just do run blitzes and take your chances down the field. This is where Justin's ability to make the quick read and throw will come into play.

As if you couldn't guess, put me down for 54.

Wow, throwing 33 passes in preseason is a lot of work for a starting QB. Especially one who, as their fans are saying, can already do it all. Most starters are in the 10-20 range. Or to put it more bluntly Love threw as many passes as PJ Walker, and 4 more than Tyson Bagent. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats/player/passing/nfl/preseason/qualifiers/?page=2&sortcol=att&sortdir=descending

I’ll take the upgrade!

We don't need him to learn an entire NFL route tree, just be good on 3 or 4 routes. Toss in the jet sweeps and WR screens and we'll get 4-7 plays out him per game.

Good writeup on Bagent... https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/what-tyson-bagents-success-says-for-chicago-bears

I wouldn't be upset if they traded Velus but he is an outstanding KR and he's really good on the jet sweeps and other quick hitting plays. For the KRs this year with the new rules I don't have a clue how that plays out. A returner like Velus is good enough that teams might stay away from trying the short kicks. Or maybe they try it more often? Plus he is good enough as a WR down the field for a defense to worry about (better than CPatterson ever was). We have good top 3 WRs, good TE combination, plus good RBs. All players a D has to respect. I'd like to see what Velus can do working around all that. If teams start to double DJ Moore that opens a gap in coverage. Late in a game after DBs have been beat on by Foreman and Johnson for 3 quarters legs are tired. Then make them go keep up with Velus. If they traded him we could just as easily use Scott on the same plays but his hands might be worse than Velus' and he's not as big and strong in traffic. It's like Velus last year....I don't trust Scott at all yet.

It's not just contract value, Whitehair's performance is starting to drop as well and the injury bug.

Pixote, thank you sir!

I’d bet every team we play has our game marked down as a win or at least winnable.

Nice. That leaves Bagent as #2. Poles was pretty clear that he wanted at least one veteran voice in that room and Peterman seemed to be the preference.

This is odd, mostly because going after this type of FA is out of character for GB, much less at RB where they seem to be set with good players. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/08/packers-engaged-in-jonathan-taylor-trade-talks-with-colts

I like Poles quote about Trent Taylor: “Consistency,” Poles said. “When the ball gets punted you can go grab a snack and go to the bathroom and come back and you feel confident about it.” After 2 cracks at finding explosive PRs in Velus and Scott, we just went the Bill Belichick route.

Can one of the mods update the title of this thread to Tyson Bagent? I get names wrong all the time, I just want to give the rookie his due.

Add the fact we tried to block this guy for 2 days of practice and one game. Coaches know very well how he fared against our Oline as compared to Lewis.

Flus knows him. All I can guess is that this means Lewis wasn’t really a HITS guy and the new guy is. We all know this far down the roster how important special teams is. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/khalid-kareem/32004b41-5225-9489-fd0c-044abf6bbb38 Should at least be a better run defender than Lewis. Next off-season is going to be all about pass rusher.

Pesky is a good description because I think this roster can compete with all but the best teams. There is still a lot of inexperience on the roster so we see how quickly they come together. We will be capable of more explosive plays on offense. Defense should be better at preventing explosive plays. Week 1 will be very insightful. Win or lose fans emotions and year long predictions are going to swing to either extreme. I’m riding the fence at 8 and 8 for a 17 game schedule with Wk1 result tipping it (7 or 9 wins).

I can't believe we're keeping 10 OL, 2 or 3 of which are backup Centers. Is that really just because of injuries? Among starters only Teven Jenkins is affected and we slid Whitehair over to cover leaving 3 players competing to play at Center? There is time to move Carter back to LG and put Whitehair (if he can snap) back at C. Maybe we'll have to wait until they see what they've got in the Feeney. Last year felt different when we tried to hang onto a couple developmental players but at best that'd be Kramer. I don't think they're that high on Kramer or IMO they'd just cut Patrick especially now with Feeney on board. We have 4 DTs and 5 DEs. Two of the DEs can potentially move inside but Rasheem Green looked bad against the run on the edges. I can't see him being any better inside. That leaves just Walker as the only legit Edge who can slide inside but we have little depth at DE and can't afford to wear him down on too many plays inside. To me it feels like there is another move pending that will knock down the Oline to 9. It might be as simple as one of them goes on IR (Patrick?) with a designation to return.

You're right he didn't say horrible .... but the quote was: "Fields has not made any progress on getting the ball out of his hands" That's a pretty damning statement from an entire offseason working in the second year he's been in the system. That much practice with a better WR corps and better Oline and no progress at all is, IMHO, horrible.

We agree to agree ?

Me too. They can cut Patrick as far as I’m concerned. Stash Dieter and Kramar on the practice squad and call them up if needed. We won’t be any worse than when Patrick is on the field.

I can’t agree with that at all. They held him out of the Indy game because practice went well. Against Buffalo he got maybe 10 plays. Those aren’t actions of a team wanting a guy to improve via more reps. In the first game he only threw short passes. Of course there is still room for improvement but to say he’s been horrible all camp doesn’t fit the mountain of evidence. This take feels like journalist who need clicks and fell in love with the dink and dunk passing game of the backup QB. That dink and dink stuff looks good until you get behind the sticks and need a big play.

I don't like our backup safeties but DHC was bad in coverage and was already surpassed on special teams by guys like Velus Jones and Blackwell on kick coverage. His ship has sailed we need to be trying out younger guys searching for upside.

Mooney for Chris Jones is a trade I can support.

Why did those two get cut so early? Is it so they can clear waivers, or not, and the team can plan around that to put them on the practice squad? Or know they need to look elsewhere.