AZ54

Brisker and Gordon cleared to play. With both getting 3 weeks off their bodies should be free of the nagging injuries that everyone plays through late in the season. Now we get to see who takes over for Vildor on the outside. Jaylon Jones has some competition for that from Blackwell.

It could be but a bigger sample size would be helpful for evaluating Sanborn's weaknesses. With more film on him will teams attack him differently? How will he respond?

I have to disagree. Braxton Jones is by far his best find of the year. He's playing one of the premium positions in the NFL and it's far more challenging to do that as a rookie than it is to play MLB. Jones struggled early on with some things but he's never completely fallen off in any game and he's played every snap on offense. He's been one of our most consistent run blockers and per PFF has graded out as our 2nd best Olineman thus far in the season. He's had 3 holding and 2 false start penalties. Quietly in the last month he's become very consistent in his pass protection. Go look at the complaint section on this board (just kidding) and you won't see his name but you get the point that nobody is really talking about him failing. Compare that to what you hear about Mustipher or Borom. Here's a better take: https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-bears/braxton-jones-continues-what-has-been-a-dominant-stretch/

Sorry but I have no interest in becoming a team where you can have a winning record one or several years in a row but can't win it all. We need some star players to mix in with that 2nd Rd depth. The odds of finding a Pro Bowl player go down the further you get in the draft. The corollary to your 2nd Rd re-sign rate of just 30% is that 70% of those players are available for anyone to sign. There are injury issues to consider so that's not entirely correct but in most offseason it's usually true you can add depth at most positions.

In theory yes, but I can't remember the last time supply was greater than demand.

Another QB enters the fray. I have no idea if he's a top 10 talent. If the physical talent is there I'd expect him to be more of a late 1st Rd option for teams considering the lengthy development work he'll need. However, if the debate becomes Richardson or Will Levis for 3rd QB that could drive up his value. The more QBs who can go in the top 10 the better for us if we trade down in the 1st. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2022/12/florida-qb-anthony-richardson-declares-for-draft "On the other hand, three NFL scouts reportedly said this week that “they expect (Richardson) to be a top-10 draft pick come April,” according to Jason Cole of OutKick.com.

I saw someone (somewhere) mention we should sign Nelson Agholor in FA because he's the legit deep threat we're missing. I've never been a big fan of Agholor but the concept I found appealing. In a sense we'd all like Velus Jones to be that deep threat, and on occasion he will, but I think he'll always be mostly limited to plays closer to the LOS and then add via YAC. So adding a starter who is someone the safeties have to worry about deep on every play creates more space for everyone else to work in. Claypool has the speed and size to get deep and so does Mooney so that versatility forces a D to play balanced in coverage. I figure ESB is gone but Harry should stick around at least into camp along with Pringle who I doubt gets much interest in FA. Then you add in the run game because with Fields running they will want to bring a safety closer to the LOS. That means more single high safety which gives opens up the sidelines deep. We could easily swap in Agholor and we'd be better off on deep routes than we are with Pettis. The problem is special teams and here is where Velus and his poor PR ability causes a problem. I'm certain he'll work on that in the offseason but assuming Pettis is gone we'll need another option. That could come from a DB pickup. Maybe we step back a bit from all the usual route tree questions since we can cover that with existing talent and simply ask who are the best outside deep threats in this draft?

I was watching The Score on Youtube and they asked the question if you were starting a franchise today which NFL QB would you choose over Justin Fields. He had 4 he'd take: Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, and Herbert. I disagree on Burrow and Herbert. I've watched both play this year and if I hadn't been watching Justin play all year or, if this were our typical/historical QB discussion I'd take any of them. After what I've seen with Burrow and Herbert under pressure they aren't offering anything close to what Fields does. IMO we could swap with Allen who just has special arm talent and can run. Mahomes too has special arm talent and his mobility is very good. Herbert is very good on the intermediate/deep routes as a pocket passer. I think he's still developing at reading things which is normal. If you look at the NFL Live clip it's obvious that he's not elevating his offense in the same manner Fields is despite similar protection and some WR issues. That's despite the fact he's in his 3rd season in that offense. I think Burrow's strength lies in his ability to read, make quick release passes. In this aspect he's much better than Fields. He doesn't have the best arm but he's accurate on the short/intermediate and good enough on the deep stuff that a player like Ja'Maar Chase can adjust to and win. Again I'm sticking with the upside of a younger and improving Fields even though right now Burrow is the better QB. 670 the Score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGCFGZJMGSM NFL Live Herbert starts at 2min: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N__tQJLP_Y

I guess this fits in this thread. What if I told you the Bears have the most explosive offense in the NFL? Of course Justin is driving this but nobody (myself included) saw this coming especially given the talent surrounding him and all the injuries, etc. We've always said great players make the others around them better. You can feel it when you watch a game because despite how inconsistent our offense can be, you don't want to miss any plays. How many 56yd passes to ESB does Aaron Rodgers have? How many did Harry have in NE? I'll save you the trouble Harry's longest play prior to that was 43yds from Jones, and in 3 season at GB ESB had one long reception of 54yds in 2018 and 24yd and 26yds in 2020/21. We know this to be true but I doubt the majority of the national media has it figured out yet: Fields is carrying the entire offense on his shoulders. We might have to resurrect the old City of the Big Shoulders line.

Saw a clip from Wannstedt where he was talking about how after this game Fields said his shoulder was still sore. We all saw that Getsy kind of shut things down in the 2nd half and Fields ran a lot less. We're all talking about how we went conservative on the play calls and sort of shut things down unnecessarily. Wannstedt speculated this was intentional and that Fields likely told them he was in pain during halftime. That drove the play calling change and the guidance to Fields to stay in the pocket. That scenario makes a lot of sense. Nobody is going to call out Justin for being tough and staying in the game even if they had to protect him a bit with those play calls. The upside Wannstedt pointed to was that by operating more out of the pocket in the 2nd half we got to see a much improved Justin Fields. His pocket awareness was really good and he was consistently sliding around to move away from pressure, not just taking off and running, and then still completing passes.

People don't like to admit they were wrong, especially on things they said publicly. The passing numbers haven't been there yet and only Bears fans really know the details of the improvement in Fields. We can see the improved pocket presence, faster reading of the defense, better throwing mechanics, and all those things done while the WR corps and Oline have been rotating players in/out all season long.

100% truth.

I just watch other games and ask myself would I prefer that QB’s ability over what Fields had been doing the last month. Mahomes yes and even that has the caveat or wait and see when this team is better next year. IMO Fields is getting more offense out of less talent around him than any QB in the NFL right now. Would Mahones get more points than Fields with our roster? I don’t think so. Might get the same points but in different ways. i still think fields is a better passer than Allen especially at the same point in their careers. Herbert when I watched him a few weeks ago didn’t impress. Who else?

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/12/07/bears-eddie-jackson-doesnt-need-surgery-on-lisfranc-injury-nfl-2022-season/

We need to see him get more snaps to evaluate the consistency but watching Leatherwood's improvement in such a short practice time gives me more confidence in the coaches. Getting Braxton Jones ready to play this year is also a huge plus. We already know they've been kicking around changes at Center a few times this season so something will happen there. Borom struggled and they moved to Reiff and now working in Leatherwood. They are not married to the old adages about Oline play and have been creative and successful rotating players in, and making performance based decisions. For now I trust the decisions they'll make.

I've seen the rumors on Claypool and Tomlin isn't one to give up on a player easily. The ceiling on these 2 is relatively matched IMO although they win in different ways on routes. I prefer the young man with some maturity/work ethic issues who is still a good teammate versus the young man who has been a selfish prick everywhere he's played. Most people focus more on their career as they reach their mid-20s. That could happen to both players.

I'm not sure where to put this but seeing Pickens already cussin' out his QBs for not getting the ball sure seems like a strong indication of why we didn't draft him. First with Trubisky now with Pickett. I sure don't want to see that on our sidelines as we rebuild a winning culture. In the meantime, we used a 2nd Rd pick to take Claypool away and you have to think Pickens early success was part of the equation for the Steelers.

I think Leatherwood is already better than Borom. He might not be ready to start yet but he needs more reps. Aside from his obvious pass protection concerns, I thought the run game might suffer with Leatherwood having missed so much practice. Somehow they've been able to get him to improve his pass protection mechanics and have him ready to play, or as Swifty says that part comes to him more naturally.

ESB has actually done more than I expected but my hope was always to see someone rise up and take his snaps as the season progressed. He fit in well early especially with the run game which we really needed as Fields and the WRs got comfortable in the passing game. Not to mention the Oline concerns early on. Looking back on it quarter by quarter I don't have a problem with the way they've brought the offense along. Injuries to Pringle and then Harry definitely slowed down things. That we've relied on ESB and Dante Pettis, two guy who are 5th/6th WRs, so much is crazy.

Thomas Graham and I did think he had potential to be a good player but work ethic, which he himself admitted was part of his problem, is not something we can easily discern. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Graham_Jr._(American_football)

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-pff-grades-best-and-worst-performers-in-week-13-loss-packers/ FWIW Leatherwood graded out well as per the always questionable PFF.

I didn't notice it during the game but Leatherwood got 10 snaps (according to Pro Football Reference). It seems he rotated in with Reiff. Did anybody see how he performed? Swift is going to do an All-22 breakdown later this week.

He's just getting Roquan's money. With Sanborn working behind Payne that would be a win-win IMO.

I'm not that clever but watching the play calling later in the game it sure felt like we were content to stay right where we were on the scoreboard.

He's fast, not sure if that's 4.27 speed but his burst and agility are exceptional. I was surprised to see how well he navigates traffic and has some contact balance.