adam

Interesting that Pace is just sticking to his player grades. Roquan was the obvious pick at #8 and when it came to #39, Daniels is right up there. So Whitehair moves back out to Guard. Daniels, Whitehair, Long is a pretty solid interior.

Wow, only Will Hernandez went before our pick, and we went James Daniels, C, Iowa. Not a bad pick, he had a first round grade. So we went LB, C to start the draft. We still need to address Edge and WR.

Yeah, that has to be why he is dropping. I agree, if we have 2-3 of these guys targeted and they one of them are still there, you pull the trigger, but if "our" guys are gone, you move down to still pick in this tier.

There are still a bunch of top Tier players left: Edge Harold Landry (1st round grade) CB Josh Jackson (1st round grade) G Will Hernandez (1st round grade) C James Daniels (1st round grade) RB Derrius Guice WR Courtland Sutton T Connor Williams CB Isaiah Oliver DL Maurice Hurst We pick 7th in the 2nd round, and I am sure there will be some trades ahead of us with teams wanting to go up and get their guy. Hopefully someone moves up to take another QB. If we stay where we are at, we are assured of one of these guys. If we are looking to trade down, I wouldn't want to drop more than 7-8 slots (#46 - CIN range) which would net us an additional early 4th rounder. We could then flip our two lower 4th's to move back into the back end of the 3rd (#91). I am thinking NO's would probably want more draft capital after moving up yesterday. So we get #46, and #91 for #39 and #115.

So teams traded up at 7 and 10, so the Bears and 49ers missed out on that trade action. 49ers took McGlinchey which seemed high at 9.

Roquan Smith a Chicago Bear.

Damn that was our trade. #12 and 2x 2nd rounders.

Pretty much as expected, Barkley, Nelson, and Chubb gone. Smith, Edmunds, or Fitzpatrick.

Nelson, Chubb, and Smith still available, wow.

#1 CLE selects Baker Mayfield (lol) #2 NYG selects Saquon Barkley (solid pick but left QBs on the board.

They only have 24 players with a 1st round grade (I thought that was interesting). Here are their 1st round graded players, I was surprised not to see Vander Esch, Davenport, J Allen, and Sutton listed (all 2nd rounders). It would be nice to get any of Nelson/Fitzpatrick/Smith in the first and then someone like Davenport in the 2nd. QB J Rosen B Mayfield L Jackson S Darnold RB S Barkley R Jones D Guice WR C Ridley OT McGlinchey C Williams OG Q Nelson I Wynn C J Daniels Edge B Chubb H Landry DT V Vea M Hurst LB R Smith Tr Edmunds CB D Ward M Fitzpatrick J Alexander J Jackson S D James https://theathletic.com/266768/2018/04/25/the-athletics-2018-nfl-draft-board/

They are basically saying Acho is the worst starter (currently), and worse than (Kush/Grasu), Kwiatkoski, Gabriel, or Massie. What that tells me is we will be hard pressed to go DB in the first few rounds. We need to address 4 of these needs (OLB, OG, ILB, WR, and OT) in the first 4 picks. So ideally we would trade back, pick up a 3rd and have 5 picks in the first 4 rounds to address the top 5 needs (if the draft falls that way...which it never does). Then use the 5th-7th on depth or a real punter.

After watching some film, I would say Smith is a close third for me behind Chubb and Nelson. Chubb and Floyd would be a havoc pairing, Nelson would help anchor the interior line for the next 6-8 years with Long and Whitehair, and Smith would be an immediate starter and add to the long lineage of star LB's in the franchise. Ward and Fitz would round out my top 5 (less QBs + Barkley).

I am shooting for starters with the first 4 picks, so if we can get LB/Edge and OL/WR with the first 4 picks, that would be great. I believe you have to think starter in the first 4 rounds, and our greatest need on offense is OG, then WR. For defense, LB and Edge seem to be the biggest needs. Then some depth with the remaining picks, UDFA, and any remaining free agents who were late cuts.

If we are ok getting one of Smith, Edmunds, Fitzpatrick, or Ward in the first, then one of them should be there at #12, the Bills pick, who clearly look like they are trying to move up for a QB. Something like our #8 and #115 (our 2nd 4th rounder) for Buffalo's #12 and #65 (1st pick in 3rd round). That would give us 3 picks in the top 65 (and get our 3rd round pick back for the Trubisky trade). This is only assuming the guys we want are gone at #8.

Assuming 4 QBs go, it comes down to Barkley, Chubb, Nelson, and I would say Smith. It would be nice to get Nelson or Chubb since they fill bigger needs than LB, but Smith would be a 10-year starter. Also, like every draft, there is going to be a surprise. If teams shuffle for someone early, it could make for an exciting draft.

I believe he plays on ST as well, so he is an immediate upgrade over Bellamy as a WR3/4.

AZ is spot on. If we weren't sure about his medical, why tender him at all? If we didn't know his medical status but wouldn't mind keeping him, why not give him a 2nd round tender so we get something for him if tendered for only a million more? This was clearly a tactic to see how he was progressing and when the Saints tendered him, that made the decision easy. I liked Meredith but he clearly was not what Nagy was looking for in a WR2/3 option, especially if he misses any of the offseason with a new QB and scheme (Meredith never caught a single regular season pass from Tru).

From what I have read, if Meredith got a 2nd round tender, it would've prevented any team from making an offer (or setting the market), so Pace gave him an original round tender assuming that a team would set the market for Meredith, which the Saints did. The Saints couldn't create a crazy deal because they don't have much cap space to sign Meredith if the deal goes thru. So I will be shocked if the Bears let Meredith walk for nothing unless there are legitimate health concerns.

It seems really odd to me. He has always been a team guy, so to do something like this right before the draft and after the trade rumors seems odd. Compare that to his almost weekly posts about the team throughout the season. I believe he was told by the team that they were shopping him and wanted to at least give him a heads up, he got butt hurt and purged his IG account.

The Colts have 3x 2nd round picks. The one scenario that works in terms of trade value would be: Bears #8, #39, and #105 for Colts #6 and #49. That would give them 4 picks in the top 39 (7 in top 105) while staying in the top 10. Bears lose one of their 2 4th rounders, drop 10 spots in the 2nd, but move up to #6 which should almost assuredly land their guy assuming 3-4x QBs and Barkley are off the board.

A Meh depth signing, nothing spectacular, but fills the void left by Compton. Scary to see these types of articles popping up when you search for him: Top 10 Worst Performances of Week 17 Lowest graded player in Week 1 Those are from the 2016-2017 season, so hopefully he can improve.

Here is a list of our acquisitions, players re-signed, players lost, and remaining free agents: Free Agent Additions Chase Daniel - QB - knows system and Pace, good pickup Tyler Bray - QB - knows system coming from KC, makes sense Allen Robinson - WR - coming off injury, but ceiling is pretty high, clearly our #1 (about time) Taylor Gabriel - WR - versatile WR, can line up anywhere, will be fun to see with Cohen on the field Trey Burton - TE - not a ton of production for the contract, but upside is there, Burton-Shaheen should be a fun TE Duo. Aaron Lynch - LB - played for Fangio, should be an immediate upgrade Cody Parkey - K - look a real kicker Re-signed Sam Acho - good depth, and special teams Prince Amukamara - good re-signing, another year with the secondary, the continuity should help Daniel Brown - depth and special teams Kyle Fuller - kind of crazy the way this played out with the Packers, ultimately Fuller gets $14M a year. I am torn on this, we couldn't let him walk, but he is now a top 5 CB (paid) in the league for at least the next 3 years. Hopefully he plays like one, now the highest paid player on the team. Pat O'Donnell - He has never lived up to his Mega Punt name, but has been in the top half of the league for net yardage. Bradley Sowell - Lost Compton and Sitton, so we needed to hold onto someone, will need to address OL in the draft. John Timu - Another depth/Special Teams resigning. Sherrick McManis - ST Captain, logical resigning. Marcus Cooper - haven't seen this official yet, but it looks like Bears cut him and are planning to re-sign him. I don't know, he was pretty bad last year, I would've looked elsewhere. Worst re-signing. RFA's Tendered Josh Bellamy - meh, hopefully only for ST Bryce Callahan - very solid slot corner, hopefully no one offers him a bigger contract Cameron Meredith - coming off injury, surprised as the low tender, hopefully no one offers him anything outrageous, it would be nice to keep him on the roster, especially with White as a question mark. Lost in Free Agency Tom Compton Josh Sitton Andrew DePaola Mike Glennon (thank god, and LMAO Arizona, did you watch any of Glennon's footage from last season?) Christian Jones Cairo Santo - his signature was wide right on the contract he signed Mitch Unrein - thought he was solid, but DL may be a target in the draft Pernell McPhee - off-injured UFA's Benny Cunningham - wouldn't mind him back, but nothing special Lamarr Houston Dontrelle Inman John Jenkins Zach Miller - wouldn't be surprised if he retired Mike Nugent Mark Sanchez Kendall Wright Willie Young - his cutting was somewhat of a surprise Markus Wheaton - wow was he a disappointment My one question is why the hell do we still have Dion Simson the roster? What a waste of a roster spot.

Would you guys be happy with something like this for free agency: Trumaine Johnson, CB (28) Andrew Norwell, OG (26) Sheldon Richardson, DT (27) Albert Wilson, WR (25) Trey Burton, TE (26)

Yeah, you could show run formation with 2 TE sets, then have these two monsters rumbling into the secondary with Cohen slipping out into the flats. That would be tough to defend.