AZ54

Jason I'm glad to have known you long enough to see your dream of a tanking team come true. Now let's hope we have the right GM to exploit the situation.

You are fast but this is awesome news. The entire offseason runs through Chicago.

Putting a dome over the existing structure doesn't fix some of the serious issues with the stadium. At the very top of the list is that there aren't enough seats to host a Superbowl. And the Texans just scored so I'm outta this thread...

Good breakdown of Will Anderson and the Tenn RT.

Detroit is on the way up even if they are out of the playoffs you can expect them to play to win. They are trying to set the tone for 2023 against a division rival.

Jacobs may be 25 but that'd be like buying a used car with lots of miles on it. She might still look pretty but the maintenance costs are going to catch up to you.

Wow, happy Bday. That's a true football life.

I think Swift is over doing it a bit here. These attributes are all largely common in scouting. He also makes a bad assumption that because one item is first on the list it is the most important. These lists could be put together simply from the NFL scouting combine drills. What we don't know is how he grades those skills.

I'm guessing this should be Dontayvion Wicks and Keion White. Both of them should be on our radar. Just a WAG here but in this highlight Wicks compares favorably to Romeo Doubs who I liked as a Day 3 pick last year. Of course GB liked him there too. Wicks is much bigger and stronger and has some long stride speed. He doesn't seem to separate well though. Keion White I'm higher on. Big strong DE who appears to have the hustle we want but can also bend well around the edge. His highlights are almost all against high level teams which bodes well. On one play he's downfield in tight coverage on the RB.

I suspect this is more StBrown wanting to be here than Poles wanting to make sure he's here. Regardless, it's likely low risk on the Bears part, maybe a small guarantee. Having him at least in camp with his experience in the system is a big help and if we toss in some rookies or other FAs having someone experienced around to help is a good thing. With Poles and Eberflus we know if he wasn't a team player he wouldn't be getting this offer.

It's the right thing to do. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/hip-injury-cited-as-reason-justin-fields-will-miss-final-game

Looks like they did one on Nick Saban.

Yep, he's not the first young millionaire to struggle with these issues. Hopefully he grows out of it as most do. On the injury front I find it hard to criticize a guy who almost broke his neck a week earlier and spent a day in a hospital. I get the concerns but I simply don't know and we can't know what he felt once he got into real physical contact. We do know he had the courage to get back out there.

At the moment at #2 it's Anderson or trade back. Carter has fallen off my elite list and Anderson might yet follow him. A trade back could offer too much value even if we really like Anderson. If we are #3 we'll take Anderson or, if a QB is still on the board, we'll trade back. If it's #4 I have no clue.

For me that's an odd way of looking at his grades with just player focus, especially given the tight constraints he had. For me it goes this way... Job 1: Find the right HC and coaching staff that can build a playoff contender. I like Eberflus and the staff he's put together. We've been far more competitive in games where we should have been blown out early. I think now the players are just mentally fatigued after we saw them put it all on the line against the Bills and Eagles, plus the injuries are just overwhelming the depth on this roster. Not that we had any depth to begin with. DONE Job 2: Shed overpaid aging talent and finding as many draft picks as possible in exchange, targeting the rebuild to start in 2023. In other words tear it down in 2022 where it needed to be torn down. Generate as much future cap space as possible in 2023 to flip this team around. DONE Job 3: Draft 2-3 starting caliber players. DONE: Braxton Jones, Brisker, Gordon, and technically 4 if you want to count the punter Gill who has done surprisingly well as a rookie. Job 3a: Add 2-3 players that can be future roster depth for us. DONE. Ja'Tyre Carter, Dom Robinson, and Velus(?). Toss in finding Sanborn who appears to be future MLB starter for us. I preferred there be more Oline or better WR among starters he drafted but the value didn't fall that way. Poles stayed with his board in Rd 2 and got 2 defensive starters at positions we really needed. Job 4: Put that coaching staff to work fixing Fields mechanics, his ability to read defenses, and his ability to work the pocket. We must know if he's the QB of the future by the end of this season. DONE. Everyone knows Fields is our QB going forward. However, it's also still a work in progress with the offense. I'll call it Successful but Incomplete. Job 6: Find a way with limited budget and draft picks to put a 53 man roster together. Ideally one that helps Fields so we can evaluate him and then we'll fix the D in 2023. With the limited resources he had Poles tried to get some FA Olineman and lost, not on money but to the better roster. FAIL However Fields often rose above the dysfunction and showed he can be the rising tide that lifts all boats. Now we get to the end of the season and we're focused on the rental players (Pringle, Justin Jones, Reiff). Grading any rental car is always going to be meh and those players are not really Poles' "roster". I hoped we'd find a diamond in the rough somewhere among them but alas it was not meant to be. He took some chances on some former high draft picks in Harry and Leatherwood. Low risk high reward... that's ok. Claypool is his for sure but the mid-season trade leaves that as an incomplete grade because it was actually part of the 2023 roster decision. We have to see who he extends this year (i.e. Mooney) to really know who his guys are. Roquan was his guy then just as quickly he wasn't. Like the Ogunjobi decision, Poles has his plan and if you don't fit into that he'll move on. Both times it took some courage to go back on his word but he stuck to his plan for the future. Down the road we could be in shock to see a good player cut or traded a year earlier than we expect. Draft picks are still developing so between that and the Rental FAs roster make up is graded as Incomplete for me. If we have to put a grade on the 3-win 2022 roster that's easy... it's a big fat F.

Sometimes we don't always know what is right and what is wrong. If you're telling me something important that I must memorize I will not look at you. I tend to look down and focus on memorizing the message and I'll tune out all the other noise. Granted I'm an oddball but I just don't have the same level of concentration when looking up and around because there too many squirrels running around.

Hester needs to be in the Hall of Fame before they roll out his Football Life Documentary. There will be footage from the announcement and then induction weekend and speech that need to be in it. With regards to Edelman there isn't even a hint of him getting into the Hall of Fame so they can safely create his documentary. Everyone knows Hester is going to be enshrined it's just a question of when, not if. https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/julian-edelman-hall-of-fame

Gordon is the better athlete playing a more difficult position. Gordon leads with 3 INTs, Brisker 1. Brisker leads in solo tackles 68 to 55 over Gordon. Brisker leads 4 sacks, Gordon 0. ( I couldn't guess say who is used more to blitz) Forced fumbles and fumble recoveries are tied at 1, fumble recoveries tied at 1. Both miss tackles too often. Brisker just completely whiffed on a TD run in Detroit, didn't even get a hand on the RB and he ran right past him.

Alec Pierce I'd have been good with. Pickens has already had one public blowup on the sidelines and I simply don't care about his talent level he's not someone I want on a rebuilding team. FWIW Abraham Lucas has a lower overall PFF grade than Larry Borom.

Forgot to add I found a new stats website I liked so thought I'd share it. https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/player-stats/

As a KR Velus flips the field at least once and sometimes twice a game. For a team with an inept offense that often goes 3 and out that's a big help as the ensuing punt puts the other team on a long field. If we get anything going on offense we need just 30yds of offense for a FG. I don't think that alone is worth a 3rd Rd pick but if he can just add a little on offense with some big plays here and there it's about right. If you look at this PFF analysis comparing 1st and 2nd Rd WRs performance...look at the 3yr survival rate of WRs by draft Rd. In many ways there is minimal difference between 1st and 2nd Rd WRs. Since they didn't compare later rounds other than the 3yr survival rate we have to assume the lower survival rate means a significant dropoff in production. It's only worse after that. Based on that article the sweet spot for WR value is the 2nd Rd. With that said, looking at the WRs taken after Velus in the 3rd Rd we have: Jalen Tolbert w/ 12yds receiving total, 53 special teams snaps David Bell w/ 214yds receiving total, 116 special teams snaps Danny Gray w/ 10yds receiving total. 15 special teams snaps Velus is sitting in 2nd place with 61yds rcv. 111 specials teams snaps Velus is 11th in the NFL in KR yards with 525. The others have none. Before he got benched Velus had 35 PR yards, the others have none. 4th Rd WRs: Ezukama. no stat line, Dobbs 425yds receiving, 3 special teams snaps Calvin Austin no stat line 5th Rd WRs: Shakir. 133yds receiving, 18 special teams snaps Montrell Washington, 271yds receiving, 271 special teams snaps but his KR long is 29yds (Velus is 63yds and averages 29yd/return) Kyle Phillips, 78yds receiving, 7 special teams snaps I'm not taking the time to go further down the draft. This was a "value" exercise for me to see if Poles grabbed the right WR. Dobbs might have been the better WR but offers nothing on special teams. Velus has been disappointing as a WR but excelled as KR when he holds onto the ball. Year 2 will be telling but based on the other WRs drafted after him Velus fits in simply because of his versatility. The question remains were there players at other positions that offered greater value when he was chosen?

Ah, we forgot to account for the Josh McDaniels effect. Denver, LA Rams, and TB's complete and utter ineptness shocked me the most. TB is only 8-8 out of the kindness of others.

Nothing looked right today on offense or defense. He's going to keep seeing a lot more Wide-9 fronts to keep him from getting outside. Getsy will have to adapt to that for next year.

The Packers destroying the Vikings means they are likely coming into next week focused on winning. You don't want to take that loss and then a loss to a 3-12 team into the playoffs. At a minimum the first half they'll be focused on starters executing, then maybe they rest some players. Regardless our defense with the remaining players can't stop anyone.

That was just a bad game overall. Not much to say other than this is the end of a very tough year with a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th string players on the field. Among the various takeaways is that Morrow isn't a starting LB in this league. He's way too late on his reads. He might run a 4.5 forty as compared to Sanborn but when you watch them play you'd swear Sanborn ran the faster time.