AZ54

Last year's headline.

I think there's quite a few teams out there where Brisker or Gordon would be a starter but this is Keyshawn and it's the offseason. We know he's not putting in any time to review the roster and players.

Bears football usually has more questions than answers.

I'm not that high on Sharpe. He should be clustered with the last 4 IMO and we've only got 3 locks at this point. I will say if you're going to be stuck with average or below average WRs (we will be) then you might as well keep the guys who can run block well. With a suspect Oline that at least opens the door to more success on WR screens. Or improves YAC for RBs on short routes which figures to be a big part of the offense.

He has more long speed than might be indicated by that forty time but he's not a burner at the NFL level. He just has to build up to it. Per PFF we now have the two of the top 10 run blocking WRs from last season: Pringle (8) and Harry (2) He may not provide much on-schedule but off-schedule plays with his size could be where he shines if he can get on the same page as Fields. Since he is such a good run blocker play action will help him get open too.

NFL.com says we gave up a 2024 7th Rd pick which I guess is equivalent to an 8th Rd pick in 2023. This is effectively nothing as Poles just showed you can always get back a 7th RD pick if you want one. He simply preferred to keep Harry from hitting the waiver wire. His cap hit is $3.2mil if it stays the same as his NE deal because $1.3mil is prorated bonus money which we aren't paying. He might hit our books for as low as $1.8mil. Why NE wanted this to be done now is unclear. They could have waited for camp and preseason injuries to see if there was a bigger market, and you always need camp bodies at WR. That's a surprise but it's also a message to the WRs who were arrested this offseason, along with everyone else. I watched N'Keal play when he was at ASU. He's a big bodied WR with good deep speed, good hands, but not much quickness in/out of cuts. I have to believe his route running hasn't improved much or he'd still be in NE. His draft profile said he's a good run blocker so I'd say he's competition for ESB's predicted role for sure. Is there something we don't yet know about? I believe during his time at ASU he displayed good character and work ethic.

Good point, however I doubt he did this without first contacting George to let him know. Which would also mean George was on board with the decision.

I agree there was a specific event that led to this. What that is could range from bad-mouthing the decision to back out of the Ogunjobi deal. Or leaking stuff to the media. Given how Poles personally spoke with Ogunjobi when he made the decision to back out of the deal, firing a long time Bears employee via a phone call during his vacation doesn't seem to be in character unless something very significant happened. On top of that he's made a lot of other personnel decisions and none of them went down like this one.

Those doubts are gone after this: https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-fans-have-mixed-reactions-on-ryan-poles-decision-to-fire-lamar-soup-campbell/ This is definitely not a Pace move but it does resemble a Jimmy Johnson, for those who remember him from decades ago. There has to be something behind it that Poles found out about while Soup was on vacation and that was it. There are no sacred cows in this organization. Poles is the man and he's owning it. I'm good with it now we'll wait to see the results.

This was a couple days ago and leaves just one draftee, Brisker, pending. I'd expect that to be done soon but it also depends on when Brisker is available to sign if he chose to go out of town during his break. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-sign-top-draft-pick-kyler-gordon

Interesting to see any Bears offensive player get some props on NFL Network. https://www.nfl.com/videos/pioli-shares-his-up-and-coming-te-to-watch-in-2022

I can't imagine buying a new Ferrari and just parking it in the garage and saying I'll see how it drives next year. If the QB coach was constantly with Fields working on his mechanics I might say ok, go ahead and put the big turbo kit on it first then let's see it run. There was none of that.

I haven't listened to the interview, just read the summary here: https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-more-organized-now-says-darnell-mooney Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darnell-mooney-in-studio-time-to-cash-in-on-white-sox/id1210156055?i=1000567483239 In a podcast interview with Redline Radio, described Matt Eberlus' team as entirely organized and the Matt Nagy regime, well, not so much. "It's night and day, man," Mooney said on the podcast about Bears practices now. "It's smooth. I mean everything. Everybody knows where to go, when to do something, what's the expectation, what's the standard. You know what you're getting out of the next day. It's not coming in and just like, 'uh, what we got going on?' This is not a surprise to anyone who watched this team last year and it's a good sign for the future of the franchise until we get to see the product on the field.

Week 1 against the 49ers is a great way to start. They know the offense inside and out and the defense sees it everyday in camp. Plus they have a really good Dline. Will this look like the Cleveland game last year?

Dozier just got placed on IR.

I like Jones but by his own admission he has a lot of work to do including figuring out how to get snap counts down. I'm glad for now that Jones appears to have at least settled into the backup OT role and it's obvious Borom will be our swing OT. For a 5th Rd pick that's a win... or back2back wins if you count Borom in there. For his part Jenkins wasn't moved from RT but we'll see if he's the backup RT or not. We have to wait for the pads to come on because Jenkins game is all about timing with his hands and then once he's got you, taking you where ever he wants to go. He may have had some other issues like conditioning with the faster cadence they want on offense. I'm not giving up on him. Who thought we'd have a reasonable debate about who our top 2 OTs are? All prognostications were about which FA we should be bringing in to cover the glaring need. Regardless of where Jones lands, I get the sense they are ok with the top 3 OTs or we'd have seen more shuffling toward the interior. They wanted to see how fast Jones can learn under the pressure of working with the 1's. We don't have that assessment but we do have 2 straight days of Fields and the offense playing well to close out OTAs. They still had pass rushers coming after them in those drills and I haven't seen any reports that Fields was routinely moved off his spot due to pressure. Admittedly our Dline isn't a finished product but you have to start somewhere. Lastly, if the team is intent on accelerating Jones' education at LT, and by default possibly moving Borom/Jenkins inside to RG, then parking Robert Quinn in front of him with pads on is the perfect training opportunity. Jones is struggling with snap count issues and getting off the line a bit late, and Quinn is really talented at that not to mention his other pass rushing skills. Helping to get the true top 5 Oline on the field has to factor into the trade value and if I were the coach I'd be very hesitant to move on from that. That value carries forward into next offseason in a big way too because if Poles knows he's set at OT the focus goes elsewhere.

Then you’d think it would be a surprise contender like the Bengals were last year. There’s no way to predict that. It could even be us with this weak schedule. The defense would have to carry things especially early on and Quinn would be a big part of that. Take him off the team and that slim chance becomes next to non-existent as there are no other consistent rush threats across the D front. I’m patient either way I just want to watch a team that enjoys playing football again.

After reading this I'd say Jones still has a way to go to earn a starting role. That doesn't mean he's out of the competition and it was good to see the coaches throw him in with the 1's. His future definitely looks bright. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/progress-braxton-jones-made-shows-he-will-compete-at-tackle This article outlines his approach, which we've already seen with a few players: https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-planning-different-approach-to-training-camp-practice

And Olin's son's friend, Kramer, is now on the roster Olin no doubt is getting some feedback on what is happening in the room.

He hasn't moved yet, they've kept him at RT but he did drop down to reps with backups. About the only conclusion I can see is that our top 3 OTs are Jenkins, Jones, and Borom, and that Borom will be a starter on one side or the other. If Jenkins is the backup, I find it hard to believe Mustipher is the better option at RG and that they wouldn't even give Jenkins some reps at RG in OTAs to see how he does. All eyes will be on the Oline once camp starts.

We'll see but we're starting to get some noise about Jones looking ok so far at LT. We're far from Jones winning the job but at this point with him earning at least 6 full practices with the 1's I'm starting to feel comfortable that he's doing enough to at least be the backup OT. This whole thing with Borom at RT could simply be the fact they don't want Jones learning both sides as a rookie and want to see if Borom can handle both. I still feels odd that, if this were a sign of a demotion, Jenkins was kept at RT with no looks at RG whatsoever. Jenkins had very few reps all last year and they were at LT so he's basically a rookie and this could be the same scenario: Keep him in the RT spot to get him as good as he can be there. Borom might end up the LT starter/swing OT and then if he or Jenkins go down they shuffle accordingly with Jones coming in at LT. We'll know what they think of Jones during the first week of camp. Given all that, I'd have to say Borom is the real surprise so far among the Oline. He's the only player I'm aware of getting consistent 1st team reps at 2 spots. https://www.dabearsblog.com/ "Who is the early talk of practice? Braxton Jones. Don’t be surprised if Jones is given a chance to be the starting left tackle when the Bears return for camp."

I just wonder if there has been some noise behind the scenes and Quinn's agent has picked up on the news. Just like the Bears all teams now have a good sense of their roster and gaps. Adding someone before camp starts is ideal. In the press conference Eberflus didn't seem too bothered by it.

Quinn didn't show up to mandatory camp. Somebody needs to get the rumor mill fired up.

No reason to keep a bottom of the roster player with no upside. At least give the practice snaps to someone with more upside and see what they do with it.

....on Fields.... he needs better throwing mechanics. He's working on it but this is going to be a multi-year process.