jason

Here's the first hold: The defender grabs Edelman's arm with both hands. On the EZ view it's pretty obvious the official is going to throw the flag (5:48) before the pass is even thrown. Here's the second hold: The defender reaches out with both arms, and using his left hand, grabs the inside of Amendola's shoulder. It obviously slows and impacts his route, unless of course Amendola makes a habit of running straight forward while his head and shoulders are turned almost 90 degrees to the sideline. BTW - This could also have been called illegal contact. Here's the third hold: This one is not even worth debating. He literally grabs the back of Mitchell's jersey and hangs on for 5+ yards.

With all due respect, you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. Trust me on this. That's not how it happens, not how it works, not how those officials are graded, and not how they remain NFL officials. If they did it all willy-nilly like you propose, they'd quickly be run out of the NFL. In regards to those passes, the general philosophy for the deep officials is to look for advantage gained. If those WRs are getting held, and the play is a run, they will not throw the flag 99.9% of the time. So there is a little bit of a process there. They see the hold, then check to see if the foul had any impact on the play. Sometimes the foul is obvious and they call it regardless of whether or not the play is affected (edit: because they don't know where the QB is throwing on a pass play). As soon as the pass is thrown, particularly if it causes the QB to throw the ball away after looking at his target, they'll throw the flag. In some instances, they throw a flag earlier than that because of the NFL rules on when and where a WR can be "chucked" (i.e. illegal contact). I know everyone wants some sort of 100% robotic response from officials when a foul occurs, but the game isn't that way, never was that way, and never can be that way.

Ohhh. We probably shouldn't even get this one started, but there is no doubt whatsoever MJ is the GOAT. Older eras had atrocious defense and less athleticism. More recent eras have altered the game in such a way that the physical nature of the sport is gone, and players get way more foul calls. MJ would likely average 50 in today's NBA, because nobody would be able to stop him from going to the rack without fouling him. That old hand-check rule had a big effect. As for Brady, yeah, he's the GOAT. Every year he takes a scrub and turns him into a fantasy sleeper the next year.

Agreed. Once the WR establishes himself as a WR going out for a pass, and not a WR blocking for a run, it's a pretty easy thing for a deep official to see. When that WR can't disengage for some reason, or when he gets his route altered, it's a defensive holding most of the time. And in the NFL, that's a foul that gets extra attention because of the rules that determine where and for how long a DB can contact a WR.

I agree. I think they will try to aggressively move forward and maximize the final Brady years, trying to cement this Patriots run under Brady as the best of all time.

Patriots 35 - Falcons 31. Tom Brady MVP, cemented as the GOAT.

But if that analyst has Deshaun Watson as the number three QB and 22 on the big board, I have a little less faith in his player rating system.

I agree. Been thinking it for a few weeks now. The difference between round two and round three guys this year seems minimal.

That law is obviously not written with pro athletes in mind. Pure greed. It is ridiculous to hold that against the Bears.

I don't know how their algorithm works, but I'm guessing if you pick a player of great value you don't get as much points as a player of good value at the position they deem your "need." Sorry, but it keeps listing ILB high, and that's way down the list. Your score is: 10477 (GRADE: B+) Ridiculous Your Picks: Round 1 Pick 9 (CINN): Mitch Trubisky, QB, North Carolina (A+) - Franchise QB after trading back. Round 1 Pick 18 (TENN): Marlon Humphrey, CB, Alabama (A-) - 6'1" shutdown corner. Round 2 Pick 4: Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan (A-) - Explosive 5T with room to grow. Round 2 Pick 19 (DEN): Taylor Moton, OT/OG, Western Michigan (A-) - Super strong. He's the RT of the future. Round 2 Pick 25 (HOU): David Njoku, TE, Miami (Fla.) (A+) - Elite athlete, high jump champ, great redzone target. Round 3 Pick 3: Obi Melifonwu, SS, Connecticut (A-) - A 6'4" safety with great range and size. Stud. Round 3 Pick 9 (CINN): Dion Dawkins, OG, Temple (A-) - Monster in waiting. Can play G or T. Round 3 Pick 32 (N.E.): Zay Jones, WR, East Carolina (A+) - Starts immediately. Likely becomes the #1 target. Round 4 Pick 10: Kevin King, CB, Washington (A) - A 6'3" CB who can potentially play FS. I want to know WTF an A+ draft looks like.

I hate it.

HA! You had to try to do that poorly. With the third pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears select, "David Wojkowski, linebacker, from Eastern Louisiana State University."

He seems like an intriguing prospect, but the age doesn't seem to be in this front office's wheel house.

No way he's getting picked at #3 now. http://bearswire.usatoday.com/2017/02/01/p...hernia-surgery/ A shoulder AND a hernia? This close to being drafted? Nope. Not at #3. Not after Kevin White.

That would be AMAZING. Derek Rivers is an interesting wild card. I also like squeezing in Zane Gonzalez at the end of the draft.

He is talented enough to play all three. But he's more suited for DE.

Without trades, that would be one of my favorite drafts possible. Garrett would transform the D, and make the need for secondary just a bit less. Meanwhile, Cam Robinson would protect one edge better than either starter, and he'd be protecting a franchise QB in Mahomes who would quickly learn that Zay Jones catches everything, and Jake Butt would be a steal in the late fourth. Keep the mocks coming! I love this site!

HAHAHA! Great job! Three firsts next year would be absurd. And Kizer mid 2nd?! BWAAAHAHAHA!!

If you like the draft, mock drafts, and tons of crazy trade down scenarios, then first-pick.com is the site for you. I've just touched on the tip of the iceberg, and this is what I came away with after multiple trades: 1.9 - Jamal Adams, S, LSU 2.7 - Cam Robinson, OT, Bama 2.21 - Adoree Jackson, CB, USC 2.27 - Evan Engram, TE, Miss 3.6 - Antonio Garcia, OT, Troy 3.9 - Dalvin Tomlinson, DE, Bama 3.14 - Zay Jones, WR, ECU 3.36 - Kevin King, CB, Wash 4.4 - Tanoh Kpassagnon, DE, Nova 4.10 - Davis Webb, QB, Cal 5.11 - Ryan Switzer, WR, UNC 6.10 - Chad Kelly, QB, Miss 7.2 - Ben Boulware, ILB, Clem I know that's ridiculous, but I just wanted to point out what can be done on the site. No money required. Pretty fun. The best part is, at the end of the draft your draft gets a score. Mine, somehow, got a C and 9191 points (whatever that means). I'm sorry, but you'd have to fit me for diapers if that draft happens, because I'd shit myself. Graded C? LOL. I'm guessing it's because I didn't address QB early enough.

I can get behind the positions for the most part, but I don't like the names a lot. Walker doesn't fit the 3-4 DE well. Kaaya is not very good. Langley is not impressive, and getting a small school DB feels like a Lovie move.

If he drops like a rock and he's there near the end of the 1st, you trade up and get him. There is no maybe to it. And to pass on him in the 2nd (maybe?) is a fireable offense for a GM. That would be crazy.

If the Bears avoid injury history, I could totally see them passing on Allen.

Looking at the draft class, there are many available options for the Bears to pursue this year. The problem, of course, is the other 4-5 needs that supersede the WR issues. While Cam Meredith had a good season, it's not the first time Chicago has seen a promising WR do virtually nothing (i.e. Marquess Wilson, Royal, Bellamy, Aromashodu, Iglesias, Lloyd, Gage, Bradley, etc.). Well, sometimes those guys do something after leaving Chicago, but that's a different issue. If Braverman was the answer at slot, he likely would have seen more of the field when the WRs were dropping every third pass. Meanwhile, Kevin White is still a complete unknown. A wild card. Can he be trusted to be a starting WR? Do the Bears really have a choice? The Bears have a very real possibility of walking into the 2017 season with only Cam Meredith as a viable, if yet unproven, WR on their roster. That's terrifying. It would virtually guarantee stunted offensive development of any rookie signal caller. Resign Alshon, and at least one WR (slot) is needed. Don't resign Alshon, and at least two WRs (slot & his replacement) are needed. Luckily for the Bears, this draft class of WRs is deep. After the Senior Bowl, one would think stock in Zay Jones would be sky-rocketing. He looked pretty unguardable. For some reason, however, he's plugged into the 4th round range on most boards/mocks. Similarly, Ryan Switzer must be wondering what he has to do to get some love. He catches nearly everything, and what he lacks in size and breakaway speed, he makes up for in shiftiness. He could shake most NFL safeties in a phone booth. He's a perfect complementary, slot WR. He's an underneath option that doesn't look all that fast, but is and is Check out some of the pub Switzer got from the Senior Bowl. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for the Bears to invest a little into WR this year?

That's what kind of interesting about this draft. The opinions are so divisive. And that's on virtually every possible player with the exception of Myles Garrett. I happen to think Jonathan Allen could be a crazy disruptive force for the Bears. With Hicks and Goldman on the DL, and an explosive OLB on his outside shoulder, Allen is virtually guaranteed a one-on-one situation on the majority of snaps. I think he wins that battle most of the time. He also has the ability to stretch plays out, extending laterally for sweeps. I agree about the Watson thoughts. I don't want a QB in RD1. My want list is Garrett, Allen, Hooker, in that order. If the Bears were trying to make a big move, however, Watson has been pretty damn amazing against the best level of competition possible over the last two years. Two straight championship games. Both against what amounts to a NFL defense with 11 rookies. And he exploded in both games. I could see the argument for why he'd be difficult to pass up.

I'm not sure what to make of that stat. It's misleading at best. Any of the following is possible: 1. A team was horrible, and the rookies just walked into the starting positions. 2. Incredible draft. 3. Injured starters left openings for rookies. 4. Strategic personnel decision put a rookie into the starting spot over a vet. 5. Personnel decision was made to start rookie to... 5A. Get rookies snaps for the future (e.g. Starting a lesser rookie QB because it's good for development) 5B. Put pressure on underperforming veteran (e.g. The Jamarcus Webb at OT move) 5C. See if a player's talents translate elsewhere (e.g. The Devin Hester at WR move) 6. A team makes a habit of rotating in rookies more often because they believe it's better overall for the team. I'm sure there are a bunch of other possibilities, but that's just off the top of my head. For the Bears, it's mostly a combination of 1-3.