adam

I do like that the Bears are finally getting with the program and understanding the college pipelines. They haven't been going with too many small school players. Zah Frazier was the only pick in the last few years from a "small" school. I would like a few more picks from top 5 schools but this is a solid group. Oregon - 13-2 (4th) Iowa - 9-4 (17th) Stanford 4-8 LSU 7-6 Texas 10-3 (12th) ASU 8-5 GT 9-4 (31st)

Probably pissed off that he had to wait to 124 to get picked when he was projected in the 3rd.

and free agency will be a thing of the past. They may sign one bigger contract per season, but they will have to make it work via trade and the draft.

That is true. Just like in previous years, I am leery about older prospects (thanks Velus) because it is hard to gauge their actual performance considering they are playing against a lot of 18 and 19 yr olds at 23 and 24.

Not that it would impact the Bears, but free agents signed now won't impact comp pick formula.

Logan Jones will be 25 in October, he is at least a year older than Loveland, Turner, Burden, Walker, Sewell, Odunze, Newman, Monangai, and Booker. Jones is only 3 years younger than Dalman.

The Bears won't be able to afford Edge, LT, DT, or CB in free agency once Caleb's contract extension hits. So the best way to offset that is to have as many players at the highest cap positions on rookie deals in 2029. So any player drafted this year after the 1st round would have one year before they would have to be resigned. I have to think that was considered. Basically every player in a high cap positional value position would be unlikely to get a 2nd contract unless they were a stud. However, lesser position guys like S, C, and TE could be resigned, because their average cap hit for that position is less. So it would make sense for the Bears to invest fully in Edge, DT, CB, and OT in the top 3 rounds of 2027, 2028, and 2029 to offset Caleb's incoming deal.

It is just starting to feel like Poles MO. Zig when the league is zagging.

If Poles is cooking something, then that makes the draft make more sense because you don't want to lock in a roster spot (due to draft pick status) if you need the spot available for a move like this.

If the Bears get one more vet, like Cam Jordan or DaJuan Jones, I would be happy. Bosa would be a consolation prize, but I almost think run stopping is a bigger issue than the pass rush, but both are equally bad.

Oh no, there are a bunch of NFC North non-Bears on there. However, I remember mocks with Chop Robinson, Myles Murphy, and Siaka Ika on them for the Bears. All crazy busts.

I would not be surprised if they went RB really early.

So I wanted to see who was more correct, the consensus on players (big boards) or where teams selected them. I have more work to do with this, but here is a quick snapshot. I looked at 2023 and 2024, just rounds 1-3, and identified the 3 lowest producing players based on their draft slot, the busts. Then I compared that to where the big board had them. In 11 out of 18 the team drafted the player higher than the consensus, making bad picks into busts. The consensus only had 5 players higher than they were drafted that turned out to be busts. So the consensus is over 2x more accurate than the teams own evaluations. Meaning that if all these teams stuck to the big board, they would've had 2x better odds at hitting on a player. 2023 Van Ness @ 13 (27th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Anudike-Uzomah @ 32 (32nd) - BOTH WRONG Murphy @ 28 (17th) - CONSENSUS REALLY WRONG 2nd Round Ojulari @ 41 (57th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Cam Smith @ 51 (41st) - CONSENSUS REALLY WRONG Foskey @ 40 (73rd) - TEAM REALLY WRONG 3rd Round Hooker @ 68 (47th) - CONSENSUS REALLY WRONG Stromberg @ 97 (N/A) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Ika @ 98 (88th) - CONSENSUS REALLY WRONG 2024 McCarthy @ 10 (28th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Chop Robinson @ 21 (40th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Darius Robinson @ 27 (61st) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Polk @ 37 (48th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Sinnot @ 53 (105th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Rakestraw @ 61 (46th) - CONSENSUS REALLY WRONG Trice @74 (98th) - TEAM REALLY WRONG Reiman @82 (202nd) - HOLY SHIT TEAM REALLY WRONG Lloyd @88 (84th) - BOTH WRONG

My hope and theory is the Bears have something in place to address an upgrade at Edge, but it won't come until after June 1st, whether that is with a free agent or thru a trade. That is my only hope, otherwise this feels like a very weak offseason where they side-graded because of the losses at C and S. So the additions of Bradury and Jones are a wash with Dalman. Bryant and Thieneman are an upgrade at Safety, but if the DLine can't stop the run or rush the passer, how effective will the secondary even be? Then on offense, you traded your WR1 in hopes that your other guys will elevate, but ultimately all the other moves were rotational or backup in nature. So technically, the offense is worse on paper going into 2026 and you still have questions at LT.

The way they talked about him, he would be almost exclusively a STer with some gadget plays mixed in. They also signed Raymond, so this again feels like a luxury. I hope he proves me wrong, but I would've rather had competition at Edge and DT earlier in the draft with more accomplished guys than what feels like filling niche roles on the roster.