AZ54

With those first round picks that roster would be incredible, or at least make it easier to hold onto their top 5 power ranking as they let expensive vets go.

Well we know Walker didn't make a good case for himself. At least while sitting on the bench Walker looked like he was quite comfortable with his guaranteed money. Bagent looked okay but as I waited to see any pass beyond 10 yards down field I felt like that meme where the guy is poking something with a stick saying "come on do something". His pocket presence is surprisingly good. We have to remember how much Justin struggled with this offense last year and keep that in perspective for what Bagent is doing. The further downfield you go the more variables there are in the route "reads" based on the coverage. I think we saw some of that on Bagent's INT where the receiver just stopped cold and didn't even turn around. So I agree they let Bagent "lose" the job today and I don't think he did that at all. My only question now is do we keep 3 QBs? I'd rather keep 2 and stash Peterman on the practice squad again. If we lose Fields and Bagent to injury Walker is not going to save the season any more or less than Peterman. In fact I'd just as soon take the higher draft pick, especially if we need to draft a QB. In the meantime that lets us keep another roster spot for Oline depth which we need right now.

Agreed. Just sit tight and build through the draft.

Misfiring on a lot of cellular biology here. Let's get back to football.

Reddit SportSurge FTW. That's all I'm going to say. MIrror the iMac over to the 65" Sony TV and voila.

Brock Purdy's limitations will be more visible this year now that teams have a full offseason of tape on him. That said he has the right coach calling plays and the talent around him to mask his limitations and play to his strengths. JimmyG took SF pretty far before becoming an NFL cast-off (aka bridge QB). Trey Lance eh, not so much.

Yes. Here's another breakdown of Bagent's performance from JT O'Sullivan to tide you over until tomorrow's game.

I 100% hope that is not what he's dealing with. High risk stuff and actually quite painful. I think this staff does a good job taking care of the players and for his own safety won't clear him to play until it's all good.

Thanks Mongo for going to all that trouble. If this is true....and I'd much prefer he was physically injured instead of hurt feelings. I can't imagine getting paid $10mil/yr and quitting on my teammates because I thought practice was too hard. The Bears didn't force him to sign that contract nor to come here. Then again I didn't quit hard practices in high school when I wasn't getting paid. I wanted to get better and I wanted my teammates to work hard and get better too. I have no frame of reference for him quitting because his feelings were hurt. As for him quitting and then returning and suddenly becoming a leader .... nobody is foolish enough to believe that crap. Trust, once broken takes a long time to rebuild. Guys like Carter have been out there working hard for two weeks while he sat around and did nothing. Davis' first apology should have been to his teammates for acting like a selfish child.

Interesting but I can’t imagine Flus took him on that many dates.

There's a whole lot of nothing at that link. Maybe because I’m not a Twitter customer? Or maybe because I’m blocking Elon’s tracking methods? Anyone have a one line summary of what happened?

I was searching for any decent highlights of Bagent on deep throws but came up short (no pun intended). I came across this and was curious to listen to him a bit. If you want a good idea of how well he interprets plays and defenses listen in around the 11-19min mark. Someone in the media was saying that you really want a vet in the QB room and on the sidelines to help Justin. He was promoting PJ Walker as best for that role. There is a massive leap to NFL defenses especially when they really start disguising coverages but based on what we've seen from these two QBs so far, combined with the level of detail Bagent reads the field with, he might well be the better choice. Maybe early in the season Walker has the edge but by Week 8? Go back to Mongo's point that Bagent's strength is the opposite of Fields' and how that could help Fields.

The rumor was that Wright stayed in for 2 more plays after he injured his ankle. I'd say it wasn't that bad but these are big tough men and sometimes they stayed in with a severe injury. I'm staying optimistic he'll be ready in Wk 1 with some tape on that ankle.

For some reason most of the angst goes to Tev but we have quite a few players who struggle to stay available: Brisker, Jackson, Patrick, Sanborn, Claypool, Gordon, Jaylon Johnson. Among the new players Edmunds and Davis.

One other note from watching the game: D'Anthony Jones is surprisingly quick and fast but he's in horrible shape. He burst onto the scene for a couple plays and then was gassed for the rest of the drive I focused on him. There might be enough potential there to keep him on the practice squad but this is the biggest job interview of his life. If he can't get in shape for that it's hard to imagine much will change in the future.

I just watched Swift's Oline breakdown from the Colts game. Aside from the lazy technique I now think Leatherwood's greatest weakness is a lack of core strength. Power in your upper body and/or lower body means little if there is no core to bring it together. He leans into blocks...a lot, which is something you have to do when you lack core strength (watch people open heavy doors). DTs smack at his arm and his upper body gets rotated easily, which takes his arms/hands off his target. If he doesn't lean forward he gets rocked backward (arched back). Leatherwood even has trouble getting off his initial block to get to the second level because there's no power being delivered in that one arm. He can't keep himself upright while slowing down the DT, he literally has to lean into them and then try to run away to get to the second level. We all hear about keeping your center of mass under control and technique to do that, but it's much more intuitive to do that if your core is doing its job. Watch around the 9 min mark and see Borom and Leatherwood blocking on the same play. Borom in particular looks much better this year even when a defender gets into him hard. If you have time watch more of the plays and you'll see Carter generally has good technique and can hold his ground with it, though he still needs work. I'll give you Borom's highlights from last year for comparison and you only need to watch a couple min to see the difference in him this year. For an inverse example see Gervon Dexter who has the core strength but it has allowed him to get by, to this point, with poor technique.

I agree with your astute comment.

He completely whiffed on one stunt, that was so slow I saw it real time (we're not talking elite Dline from Indy). DT or DE just ran right past him and he barely flinched. I can't believe he's ahead of Carter and so I expect we'll see Carter at LG this week. Give Carter some game time at LG and then all the practice reps there before Wk 1. By the time we get to Wk 1 we'll have a good backup for both OG spots for the rest of the season.

Keep in mind defenses are not yet scheming based on what a QB can and cannot do. It’s why players like Gardner Minshew get four weeks of fame when they take over as a starter. The Bears played to Minshew’s strength at times by blitzing and leaving the slot open. In a real game you’re going to try to force him to throw outside the numbers more often (at least I would). We still have unknowns but at least Bagent has some strengths to his game. I can’t find any with Walker.

He was mostly good but there were a few miscues. Overall he looked like an NFL QB which is great for a UDFA. I watched his press conference. He’s just a humble kid enjoying the ride. In an unusual twist he didn’t elaborate on all the studying he’s had to do or the work ethic. Listening to him you get the sense he understands that it’s just the basic expectation for the job. Where most people would make his situation of dealing with 3 different OCs and offense designs as a negative, or even an excuse. He looked at it as a positive getting to learn different ways of attacking a defense. Then he got to meet and play for Getsy in the Senior Bowl. I have to believe that’s a big reason why he’s here. On one of the sports talk shows someone asked the question if we’d really be comfortable with Bagent in a real game versus PJ Walker who has experience. IMO that’s the wrong question. Would I be comfortable with Walker in a real game? That answer is a definite no. As for the money on Walker I look at it like this: We spent $3 or $4mil to find a backup QB. If we’ve done that, regardless of who it is, it is very reasonable in today’s NFL. There’s no reason to throw good money after bad.

Roschon brings a lot more power to the contact point than Forte ever did. DBs are not going to want to tackle him for an entire game. The running style is similar to Forte.

I agree. He was bad in the Panthers game I watched last year and he's the same inconsistent QB in Chicago. Walker has the strongest arm among the backups but when he throws it's always a surprise to see where the ball ends up. We gave him $1mil guaranteed and would carry $2mil in dead cap this year. That's be worth it because it frees up $2mil next year and I won't have to watch him in a Bears uniform. Among the backups Bagent has looked the best so I think game 3 is the deciding factor. Bagent at least looks the part when he's in the pocket, with the exception of when he ran straight forward into a sack. He has better size than Peterman and similar athleticism plus he sees the field well (at least in this game but having 2 days of practice against the Colts helps). He might have a little bit better arm than Peterman. There's no reason the Bears couldn't keep read-option plays in the plan with Bagent but the deep routes won't happen People are fast with these cutouts.

As weak armed QBs go he looked really good. We will get exactly what the Colts got with Minshew. There are too many passes out to the sidelines that just hang in the air and starting CBs are going to jump those routes.

Noodle arm QB.