adam

This could be a huge psyop, and if it was, I would be impressed. or the league is not as high on Fields as most of the Bears fans are.

Potential spots for Fields if Cousins goes to ATL: NYG, DEN, LVR, TEN, or CLE.

With so many guys available, I am shocked Poles moved so fast on this one. 2 yrs for $15M seems a little high for me, that puts him in the top 15 in terms of Safety contracts AAV. It will be curious what guys like McKinney gets. I preferred McKinney.

New coaching regime in NE. I am sure there was not a big market for Jones, but that doesn't help Poles nonetheless.

Ryan Leaf went #2, so he wasn't anywhere near a consensus pick. People loved his size, and one thing he couldn't handle was the spotlight. Russell? Just like Leaf, people loved his size, but that's it. He had one good season in college and that only amounted to 3100 passing yards and 28-8 INTs. Also, with all the analytics nowadays, I think we will see less and less busts like that. Dudes may not turn out to be all-pros, but they won't be busts like that.

Here is a good fair eval from two QBs (Palmer and Allen) both who recently played in the league (Allen still does). They tend to believe that Williams has a few traits that are rare for QBs to have coming out of college. Basically they say QBs that can make time and space in the pocket while keeping their eyes downfield normally succeed in the NFL.

I added PFF Grade and snaps to the list. 1. C - Whitehair (45.0/787) > FA/Rookie 2. G - Patrick (50.5/953) > Rookie 3. G - Feeney (44.8/90) > Bates (78.7/35) 4. TE - Tonyan (49.6/319)> FA 5. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA 6. RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA 7. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > FA 8. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Rookie 9. WR - Taylor (51.8/121) > FA 1. FS - Jackson (58.6/646) > FA 2. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Rookie 3. DE - Green (50.6/385) > FA 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Rookie 5. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> FA 6. CB - Blackwell (28.5/21)> FA The top 5 snap leaders that need to be replaced: G - Patrick (50.5/953) C - Whitehair (45.0/787) WR - Mooney (55.2/764) FS - Jackson (58.6/646) DT - Jones (49.3/740) Check out their PFF grades, lol. There are only two players with very good PFF grades that would need to be replaced: TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA That's only 597 snaps. No other players lost was over a 60 grade.

If feels like a lot, but it's really not. Here is a list of players signed in the free agency window before the draft last year: 1. P.J. Walker, QB 2. Nate Davis, OG 3. D’Onta Foreman, RB 4. Travis Homer, RB 5. Robert Tonyan, TE 6. Andrew Billings, DT 7. DeMarcus Walker, DE 8. Rasheem Green, DE 9. Tremaine Edmunds, LB 10. T.J. Edwards, LB 11. Dylan Cole, LB So 8-10 seems fine when you consider several are on vet minimum or lower end deals.

It makes sense if the stadium is really going to get developed soon. Not a day to day operation with so many contractors they would have to interface with.

Here are the players lost from the 2023 roster that need to be replaced. It seems that they will have 5 picks to address these positions, so they will need 8-10 FAs. What is good to see, most of these guys were underachievers and are addition by subtraction (Whitehair, Patrick, Tonyan, Mooney, Jackson, Ngakoue, and Green) and replacing them with league average players would be an upgrade. The good thing is the Bears can add 3-4 blue chip players to replace these guys, that will feel like huge upgrades. 1. C - Whitehair (45.0/787) > FA/Rookie 2. G - Patrick (50.5/953) > Bates 3. G - Feeney (44.8/90) > Rookie 4. TE - Tonyan (49.6/319)> FA 5. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA 6. RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA 7. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > FA 8. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Rookie 9. WR - Taylor (51.8/121) > FA 1. FS - Jackson (58.6/646) > FA 2. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Rookie 3. DE - Green (50.6/385) > FA 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Rookie 5. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> FA 6. CB - Blackwell (28.5/21)> FA

The Hightower connection from SF. Nice move indeed.

If they trade Fields, I really hope they at least get a 3rd rounder for him and at least one more pick, even if it is a conditional pick in 2025. The 49ers got a 4th rounder for Lance, so anything less than a 3rd for Fields will be a failure on Poles part. I am thinking like a 2024 3rd rounder with a conditional 2025 4th rounder that can become a 3rd or 2nd depending on performance/play time, etc.

You are making me thirsty lol.

A tale of 2 rumors: then like 2 hours later: This is beyond comical at this point.

I am 60/40 they are taking Williams right now, just based on the body of evidence to this point. The JJ extension has $21M cap hits in 25, 26, and 27. Sweat is out to 27, Kmet as well. I would expect deals to have an out before 26 if they were keeping Fields. So far the trade for Bates is Fields friendly and the JJ extension points towards a rookie QB. So we are 1 for each side.

Like I said, Fields is on the roster. So it is easy to say they are keeping him, because they have to do nothing to make that occur.

Brad made an error, it is $6.8M compared to the franchise tag. So even better!

Awesome deal for the Bears. They basically got Johnson and Bates for $1.8M less than Johnson's tag cost. If Fields is traded, the Bears gain back an additional $3M+ on the cap. So they could have over $65M if a trade occurs. That should leave between $45-50M for free agency alone. I feel like there is a big fish or two in those number. Wilkins please.

I expect a Fields decision and an announcement of 1 or 2 key acquisitions before the 13th when FA opens officially. Based on the recent cuts, I think they wait on FS or get a tier 2 guy (which would still be 3 tiers better than Jackson was last year). That really only leaves DT and Edge on defense, and then C and WR2 on offense. Looking at the WR class, I don't think he goes big there. So hopefully the money goes to DT, Edge, and C.

That is a good find especially with link to JJ.

Some teams are screwed this offseason. As of today, Miami and LAC are both $20M over the cap. The Bills, even after all those cuts are still $13M over. The Saints and Ravens are both $10M over, the Broncos are $3M over, and the 49ers are 300K over. Not only do those teams need to get under the cap in a few days, they need operating income and money for the rookie pool, which collectively is around $10M.

Welcome aboard! If you were here at the split you are an oldtimer, that was a long time ago. Yeah, the Chris Simms review of Williams has to get you excited about the player. I think when you look back at pure QB potential, Williams would be the best QB the Bears have ever drafted since Jim McMahon in terms of pedigree coming out of college. He will have the most yards and TDs of any Bears QB ever drafted: College Passing Totals Williams - 1099 passing attempts, 10082 yards, 93 TDs in college. McNown - 1153 passing attempts, 10008 yards, 61 TDs in college. McMahon - 1060 passing attempts, 9536 yards, 84 TDs in college. Grossman - 1110 passing attempts, 9164 yards, 77 TDs in college. Fields - 618 passing attempts, 5701 yards, 67 TDs in college. Harbaugh - 582 passing attempts, 5214 yards, 31 TDs in college. Trubisky - 572 passing attempts, 4762 yards, 41 TDs in college.

I say that because he is still on the roster. This would be different if we were comparing two players the Bears don't have. In this case, Fields is on the team, and until he is not, there is a chance that he is the QB next year.

Going Maye, Daniels, McCarthy, Nix, or a vet FA would be shocking. Sticking with Fields or drafting Caleb would not be.

So $38M for free agency. The Bears have holes at WR2 and FS, and could use upgrades at C, Edge, and DT and or LT (depending on how they view Dexter and Braxton). What is pretty wild is the Bears can basically field the same team for the next two years if they extend Jenkins and Herbert, obviously once they address the aforementioned spots.