AZ54

Is there actually someone who is not arguing to replace our entire Dline?

Gotta get my wishlist in writing: (used Daniel Jeremiah's top 150 rankings). Most of my mocks to date I've drafted 2 DTs but this time grabbed two Edge defenders. 9) Darnell Wright RT 53) Keeanu Benton DT 61) Derek Hall Edge 64) Julius Brents CB 103) Isaiah Foskey Edge 133). Luke Wypler C 136) Chase Brown RB 148). Xavier Hutchinson WR 218). Payne Durham TE 248) Chamarri Conner S

Nah if that happens someone else is sliding let it play out

The thing with Wright is that he's mostly viewed just as a RT. I think our need is purely RT, meaning I'm not interested in moving Braxton Jones to the other side. We might draft Wright at 9 and if he's the pick I'm ok with that, but I'd also be ok with PJJ or even Broderick Jones. I think the OT talent is balanced enough that a team might as well wait and see which OT is available at their pick. If we trade down my bet is on a team moving up for a QB. That could be any of the Titans @ 11, Texans @ 12, Patriots @ 14, or Wash @ 16. Eagles do not need an OT, Tenn does but more likely lean toward LT, Texans do not need OT. Seems like a sweet spot where we could trade back 2 to 3 spots, grab one more pick, and likely still have our OT target on the board. Traditional trade value says that'd be 150pts or late 3rd Rd pick but as we know if it's for a QB that price goes up so we could end up with either 73 from HOU (225pts) or 72 from TENN (230pts). I would be over the moon if we had 11, 53, 61, 64, 72, and then 103. I wouldn't mind if Poles had someone he really wanted in the 1st Rd and he paired up two of those Day 2 picks to go get him. Then we'd walk out of this draft with 3 first round talents: DJ Moore, OT (presumably), 3-tech or edge.

As I know you're a fan of Swift Sports he made a great point that the punter we just signed kicks with his left leg. He did some research and it appears Velus' drops last year were mostly from left leg kickers. Velus aside, it can't hurt to have that for all the punt returners.

I agree. The fans who were owned by Rodgers were the ones in Green Bay not Chicago. No MVP in professional sports has been more of a tease and a playoff failure than Rodgers. With all that, the best he could do for his fans was to beat Chicago, a team without a good QB, consistently. Then in the end he just got on his high horse and walked right out of town. He now goes to the Jets in hopes of doing what Brady did and proving he was the talent not the team. In the words of the late great motivational speaker Matt Foley....

Yes I'd be very happy with that Oline. A 2nd Rd 3-tech won't be elite but should be more productive than anyone we had last year. We can add to that next year.

I only said "a bit" and you are correct there are plenty of examples wherer he handles speed. One concern with the Anderson game is that he was lined up either inside or straight up on Wright and wasn't often coming off the edge. That's just the way Alabama often used Anderson this past season.

I love that draft but the only change I'd make is that I'm now thinking Darnell Wright is the better RT choice even if we stay at 9. Everyone else you picked I'd be very happy with. Great draft.

Agreed, let's get nasty in the run game with Davis and Wright coming at defenses on the right side. Braxton Jones is already a pretty good run blocker and now alongside Jenkins we look good run blocking across the line. I'm still not sure what to think about Whitehair at Center but he's an upgrade over Mustipher. Pass protection would be an upgrade at RT as well. Wright might struggle a bit with elite speed off the edge but he redirects back inside better than Broderick Jones.

I'm 100% on board the Darnell Wright train. I'd take Benton over Foskey in a heartbeat at 53. Zero chance I want to see Joe Tippyman falling over at Center in a Bears uniform. I'm not sure how he could even consider him at 53. We have edge help but the interior Dline remains a big concern. Anyway, Schrock comes right back and grabs Derek Hall, who I like more than Foskey. After that I like his picks.

I'm still torn on Kancey that early. That is likely the area he gets drafted too. My concern is that he ends up being mostly just a pass rusher, which we need, and his run defense will be poor at the NFL level. For a 1st Rd pick I want a true starter. Day 2 is solid.

I'll be snooping around looking for sleepers and late round gems this weekend. This is a good list really for mid-round prospects, maybe early day 3. Most are well known to us but there's a couple more names for me that seem worth checking into. Brenton Strange seems like a good 3rd TE prospect. https://www.thescore.com/news/2632618

Why doesn’t anyone talk about Clyde Edwards-Helaire RB KC drafted in round one who got replaced by a 7th Rd pick? Merciless Hardman never produced much either. I don’t think he was a first round pick but still performed far below expectations. Maybe if we’d have looked better at the history with Hardman we have understood why we ended up with Velus?

Saw someone state a similar case for Jahmyr Gibbs - get the elite threat out of the backfield and you now have a serious problem with Fields going one direction and Gibbs the other. Gibbs on routes makes it virtually impossible to put a LB to spy on Fields on passing downs. From a team building perspective, IMO that argument is stronger versus drafting JSN. Gibbs would be an option on a trade down scenario, or even trading back twice to late 1st Rd, or potentially getting an early 2nd Rd pick.

Drafting JSN would mean letting Mooney go. There'd be no reason to keep 2 slot WRs like that on the roster. I'm not for it because we have too many needs to have a luxury at any one spot.

That would be a very good draft.

On the surface the trade value is kind of a nothing to lose deal but if you got rid of Claypool due to work ethic issues, or poor fit in the locker room. Then how does ARob help that situation with a young WR corps which already has a bit of a head case in Pickens on the roster? Pickens has already caused issues on the sidelines. ARob mopes around a lot if he doesn't get things his way.

True.

Wow. I can’t see any reason to give up draft capital for a guy who will be cut and has little market. I know it’s not a one for one swap but giving up on Claypool and then trading for ARob is not a good look. Indicates to me that either they don’t think an early rd WR can have the same impact or they are not using an early pick on a WR.

Dante Pettis is back. He apparently didn't get any offers elsewhere and chose, wisely IMO, to cast his net with the Bears for training camp. He knows the offense and has as good a chance as anywhere else to showcase himself in the preseason for other teams. Worst case for us is he sticks due to injuries.

Rumors dropped in the last 24 he that the Steelers want to trade up to 9 for Jalen Carter if he’s there. Rumors also indicate the Bears are all in on Carter. Nobody gives away their trade target a week before the draft. That whole scenario for Carter is just too convenient. If anything about them moving up is true I’m thinking Steelers are after an OT but they might also want the top CB in the draft.

There are concerns (at least for me) about Dawand Jones and his fit in our blocking scheme. A week ago I found a scouting video that showed he was able to move and hit difficult reach blocks far better than I expected. Unfortunately that video got pulled from Youtube due to a copyright violation. In that video and others you can still find his strength at times just stuns pass rushers... as long as he uses his hands correctly. He does struggle with moves back to the inside but I think that's as much a footwork issue as anything because he tends to open his hips to the outside far too early (i.e. he's facing the sideline). That prevents him from sliding back inside as all he can is slide back toward the LOS. I am not using this video to say he should be our pick, rather I only want to highlight that he has more agility than he's given credit for. IMO that bodes well for him to improve his technique if he has the work ethic, something we don't know. For those who remember Adam Shaheen ... at his size he struggled to dunk a basketball straight up when it should have been second nature. For me that was a warning sign and unfortunately it turned out to be true as he couldn't gather his body for coordinated movements on the football field. Dawand Jones OTOH can do a reverse dunk. That's enough for me to believe that I was wrong when I thought he should be taken off our board entirely. In fact, this little tidbit combined with what I saw on that scouting video mentioned above, I now think he's part of the trade-back cluster of RTs Poles has in mind. In terms of work ethic and coachability, we had plenty of staff at the Senior Bowl and should know all we need. Then we just brought him in for a 30 visit. https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/dawand-jones-top-30-draft-rumors-johnson/

Yes

That's exactly my point. If the oline is fixed and Fields isn't running for his life, nor having to do as many called runs, we can still have a very productive running game. We can also then have a productive passing game. RT affects 100% of the plays, RB at best 60%.