AZ54

I agree on DTs but I don't see much available. I wouldn't be surprised to see us grab a vet who gets cut late in camp. Poles has quite a few Oline on board and will be hoping to stash at least a couple on our practice squad but for DT I don't think we have any promising UDFAs or late round rookies. Therefore, I also expect us to be watching the rookies and young practice squad players who get cut and grabbing a few DT prospects for our practice squad. We definitely have opportunity for a talented young player who just needs time to develop and smart agents look for that. Not to mention a coaching staff that has proven to give young players opportunities if they've earned it. You could say they are all new and there is no history of that with the Bears but we've already seen Braxton Jones, Dom Robinson, Brisker, and Gordon get time with the 1's.

He should be.

By position group it's really hard to say. With the two recent signings I don't see Oline being 31st. I'd guess more mid-20s and hopefully top 20 in the 2nd half of the season. I have a feeling these coaches will have the Oline knowing who they should block on each play. We didn't have that last year.

Given what I saw from Roquan on the field last year, especially in the last quarter of the season when others around him were shutting it down (I saw you Jaylon Johnson), there is no doubt he is a leader on the field and in the locker room. We need that on a young developing team and now he has an entire coaching staff demanding that work ethic and hustle from everyone.

True but it is in the order of what you should do before the play (get in right alignment, know your assignment) and then during the play (read keys and then use proper technique to finish the play).

I don't mind a good "I told ya so!"

Now the big question that gets answered in a day or two is what side is Reiff playing on? Most of his history is at LT but he's played a year or two at RT. Whichever side he goes to, we know he's getting paid starter's money. Now with all this depth LT, RT, and RG are even more of a tossup. Let's see who brought their A-game. Poles had to be reaching out to these players over the last few weeks and it was kept quiet. He likely waited until their price met his and if true, that's some stone-cold negotiating skills. If I were a player I'd be waiting for my price on a deal or else wait on best offers before camp starts. If I'm wrong and Poles just waited and then contacted them this week well that still takes some brass to just sit and wait and see who's available the week of camp. I'm not sure it's the wisest route.

Out: Be You! In: Alignment, Assignment, Key, and Technique.

Something, anything to help.

Yet the main point I took away from that was that we have made Roquan an offer which is great news. Poles wants to get this done now so he can head into next offseason with no big issues hanging over the roster.

Yes but Dozier's injury was many weeks ago... Jun 15. Surely the Bears knew within 1 day the extent of the injury. Why wait 5 weeks to bring in his replacement? Maybe they were seriously considering moving Jenkins inside. This all happened after the rookies reported so perhaps Jenkins came back in better shape to play RT so they pivot back to bringing in more competition at RG. I'm just having fun with speculation but there's almost no good reason to wait this long after the injury to sign Schofield. The sooner he got his hands on the playbook the better.

Good addition, but I wonder why they waited so long to do this. Maybe they wanted to fill Dozier's spot after OTAs but it was just timing on when they could get him in for a workout?

I suspect this is an indication Jenkins is not moving to RG. I'm assuming that Jenkins would likely be a starter at RG if they moved him there, which could be totally wrong too since they wouldn't even give him a single snap there. If Jenkins were there you'd have either Patrick or Mustipher as backups. It also indicates that none of the young interior guys were looking that great even as backups. Adding a vet to this spot would definitely make me feel better heading into the season. This guy having some versatility between OG/OT would be nice to have on game day too. I'm really curious how this Oline lines up on day 1 in camp.

Why is he still available?

The bottom line in 2022 doesn't matter. This precedent will effect negotiations on all future contracts and Poles must consider that. I fully support Brisker's ability to demand whatever he wants. I fully support the Bears right to pay what they want. Neither has to come to an agreement. Brisker is a FA and can work anywhere he wants outside the NFL. Likewise the Bears can choose to negotiate with other FA players to fill that spot. However, if Brisker chooses to work in the NFL he'll have to abide by the existing labor agreement the players have made with the owners, which means the NFL players have accepted that the Bears have exclusive rights to Brisker as a player, draft salary slotting, etc. Let 'em negotiate and let's see where it lands.

I'd let him sit at home for 2 reasons: Eddie Goldman and Eddie Jackson

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/07/22/bears-s-jaquan-brisker-not-expected-at-training-camp-on-time-amid-contract-holdout/

Peters has been a great LT and what he was able to do last year coming out of a fishing boat and playing an NFL game in less than a month was amazing. There just aren't many humans on the planet who could pull that off at his age or any age for that matter. That said he clearly struggled with moving around and I can't see him fitting into a wide-zone running game. I'd prefer to just let Braxton Jones learn on the fly and see what the future holds. At least we'd know better what is needed in the draft next year.

I think what Hub is stating is being taken a little beyond the intent. Harry hasn't been with the team all offseason so we can start there: He doesn't know the offense. He's never played TE and that's a notoriously difficult role to learn because of the mesh between blocking assignments with the Oline and route running. There's only so much time in the day to work on these things and WRs are full time on route running and Oline are fulltime on blocking. I think what Hub said is splitting hairs somewhat. If I label Harry a WR and he lines up in the slot how is that different him being a U TE lined up in the slot? Maybe they do some stuff with him coming behind the line in motion as a blocker, not much different from either a WR or TE. The bottom line for me is that he's here to block first and then hopefully catch some passes here and there. Job one is to make the team.

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.