AZ54

A little film review of Jack Sanborn

Greg Gabriel is on board. He doesn't reference anything from team sources but on occasion he gets some insight from team insiders. This just might be him looking at it from the outside but his experience combined with what he's seen gives him a lot of confidence in Fields. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2023/7/11/23791003/chicago-bears-2023-the-year-that-justin-fields-lives-up-to-expectationsluke-getsy-ryan-poles

Different subject but we had a whole years worth of Belichick is a genius and the Bears should have drafted Mac Jones. Now, as you point out, the Patriots have a good but aging roster. Something is going to give.

I think I'm far higher on him being effective this year than most. The only other college DT I saw rag-doll Olinemen like he does in this video was Jalen Carter. I time, I think people will look back and label him a draft steal and wonder why he wasn't a first round pick. We all made so much of his slow get-off (myself included) but we're already hearing that is changing with the Bears. The athleticism and power is there for a big man to wreak havoc inside. I can't wait to see him lined up next to Billings, yes at 3-tech. Nobody is getting through the middle of that Dline. If you have two beasts like that inside it will take 3 players to block them leaving both edges 1on1. Or a team is holding back a blocker like a TE/RB. Less people able to go out on routes is still a win for the Dline and the defense IMO.

Braxton Jones complimented Dominique Robinson saying he's improved this offseason... Dline chatter starts around 7min mark.

Not ready to make a playoff run I agree but the NFC North? There is no team in our division we can't compete with and I don't think that requires a meteoric improvement from Fields to do so. Detroit is largely the same team as last year and they added David Montgomery as their lead back but complimented by a smaller/faster Gibbs. I didn't like Jack Campbell in the draft and he is struggling and already being talked about as a likely backup this year. They did have some upgrades in the secondary but could have done much better if they had drafted well in Rd 1. Minn is in rebuild/retool mode... whatever you want to call it with Kirk Cousins at the helm. They've lost Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen (not a bad decision), and paid a lot of money for a broken down DE Marcus Davenport to help their pass rush. In back2back seasons the Packers have lost one of the best WRs and then QBs and they haven't replaced either with high end talent. I just don't see any NFC North team in a much better spot than we are. I also don't see any easy wins but I think the division is wide open. Fields is going to play better than last year but if he does take a massive step up then we immediately rise to the top in this division. Week 1 is going to be an interesting bellwether for the year. At the link is a little more in depth analysis than my opinion. I simply recall how well we competed in Weeks 5 through 12 before the wheels fell off late in the year. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/its-wide-open-in-nfc-north-if-bears-can-get-it-together

I think this was last week, pretty sure Claypool was still in England when they met up. Also not sure Claypool is cleared to practice yet although he was doing some running around in England with the kids at the camps.

You should get an Unsportsman Like penalty for making me see the name Rick Mirer again. It appears your filter was the Rating field. I suspect if you expanded that just a bit to include a bit over 80 you might find that he's at the bottom of a cluster of players with a higher % of success. In other words not all distributions are normal bell curve. Aikman was the really rare exception but I lived in DFW area during his first season and IIRC the Cowboys went through a massive roster overhaul (fire sale) and what he had to work with his first year. Might be some parallels to what Fields suffered through last year, albeit in his second season.

Gene Chamberlain put together a really good summary of our roster depth. This is not a by-position analysis, he focus on the bottom third of the roster where you get your special teams players. This is one aspect of what Poles did this offseason that is easily overlooked but I think this might become a strength of this team. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/supporting-bears-cast-looking-stronger

And you will see which players get the big contracts with their team.

Despite my optimism for his improvement in the system, for me Fields' performance remains the top question heading into the season. I can find 4th/5th WRs, RBs, and even backup swing OTs in any offseason. It's more challenging to find good pass rushers but that still pales in comparison to finding a top 10 QB.

Edmunds fits our system better than Smith and his centerfield range gives the safeties a bit more comfort to watch the outside closer.

I think Swift is reaching a bit here, at least in terms of using the word "breakout". I think it might be reasonable to expect Gipson to return to his previous level of play but 7 sacks would hardly make him a breakout player. There is some validity to his argument about the number of double teams affecting him. He's definitely not someone with the talent to overcome that, few are. Mostly that double team rate ~25% implies just how poor everyone else was on that front last year. We saw in 2021 that Gipson wore down as his snap count increased. I didn't see anything different in 2022. I think with our new additions in Walker and Green Gipson slides back into a smaller role that fits him better. Keep him fresh and we should see a few more sacks and pressures in 2023. Aside from that we absolutely will have better pressure up the middle this year with Billings, Dexter, and Pickens. That should also allow Gipson to take advantage on a few plays where the QB has to move around the pocket. One thing I did get out of this chart.... Danielle Hunter hardly seems like a player worth trading for. Based on this data we should have gone after Leonard Floyd. We didn't and we've remained quiet in personnel moves after minicamp. I'm not saying we won't add someone but they clearly feel no sense of urgency to do so. I think that's a good sign that we're better off at Edge than we might think. Perhaps some combination of Terrell Lewis, DomRob, and Gipson looked better this offseason, or all 3. I have similar concerns with depth at OT and so far it's been quiet there too. We're just 3 weeks away from training camp starting. Ideally if you sign someone I tend to think you'd want them to move and get settled in town and at least have time to get some familiarity with the playbook before camp starts.

https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2023/6/30/23780311/chicago-bears-chase-claypool-working-with-the-mini-monsters-in-london-england-paris-france

In that context it makes more sense to me.

We've all had that somewhere someway. You're a standup guy and I'm sure you handled it all properly. Not by standing up at a podium and finger pointing. That's the message I want the young Bears players to hear at these seminars. How do you handle things professionally when they go wrong? So they're not talking to the media post-game and telling them "I had 63 good plays and all you want to talk about is the one mistake I made?"

I get tired of listening to these players, many who are multi-millionaires, complain about how hard their job is and if they make one mistake out of 64 plays it ruins their game and reputation. If I make one mistake out of 64 or just one out of hundreds of attempts at my job I cost my company millions or even tens of millions of dollars. I'm just one of tens of millions of ordinary people with jobs like that. True professionals understand there is a standard they have to meet, they know exactly what that standard is, and they accept it as a condition for holding that job. Why these guys need to hear how hard their job is, and "woe is us" for being in this difficult position, is beyond me. It's the standard. Man up and own it. Tillman's speech to the rookies was much better in that he said to never think that way. (paraphrasing...). Just focus on what must be done on every play in all situations, and what you need to do in advance to be prepared to get it done.

Interesting stuff. Especially about dealing with coaches you don't like. Not even sure what to think about that because it's a topic that easily cuts both ways. When you look at someone like Jenkins, or Leatherwood, or any of these young NFL players still relying on what they were able to do (i.e. got away with) in college because of their superior physical talent. Was that the message Jenkins needed to hear last year when he was struggling? OTOH not all coaches are good at their jobs, and players and their talent don't fit all schemes.

You draw a lot from one photo of a guy who decided to do some modeling. Maybe he was also in Paris to help Fields with his football camp? Does this mean he's doing nothing to rehab? I don't know how you draw that conclusion from this. Mahomes is not doing rehab but he's also enjoying his time off before a 6mo block of work with few days off. https://www.tmz.com/2023/06/26/patrick-mahomes-plays-camera-man-for-brittany-during-bikini-photo-shoot/

Soft tissue injury leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

Claypool only missed the last week + of workouts. A couple OTAs and then minicamp, otherwise he was there.

Some good analysis by Robert Schmitz.

To further followup on Detroits 1st Rd LB selection I just came across this... https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/06/nfc-north-rumors-campbell-bears-addison-cook

Detroit is well represented in this list.

Putting up prayers for our extended Bears family here for Pix and Bill. Hope both of you get well soon. Pix, about all we know from OTAs and minicamp is that for the first time in years our offense didn't look inept and we didn't get the usual "it's a work in progress" crap from the coaches and players. That doesn't mean it's all perfect either but we are clearly entering training camp starting from a much higher platform than usual. The defense still has the same question mark at DE but Poles hasn't moved or done anything desperate. I'm starting to think he feels we just might have enough to get the job done. Not great, just adequate enough that it's not worth giving up significant future draft capital to try to improve it.