adam

I would be down with Smith, Pickens, and Watson. That would be a nice haul for the first 3 picks. I think you may be able to trade back and still get those 3 with an extra 4th or 5th rounder.

Not official, but projected: https://overthecap.com/projecting-the-2022-compensatory-picks/

It's tough. O-Line has to be the priority, but for FA, I don't think we make a huge splash at WR this year. Slim pickings this year. After Adams, the next best WR available in terms of receptions is Kirk with 77. He put up 77-982 with 5 TDs. After him? Russell Gage with 66-770 and 4 TDs. That is very underwhelming for over $10M. I would say $10-12 AAV would be acceptable because of our need at WR. I am good with JuJu or Kirk, but the Bears can't afford to overpay. We are not in a win-now mode. I think Poles is going to go for culture guys this year. Set the tone for the organization. If JuJu blocks like he did on that one play where he leveled an LB, I am all in. Whoever we get needs an edge. We need to be hard to play against. Grab those guys.

JuJu for anything more than $8M would be an overpay at this point. He played at $8M and wasn't worth that. The market will dictate it I guess. Anything over $10M is a hard pass for me.

Yeah the way the mocks have been going for me, there is no WR worth the 39th pick. It has been CB, LB, and IDL there. Then WR at 48.

WRs are always overpaid. Robinson also did nothing on the tag. Golladay was terrible in NY.

Yep, the issue for any vet now is going to be cap hit. Same with Landry. The only place I think they spend money is O Line and 3T.

Yeah, Mooney, Wilson, Tate, Newsome and one or two draft picks, go.

Cooper was going to a lot of draft capital. I still think we are going to add more draft picks than trade them away. I think Poles will target guys like Cedric Wilson and Auden Tate who were stuck behind 2-3 stud WRs (Cooper, Gallup, and Lamb in DAL and Chase, Boyd, and Higgins in CIN). I don't see any trade scenarios unless if involves players (Jackson, Quinn, or Foles).

That would be awesome. 5 picks in the top 125, and 7 in the top 150. That would make for a quick turnaround for sure.

Low risk because he is at the bottom of the 51 (for cap) and high reward because if he can stay healthy, he has the potential to be really good, even if it is as an RB3: He had a 9.12 RAS score from the combine: https://ras.football/2020/02/09/darrynton-evans-ras/

Darrynton Evans, nice pickup, low risk, high reward.

Oh I agree, I was just stating any other guy with cap savings.

Blackson and Attaochu are the only others to consider with cap savings over $1M.

Quinn, Foles, and Trevathan are the last 3 major players with significant cap hits/savings to either trade or cut. Trevathan looks like a post June 1, Quinn looks more like a trade and Foles can go either trade or cut.

Bears now have the 5th most cap space in 2022 as well. I can see them using a post-June 1st on Trevathan to free up $3.28 this year and $4M next year. Pace screwed his contract and he has 3 void years that will automatically carry some dead money out to 2025. Pace is an idiot.

Cohen saves $2,250,000 this year and more importantly $5,750,000 next year. Goldman saves $6,660,000 this year and a whopping $9,190,000 next year. So between these two moves, the Bears have an additional $14,940,000 in new cap for 2023. They now have $136.3M cap space in 2023, the 4th highest in the NFL.

Here is what Poles has as options with his first 3 picks: With 39, he can trade back for a 2nd and a 3rd: 54 / 85 (NE) 55 / 87 (ARZ) 56 / 88 (DAL) 57 / 89 (BUF) For #39, for a 2nd and a 4th: 44 / 117 (CLE) 45 / 118 (BAL) 47 / 121 (IND) For #48, for a 2nd and a 3rd: 61 / 93 (SF) 62 / 94 (KC) 63 / 120 / 208 (CIN) For #48, for a 2nd and a 4th: 53 / 125 (LV) 54 / 126 (NE) Then for 71, they could do something this to pick up a 4th: 80/136 (HOU) 82/121 (IND) 83/123 (PHI) So Poles has a ton of options with his first 3 picks. My guess is he pulls off at least one of these.

It would be nice to have at least one vet tackle, someone like Armstead, who would be a top quality LT for the remainder of Fields rookie deal (next 4 years). We need to have a good mix of guys at different points in their careers, otherwise, they all pop at the same time and you lose 2-3 guys.

Also, the Broncos paid something like $9M more to move Miller while the Chargers took on all the future dead money ($20.6M), so almost a $30M difference. Another thing to consider on the draft picks. There is a different value for picks in the current year vs the future year. I believe they account for it with one round for each year in the future. The Broncos got 2 picks in the 2022 draft in 2021. So even though it wasn't a full year, they still could not use the draft picks the same year as they lost Miller. The Bears get to use the 2nd rounder this year, so that has a lot of value. Lastly, this actually allows the Bears to sign a blue-chipper this year with a slightly backloaded contract if they want to. They can do a low base salary this year and up it next year with all that extra cap.

Quinn would net $4.4M in cap savings this year, with dead cap of $12.7M this year. The Bears would take on dead cap of $11.6M in 2023 and $6M in 2024. However, if it is similar to Mack's, that team would pay the $17.6M so the Bears would be free after this year. Cap savings for Quinn in 2023 would be $9.7M and $13M without another team picking up any additional salary.

Ok, this is good: Chargers taking it all on. Bears have will have no dead cap in any year but this year ($24M). Otherwise, even with a trade, the Bears would've had dead cap of $11.6M in 2023, $6M in 2024, and $3M in 2025 ($20.6M). So this makes it soooo much better. So this ends up being a 2nd rounder, 6th rounder, and a total of $26.7M in cap space savings over the next 4 years. Broncos got a 2nd and 3rd for Miller but paid $9M. Essentially, the Chargers paid the Bears $20.6M, almost a $30M difference. That is not insignificant.

Here we go. I don't like the compensation, getting back really only a 2nd when Broncos got a 2nd and 3rd for Miller for half a season, but this all makes sense if you are planning to start the run in 2023 and beyond. Unless there is a rework in the contract, the Bears take a $24M dead cap hit this year, but Mack comes off the books 2023 and beyond. $28M off the books for 2023 and $26M off the books for 2024 with this move. I am hoping there was some rework in the contract because essentially the Chargers would only own Mack $6M this year and he would have no more guarantees beyond this year. For them, this is an insanely good deal. They would only have to pay him $6M, $17M, $17M the next 3 years.

Yeah, I forgot they were ERFAs, those are vet minimum one-year deals, so there is zero risk bringing them back as their salary may not even make it into the top-51. Since they didn't sign Mustipher to an actual extension means he is coming back as a backup.