AZ54

Did we just get Orlando Brown?

I'm certain Poles is laughing at that one.

Reportedly Bears were in heavy talks with Raiders for the 1st pick before we decided to go with the Panthers' offer. Left 'em at the altar and they got JimmyG on the rebound.

That's being all-in on Russell Wilson. We need to get people on base before we swing for the fences.

Yikes, I was thinking he was worth 3 / $45M. Of course I'm always low relative to the market but this kind of a deal for that type of player is what you have to avoid in FA. I don't know what the fall-back option will be.

Poles sticks to his budget!

Saw a rumor, no link, that Bears are interested in Eagle G Isaac Seumalo.

Go read Trench Warfare on Larry Borom and you'll feel better.

$6.5mil/yr is a heck of a value upgrade over Roquan at $20mil/yr. It appears we'll be seeing some similar value signings at DT.

Wash is going to try to win games 17 to 14.

After watching some games of Taylor earlier today I don't like him in either pass pro or run blocking. He stays too high. Reportedly the Jags ran a quick pass offense so time to protect was usually on the order of 2s. I don't know if that's true but anytime someone got low on Taylor they got around him quickly. Available space: $75mil per OTC w/ DJ Moore OC: Keep Patrick and draft rookie to compete Tier 1: RT... McGlinchey. He has health issues and sometimes pass pro issues which will keep his cost lower but he's much more of a known commodity in this offense than Taylor. That reduces the risk. If they can get his health and strength back to good we win. Plus having a vet next to Jenkins also helps him IMO. There are good OT options for us in the draft at 9 but I think Poles wants the sure thing with the Oline going into the draft. $15mil/yr DT... Dre'Mont Jones. Top target. Crushing need means we have to overpay the man. $17mil/yr. I think DE gets left to a deep draft. Total spend $32mil. Available Cap: $43mil Tier 2: LB...Okereke. Spotrac Market Value shows $2.3mil, OTC at $7mil. I'll guess he signs for $6mil/yr CB/NB... who? $5mil.... then cut Vasher to save half that so net cap hit is just $2.5mil. ( I forgot we have Michael Ojemudia, he might be good enough for them to skip signing a FA and see how the training camp battle goes with the young guys from last year). Total spend $44mil... Available Cap: $31mil Remaining money goes toward extensions for Kmet, Johnson, and Mooney (figure 2 of 3 get done) plus the draft pool which will be $10mil. Of course how they structure things could gives us more space this year. In the future we will lose Whitehair's and Eddie Jackson's contracts.

Zach Allen of AZ Cards?

After watching highlights of Moore there are a couple things about him that standout to me and I think Fields will really like. First, he's a WR you can throw open, especially on deep routes, and he adjusts to the ball really well even if he gets completely turned around. That's really hard to do. He's not the best high point pass catcher but he's got late hands that help him a lot in tight coverage. On top of that he seems to have a burst with an extra gear to separate and close on the ball if needed. I've seen him on routes with DBs that can match his speed, he'll throttle it back just a bit to keep them in his hip pocket until late in the route and then burst to the ball. That also means if the pass is slightly under-thrown DJ still has a good chance to catch it because of his strength. All told he creates a wider catch radius down field making him very QB friendly on deep routes. Not too many WRs in the NFL can do this as well as he does. At 50s in highlight video from Mayfield. 4:00min from PJ Walker. Again at 5:40 and you can see Patrick Surtain's frustration after the play. 8:25 you see him adjust to an under-thrown ball and use late hands to secure the TD and another adjustment to a poor pass on the next play. He has incredible agility to make boundary catches and keep his feet in. 3:15s. 6:20s and applies to below as well. 8:00 He keeps working late in the play. Either getting to the second window against a zone defense, or just working to get open. When combined with the traits above this is going to mesh really well with Fields' ability to extend plays. The highlight at 4min you can the original play was designed for the underneath route and Moore knew he had double coverage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdBrmqOSOyI&t=314s

At the Superbowl Fields said those dates were already scheduled. I'm sure they'll bring in Moore.

I'm good with keeping Seimian this year as the primary backup. He meshed well with Fields and you could see that on the sidelines when they were reviewing plays. There are so many other holes to fill this year. The better the rest of the roster is the more likely a backup is to win games which is what you saw in SF last year. Dorian Thompson-Robinson is a very good athlete but he is frustrating to watch because there are so many WTF throws. You saw that at the combine too and that's a very easy environment to throw passes because there is nobody in your face. As a UDFA he'd be worth a shot if your QB coach thinks that is fixable.

And Wash and maybe even the Jets

Suppose we make that trade back with Washington and land at 16 with Daron Payne in hand. We sign Taylor to anchor the RT spot. I'm going to assume those are out two big FA deal along with DJ Moore as the 3rd big contract. A LB is brought in on a 2nd tier deal. We'd still need one more DT and possibly LG and 2 DE. I just a did a mock and forced that trade 9 for 16 (no need to force it). Would you like this draft...

I’m thinking we stay cheaper at RT and sign Taylor plus an OC for the same money. In the wild rumor world of the Internet is the chatter we have now offered to Washington to swap first round picks in exchange for the rights to Payne. I don’t know if there is any truth to that whatsoever but it’s an interesting proposition. Further that would have to be done this weekend.

Right now my top target is Skoronski. Seems like he is the most likely perrenial Pro Bowl player and I like his position versatility. Ideal replacement at LG.

Imagine, if you will, a place and time in the future where the Carolina Panthers have the worst record in the NFL and the Bears have one of the best QBs. Ryan Poles tells the rest of the NFL if you want Caleb Williams you know the price.

Can we start a new thread for all the memes about Frank Reich and Chris Ballard?

No harm no foul. It isn't often I get something right.

Me too. A bird in the hand approach here fits as does the contract.

Who told me they wouldn't give up DJ Moore if they were trading up for a QB? Always aim high! Now we actually have a good WR group at the top 3 and will likely add a day 3 WR to help round it out with Velus.

That's why I played around with a drop back outside the top 10 in a mock draft. In that scenario my preference it to a RT with our first pick. I'd rather have the highly ranked OT than a highly ranked slot WR. JSN won't matter much if Fields is already scrambling out of the pocket and if all we can do is throw quick short routes JSN won't survive the season.