DABEARSDABOMB

Little...Tight End from Iowa. I'd be all over him later in the draft. He has all the physical tools, but was banged up a bit at Iowa this past season (still played). I also look at recent Iowa TE's and they have had a number who have performed at the next level. Good blocker with passing game talent, who I think would be a great fit for our system (without having to use a pick so early). Such a deep draft so I presume we'll pick up at least one TE late (and I presume we'll pick two DB's in this deep DB draft).

He isn't going top 3, not with those shoulders. I don't even know if he goes top 10.

Reports last year were that the Bengals turned down picks in the 3rd/4th round range for him. If you think he can start, a 3rd round pick is nothing to give up for a QB, imo.

I tend to think the Bears are going to give Pace / Fox more time then maybe the fans think. Heck, letting Jeffrey walk isn't a move you make if you are right on the cusp of contention. It goes more into the long-term vision of what they are trying to build. I still think it is laughable to lose an asset like that for nothing, but the devil really is in who do we use that cap space on and if we believe in Meredith, that could help fill some of that void. If they think their jobs are in heat, then I think it is much more likely you see them make a move for a vet (or at least a Jimmy G / AJ McCarron) as you'd expect they would be more ready to potentially help you win. None of these QB's at the top of the draft are going to lead us into the playoffs next year (or probably even the following year). Maybe 3 years from now. It flat out takes time.

Personally, I don't think this is a bad view. If you can get him for a 3rd round pick, you get a guy who you think can play now and who has some upside, but if he doens't work out, you aren't tied to him (and realistically, could and should still draft a QB sometime, relatively early in this years draft). The question is, what would Cinncy want to trade AJ. I know Bill Polian had said that AJ was a QB he would target. Polian has also been on record as saying that Cutler is the best available QB right now (not counting Kirk Cousins).

David Kaplan on ESPN Chicago said that he has heard that the Bears are scared that the Garoppolo price is going to be so insane and that the Browns will pay it that the Bears are seriously looking at A.J McCarron.

If we are going to trade Jay, combine would be the likely time that something could go down (also could be when we acquire a QB...lots of wheeling and dealing expected to at the very least be discussed).

I didn't see it posted, but there was a report that indicated Jay Cutler will not accept a trade anywhere and he will just retire if the team trades him. Basically, he wants to pick where he wants to go (and if not, he'll retire). No idea if the report was true as I didn't see it get much play (was a bleacherreport...Jason Cole I think).

We will not get a comp pick, unless we pretty much sign no one. Comp picks are award for net losses in free agency and given the Bears cap space and the reports that we intend to be aggressive in the free agent space, I'd be shocked if we ended up with much any sort of comp pick for Alshon (since we would presumably be signing quite a few players vs. what we lose).

It could be that they value him, but know that the only real way they could potentially sign him to a deal that makes sense is by granting his wish to see what his market and give the Bears that final chance to accept an offer. Players always hate getting franchised so maybe this helps. I tend to agree that it is unlikely that we will sign him (if we couldn't work out a deal with him before...I doubt we do it now). That said, I'd have liked to have quite a few solid weapons to surround our new QB with.

I think this was a really bad move. Look, I understand not wanting to pay him, but if we reached that conclusion, we should have moved him so we could have at least maximized the value of an asset vs. letting them walk. We have massive cap space and certainly can't / shouldn't blow it all in one off-season, so worse case you franchise him this year, work to trade him during the off-season and in a worse case scenario where you can't trade him, you have enough room that his cap hit for this season won't hinder you from getting better, and you can look to move him in-season or let him walk at that point.

Front office only has themselves to blame. They were the ones that ignored the QB position each of the past two years.

He runs the bear report (blog) but has legitimate press credentials, etc. At least that is my understanding. So I will use the term "blog" loosely. He is actually from California so I don't know if he lives here and works remotely or what, but he is about as in-tune with the Bears as any reporter I've seen. Easily the best follow on twitter in terms of "insider" Bear info.

He is the bear report report and in general seems to have had about as good a read on what the Bears have been doing / are planning on doing as anyone in the media has had over the past couple of years.

In general...I like it.

LA radio seems to think he ends up here. I don't know if they would actually trade for him or if everyone presumes he will be cut. It seems to me that the Bears are not going to let this drag out with Jay...they are going to test his market now and at some point, probably sooner vs. later cut him. I think they believe it is the right thing in terms of how to handle their business with Jay (so that he has a fair chance to find another job). Biggest mistake we made was not dealing him a year ago. I think the front office knew he wasn't the long-term answer and while they had some belief in him short-term, we could have traded him at a high and went after the QB we wanted (they also obviously tried the year before when they wanted Mariotta).

Andrew Luck is a franchise QB. That said, outside of nitpicking on that, that list was absolutely interesting and insightful.

My nightmare offseason is an offseason where we do nothing to attempt to address the QB spot (i.e., attempt a real solution, not some if this 5th rounder works, we'll be destined for greatness strategy). Either trade for someone legit or draft someone we believe will be legit. If none of those are options, we should be after a vet FA we think is good or making an aggressive push at Cousins. We should be drafting / targeting QB until we get it right. I'm sick of consistently ignoring the position (with the exception of trading for cutler...that was not ignoring it, but the last couple years, that was ignoring it).

I like Mahomes, but definitely more risk related to him given the rawness and system he played in. Tools are there though.

Man...if cutler goes to Arizona and kicks ass under Arians, it will make the Trestman hire (over Arians) and even bigger disaster, haha.

Washington isn't just going to let him be a UFA. If Kirk makes a big stink and they are forced to trade him, they will trade him, and it will take multiple picks to get him, including at least one first rounder (probably multiple). If we want Kirk Cousins, the question I have for you is, are you okay giving up the #3 pick for him and then signing him to a big money deal? I think that ultimately is what it would take (ballpark wise) to get Cousins (and that assumes Washington doesn't finally commit and give him the big bucks). The next question is, how do you build a team around Cousins that can be a superbowl contender, because he isn't a QB at Rodgers / Brady type level and I can't ever see him being that guy. He is very good though and I think he has the skills to be a superbowl winning QB (that said, I do think he was in a really offensive friendly system with Gruden). I will point out his career high TD passes is 29 (two years ago) and he is kind of turnover prone. He had 12 picks and 9 fumbles this past year (only 3 fumbles lost). QB Rating this year and the previous year was very good (97 and just over 100) and he threw for a ton of yards this pats year (almost 5000). He was slightly worse this past year, but has demonstrated that last years performance wasn't a fluke. The thing that probably annoys me the most of this, is I wanted the Bears to draft Cousins when he was in the draft (thought he was the perfect guy to groom behind Jay and thought with time he'd be capable of being a good starting QB). Of course I've been wrong a million times too haha.

I agree.

I am all for Cousins. I don't think he's great, but he is good and I'm okay with good at this point. That said, I presume it is unrealistic unless Washington intends to let him be a UFA. Presumably, Washington will franchise him which means not only will we have to pay him mega money, we will also have to trade for him. I can't justify trading multiple picks plus giving him as much money as he wants (and I really don't see Washington giving him up for anything less then our #1 pick plus at least a future 2nd, if not a future 1st). If it was purely giving him a contract (and no draft pick exchange), Cousins would probably be at the top of my list.

Along with the other professional sports teams in Illinois (White Sox, Bulls, Hawks, & Cubs). I presume the independent franchises (and minor league teams) are also on board.

Don't live in Illinois so I don't follow this, but If I remember, a few years back, there was a lot of issues with the Saints when their owner was pushing some legislation that was anti-player? I don't remember how it ended, but there was a lot of bad press at the time.