Mongo3451

It is too early to judge any failure, but the look and feel test tells me he's been a tremendous success. He is doing exactly what I wanted done last year. I think he hired the right coach, who in turn hired the right OC and OL coach. He did the best he could with the resources he had and had placed us in a position where we will have an abundance of options for next year. This is the patient, foundation first, approach. I expect a large investment in the trenches will occur and it will be according to plan. I'm a huge fan...

Way early.

Absolutely. I want one at WR and RB for a three level threat.

I was thinking the 6-8 mil range. Low end starter. Running back by committee. I'd like them to draft a home run hitter at RB.

I like him on a deal commensurate to his production. Herbert is clearly better.

Something to look forward to for sure. Time to work on the passing game a little more now that the run action is solid.

The first I remember was Bobby Douglas.

Da'ron Payne, Nichols Morrow, Tremaine Edmonds would be an awesome start. Payne is a good pass rusher from the DT position. Edmonds is an Urlacher type of athlete that would play well in the middle. This draft is big on edge guys, so I see us filling that there. Priority for defense is still finding our 3 tech. That may make it harder to trade our first rounder for more picks.

Agreed. This will be fun when Adam gets involved to let us know who's available as free agents, so we play GM with "who to draft, who to sign". I predict we draft more defenders than offense.

Sapp was special like Aaron Donald is now. I'd love a guy like that or a Micah Parsons type of player. Even though corner is not an issue, I'd draft a Sauce Gardner. But if they can't get someone that they feel is generational, they gotta trade it.

They took notice. I watched it all. Justin has made the transformation from overwhelmed to overwhelming. Claypool was obviously huge, ESB cannot be counted on to be that physical guy on the edge.

Same. Greeney and company were blasting the other teams for not drafting Fields. I like the bullet train comment from the announcer yesterday.

Fields is turning into a unicorn. He has natural talent and intelligence, combined with measurables we have not seen, other than Josh Allen. Allen is bigger, but Fields is faster. Once Fields develops a quicker trigger, he'll ascend to elite. I couldn't be happier for what I'm seeing. This off season is going to be five months of Christmas.

I was going to post the exact same thing. In my anger, I kept it short and to the point. Yes, we are weak up the middle. For DL, I can see 2 drafted and 2 as FA for sure.

I couldn't be more disappointed in the officiating.

Yup!

I imagine we will pay him and Mooney both and than look at getting another wideout via the draft (where you have cost control that way and you have cost control in Velus Jones as well). Absolutely. I would extend them both now. If they mesh well and Justin starts clicking, it's gonna be a lot of extra money.

I've had an idea circling through my brain for a couple of years now, but really haven't had the balls to let it out until now. As we know, the NFL is ever evolving. It's current evolution is quarterback centric. It shows with wins and loses and also at the bank. Through this evolution, I'm seeing something new. The run game. What if The Chicago Bears focus all of their offensive resources to assemble a running attack that no defense is equipped to stop? We already see the Eagles, Titans, Ravens, Browns, Falcons and Bears grinding teams down and winning the 4th quarter. What if we take it a step further? There's an entire scrap pile of talented players that were labelled as tweeners. Can't pass block, ten pounds light to play DT. We could assemble a team where all five OL are run blocking maulers that are big fast and nasty. They prominent position of the OL would now be the center because calling the blocking scheme would the key. Next, the inline TE and FB would be 290# freak athletes who would be more physical than the average of the position. We already have great blocking receivers, so let's look at it. Remember the Dallas Cowboys OL and how they made Emmitt Smith the record holder? There isn't a Bears fan on earth that hasn't said, "if Payton wouldn't had that OL...". Just think if that OL were all the best run blockers? Another aspect is that you could build your line deeper because you aren't looking for LT or RT traits. Straight mauler baby. Modern defenses aren't equipped for this. It's all light and fast to prevent the pass and get to the QB. Overwhelming force from the front would be unstoppable. Of course, your focus positions have changed back to the running backs. Remember the teams mentioned above? They all have one thing in common, no elite passer. Lamar Jackson has already paved most of the the way, but he gets shut down in the playoffs. Same with Derrick Henry. Why? It's because defenses can take the run away easier than they can take the passing game. It's due to scheme and personnel though. E=MCsq is a scientific fact when applied properly. We have the ultimate QB to make it work. I think teams would dread the physical beating they would receive from week to week. Another plus is that it would all be no huddle. Grind em down, then hit em with a surprise pass play. They would have to call timeout just to substitute and breathe. Anyway, that was fun to get off my chest. I know it would not be sustainable past a year or two because defenses would adapt to play it, but it would be fun to watch them try. The funny thing is that our team has the base in place to do this next year. Somebody please talk some sense into me and prove how this would not work, so I can get it out of my head. Seriously, poke holes in it...

I didn't notice the intentional timeout, but was happy to see him get in there. The dude is a cockstrong bull. If he gets his lateral agility on point, he can be a player. It's obvious he's putting the work in. And they are desperate to upgrade Mustipher.

To summarize the Claypool deal positives. Downfield threat, jump ball threat, great blocker, hybrid size, elite speed for size, provides scheme flexibility, on rookie deal, under utilized due to QB's, bad FA class, developed vs adding draft pick, addresses a need, provides draft flexability, can throw the ball and lastly, we screwed the Packers! Did I miss anything? IMO, that's well worth an early 2nd, given the success rate of picks.

It will be interesting to see who gets a contract from us between Pettis, St Brown, Harry and Pringle. So far, Pringle is the only one to NOT make a big play.

One more reason to like this trade is that if you factor how long it will take for a 2023 rookie to get up to speed, what good does that do for Justin? I love all of the reasons everyone gave and the better part of it is that's not fluff.

Something else about Claypool is that we may now have the three best blocking WR's in the NFL. This tells me we'll be drafting a stud RB to keep the stable full.

Wow, nice find!

I'm wondering with Claypool's size that they may try to turn him into a move TE. He could prove to be very valuable at that position. Kmet would then be move to the inline TE.