AZ54

Yesterday Poles said he's open to trading the first pick before FA begins as that could help them plan. He also said they'll be evaluating the QBs at the combine and Flus said they have interviews scheduled with Young and Stroud. So we're doing enough to keep 'em guessing but I think it's clear the pick is definitely for sale if the price is right. With that I'd say Poles intends to use the combine week to do some heavy negotiations, maybe generate something of a feeding frenzy before teams get too deep into the QB evals. Is he trying to get something done early with HOU or IND so he stays in the top 4? From there if he likes the talent trade back again on draft day to 7/8/9? Or is he willing to drop back to 9 with Carolina straight up? Trades further back will definitely involve players and picks.

I'm not that interested in Hargrave either. I prefer to find a cheaper younger DT who won't have as much cap hit. He might not offer the same performance but he won't hamstring on our roster flexibility either. Despite all the excitement with $100mil to spend this is a 2yr rebuild.

Bummer but it puts them in a tough spot for a QB. It'll be interesting to see how they resolve that problem.

I understand what you are doing and why but I don't like this format because it makes it hard to define the value proposition on where to trade down. Leaving the QBs aside is one thing but I guess we could call it the wish list instead of the board. I expect Skoronski will drop after the combine as it becomes more apparent he's a better fit at OG, likely 10-15 range. Same with WRs Johnson and JXN who is a slot WR, I'd guess both are 15-25 range. Regardless of JXN production in college I'm not taking a slot WR in the top 10. We have a gaping hole at CB why exclude Witherspoon? Daniel Jeremiah has already dropped Myles Murphy down to 18. FWIW he has Mayer all the way down at 26. With your list I'd say it will end up more like: 1 Carter 2 Anderson 3 Tyree Wilson 4 Witherspoon 5 Johnson Jr RT 6 Skoronski 7 Addison (better versatility for slot/x/y over Johnson) 8 Bresee 9 Keion White - his position versatility DE/3tech and he's a complete Flus type player 10. Murphy

Hopefully the plan is for him to compete to take over as the backup C/OG. I'd certainly like to see him win that job over Mustipher or Patrick because IMO he's got more upside. Can another offseason close the gap for him?

He's ok. Fills the niche of a slot WR based on what I see on his Indy highlights. Flus will know quite a bit about defending him from the practices. He seems fast but not 4.31 fast or to put it another way.. VJJ seems faster as he pulls away from more defenders quicker. I don't think I'd be calling him first but I'd let his agent know he can keep in touch.

Pitt started him outside then tried to make him into a big slot WR. He wasn’t comfortable there and I don’t think that fits his skillset the best. Get him back outside where he can threaten the deep perimeter. Draft a good slot WR. We will sometimes use VJJ out of the slot too.

The entire offseason goes thru Chicago. It’s going to be a wild ride.

Because it is the most difficult position to play in professional sports. If you don’t have one and believe that player is on the board then you draft him. Demeco is smart enough to remember what happens in a Superbowl when you have the wrong QB.

We need more What-If scenarios like this in the media to help our trade down cause. AZ is a great target for the 2nd cluster of QB-needy teams. I don't even care what they are proposing just keep the rumors alive because it puts the pressure on the Colts that they might end up getting the 3rd best QB. https://bleacherreport.com/videos/369833-raiders-trade-packages-for-no-3

Agreed on both accounts.

Surprise here to see Fields ranked among the top 15. Also shocking is seeing him ranked ahead of Rodgers (14) and Stafford (22). This author also has Brock Purdy listed as 15th best QB in the NFL which is just ridiculous IMO...and I'm a fan of Purdy's. https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-qb-index-ranking-all-68-starting-quarterbacks-from-the-2022-nfl-season https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/justin-fields-gains-high-spot-in-qb-rankings

I'll guess Vildor. They know they have to fix that starting CB, or NB position if they move Gordon outside, this offseason and the young guys showed enough last year IMO to compete for depth along with a draft pick. We might as well save the $2.7mil now.

Last year Poles main criteria was finding players who would sign a one year deal. As far as Flus i don’t think AQM hurt the locker room culture, just the win loss record.

Good. Not standing pat with mediocre players.

Micah Parsons is an off-ball LB most of the time but he lines up at edge on obvious passing downs. Other than that he blitzes. I confess to hating the Cowboys enough that I don't watch them very often so that's just what I see in a limited sample. The situation here is that we might not mind having the pass rushing demon paired up with a big edge on the opposite side. DE is a heavily rotated position anyways so having the elite rusher in the arsenal for those moments is nice. My question is can I get a similar player in Rd 2/3 like Will McDonald?

Digging around OTC's site. Here's a nice link to Rookie Pool and associated Cap hits which are lower (signing bonuses). Trades will affect this of course but right now we're at $14mil with $8mil cap hit. Houston is at $20mil with $11mil cap hit. Just gives us a reference point for where we might land with a trade back deal. https://overthecap.com/draft

Interesting prospect and one of those lesser known tier 2 types that has a good history of production. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/02/mutual-interest-between-commanders-eric-bieniemy What caught my eye the most was this quote from Eberflus: "Your defensive ends have to be able to set the edge so that the gaps don't get too wide and that's an important piece on the tackles," Eberflus said. "And they've got to be able to play back side. They've got to be able to stay alive." We have to keep that in mind for the draft prospects and specifically for Anderson at the top. If we're at 4 and both on the board we might just go with Tyree Wilson or Myles Murphy. I think as edge players Wilson's quickness appeals to me more and with 36" arms he won't have any issues setting the edge and compressing the gap between OT/OG.

We don't even know if Getsy trusted the WRs on those routes. Who did we trot out there to start the season? Mooney, Pettis, ESB? It's a well known fact ESB has poor route discipline. Pettis a late addition to camp. Mooney was a yes for these routes if you want your only good WR taking big hits from LBs.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/02/mutual-interest-between-commanders-eric-bieniemy

I find it hard to fault Justin for year 1 when he wasn't even allowed to practice with starters before the season. Nagy was just really stupid clinging onto any hope a vet QB would save his bacon. I also don't know how many on your list had to deal with learning a new offense in their 2nd season so that is a valid input that will shift the data set. Third, we have the supporting cast issue and how that compares to the others. Let's leave those things aside and look at his play by quarter (4 games) of the season: Q1: Comp 51%, yds/gm 117, TD 2, INT 4, fumbles 4 Q2: Comp 64.7%, yds/gm 182, TD 5, INT 2, fumbles 7 Q3: Comp 62.5%, yds/gm 147, TD 6, INT 2, fumbles 2. (only 3 games played due to injury) Q4: Comp 70.6%, yds/gm 175, TD 3, INT 2, fumbles 2. (only 3 games see below) I left out the 33% completion in the wk 16 Detroit game because of all the injuries and Fields himself couldn't play the following week. In my business that data point is called a flier and doesn't fit the distribution of the data. For statistics lovers there are mathematical ways to prove that but I'm not that energetic and this is just football banter. Plus the root cause for that can be explained. https://ontapsportsnet.com/bears/bears-rocked-by-injuries-in-detroit-justin-fields-michael-schofield-dante-pettis-teven-jenkins-jaylon-jones If you look beyond the first quarter where he and his teammates were learning the new offense do you see enough to intrigue you about next year? Q2-4: Comp 65.9%, yds/gm 168, TD 14, INT 6, fumbles 11 (trending down). attempts/gm 23 Josh Allen 2nd yr: Comp 58.8%, yds/gm 193, TD 20, INT 9, attempts/gm 28.8. If Fields had 25% more attempts in Q2-4 to match Allen we could project... Comp 65.9%, yds/gm 210, TD 17.5, INT 7.5.

https://catcrave.com/2023/02/16/3-trade-packages-carolina-panthers-justin-fields/ https://bucsreport.com/2023/02/15/should-the-buccaneers-trade-for-justin-fields/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=should-the-buccaneers-trade-for-justin-fields

Agreed

Mostly he just needs his draft board setup. At least with the grading tiers. We have so many needs we don’t have to be locked into any player or position. Much of that will be known after the combine. Free agency will certainly affect needs but my hope is we address all critical needs in FA. LG for example is not a critical need but we could certainly draft Whitehair’s replacement. I don’t even view WR as a critical need. Probably DT, OC, and RT make my list. WR LB CB are next tier.

I think this is mostly based on people figuring out what will generate the most clicks for them.