adam

Stinger, exactly, and you can't even show guys like Cohen, Daniels, Shaheen, Bullard, Kwiatkowski, and Acho. All above average players and will contribute.

Yeah, great point. The entire roster from top to bottom is getting better.

Here are the depth guys: QB - Daniel (knows system, great QB mentor) RB - Cunningham (starting experience, can catch the ball out of the backfield) WR - White, Wims (will they even be needed?) TE - Sims, Brown, Braunecker (Sims is a former starter, both B's have decent hands) OL - Kush, Coward, Sowell (Kush and Sowell have both started) DL - Bullard, Nichols, Williams (Bullard has started before) LB - Kwiatkowski, Acho, Lynch, Fitts, Irving, Iggy (Kwiat, Acho, and Lynch all with experience) CB - Cooper, Callahan, Toliver (Cooper and Callahan have started before) S - Bush, DHC (both have experience) Would we like these guys to be better? Sure, but where are you going to upgrade and get better output as a sub? Sims, White, and Cooper probably bring you the lowest bang for your buck, but the other guys have decent value for what they are paid.

They brought Nick Williams (DL) back.

I am confused, Pace is to blame for Shaheen rolling his ankle? How is that a disappointing draft pick? Shaheen looked great in the preseason and his injury was unfortunate. Luckily we have quality depth at TE. If you can get 2-3 starters and 1-2 subs per draft, you are doing pretty good. 2015 (6 picks), 2 starters, 1 sub (Amos, Goldman, White), White was the key to this draft, and he never lived up to his billing. What kills me is Vic Beasley went one spot later, and Gurley went 3 later. I am most critical of this draft for Pace, but if they keep Amos and Goldman, and White at least contributes this year, then it won't be a completely wasted draft. Still subpar though. 2016 (9 picks), 3 starters, 4 subs, 7 players still on the roster - This was a great draft and almost makes up for how bad 2015 was. 2017 (5 picks), 2 starters, 2 subs, only Morgan not on team - only a couple of picks due to the Trubisky trade, but Jackson and Cohen were great picks in the 4th round. 2018 (7 picks), 1 starter, 6 subs, too early too assess, but if Smith, Daniels, and Miller all live up to their hype, this will be another great draft. Anything out of Iggy, Nichols, Fitts, or Wims would be gravy. At the end of the day, the one pick that matters is Trubisky. He has to play at a franchise player level starting next Sunday, or none of these other players matter.

Grasu cut, probably to clear a roster spot for Mack.

Remember he is suspended for Week 1 anyway.

So we are the only team that will be negatively impacted by the rule? Sure it could change the outcome of a game or two, but why does it have to be against us? We could win an extra one or two because of it.

Presser at 1pm

Friendly reminder that the TalkBears Keeper draft is today, 11am Central.

Looking back at last year, 6 of our losses were by a score or less (3 by a FG or less). With a little luck and some better officiating, we would probably have ended up at 7-9 with THAT team. To me, this team was probably already at 9-7 before the Mack deal, and he is easily worth 1 to 2 games. Odds to win Super Bowl went from 100-1 to 40-1 over night.

I would say 9-7 is the low end of the projection now. Looking at the schedule by quarter, I can see us going 2-2 (GB/SEA/ARZ/TB) followed by 3-1 (MIA/NE/NYJ/BUF), then 2-2 (DET/MIN/DET/NYG) followed by 2-2 (LAR/GB/SF/MIN). That's 9 wins right there without making a hard argument. If you break it down by Division's, we should be able to split the North at 3-3, go 3-1 against AFC East, split with NFC West (2-2), and split TB and NYG (1-1). If we can beat DET twice, then split GB and MIN, there is a 10-win season, and if we beat both NYG and TB, that's 11 wins, again without too much reaching. So 9-11 wins seems like it is the new window. 9 wins is probably borderline Wild Card, and 11 wins is the Division.

YEAR - AGE - CAP HIT - DEAD MONEY 2018 (27) - $13.8 MIL - $60 MIL 2019 (28) - $22.3 MIL - $46.2 MIL 2020 (29) - $24 MIL - $24.1 MIL 2021 (30) - $24 MIL - $13.6 MIL 2022 (31) - $24.5 MIL - $6.8 MIL 2023 (32) - $22.9 MIL - $0 2024 (33) - $23.2 MIL - $0 So the Bears are locked into Mack until at least 2022, Trubisky's first year on his second contract. The Bears could get out of Mack's contract for only $6.8 dead money after 2021 (if they needed to), which is not bad all things considered. So it ends up being $21.6 Million average for the first 5 years (2018-2022).

That Cooper and Grasu are still on the roster. Maybe Burton over Nall. Otherwise, about what everyone expected.

QB (2) - Trubisky, Daniel RB (4) - Howard, Cohen, Cunningham, Burton WR (6) - Robinson, Gabriel, Miller, White, Wims, Bellamy TE (5) - Burton, Shaheen, Sims, Brown, Braunecker OL (9) - Leno, Long, Whitehair, Daniels, Massie, Kush, Coward, Sowell, Grasu DL (5) - Hicks, Goldman, Robert-Harris, Bullard, Nichols ILB (4) - Trevathan, Kwiatowski, Smith, Iggy OLB (6) - Mack, Floyd, Lynch, Acho, Fitts, Irving CB (6) - Amukamara, Fuller, Callahan, Cooper, McManis, Toliver S (4) - Amos, Jackson, Bush, Houston-Carson K - Parkey P - O'Donnell LS - Scales Currently at 54 players with the Mack trade. Burton made it in lieu of Nall, Grasu still on the roster and so is Cooper (ugh). I figure Grasu gets traded or cut at some point. I don't know how the Bears can carry 54 unless Mack hasn't actually signed the deal yet.

Conditional 7th.

Pace keeps rolling.

and the Bears cut him, hopefully he makes it to the PS. I liked him better than Burton.

Assuming the Bears finish in the upper half of the league, and Raiders in bottom half, consider this scenario: Bears with 20th overall pick and Raiders 10th the next two years (to me this is worst case scenario...I see the Bears doing better and Raider doing worse) Bears give up: 2019 - 1st (850), 6th (13) 2020 - 1st (850), 3rd (170) Raiders give up: Khalil Mack = 5th Overall pick (1700) 2020 - 2nd (480), conditional 5th (28) If you consider Mack for 2x 1st's is even (in terms of draft value), the additional picks give the Bears a net positive of 397 w/o the conditional pick and 425 with it. 397 would net you Pick #51 in the 2nd round and 425 would net you #48. So either way the Bears got value equivalent to the pick we used on Anthony Miller back in the Mack trade.

No player involved, we give up a 2020 3rd rounder and a 2019 6th, but get back a 2020 2nd rounder and a conditional 5th.

The key to that deal is it will mostly cover Trubisky's rookie contract window, and by the time Trubisky is due a new contract, most of Mack's money will have already been paid out. So Pace has put all his chips in on Nagy, Trubisky, and Mack. The core of the team is now set.

Bears 16-0, Super Bowl Champs! that is all

I am sure he will play, maybe just on passing downs, but I would say his position and role (rushing the passer) has one of the easier transitions compared to other positions.

All things considered, it is hard to see this as anything but a huge win for the Bears. Mack is literally one of the best players in the league, top 5 on defense for sure. He is going to make the entire defense better, which will take pressure off the offense. I don't know of any pick around #20 or even two of them that would have the same impact.

If the Packers were game planning already (which I assume they were) will have to make some huge adjustments with the acquisition of Mack. I hope he can get into town quick and get up to speed on the defense in such a short time. He may be limited in Week 1, but either way, just another thing for GB to worry about.