adam

I don't know what you are referring to. I am not talking about guaranteeing everything, I am talking mainly about offset language. I just think the slots should have pre-determined values for everything. Offset language is where a team releases a player and if signed by another team, the old team would not be on the hook for the full salary. Players like it because they can double dip and get paid by both old and new teams. However, this would only occur if the player was released, so missing training camp and other offseason activities seems pretty dumb considering how rare this language comes into play.

This is getting ridiculous, I thought the CBA took care of this. They need to clean the language up for the next collective bargaining agreement. Just slot the players based on draft position with a fixed contract value, offset language, and guarantees.

I thought this was a great gesture and will have positive 2nd and 3rd order effects on the organization. I could see the team rallying around Miller and trying to win for him. Any additional motivation helps, and helps unify the team. He is such a positive person and great with the community, so this just adds to the optimistic environment that is being created. Great move.

Injuries are what has limited us in the past. OLB seems to be the position most at risk. I am surprised they didn't bring back Willie Young. To me that would be a good depth move if Lynch or Floyd get hurt, or if Fitts struggles.

I still find it crazy that Shaheen is the same height as Gronk 6'6", but also weighs 10+ lbs more than him. Their combine drill stats are also very close: Shaheen - 4.79 - 40yd, 24 reps, 32.5" vert, 121" Broad, 7.09 3-Cone, 4.38 20-yd shuttle Gronk - 4.68 - 40yd, 23 reps, 33.5" vert, 119" Broad, 7.18 3-Cone, 4.47 20-yd shuttle Shaheen takes bench, broad, 3-Cone, and 20-yd shuttle with an additional 13 lbs on his frame. Gronk takes the 40 and vertical. Not that Shaheen will ever be Gronk, but he has all the physical traits to dominate.

Trubisky seems more mobile than Wentz, Foles, and comparable to Smith. I like the things I am hearing about Shaheen. I think he is really going to surprise this year.

Robinson's only question is related to his recovery and I can't see the Bears signing him to that big of a contract if there were health concerns. He was the top rated Free Agent and has produced with Blake Bortles at QB. Miller is based on projections. His college play projects favorably to the NFL. Gabriel has already produced in Cleveland and Atlanta, so putting up similar numbers doesn't seem like is a reach. Cohen has already showed he is a playmaker and will only be better with a year under his belt. Trubisky did what he did last year totally neutered by Fox and Co. This is really his first year with a real coach and OC. Hard to see him not improving, especially with all the weapons and options around him. Someone should be open on every play.

I was comparing this year's Bears to last year's Rams. Trubisky>Goff, Gurley>Howard, Robinson>Kupp, Miller>Watkins, Gabriel>Woods, Burton/Shaheen>Higbee/Everett, Cohen>Austin. Austin had 13-47 yds and 59 rushes for 270 yds. Cohen 53-353 and 87-370.

Looking back at Gabriel's stats, I think the 40-550 may be a little high. He had 33-378 with Atlanta as their #3 WR, so I can't see him exceeding that competing against Robinson, Miller, Burton, and especially Cohen, who are very similar players. I think 35-400 may be more realistic.

Shaheen is a huge question mark for me. I thought the team trusted him enough to release Sims, but they didn't do that. Which seems like a hit on Shaheen (not grasping playbook, etc). Sims is an expensive blocking TE. I just figured he would be down on the totem pole as the 6th or 7th passing option, but I am sure hoping he hits the over and scores 5-6. That would be awesome.

Another interesting perspective, looking at Team Offense/Defense Ratings: 2016 Rams (Offense 32nd, Defense 15th) - 2017 Bears (Offense 28th, Defense 14th) 2017 Rams (Offense 6th, Defense 6th) - 2018 Bears (TBD) So the Bears last year actually had a better team than the 2016 Rams, who were dead last in offense. We survived Glennon which pulled down our offense a few spots. All things considered, I don't know if we make an offensive leap 26 spots like the Rams, but if we can get to 15th on offense and creep up a couple of slots on defense, we are a playoff team. The biggest difference is that the Rams have an elite Special Teams (top 3) while we finished 23rd. We need that to improve into the middle of the league in Special Teams. Looking at Skill positions, who would you take: Goff, Gurley, Kupp, Watkins, Woods, Higbee, Everett vs Trubisky, Howard, Robinson, Gabriel, Miller, Burton, Cohen, Shaheen Gurley is the only player I would take over our players. Tru, Robinson, Gabriel, Miller, Burton, Cohen, and Shaheen are all better one for one against the Rams players. Howard loses out to Gurley due to his stone hands. We might even with in 1st Round Busts: Austin vs White

Hester was absolutely insane, glad we got to witness that. Never should've tried him as WR. Just let him return kicks and be elite.

Here is what KC did last year compared to those projections: Passing Smith 341-505, 4042, 26-5 ----------------------------------------------- Trubisky 346-567, 3851, 23-13 * Based on those numbers, we will throw more than KC, but Trubisky will average less than Smith? I doubt that, especially with Robinson, Gabriel, Miller, and Cohen on the roster. So I think Trubisky will be closer to 4200 yards and 30 TDs. Rushing Hunt - 272-1327, 8 Smith - 60-355, 1 ---------------------------------- Howard - 240-1025, 7 Cohen - 76-313, 2 *We are projected to run less than KC? Probably not, especially with Howard and Cohen. Also, I doubt Howard's YPC drops to 4.3, his career average is 4.6 and with the passing options, he will have more holes to run in. I figure he will be closer to 1200 yards with a few more carries. Cohen seems about right to me. Receiving Kelce - 83-1083, 8 Hill - 75-1183, 7 Hunt - 53-455, 3 Wilson - 42-554, 3 West - 27-150, 2 ------------------------- Robinson - 73-1046, 7 Miller - 51-657, 3 Gabriel - 38-490, 2 Burton - 51-558, 4 Cohen - 60-470, 2 Howard - 25-197, 1 Shaheen - 23-243, 2 * There is only one ball and only so many plays, so I can see the problem. I just think they shorted the Bears about 300 yards passing/receiving and 7 TDs. Adjusted: Robinson - 75-1100, 8 Miller - 52-700, 5 Gabriel - 40-550, 3 Burton - 52-625, 5 Cohen - 60-475, 3 Shaheen - 25-315, 3 Either way, we have a good problem. KC had essentially Kelce, Hill, Hunt, and Wilson. We have Robinson, Miller, Gabriel, Burton, Cohen, Howard, and Shaheen. With White as a potential bonus. What they totally omitted was Cunningham catching anything, which would be shocking as he had 20 receptions last year, which will probably take away from Cohen and Howards catches.

A great analysis of the NFL schedules over at SharpFootballAnalysis.com. Bears have 17th toughest schedule but have the 4th easiest in terms of opposing defenses. This bodes well for our offense, it should really explode this year. Expect some high scoring games. Like the Panthers, the Bears’ offense might be able to capitalize on its early (Week 5) bye. Chicago has the NFL’s second-softest schedule through Week 10. They play five bottom-five teams during that span, although they are favored in just three of those games because the Bears are also viewed as a bottom-five team. Note that Chicago plays the NFL’s fourth-softest schedule of opposing defenses, including the fifth-easiest schedule of pass defenses after heavily upgrading their passing game in the offseason.

I don't want to keep going back and forth on this, but "a grand jury indictment is the product of sworn witness testimony and/or physical evidence". I could care less either way, but saying a grand jury indictment is nothing is silly.

Absolutely, but things like this go unreported more than they go to trial. The fact that it made it to a grand jury is pretty serious. There was enough for them to pursue an indictment, so that tells me something.

Interesting story. Without hard evidence (witness, DNA, video, etc), those are hard to prove, especially when most people are in a drunken stupor. Also, the victim has to endure a lot and just like in this case, decided not to testify. So that tells me "something" happened. I would say the oddest part would be not to disclose something like that to ANY of his employers, especially one like the NFL with so much media attention. I know a lot of major companies ask (since they may already know with a background check) just to see if you will answer truthfully.

If he can catch, he might stick, but all our RB's will need to be able to catch out of the backfield.

AZ, good analysis, I didn't see more than 1-2 starters in any of those drafts. Where we had at least 3. I would take our top 3 picks over each of the NFC North's First Rounders every time: Option Bears - Smith, Daniels, Miller Option Loss - Ragnow, Alexander, Hughes

A lot of picks to like, obviously Smith is a great pick, but for some reason the Miller pick is sticking with me. The more I read about the kid, I am sold and think he will turn out to be a long-time starter for the franchise.

Kylie Fitts, Edge, from Utah. If he can stay healthy, he should be able to contribute. 11.5 sacks and 14 TFL in only 22 games.

So Equanimeous St. Brown, WR or Parry Nickerson, CB?

IMO I would rather throw darts at CB or Edge compared to ILB and DT. Hopefully Pace autocorrects and goes Duke Ejiofor, DE, Wake Forest or Jeff Holland, DE, Auburn in the 6th.

And we select Joel Iyiegbuniwe, LB, Western Kentucky. Will be interesting to see where they play him.

There still are some decent players left, at least for our 4th rounder. In the 5th, go for projects, depth, special teams, and maybe a new Punter.