adam

The defense was way worse than most metrics. It was clearly a bottom-5 unit. Bottom 5 in yards per play, both for the rush and pass, 5th most Passing TDs allowed, and bottom 5 in TFL.

From the league meetings, it sounds like Trapilo will be out for the entire season.

The Mock Draft Consensus has McNeil-Warren, McDonald, Woods, and Young as the highest probable. On the Big Board, 25-29 have some good players (Woods -DL, McNeil-Warren-S, Parker-Edge, Miller-OT, McDonald-DT) with 3 of the top 5 listed as probable for the Bears. I would not be too upset if they went Safety at 25, BUTTTTTTT, I would hate to put that much capital into the Safety position considering they just gave out their biggest FA contract to Bryant. DT needs some love.

Yeah, I think those guys are untouchable; you could probably extend that to include Darnell Wright as well.

I doubt CLE wants Bagent. They are still paying Watson, and just drafted Sanders and Gabriel. At CB, they already have Ward and Campbell both making $20M a year, so I doubt they would want Stevenson or Johnson. At TE, they have Fannin, but Kmet could be a vet option. So Sweat makes the most sense, they would get a downgrade at Edge, but gain multiple picks. Instead of creating a hole that you ultimately have to fill with one of the picks. The other thing to think about is the cap situation, if the Browns trade Garrett before June 1st, which would be required if they wanted to get picks in this year's draft, they would accelerate an additional $17M to this year's cap while adding the new player's salary (if a player was traded to them). It can be done, but makes for challenging situation. They would ultimately be better off doing a post June 1st trade, but then wouldn't get any picks until 2027.

The Bears need to get Day 1 starters out of their first 3 picks. 3 picks in the top 60. Depending on the position group, you should be able to get a top 3 guy at 3 different positions.

You would think that CLE's defense would be at least a top 10 unit once with Garrett, yet since he entered the league in 2017, the highest the defense finished in scoring was 13th, twice, and ironically, the only two times they have been in the top 20. So without him, are they literally the worst defense in the league every year?

Arm length scares me for Bain. Everything else is off the charts, but the 3rd shortest arms for a DE in combine history? Yikes.

Yeah, it's a tough balancing act especially when they get hurt because now you are stuck with them for probably one year too many.

I agree. I hope he works out because Poles track record on the DLine has been sus. Dexter doesn't look like he will be getting a 2nd contract. Pickens was a bust. Odeyingbo is trending that way as an FA. Jarrett is probably over the hill. Sweat was solid, but was always a high-end DE2, and not really a consistent DE1. Billings was great then terrible.

Turner had some first-round grades, and some mocks had him going that high. A 2nd round pick has to become a key contributor/starter.

I hate using injuries as an excuse, but it felt like every level had a few guys out every game. On the DL, Turner only played 74 defensive snaps. Jarrett seemed to be dealing with something most of the year. Odeyingbo, regardless of how disappointing he was when he played, still missed most of the season to injury. The LB Corps was playing with LB 3, 4, or 5 as starters for a good chunk of the year. So with some upgrades, this defense could really surprise.

Oh yeah, it really inflates lower quantity stats like INTs.

Using AV, comparing last year's value, Dalman to Bradbury is only a slight downgrade 10-9, but both are above league average. Bryant is an upgrade over Brisker, but downgrade from Byard. Bush is an upgrade over Edmunds.

Yeah, it is just a way to approximate value in terms of production in a single number. You could also use it to assess draft successes after a few years. Guys like Loveland, Burden, and Monangai are all near the top for 2025, obviously Caleb is #1 in 2024, Wright tied for 12th in 2023. It's not perfect as it seems to award skill position players more value (or opportunity to get a higher rating). I will say AV feels much more accurate than something like PFF and it also gets better over time.