AZ54

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.

Some of this can be bluster designed to show everyone else they shouldn’t waste their time trying to get the first pick because the Colts will match our beat it. Best to just stay away. Ballard has gone from dream job with top QB to a spot where he absolutely has to get the QB pick right. He literally cannot sit at 4 and risk all the top QBs being gone when he picks. If he did he might be fired that day. He can’t trade with Houston and it makes no sense to trade to 3 with AZ and take who is left. Go big or go home.

Too late for sure now. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2023/02/15/chicago-bears-close-on-arlington-heights-property-stadium-update/

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/colts-owner-follows-up-on-qb-comments-with-more-humor

That makes a lot of sense. If I'm Poles I'm letting teams, and anyone else watching who is talking to who at the Senior Bowl, see me chatting with LV/ATL/CAR GMs.

We know they want to keep him. I'm not a cap expert but unless he signs before FA begins they may have to franchise tag him to keep him. A tag hits available cap if I'm not mistaken. They have some options on cutting players like Leno. I couldn't say how that affects their roster (i.e. is there a young player in place to take over as starter) but those are things we can watch for leading up to FA.

The value of QB over WR is well known and it is far easier to find good WRs in Rd 1-3. But eh, that's just not my problem

We did see things differently. I thought he played well overall but IMO he was often late on his reads. Or KC suddenly developed an elite secondary to match up against those WRs. In some ways it was similar to what we've seen from Fields and it led to pockets collapsing and scrambles outside the pocket. He was often successful outside the pocket. When the pressure was on in the 3rd quarter he wasn't able to respond although that was the case with the entire team. Their road to the Superbowl was easy maybe that led to some nerves and execution issues when it got tight. The fumble was inexcusable for an MVP type QB and was the difference in the game. We can't ignore that stuff as it completely changed the momentum of the game.

This whole Wash trade proposal was some Wash fan's fantasy trade/draft. In a quiet week for real draft news Bears fans latched onto it. IMO any deal with Wash their offer has to start with McLaurin. Without him in the deal I don't think Poles should talk with them.

They still have to pay for a QB somewhere somehow or try to draft one. Even Hieneke, if they make him the starter, won't come cheap maybe $10mil. They are in a really bad spot at 16, too far down to trade up. They might hope Richardson falls to them but he's definitely not ready for snaps this year. That leaves Carr (seemingly headed to NO), JimmyG, or a trade for Rodgers. They are stuck in a QB position familiar to Bears fans over the last few decades.

Well said as talent definitely impacts the way a defense reacts. The Eagles just played really poor defense. It's unfortunate they always give MVP to skill players because IMO it was the Chiefs' Oline that deserved it. They just ran over the Eagles front 7.