adam

One little side note on this trade and deal. This is the 2nd impact player Poles has traded for in the last year with DJ Moore. With most teams only improving thru the draft and free agency, this seems like bonus moves.

Totally fine with the contract. I am glad we got Sweat and Billings locked in. By next offseason, it will only be a top 10 contract.

The trenches are so important. They need a new Center, and I am not sold on Dexter or Pickens yet. They won't go Center that early, but maybe with their 3rd rounder, but 3T still seems like an option in the top 10.

Assuming 2 QBs go 1-2, it has to be MHJ at 3. At 10, I would probably look to trade back. It gets tricky after that. If you can't, I would lean Edge or CB (if Johnson is not extended).

Good move, surprised he signed it with all the stuff going on and with the team's record. I am sure it is a nice raise.

Bagent starts, potential to have Sweat playing. A chance for Braxton Jones to play. Bears by 10.

This is beyond ridiculous now. This team is in shambles, rock bottom.

Now David Walker, the RB coach is fired, by HR? What the hell is going on in Halas Hall? Someone in a leadership position needs to be held accountable. Flus needs to go, Kevin Warren can't just sit idle while the entire franchise melts in front of him. Can you imagine how Montez Sweat feels about joining this professional clown show. At least the Bears lead the league in something, the most asst. coaches fired in a season.

He may be better than I thought. Since 2019, Sweat's rookie year, here is a list of players with 120 Tackles, 80 QB Hits, 40 TFL, 30 Sacks, and at least 1 INT. TJ Watt, Nick Bosa, Shaquil Barrett, Josh Allen, Montez Sweat, and Cameron Heyward. Removing the INT adds Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald, Matt Judon, Cameron Jordan, Maxx Crosby, Brian Burns, Joey Bosa, and DeForest Buckner to the list. I would think being in that company, you have to be pretty good, and actually somewhat underrated. That is arguably 14 of the top 20 DL/Edge players in the NFL.

The Raiders weren't scared to pull the trigger. GM and coach gone. Can NFL teams stop hiring Josh Freaking McDaniels? He is terrible as a HC.

Sweat probably pushes our run defense to a top 3 unit. Hopefully he can push the pass defense to a top 20 unit. If he can do that, and Fields can come back and play up to his potential, they may be able to scrape together some wins (4-5 more) by the end of the year. Long-term, he needs to be signed to an extension or this will be a total waste of a draft pick, and Poles should be fired on the spot.

That's why it seems to me that Poles thinks this team is closer to contending (next two years) than it seems. That was his original window, basically playoffs in 3 years (next year), then competing regularly for deeper playoff runs. His age is concerning only in the fact that this is his peak, rarely to players get better after 28. From what I read, 27 is the peak age for NFL players, and most don't improve much after that season.

The biggest issue is his knee. It is a ticking timebomb. After Ogunjobi, I can understand why Poles went the safe route. Also, SF will probably only use Young as a rental and let him leave and get another comp pick for him as they really don't need to sign any FAs this offseason. They are in better position to do that. The Bears are not and needed to solidify the edge position since Mack/Quinn were traded. Poles is literally reading the "GM 101" rulebook. Just like the Moore trade, this was a no-brainer, with 2x 1sts, they could afford to give up the 2nd.

I prefer Sweat, but #35 for Sweat vs #97 or higher for Young is a super value and low risk. They are using a comp pick, so it is free chicken for them. The Bears can't afford for Sweat not to work out or not stay healthy. If he does, that's two top 35 picks wasted in back to back years, which is hard to recover from when you are rebuilding. You can't miss on any of your top picks. If Young plays well, that's a massive win for SF, if he doesn't, it literally does not hurt them at all. With so many holes, I really hope they don't need to take a QB. Use one of those on top 5 studs, then trade down and gain back a 2nd.

Actually, I don't know if they commit more early picks to the defense after this. Technically they just used a 2nd on an Edge with this trade, used a 2nd on Dexter, and a 3rd on Pickens. They really need to address OL.

Poles got fleeced, the SF pick is a 3rd round comp pick and the Bears gave up pick #35 for a player 3 years older. That difference is a mid 2nd round pick. So the Bears gave a mid-2nd round pick MORE than the 49ers for Sweat over Young. I hope Poles was right on this one unlike the Claypool one.

This is another easy button move. Only CAR or ARZ had a better 2nd rounder compared to the Bears, and the leap to a first rounder is huge. This makes me think Poles is safe for another year, because I doubt they would let him do this if they were planning to fire him. Sweat is a good player, but has never made an All-Pro team or Pro Bowl, so he is one of those fringe Pro Bowl guys, like top 10 in the conference. He is 27, Young is 24 and Burns is 25, so this is likely only a 4-year deal type player as he would be 31 at the end of a 4-year deal. It seems like Poles shrinks the window with this type of move. What is the point of trading draft capital for a guy and extending him with a huge cap hit unless you believe you will be competitive in the next 2 years, right? Also, if you are using up cap space in 2025 and beyond with with this move, doesn't that hint that you expect not to be paying a QB on a 2nd contract in that window? This is definitely a logical move, it addresses a need, but at a pretty hefty cost (early 2nd rounder + huge cap hit with extension), so now Poles has to be right on all the big ticket signings from here on out, otherwise the Bears will be stuck in mediocrity for the foreseeable future. With all that said, Edge is no longer the worst position group now with Sweat, Ngakoue, Walker, Robinson, Green. Pushing everyone down the roster helps. Now who drops off the 53-man?

Mixed feelings on this. Bears 2nd is going to be high. How will Sweat play on a line without studs next to him?

That would make the pick value difference of a late 2nd rounder, which would be better for the Bears. However, I doubt they get anything higher than a 4th back if they only give up a 2nd (I could be wrong, but I am sure there will be other teams willing to give up a 2nd straight up for Young).

If he is asking for 20+, then goodbye. I would say 17M is the max. The issue is Poles keeps bleeding talent. Smith (1st Round) > late 2nd Rounder+5th; early 2nd rounder > Claypool + 7th > 6th. So Poles turned Roquan #8 pick into a late 2nd rounder and a 5th, turned the #32 pick and a 7th into a 6th. Now Jaylon (#50 - 2nd rounder)? He needs to at least get a late 2nd or something like a 2024 3rd and 2025 4th. You have to pay someone. It just seems like Poles is not loyal to picks that weren't his. Kmet is the only one done and Johnson is arguably the best of the group that needed an extension. Now if Poles can add Young or Sweat and a mid round pick for Johnson, then I would be ok with that because Edge is a massive hole on the team right now.

My fear is that Poles is going to start to getting desperate, and may overpay. If he gave a high 2nd rounder for Claypool, who was a WR2/3 at the time, what is he going to give up for a top Edge Rusher?

Yeah, how can you expect to stop someone with that big of a cushion on every play. So you are not covering anyone while you are not pressuring anyone. So frustrating. With all that cap space, this is the team that Poles assembled.

So when does Poles get any blame? He has taken a 6-win, 49-sack team and transformed it into a 5-20 team with 30 sacks (in its last 25 games). How much more to do we need to see of Flus and his stellar defense? Flus' defenses have beaten Brian Hoyer, Sam Howell, Davis Mills, Bailey Zappe, and Trey Lance. Only one of those QBs is still currently starting in the NFL, and even when the Bears beat Howell, he still threw for 388 yards.

Flus needs to go, worst defensive performance in a long time. He used zero timeouts the entire game. Tried an onside kick, then didnt call a timeout when LAC was running the ball. Then took a knee when they got the ball back. That is the perfect time to get young guys some reps. I am so done with Flus. Velus needs to be cut. Worthless. Drops a TD that could've swayed the momentum.

Yeah, not much separation tonight, and absolutely no one helping him out. Too many drops. If I am throwing up a contested ball, it needs to go to Moore, not Mooney. Mooney needs to catch that but he has not been the same since the injury. If they can trade him for anything, I would pull the trigger. Bagent has looked good for his 2nd start as a D2 rookie, but he would need the rest of the season to really assess him, but that ain't happening. I am sure Fields will come back for the Saints game. Bagent's 232 passing yards would be the 6th highest of Fields career in 31 starts. That's pretty crazy. The refs did not help in this game either, they never called anything on the Chargers. Nothing new for the Bears, but it really makes it an impossible task to comeback when the refs are calling everything on you and nothing on the other team. This really makes me not want to watch these games. Bears back to having the 1st and 3rd pick.