adam

The defense pitched a shutout after allowing 10 pts.

If he has another good year, I think they try to sign him to a 2-3 year front loaded deal. If they don't extend Dexter or Stevenson, the top 5 guys coming up for a contract would be Swift, Bradbury, Braxton, Raymond, and Blackwell next offseason. I doubt Bradbury is extended. Braxton is gone, Raymond may come back, but he would come in around the same number at his age. I can see Blackwell returning, but again at a similar cap hit. So there should be room for Swift if they want him back. I also assume they will move on from Jarrett and Odeyingbo this offseason. Depending on Gordon's health status, him as well. That would free up even more cap for a move like that.

In the postgame, I felt like he was giving an excuse for his play because he had to go back in for Wills. Yet, he was struggling before he came back in.

I would be shocked if Kiran cleared waivers. Serviceable OTs on rookie deals don't grow on trees. If he is the odd man out, I could see another team taking a flyer for him for like a 6th rounder or something like that.

Yeah, there is video of him practicing today. He has 4 weeks to get up to speed before Week 1. There is actually a good chance he is ready by then. Incredible. That was the one position on offense I was concerned about. If they go with him as the starter, and the best of Braxton, Kiran, Jedric as the LT backup, the Bears are in much better shape. Benedet the backup RT and Swing Tackle. I would not be surprised if they try to trade Braxton or Kiran if they are the odd man out. Braxton is in the last year of his deal and Kiran has a year left on his rookie deal. With injuries around the league, I would think there would be a market for either one.

I don't know how much stock you can put into anything for Week 1 of the Preseason against the Cleveland Browns. With that said, I would be more concerned if someone looked absolutely terrible, and that was not the case. The Bears only had 2 penalties all game, which is a good sign. Hopefully the starters can keep up the same discipline as the backups who played. If I had to name names of guys that may sneak into the 53-man roster, I would say: Ahmed and Davis on offense and Kromah and Hyppolite on defense. That would all depend on how many of each position group are kept. Ahmed looks like an all-around better back than Johnson, but is not really a short-yardage guy (if that is even what they are looking for). I feel like Davis really complements the rest of the Bears WR corps (Odunze, Burden, Raymond, Thomas, Walker, and Davis) makes sense as Davis is also a ST contributor. McCloud and Miller are probably the other 2 options here depending on what Ben wants. DT is going to be interesting. You have Jarrett, Dexter, Gallimore, Street, now van den Berg, and Turner is still out there somewhere. That is 6 guys and Odeyingbo will sometimes rotate inside. So they won't keep 6 for sure. 5 is the max. So one of Turner, van den Berg, and Street won't make the cut. Assuming the Bears Bush, Edwards, Jackson, and Sanborn, are the top 4, and the 5th slot is probably Elliott's (when healthy), so where does that leave Hyppolite? The Bears will only keep 5 LBs on the roster. Sewell is hurt but still on the roster as well. BLUF: RB: Roschon vs Ahmed WR: Davis vs McCloud/Miller DT: Pick Two: Turner, van den Berg, Street LB: Pick One: Elliott or Hyppolite or Sewell

Yes, you can keep up to 2 players. First one costs one round, second one costs two rounds (3rd for a 2nd, and 6th for a 4th). If the round ends up being the same, you swap it so the first keeper loses two rounds and the 2nd keeper loses one round (3rd for a 1st and 4th for a 3rd). Last Year's Keepers, and links to last year's draft and final rosters are in the first post.

Live Draft set for Sunday, September 6 @ 7:00 pm CDT. If there are any issues with this date and time, I need to know by Aug 16th. Keeper deadline is Aug 23rd, that will give everyone two weeks with all the known keepers to set their pre-draft rankings.

This went south quick. Now saying 6-8 months due to knee surgery, out for the year. FFS, I know they wanted to get faster, but probably should've kept Byard and paired him with Thieneman.

I saw this nugget from the Albert Breer article. Recovery is typically 6-12 months, which is a huge range of outcomes. We are 8 months removed from this injury, and 9 is the halfway point in the range. Could the Bears get Trapilo back in October or November? That would be huge. SIAlbert Breer Empties His Bears Notebook From Training CampCaleb Williams's maturation continues as he works to become a more consistent passer. Plus, a lofty Colston Loveland comp, questions at safety and more.

After the Bears lost Bryant to injury, I looked at OTC to see if there were any Safeties available that were at least serviceable. The only name I came up with was Xavier Woods, and the Bears just signed him.

I used to think there were organizational trends, but every time there is a new GM or HC, it changes the equation. So Poles+Johnson is different than Poles+Eberflus, which is completely unrelated to Pace+Nagy. In reality, you would have to follow the GM or HC to find the real trends. Also, how much development is really occurring? Almost every good player in the league is highly drafted, and even then, some are not evaluated properly. A great example is Maxx Crosby. He was not only drafted in the 4th round, but was the 2nd DE taken by OAK that year. Clelin Ferrell was not only taken before Crosby, he was drafted 4th overall. Yet somehow, on the same team, same staff, etc, Ferrell flops and Crosby rises. OAK actually got it wrong, and if development had a measurable impact, Ferrell would be an All-Pro. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual player's motivation and desire to be great. The margins are so small at the top that at a certain point it is just effort and drive.

Wright already had his 5th year option for $19M next year, so is this for 2028-2031? If it overwrites next year, he already had $19M on the table, so this would only increase it by $10M. Either way there is a lot of ways to make space for next season, and in reality, they really need the space in 2028 (for Caleb) and by then 7 of the current top 9 contracts will be UFA, minus Wright and Bryant. Spotrac has a good multi-year view: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/chicago-bears/yearly Pre-June 1st cuts: Odeyingbo - $15M cap savings Jarrett - $12.7M cap savings Gordon - $8.3M cap savings (if he doesn't play at least 15 games) $36M between these 3 guys.

thanks and yes, probably the most important part of the FFB season is getting your pre-draft rankings in shape.

Week 5 against the Packers is 9 weeks 6 days away, with recovery and ramp up, I assume that is another 2 weeks. So if he is on the low side of 8 weeks, he has a chance to play in Week 5. If it is the high end, more like Week 7 against the Patriots. Either way, if there was ever a stretch to miss, this is probably it: Panthers, Vikings, Eagles (no AJ Brown), Jets, Packers, Falcons, Patriots (now have AJ Brown). It would be sweet to get him back for the Packers game as that is the only one where I would be concerned about the defense up until that game.