jason

I'm not the one who compared Polian drafting Manning to the Bears' current situation. As for Leaf, who knows? I'm a believer of the concept that we can never know what would happen if player A, drafted by Team A, got drafted by Team B. For instance, Randy Moss never starts his career the same way if he's drafted by the Bears.

Abso-freaking-lutely. Cam Newton's JR year: Passing (2800yds, 30TDs, 7INTs), Rushing (1400yds,20TDs), Total (~4200yds, 50TDs) Deshaun Waton's SR year: Passing (4100yds, 38TDs, 17INTs), Rushing (500yds, 8TDs), Total (~4600yds, 46TDs) Looks pretty damn similar to me, and Deshaun Watson had a BETTER Junior year! Deshaun Waton's JR year: Passing (4100yds, 35TDs, 13INTs), Rushing (1100yds, 12TDs), Total (~5200yds, 47TDs) Also, keep in mind that Cam Newton had issues coming out of college. People said his mechanics were sloppy and he wasn't asked to make progression reads. Auburn's offense was read #1, then run because you're a crazy/great athlete. Then of course there is the fact he only played one year of DI ball. And that doesn't even get into the off-the-field issues. What have people said about Watson: 1) Iffy accuracy at times? All three years he played at Clemson his accuracy was better than Cam Newton's Jr. year. 2) Hasn't had to make NFL progression reads? Sure. But he's made three years' worth of throws that prove his ability. Watson absolutely deserves to be compared with Newton.

Exactly.

The bolded part is the issue. All three main QBs have serious question marks, if not outright flaws. The confidence level is not high enough for #3.

There are two HUGE differences between that situation and the one in Chicago. First, Pace can't hold Polian's jock strap. that was at the 1st or 2nd year of Polian's reign as Indy's GM, in a time where GMs and HCs got a little more breathing room to make mistakes. Oh, and on top of that, the little fact that Polian had gone to the conference championships in 5 of the previous 8 seasons, with 3 Super Bowls in that same time, one team based primarily on offense, and the other based primarily on defense. He commanded respect, and his decisions were without debate. He was not getting fired if Peyton Manning had two straight 3-13 seasons. Second, none of the QBs are even considered to be on Peyton Manning's level. Nearly everyone considered Peyton Manning a can't miss prospect with virtually zero flaws. He was a legacy who had every possible skill and intangible going for him. People may have been wrong about whether Ryan Leaf was going to be better than Manning, but virtually nobody thought Manning was going to flop. All predicted him as a future pro-bowler who absolutely ripped the NCAA apart, and should have won the Heisman. Ownership may buy in to the idea of a QB, but if it were as easy as you state, every HC in trouble and with a QB issue would just say, "Hey, we have to draft a QB in the first, and it'll take at least a season before he's ready to start," thereby ensuring the HC of at least one more year.

Precisely. If Fox and Pace want to stay employed, they'd be dumb to draft a QB at #3. -Play the rookie first rounder, and the team likely loses a lot. Hence, Fox and Pace get fired. -Don't play the rookie first rounder, the owners likely want to know why they spent all that money. Also, that would be 2 out of 3 first rounders who don't play in their rookie year. Join Jeff Fisher somewhere in the offseason to regroup. As you said, BPA and then QB makes more sense. C.J. Beathard I've watched a decent amount since a lot of my family is from Iowa. He's got nice touch on the deep ball. Leads the receivers well. Good touch on intermediate and short stuff also. He's really good at play-action. His arm is fairly strong, good enough for back-shoulder throws, but I don't think it's elite. I remember one pass where he threw an out against Stanford in the Rose Bowl that got picked off, and it just looked like he didn't have enough juice on it. He didn't look great in that game, BTW. His pocket-awareness is suspect in my opinion, because sometimes he holds the ball way too long, and at others he just takes off (could be Iowa's play call design). The team never really put points on the board with him either (could be Iowa coaching/design again). Finally, he looked horrible when he played Florida in the Outback Bowl, so it's not like the previous year's Rose Bowl was some anomaly. Overall he just feels like a game manager more than a superstar QB. Because of all that, and the fact he's 6'2", I think he might be drafted in the 6th or 7th round.

This logic just doesn't fly. Relatively high draft pick. All three top QBs in this draft, and maybe some others will go earlier. Hasn't had his value crash. Because he hasn't played. Looks like a guy who can do much better than his draft position. According to the 1.5 games he played with freaking New England? New England!? No QB in the draft has a better chance to succeed than JG? Are you related? That's crazy talk. At least one QB from this draft will likely have much better success than JG. Trubisky and Kizer have the tools, and have done it at a much higher collegiate level. And Watson just might be the next Cam Newton based upon how he's basically carried his team to two straight NCAA title games. And even if it were a completely even playing field in terms of ability, or if a slight advantage went to JG, his contract requirements after one season would make it not worth the value. It would be better to just get a highly rated QB who may be ever so slightly worse than JG, and let him play into the role for much less money.

Agree. Hoyer for $ is better than Taylor for $$$.

That's not an ideal world. In an ideal world, we'd move down in the draft, stock up some more picks, and use one of the extra picks to land a QB of the future who has similar NCAA production as JG, whose stock hasn't been over-inflated because of his time on the best franchise in football, and won't cost an arm and a leg after one year.

1. Everyone thinks the Patriots are pretty much the cream of the NFL crop. 2. Everyone thinks Bill Belichek is a mastermind when it comes to players, seemingly able to use scrubs and get results, casting off guys who do well only to find out those guys falter elsewhere. 3. Everyone realizes Brady is 39, and pretty much no NFL QB does well much after that. So why in the world would BB be so willing to depart with Jimmy Garoppolo? Think about that for a minute. And why would the Bears give up anything for him? Because he played a game or two in the real NFL? With the best team in the NFL? With the most structured team in the NFL? With the best coach in the NFL? He may as well be a rookie. The only positive is he's been in the NE system. Of course, the negative is that if he were traded to the Bears, after one year he'd be asking for a monster contract (much more expensive than a rookie contract). The Bears would be semi-hamstrung to oblige, or go back into the same dilemma. Trading big time for Jimmy G right now would amount to having complete faith in Barkley after his first two games. We see how that worked out.

Let's play a game. Pick three free agents: 1. Max contract, the Bears spend & do everything to land this big name. Strippers sent to his house, midget telegrams, private jet pickups, Bears greats wine and dine him. 2. Big contract, a second tier guy with potential, looking for big money. 3. A promising young player or veteran with years left or fills a big hole And then draft (no trade downs) based upon your free agent pickups. FA #1 - FA #2 - FA #3 - 1. 2. 3. 4. 4. 5. 7.

It's great in theory, but the problem is the Bears are drafting much higher than any of those QBs probably deserve to be drafted. I thought you were on board with the idea of good QB drafted after the 1st behind dominant OL? I still say that's the best way to hit big on a QB, and RB for that matter. Look at Dallas as the roadmap: two rookies, both being considered for MVP (not to mention ROY), behind easily the best OL in the NFL.

You nailed that comparison. I'd love to have him on the Chicago Bears, if he's available with the third...round draft pick.

I'm anticipating a front 3 of Hicks-Goldman-Allen, so I figure that will be a pretty dominating force. And if the OLBs (McPhee, Young, Floyd) stay healthy, I figure they'll be able to cause damage. Add in the missing games from Trevathan and Freeman, and suddenly that may be the best front seven in the NFL. I honestly think the dominating performance can happen with one FA secondary FA addition, and one highly ranked rookie.

I honestly don't care if it's Hoyer, Barkley, or Shaw. All are just stop-gap measures until a suitable rookie can get his feet wet without destroying the team. If I were forced to choose, right now I'd say Hoyer is the smart choice. He may not be able to score points, but I expect the Bears defense to be top-5 next year, potentially dominating if they hit on one or two key pieces in FA or the draft.

:crying

FWIW I specifically remembered a thread I started called "Searching for Von Miller," where Floyd was the guy who most resembled Von Miller, who the Bears were rumored to be going after. Add in the fact that Fox made Miller his first pick in 2011, and it wasn't hard to see that Leonard Floyd was likely. Hell, we even discussed Kiper's mock saying the Bears were going with Floyd.

True, most mocks are wrong. But his is more wrong than any other. There is no way in hell a dude who only played one year and put up average stats at freaking Wyoming is going #3. If Allen is the name called at #3, it's going to be Jonathan Allen, not Josh Allen. Also, Marlon Humphrey (CB, Alabama) going mid 2nd? Finally, it doesn't take a great memory to recall that many had Floyd going to the Bears. It was almost too obvious considering all the build-up. Many hear talked about it for weeks, if not months.

Yeah, it's almost pointless to get into projections. Teams change so drastically from season to season. Off-hand, however, getting the Niners and Browns is a good thing. The only game that looks like a guaranteed loss is the Saints. The defense would have to improve considerably to stop Brees from gutting the secondary for a ton of yards and points.

That's the worst mock I've ever seen.

I chose Garrett, but he won't be available. If he is, it would be insane to pass on him. Even if Allen is available.

It would be a poor decision, in my opinion, to grab anyone except Garrett or Allen. Either would be transformative for this defense. The only other choice that makes sense at #3 is a trade down.

Myles Garrett Jonathan Allen After that, I'm worried. I really don't like many others at 3. Don't want any of the QBs there.

No thanks on Glennon. He's asking way too much. Landry Jones? Meh.

That wouldn't be my ideal draft, but I'd be fairly excited about that draft. I'd rather see Rd2 OT and Rd3 TE.