adam

Just keep it in bounds!

Leno really changed once he got the big payday. After that, it was a steady decline. Trubisky was so jumpy in the pocket (and he normally scrambled to the right) that Leno was often not blamed for any hurries or pressures, but the tape doesn't lie. He was great for a late-round pick, but they never should've extended him a year early and for that length and amount.

I almost feel like TE has become one of the hardest positions to excel at as a rookie. Kelce didn't play his rookie year and only started 11 games in year 2. Kittle? Started only 7 games as a rookie with 515 yards. Both Kittle and Kmet had 2 TDs their rookie years. There have been some pretty good success with rookie QBs of late, especially those that excelled in college. Burrow, Herbert, and Tua in 2020, Murray in 2019, Mayfield and Allen in 2018 all did pretty well their rookie years and I would say Fields is coming in more refined than most of them. As for Jenkins, I think if we are treating him like a 2nd rounder, we are doing a disservice to him. There were several mocks with Jenkins to the Bears at 20, and most had him gone before 32. So even though he is a second-round pick, the expectation should be that of a first-round OT, who normally start as rookies. Also, Jenkins reminds me of Quenton Nelson, who looks like they want to crush the defender on every play. Leno was like Eeyore, just happy to be there collecting a paycheck, and he never finished a block to save his life. I would be more concerned with Jenkins if this was 2020 all over again, but with a full offseason and time to bound with the QBs, I think Jenkins will be fine. All we are asking of him in Year 1 is Leno level production, which in reality wasn't that high of a bar to set.

I forgot about Wilkinson. He is definitely experienced depth and an obvious upgrade over Coward. The Bears also signed Tyrone Wheatley Jr. as a UDFA, who obviously has football DNA in his blood. That would be a cool story.

A few things to consider. The difference between the O-Line last year and this year is essentially Leno/Massie for Jenkins/Daniels. That is hard to see that as a downgrade. Also, Jenkins had a first-round grade on him and was projected as one of the top tackles in the draft. The "bust rate" is more related to the 7th, 8th, or 9th OT off the board not working out. Jenkins is not one of those guys. Even if Jenkins is a downgrade at LT, he is not blocking for a statue like Foles or a lost QB like Trubisky was. The QBs did not elevate their teammates. Trubisky would run into sacks, Foles wouldn't even move. So the overall offensive unit as a whole should be better. With Daniels back, the interior is strong and Ifedi had the best stretch of his career at RT to end the year. If he just stood there, he would be as good as Massie was. The % of cap of any given unit is going to be contingent on how many guys are on rookie deals and how many All-Pros you have locked up to a huge deal. The Bears are paying Daniels, Mustipher, and Jenkins on rookie deals, and Ifedi to a very reasonable deal. This should be seen as a positive and not a negative IMO.

I totally forgot Goodwin and Byrd, who both are WR2 or WR3s on some teams. Byrd was a WR2 with a terrible QB last year in NE. Goodwin led SF in 2017 in receptions and yards (had 447 yds more than their next best receiver - Kittle).

Great points, I agree. Also, if you look at our top end players, if Kmet takes a step forward, we really have an elite offense: ARob, Monty, Kmet is a very solid set of #1s, then you have Mooney, Williams, Graham as the #2s. That is 6 solid players, and not even counting Cohen or Miller. Last year the Bears had 5 players with over 40 receptions (ARob, Monty, Mooney, Miller, and Graham). So we have 8 players that have the potential for 40+ catches.

Hopefully that translates to the field. Better blocking, less drops, more broken tackles, etc.

After watching some Monty highlights and offseason work, I really like where our RB room is at. Monty is a true RB1 and then you have Damien Williams as a very solid RB2, Tarik Cohen back, and some fresh speed with Khalil Herbert. I was looking around the league, and it was hard for me to find a comparable group. Most die off after 2-3 RBs. Here are the 5 best groups (not individuals): LV has Jacobs, Drake, Riddick CLE has Chubb, Hunt, ? BAL has Dobbins, Edwards, Hill NO has Kamara, Murray, Montgomery LAR has Akers, Henderson, ? None of the players listed had more yards than Monty last year. Thoughts?

A somewhat interesting nugget came out about Moses. It sounds like he was asked to play LT and wanted to stay at RT, so he signed with the Jets. Several interesting takes. LT's make a lot more than RT's, so I wonder if it was for the same amount, so he didn't want to switch without a raise? Was he depth at LT and wanted to start? My assumption is Jenkins at LT and Ifedi at RT with Borom backing him up. So LT makes sense if you were bringing him in as insurance and depth. I don't how much the Bears could gauge on the progress of Jenkins without pads and basically 3 weeks of walk-throughs.

He was pretty good in 14, 15, and 17 where he had over 100 tackles, would be a very solid depth piece if healthy.

I heard on a podcast that Goldman has lost some weight and is in great shape (apparently). Also, Trevathan commented on him:

We are pretty thin at TE, so this is interesting.

ARob is a year younger, so I would go with him. He is also already familiar with the system, etc, which is a fairly big deal. ARob has also done more with less considering who has been throwing to him over his entire career compared to Adams and Rodgers.

Next year is going to be interesting for WRs. Only Mooney, Ridley, and Newsome have contracts past this year. The Bears have a ton of free agents after this season and only $37M in cap space, so it is going to be interesting. Offense: ARob - extend Miller Goodwin - extend Byrd - extend Wims Graham Holtz (RFA) - extend Daniels - extend Mustipher (ERFA) - extend Williams Bars (RFA) - extend Hicks Nichols - extend Vaughters (RFA) - extend Iyiegbuniwe - extend Jones - extend Woods (RFA) - extend Gipson - extend Trufant Bush - extend Houston-Carson - extend Burns Roberson O'Donnell - extend Scales - extend That is 17 extensions, which is hard to see that happening. So we have to clear more space: Potential Cap Casualties: 1. Quinn - $3.1M Dead Cap, $12.9M savings - Cut 2. Trevathan - $2.4M Dead Cap, $3.5M savings - Cut 3. Dalton - $2.5M Dead Cap, $2.5M savings - Cut 4. Cohen - $1.75M Dead Cap, $4M savings - depends on how he looks post ACL. If he is worse, then you have to consider cutting him at that salary. 5. Goldman - $2.95M Dead Cap, $8.8M savings - huge cap hit and he is another guy to watch this season. He may end up as a cut if he doesn't perform well. Those 5 would clear over $31M, but then make 2-3 starter holes depending on who you view as a starter.

Yeah, typo, it is the 11th slot. The fact that we got him outside of the top 10 is huge. Also consider Trubisky got $29M for 4 years and Fields will only get $19M. Trubisky's signing bonus was more than Fields entire contract, think about that.

Offset language is what ties up rookie deals, so it is nice that the Bears didn't try to get cute with Fields. They are only paying him his slot (#11), which is a steal. What the Vikings will pay Cousins this year for 11 games is equal to 4 years of Fields. Crazy.

Fields signs rookie deal, no offset language, which is nice.

For Long, it is tough to come back when you get out of shape. He hasn't played in a few years and retired with injuries, so he probably won't play very much this year. Monty added 1.5 mph to his top speed, which would shave a few decimals but not 1.5 secs from his 40 time.

A lot of nuggets coming out of the presser today: "The first time Justin Fields threw a deep ball to Darnell Mooney, Mooney says he was smiling midway through his route." "He threw a pass today against the Cover 2...it was beautiful" - Damien Williams on Justin Fields #Bears C Sam Mustipher said he has put on 10 pounds. He has been working out with Olin Kreutz this offseason.

If that is the biggest criticism of Desai, I will take it. I am not worried about that side of the ball. Gain Goldman, lose Fuller, Jackson in more space, no Skrine, defense will be better.

So Brett Favre was drafted by ATL, then traded to GB before his run there, then trade to the Jets. So since he was not drafted by the Packers, I didn't count a player like him. People do not give ATL enough flak for trading Favre. The following year he threw for more yards than Chris Miller and Wade Wilson combined, who were QB1 and QB2 for ATL.

It was almost like someone else was drafting. He hit two huge need areas with trade ups (Fields and Jenkins), then got value and filled other holes the rest of the draft. I would not mind a draft like this every year. Get your guys at the top, then get value the rest of the draft.

It's gonna be a tough game for sure, but it won't be a blowout. I like how we match up against the Rams. We have better RBs, Rams have a slight edge at WR depth and TE is pretty even. QB will come down to whether we start Fields or Dalton. On defense, with Goldman back, the DLine is close to even, we have better Edge with Mack, Rams have better CBs, but the Bears have better ILBs and Safeties. Both of these teams are playoff teams, so this will be a good test to see where each other are at.

Quinn absolutely underperformed and the only reason he got any pressure or even close to the QB because they were running away from Mack. Quinn did worse than Floyd and couldn't get off a block to save his life. He looked old and slow to me.