AZ54

This definitely makes me feel optimistic that we'll see a legit NFL offense this year. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-coaches-see-more-advanced-offense

It's summer and quiet while everyone is away but Dan Durkin put together a good breakdown of what DJ Moore brings to the table.

I have to admit I agree Velus is on the roster bubble. On one hand that’s bad for last years 3 Rd pick. On the other hand this WR corps has come along far faster and far better than I ever thought possible at the time Velus was drafted. If it comes down to Pettis or Velus I’m keeping Velus. He’s better with the ball in his hands and their hands are about equal. Period is the better route runner but I prefer Velus on jet sweeps and drag routes.

Are we keeping 5 or 6? I’d say 6 stick around. I think they will stick with Velus as primary returner this year and see what else they can get out of him. Tyler Scott is getting reps at PR and maybe KR. He may end up the primary competition for Pettis in terms of getting snaps. There is no need to duplicate talent so one of them ends up on practice squad. Barring injury that is likely stonePettis. Which means ESB makes the 53.

Good summary of what was seen from the rookies in OTAs and Minicamp. There were a lot of good first impressions which bodes well since we'll be relying on many of them to contribute early. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/what-bears-rookies-showed-in-offseason-work

Listen to his press conference from yesterday. He outlines what he’s been doing to improve his body and avoid those injuries.

Tev getting some praise

Sure, but you know better than I do for the Olineman it's always different when the pads come on.

I agree. I like him as depth but GIpson's never been a quick twitch guy nor is he powerful. He is a good hustle player and with that work ethic he'll likely have a job in the NFL for years to come. If he can have a good season this year with 5-7 sacks maybe he ends up similar to Roy Robertson-Harris. RRH signed for 3yr $23mil with the Jaguars after he left Chicago.

I can’t imagine thinking we have too much competition. At best Jones is a practice squad player. If you look at his play last year so is Dom Robinson. On the next tier we have have Gipson and Green who are both rotational players. Walker is the only legit starter in this group. Much like how adding DJ Moore pushed WRs back into their appropriate slot so would adding another starting DE. Terrell Lewis has a long way to go for starter snaps but he should be in the competition with Gipson and Green. P.S. Every year in minicamp there is a surprise pass rusher who gets great press clippings. That only lasts until the first day the Oline are allowed to put hands on a defender.

Brisker needs a lot of improvement before he gets to a Pro Bowl. Step one is to stop missing so many easy tackles. I’d give the pro bowl nod to Eddie Jackson because he’s the better ball hawk. Plus he has better coverage LB to support the underneath and deep middle. That frees up his eyes to focus on the outside or makes QB force throws into tighter window which leads to more tipped passes.

That would be great, trade back one spot and pick up a starting RT and starting DE.

Thanks

Media can attend some OTAs (don't know the Wash policies) so we'll see what is reported about Young. If there is trade talk among our teams can Poles ask for film of Young from their practices? 2 years into his recovery and just listening to this interview it seems he's still not the same player. He sounds a bit like what we heard from Jenkins last year so he obviously knows of the trade rumors, plus all the contract noise. He's a bit coy when it comes to answering questions about his knee. How will you know you're back? "Because it'll feel good and it felt good today" (paraphrasing). These are non-contact practices. Saying you have your burst back has nothing to do with handling the power of an OT as you try to bend around the edge. He doesn't even talk about wanting to get back into that which makes me think he's not yet confident in his knee. If Poles has any interest I don't know how he answers the questions about the health of that knee. Right now I'm still sitting at giving up a Day 3 pick due to the unknowns.

I listened to this show last night and the reporter they had from Minn laughed when they mentioned Yannick and said he only lasted with them until the bye week. That's a damning endorsement and whatever issues are behind that there is no denying that no team wants Ngakoue long term. He might be saying he wants to be a on a playoff caliber team but at this point those options are getting few and far between.

Are we going to do anything to beef up the DE position? The draft didn't play out as expected with a run on edge players before our pick at 53. Poles was pretty clear weeks ago that he was seriously looking to add talent to that position. Since then a few players have come off the FA market, notably Leonard Floyd (BUF) and Frank Clark (DEN). There are still some big names available but do they really fit? Ngakoue is the most obvious pass rusher but Eberflus has already worked with him and if he was a priority signing for this staff IMO he'd already be here. Clowney doesn't seem to fit the HITS system either. Everyone else on the list is like a who's who of soon to be retired NFL players. Given the way Poles talked about adding help I can't believe we watched OTAs and are suddenly ok to go into the season with this group. If there is help coming our way it's going to be finding a post OTA cut of a veteran, or a trade. Rumors have gone back and forth on Chase Young's availability. iMO that indicates Wash was willing to part with him for a 1st Rd pick and didn't get what they were asking for. After a couple weeks of noise we suddenly heard that Wash was good with keeping Young this season to try to win as many games as possible (gotta save our jobs approach). Now again this week there are rumors he's still available for the right price, theoretically still a 1st Rd pick. At this point when your product has been on the market too long anyone selling something has to drop the price, so if he's still available maybe now they'll take a 2nd Rd pick. I still don't see Poles likely to make this trade simply due to the injury risk and the contract risk. If he's healthy the 2nd rd pick is a no-brainer IMO but this photo (6 Jun 23) makes me concerned about the strength of that knee: https://wjla.com/sports/washington-commanders/gallery/chase-young-returns-minicamp-otas-training-torn-acl-fifth-year-option-pass-rusher-sacks-99-ron-rivera-team-recovery-free-agent?photo=1 Enter Danielle Hunter who is now rumored to be available. This is even more sketchy but all I can tell for sure is that Hunter is not happy right now and he's holding out. You've got the other thread about the Vikings quietly tanking so they might be willing to part with him. He fits the need perfectly and give Poles some time to sort out the future DEs via draft. An in-division trade isn't likely although if you are truly tanking, what better way to lose more games this year than to make your division rival better? Plus you steal away a draft pick that would only help their roster compete with yours in 3 years. What is the trade compensation for Hunter? I'm not sure but at a minimum having two DEs available via trade helps us if we're interested.

For the rushing record to be broken you need two things. First an elite RB who can handle the workload and get chunk plays. Second, John Fox or son of Fox to be HC.

Isn't Kwesi from the Steelers organization? They don't do teardowns and rebuild so the so-called soft reset plan makes more sense. Unfortunately it's all about the QB and the Steelers have shown that you can be stuck in the middle ground for a long time. I'd say that is their most likely destination along with some other vet QB down the road.

At this point in his career I don't blame him for taking the most money he can get even if that means being a backup. RBs get one shot at it. He may get cut in a 2-3 years but then might hang around the league for another 1-2 seasons at best. If he gets them those last couple years will be much closer to vet minimum deals, or perhaps $2-3mil/yr. Ironically to maximize his earnings from this point on he likely needs less snaps to lengthen his career.

I feel good about our starting Oline. I know question remain on Braxton Jones and Jenkins plus we have a rookie at RT but knowing their history from last year that without any improvement (unlikely) the floor is still good. My big concern is who is the backup OT? I'll guess that Wright is the backup LT and someone else steps in at RT if needed but that has to play out in training camp. Adding a vet OT is still on the table as we did last year but could someone like Diesch, or even Leatherwood, earn that backup role? Backup interior has a lot more competition and it seems that Carter and Patrick have the lead on that right now followed by Eiselen. Figure Leatherwood is in that mix as well. Where is Borom at, OT/OG? Last year's mandatory OTAs sort of settled a lot of questions (even if we didn't think so at the time) and gave us a good idea who would be where in training camp and to start the season. I think after or during those OTAs is when Poles added Reiff.

We gotta see results but with a bit of luck Poles has overhauled this roster in one year. We don’t have studs everywhere but we have a legit competitive NFL roster. Knowing the tear down that was needed I was not expecting to be in this position before his second training camp even started. He’s done that while retaining cap space so he didn’t bet the farm on a bunch of overpriced vets. In two drafts we now know he will avoid the needs and “runs” and take the value that falls to him. Last year the late first early second run was on WRs so he took the highly rated DBs that fell to him. This year the run was on edge rushers so he took the two DTs that fell to him. Now doing that is easier when you have needs all over the roster so next year will be telling but I think he is fixated on value in the draft early on. I think we can say the same for FA. Based on the movement skills Gervon Dexter has shown in OTAs I’m expecting big things from him this year. We already knew he could move through blockers. IMO on this trait he was just behind Jalen Carter and definitely ahead of all other DTs in this draft. The question was if he could get into the play quicker and we’re starting to see that, albeit just in drills. It has to start somewhere and now is better than later.

In the right role with less snaps he should be a little better. Plus I think he'll be a good mentor for young DTs.

...and yet he doesn't care and stays the course. Bear Down!

I’m with Mongo in that our talent on the field is much closer to the Eagles this year but we lack experience. That’s both from young players but also experience in the system from the vets we added. They were adding pieces to a solid core. The pieces we added are make up most of our solid core.

IMO there are two answers to this practice progressions. Yes we want to see that but this is also practice, his first with a new very talented WR. Justin needs to be exploring the limits of what he can and can't do and the best time for that is now. To come out of OTAs only having hit the easy checkdowns or easy throws is not the best use of this time. There will be game situations where to get a 1st down or TD that Justin has to make a tight-window throw and DJ has to catch it, or other WRs. Some sessions you might want to focus on the "reading of the defense", others you might want to say it's 3rd and long make a play. The coaches have to find that balance but we're not going to know what they are asking for on any one practice rep.