AZ54

100% that would be my plan. In this league most teams are moving their top edge rusher across the formation anyway. We moved Mack around, Nick Bosa moves, and if I were smarter I'm sure I could list a few more. There is no issue having two good OTs blocking for Justin and I'm not one to get caught up in value of the LT/RT position in this sense. The Eagles did this a long time ago with Lane Johnson at 4th overall and 10 years later are still glad they did.

Center is a need IMO but it's somewhat mitigated by the fact we're trying out Whitehair there so we'll see. My preference is to draft a guy for the future but at minimum Whitehair should be an upgrade over anything we saw from Mustipher or Patrick last year. I feel like we'll come up 1 short in filling all the "starter" gaps this year but we'll go into next offseason with a good amount of cap space and two 1st Rd picks. Having a starter caliber player at RT is a must have, not an option. If there is a starter gap it can be at one of the other need spots which means I think we could survive a season with Whitehair/Patrick as the center options.

Correct. That's what happens when the wife says it's time to go and you have to hit submit reply before you're done.

We're 13 months into Ryan Poles' total overhaul of a bad roster. To date we have: QB: A starting QB (yeah!) WR: 3 starting NFL caliber WRs including one who is top 15, maybe top 10, in the NFL. Who had that on their bingo card to start this season? Oline: Starters at LT, RG, LG and both guards are good to really good players with Pro Bowl potential. Braxton Jones ranked as a top 15 LT last year. TE: A top 15 starting inline TE (Kmet already on roster), and a good backup receiving TE in Tonyan. RB: Good RBs in Foreman, Herbert, and a 3rd down specialist who can pass protect in Homer. On defense we have: LB: 2 good starting LBs, probably 3 if you include Sanborn at SLB. One of our starters has 2 Pro Bowls on his resume and fits the centerfield role perfectly for this defense. Again, who had that on their bingo card for this season? Safety: 2 good starting Safeties. CB: 2 good starting CBs (can depend on your confidence in Gordon). DE: Walker is a legit starting DE for us. DT: Billings is a good starting DT as a 1-tech. For me at the 13 month point for Poles, and without his 2nd draft, this roster is more complete that I anticipated it would be. I see the gaps at RT, 3-tech, and CB. Right behind those is Center depending on Whitehair. And we have 10 draft picks and $38mil in cap space. I'm not nervous I'm excited for what this roster has already become and now we're about to add some good depth in this draft.

Luke Wypler... the anti-Mustipher.

DJ is definitely insinuating that is what Fields said. Who knows how accurate that is. In other statements DJ has made it clear he is the rising tide that will lift all WR ships. He’s got the resume to back that up.

Is there such a thing as a top WR who isn't confident like that?

Maybe he is the reason we didn't re-sign DHC? Our coverage gunners are Velus and Blackwell, with that new LB as the middle-of-the-field special teams ace.

I have similar concerns and while I liked some of what the younger players did last year it wasn't enough to be confident in them going forward. I have been hoping we'd just sign a vet FA on a one year $5-7mil deal so we could take this off the to-do list and focus on the trenches in this draft. That may still happen as Poles is patient enough to wait until after the draft to see what his options are. However the big question is where do they see Gordon at next year? If he moves outside it's much easier to find a NB on day 2 or 3 as teams tend to grab the outside CBs earlier. The top player on the board at 9, and remaining blue chip, could be a CB. From a long term budget perspective you bring in that guy and let Jaylon Johnson walk next year. That would still leave big gaps in the trenches and I don't like that. Plus, in any defense if you have a strong Dline/pass rush you need less talent in coverage. Point here is that we shouldn't draft a CB at 9 but that player could be good bait for a trade down. Given that we have some potential solutions on the roster I think we draft one on Day 3 who fits the NB profile and let them all compete for a job. That moves Gordon outside. Johnson hasn't been mentioned much in the contract extension rumors, typically we hear about Mooney and Kmet. It's hard to gauge what value the team sees in him. What value does Jaylon see for himself too and how close are the two sides? Does the team want to see another year before making a decision? It may also be that Poles has already reached out to agents for all 3 and they are closer in valuation for Kmet and Mooney so they just want to start there. All I know for sure is that this team has been really quiet about the DBs so far.

100%. Given the risk with Carter I’d say the alternate player wouldn’t have to hit elite level of play but reaching a few Pro Bowls is still expected of a player in the top ten. Get that while avoiding the risk Carter has and I’m ok. The odd thing is Poles already walked away from Carter when he dropped out of the top 4. It’s Carter who fell back into the discussion.

Yeah that’s a mess I wouldn’t want to be dealing with.

I think he’s a good fit for our culture. Early in his career he used to appear lost on the field but it’s hard to comprehend being just 19 when you are drafted. He was so young and I’m certain he has a lot to learn. His last couple years have been much better. I think he’s still ascending and we bought at the right time.

We both know that if Poles has the option he better make the right decision.

I'm not in either category (draft/ don't draft) because this is simply one player where the interviews are incredibly important and there is no way for me to know. I can say that IMO his on the field performance warrants being drafted at 9.

Great article but I wish he detailed a little more on the DT traits. Nonetheless I trust his scout's eye on talent and their fits. I thought he'd mention Gervon Dexter as a 3-tech but I was wrong. I was surprised to see him list Van Ness as a 3-tech but I can see that in him with his quick first step and brute force style as long as he adds a few pounds. For this thread I think Anton Harrison needs to be an option at 53. I also don't think Anudike lasts until 61 but this is a deep draft for DEs and sometimes scheme fit and depth at a position leads to a guy dropping more than we expect. I have considered if we should just take Skoronski knowing he'll be really good inside but might be good enough at RT this year for us to get by. If you're drafting in the top 10 you want to come away with a Pro Bowl caliber player and I think he fits that. He won't be worse than Reiff and definitely will be better than Borom. I doubt Poles takes that chance especially since he just signed Davis and think he'll just prefer the guy who fits his OT profile in Paris Johnson. One thing I'll be watching for as the evaluation process drags on.... Will we have another visit with Jalen Carter? Last year we met with Braxton Jones 3 times including a position coach working him out close to the draft. If Carter's recent visit helped allay some concerns then I could see the Bears trying to take the same under-the-radar approach with Carter to see where he's at in a few weeks. That could be as much to take him off the board as it is to keep him on it so they can be firm and confident in their strategy for draft day.

Watch it again. If we hadn't signed Davis I'd gladly take Avila in the 2nd Rd to be our LG of the future. I think he's a stud and he's very strong but Jalen Carter can walk him straight back into the QB.

He is the type of player I'd give a higher bonus to in exchange for a lower AAV

Reportedly he initially told the police he was a mile behind the vehicle that crashed He later changed that and said he was close enough to see their taillights. Without knowing the road I couldn’t guess what that means for distance.

I want being critical this is a valid point for all prospects we see every year where some GM will swing for the fences

flashbacks of Jerry Angelo preferring the higher floor.

You can win games without an elite pass rusher. You can't win them without Justin Fields. That leaves Paris Johnson Jr. as the pick for me. However he has some concerns. If they feel there is a DT/DE talent too good to pass up and I think those would only be Wilson or Carter. I just can't figure out what a stop gap solution would be at RT this year if we don't grab one early. The more I read about the OTs I think there are two that can fit our scheme: Paris Johnson Jr. and Anton Harrison.

Ngakoue is reportedly poor in run defense. If true, that explains the hesitancy to sign him at least at whatever price he was asking early in FA. Spotrac has him valued at $14.8M. Flus know's him and if he really wanted him he'd be here by now like they did with the 2 LBs, or maybe even in place of one of them. It seems rather than pay that kind of money they are content to go forward with Walker, Gipson, and DRob, and add a draft pick or two. Maybe we add a vet after the draft when the price goes way down.

It'll happen. That's about all that is left to do before we start backfilling and improving other spots like FS, or improving depth. He tried to close the RT gap with McGlinchey and the price got too high so he went with the backup plan and improved the LG position (and maybe Center if Whitehair works out). That Center bet has to be hedged with a rookie. If RT in FA had worked out he'd be in a much better spot to fill the depth inside the Oline in Rd 2/3 and go defense early. That kinda forces his hand early towards RT. However, unlike last year we don't need 10 players we need 4-5 good ones to get this roster competitive so I think there will be movement up in the draft as he goes after his targets, especially on day 3. You can package 133 and 138 to move up to 108. Six picks in the top 108 should help build depth and you might catch a second 3rd Rd talent who fell into the 4th Rd (the first one being at 103). Then if he still wants to add more bodies he can trade back from 148 to around 165 and maybe get a late 6th Rd pick in exchange.

Tonyan's deal was for 1yr at $2.6M. Most interesting is that OTC had him valued at $4.9mil. If he was seeing anything close to that from other teams then he accepted a big hometown discount.