The draft article pit...

[GakMan23]

Cornerbacks available when the Bears pick in the draft.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/nbcsports/nfl-draft-2022-10-cornerbacks-bears-may-target-with-their-picks/2796509/

[killakrzydav]

I'd lose my shit if we pick a cover two corner in the second round.

[Stinger226]

Been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and think Poles will invest in offense with most his picks in the draft. The first three will be offensive. WRs, OL, or maybe a TE. Poles is taking all the money they spent on D and trying to balance the spending for both sides of the team. Unless you spend money, you're not getting high end playmakers or OL . So he's plugging holes with cheap options. 

[AZ54]

4 hours ago, killakrzydav said:

I'd lose my shit if we pick a cover two corner in the second round.

Funny but true.  If that's all you really want out of our CB you can find that later in the draft. 

[AZ54]

https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/gm-report/bears-secondary-solutions-already-might-be-in-place?utm_source=reddit.com

Interesting article on how Eberflus's scheme could improve the performance of our existing DBs.   I agree that a Cover 2 style fits Vildor much better than having him try to match up with a receiver down the field.  He's pretty quick to diagnose and close on plays when he's looking forward. He's lost when his back is to the ball.  I'm not so sure about Shelley as he's just slow to diagnose things but if you figure Cruikshank is the likely starter there it appears that will be improved.  Graham showed enough IMO to be expected to compete for a starting role and should be ahead of Vildor.  Add another CB late in the draft.   

At safety though I definitely think we need to add a starter.  Lewis Cine would be a great pick but I recognize we should fix the Dline first because regardless of DB skills this scheme will get exposed later in a play.   This applies to the Dline and we don't have much there right now. 

"It's an upfield, pressure defense No. 1," he said shortly after his first press conference as coach. "You can create a lot of takeaways, you can create a lot of negative plays for the offense."

I'm not saying this would fix the DB issues just that it could likely be something the HC and GM prefer to focus on next year.  

[Stinger226]

That's one question we don't know, Poles evaluation of current players. Good article, Vidor may have better traits for the cover 2. Plus Graham may be ideal for it. I think we have our NC in Criukshank , he showed excellent play against TEs and running backs. 

What about Charles Snowden, Ledarius Mack , can they play SAM ? Flus stated the SAM only plays 20% of the time. I think Edwards is a good fit as rotational 3T. Jones may or may not be a starter type but they gave him a two year contract, maybe?

[GakMan23]

DL Eric Johnson, Missoui State

He has a scheduled visit to the Bears.

[Stinger226]

On 4/1/2022 at 7:31 AM, killakrzydav said:

I'd lose my shit if we pick a cover two corner in the second round.

With you on that.

[GakMan23]

Safety Jaquan Brisker and Wide Receiver Danny Gray

They were brought in for a visit on Wednesday at Halas Hall.

[adam]

On 3/31/2022 at 7:31 PM, killakrzydav said:

I'd lose my shit if we pick a cover two corner in the second round.

Yeah, I highly doubt they do after looking at the Colts defense recently. It's gonna OLine, WR, or DLine for both 2nd rounders.

[Lucky Luciano]

14 minutes ago, adam said:

Yeah, I highly doubt they do after looking at the Colts defense recently. It's gonna OLine, WR, or DLine for both 2nd rounders.

i have to disagree. you NEED a GOOD corner that can play man/ bump and run and cover a receiver at the snap off the LOS. otherwise we end up seeing what lovie projected with his cover 2. huge gaps in the first 5-10 yards from the LOS for easy completions any time they want to make first downs. this increases the riding time your defense is on the field as your opponents march downfield to our red zone.  by the 4th quarter/crunch time they are gassed. this takes away time your offense could/should be scoring points.

you HAVE to give even the best defensive line time to get to the qb. the quick outs for 5-10 yds negate your speed rushing sack specialists and renders the cover 2 nearly useless.

greenbay has been doing that to us for 20-30 freaking years with favre and now rogers. if you want to score points you have to put your offense on the field.

[adam]

7 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

i have to disagree. you NEED a GOOD corner that can play man/ bump and run and cover a receiver at the snap off the LOS. otherwise we end up seeing what lovie projected with his cover 2. huge gaps in the first 5-10 yards from the LOS for easy completions any time they want to make first downs. this increases the riding time your defense is on the field as your opponents march downfield to our red zone.  by the 4th quarter/crunch time they are gassed. this takes away time your offense could/should be scoring points.

you HAVE to give even the best defensive line time to get to the qb. the quick outs for 5-10 yds negate your speed rushing sack specialists and renders the cover 2 nearly useless.

greenbay has been doing that to us for 20-30 freaking years with favre and now rogers. if you want to score points you have to put your offense on the field.

I am just going off what the Colts looked like and what I think they are going to do. I am not saying I wouldn't personally do it, I would be good with OL, WR, or CB in the 2nd.

Last year the Colts had Kenny Moore and Xavier Rhodes at CB. Just for simplicity's sake, Rhodes was 26th and Moore was 50th in PFF rankings. Neither were elite and Johnson was at least equal to, if not better than both of them. If they pair him with Graham and the newly acquired Tavon Young, they should be fine. I assume they will still draft one, but depending on how they view Graham will be the ultimate determination on who they draft in the 2nd.

For me, this year is all about Fields, they have to do what Cincy did for Burrow. Give him weapons and build a solid O-Line. To me, you have to go either OL+OL, OL+WR, or WR+WR in the first two picks unless the value is not there. 

[Lucky Luciano]

4 minutes ago, adam said:

For me, this year is all about Fields, they have to do what Cincy did for Burrow. Give him weapons and build a solid O-Line. To me, you have to go either OL+OL, OL+WR, or WR+WR in the first two picks unless the value is not there. 

i will agree on the OL being the primary pick along with ONE wr who could be had in the 3rd if necessary. i don't believe two 2nd day receivers is going to help fields out as much as another position will, whether it's protecting him or giving the offense more time on the field. fields best friend should be monty and a great running game along with pass protection at least for this season until he begins to evolve.

[scs787]

1 hour ago, Lucky Luciano said:

i will agree on the OL being the primary pick along with ONE wr who could be had in the 3rd if necessary. i don't believe two 2nd day receivers is going to help fields out as much as another position will, whether it's protecting him or giving the offense more time on the field. fields best friend should be monty and a great running game along with pass protection at least for this season until he begins to evolve.

Well said and I completely agree. Pringle is an ascending player and should be given every shot to be at the very least the number 3 guy. Because he's not a household name yet I think he's being incredibly underrated and very well could be the number 2 guy and have a better year than any rookie brought in. 

 

Honestly I would not even be upset if they waited and grabbed a WR on day 3. 

 

Address the OL first and foremost. I'd really like that to be done in free agency, but if they wanna get young, fine.

[adam]

3 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

i will agree on the OL being the primary pick along with ONE wr who could be had in the 3rd if necessary. i don't believe two 2nd day receivers is going to help fields out as much as another position will, whether it's protecting him or giving the offense more time on the field. fields best friend should be monty and a great running game along with pass protection at least for this season until he begins to evolve.

I think the OLine will come down to how they rate Jenkins and Borom. If they like both, they really could just go OG within the first 3 picks. Otherwise, you really need 2. I also could see a 3T or CB in the top 3 as well.  Trading down with one of those 2nds and picking up a 3rd or 4th would be huge. 

[Stinger226]

5 hours ago, Lucky Luciano said:

i have to disagree. you NEED a GOOD corner that can play man/ bump and run and cover a receiver at the snap off the LOS. otherwise we end up seeing what lovie projected with his cover 2. huge gaps in the first 5-10 yards from the LOS for easy completions any time they want to make first downs. this increases the riding time your defense is on the field as your opponents march downfield to our red zone.  by the 4th quarter/crunch time they are gassed. this takes away time your offense could/should be scoring points.

you HAVE to give even the best defensive line time to get to the qb. the quick outs for 5-10 yds negate your speed rushing sack specialists and renders the cover 2 nearly useless.

greenbay has been doing that to us for 20-30 freaking years with favre and now rogers. if you want to score points you have to put your offense on the field.

Ebus defense doesn't use press one on one CBs. They play zone most of the time . You need a CB that can quickly diagnose plays and speed to run to contact. They will add a Vet CB like Rhodes before the season starts. With limited picks you can't prioritize defensive players in the early picks. We have blue chip players at each level of the defense and most of the better players he brought in are on defense. They have to fix the oline and add playmakers. This is an opportunity to get a #1 WR and hard to find in 5th round. I think Mooney and Pringle are both good players but a big speed WR, Watson or Pierce will do wonders to upgrade our offense. If any defensive position gets drafted early it has to be  a 3T. 

[scs787]

Bears have a ton of speed in Mooney and Pringle. I think both are getting underrated here. I think Mooney, especially with the work he and Fields are putting in together this off-season, has #1 potential.  Pringle can be an absolute stud as well. His analytical numbers are really, really good. 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

5 hours ago, adam said:

I think the OLine will come down to how they rate Jenkins and Borom. If they like both, they really could just go OG within the first 3 picks. Otherwise, you really need 2. I also could see a 3T or CB in the top 3 as well.  Trading down with one of those 2nds and picking up a 3rd or 4th would be huge. 

If Jenkins and Borum can lock down the OTs, then we are in better shape than imagined.  Since they targeted G Ryan Bates,  I almost think they have planned to go that route initially.  Starting caliber Guards can be found round 3, that is almost the sweet spot for them. 

[Stinger226]

I wonder if he ended up getting Brian Allen if Patrick was inline for RG or Bates was it all the time. Maybe all three and Whitehair would have been cut or traded? Listening to a podcast with Dane Bugler on it and he said , if Trevan Jenkins was in the draft this year he would be the 6th best OL in the draft. Late first or early 2 nd.  So I think he's a for sure and Borom is the question to answer. He had the Bears taken Darius Kinnard in the third. Could start at RT or RG in the first year in his mock draft.

[Lucky Luciano]

22 hours ago, adam said:

Last year the Colts had Kenny Moore and Xavier Rhodes at CB. Just for simplicity's sake, Rhodes was 26th and Moore was 50th in PFF rankings. Neither were elite and Johnson was at least equal to, if not better than both of them. If they pair him with Graham and the newly acquired Tavon Young, they should be fine. I assume they will still draft one, but depending on how they view Graham will be the ultimate determination on who they draft in the 2nd.

my final thoughts on a lock down corner:

i watched the best defensive line maybe in the history of the modern NFL in the 80's bears. the only comparison is the steel curtain of the 70's. with that said i watched the dolphins hand the 85 bears their only loss and how i believe marino/shula did it was with the quick outs. this type of passing game you succeed by not giving the pass rushing defense (the 46 at that time) the time to get to the quarterback. no matter how good they are they still physically need that amount of time to do what they do best.

the lovie cover 2 is another example of a really good defensive line in traylor, washington, alex brown and ogunleye. add to that probably two HOF linebackers in briggs and urlacher. favre consistently (and even manning in the SB) chewed us up with the quick pass for 5-10 yds negating the heavy pass rush.

the way to compensate for this is having at least ONE lock down corner no matter what system your defense is running. the results of a single lock down corner are two fold.

1. it negates the opponents BEST receiver for at least 3-5+ seconds from the snap. this makes their #1 work for a reception downfield where a free safety can add additional help over the top if need be.

2. this opens up your #2 corner to work with linebackers and a strong safety to choke out that quick hit for first downs. he can play on or off the LOS (cover 2) to bump, legally within the 5 yd rule, the receivers or TE's offsetting the  timing of the receiver and qb .

the results of both make the qb take more time for a receiver to get open. THIS is where your pass rushing specialists shine and change the entire outlook for the game.

this is why green bay has "owned" us for over 2 decades. we have seen it time and time again that 5-10 yard sideline pass for EASY completions while our corners/safeties are lining up beyond the first down markers and coming back to make the tackle beyond the sticks.

this is why the cost of lock down corners in the past rivaled that of edge rushing defensive ends in scarcity and salary.

 

EDIT: sorry for all the white space mistake

[Stinger226]

33 minutes ago, Lucky Luciano said:

my final thoughts on a lock down corner:

i watched the best defensive line maybe in the history of the modern NFL in the 80's bears. the only comparison is the steel curtain of the 70's. with that said i watched the dolphins hand the 85 bears their only loss and how i believe marino/shula did it was with the quick outs. this type of passing game you succeed by not giving the pass rushing defense (the 46 at that time) the time to get to the quarterback. no matter how good they are they still physically need that amount of time to do what they do best.

the lovie cover 2 is another example of a really good defensive line in traylor, washington, alex brown and ogunleye. add to that probably two HOF linebackers in briggs and urlacher. favre consistently (and even manning in the SB) chewed us up with the quick pass for 5-10 yds negating the heavy pass rush.

the way to compensate for this is having at least ONE lock down corner no matter what system your defense is running. the results of a single lock down corner are two fold.

1. it negates the opponents BEST receiver for at least 3-5+ seconds from the snap. this makes their #1 work for a reception downfield where a free safety can add additional help over the top if need be.

2. this opens up your #2 corner to work with linebackers and a strong safety to choke out that quick hit for first downs. he can play on or off the LOS (cover 2) to bump, legally within the 5 yd rule, the receivers or TE's offsetting the  timing of the receiver and qb .

the results of both make the qb take more time for a receiver to get open. THIS is where your pass rushing specialists shine and change the entire outlook for the game.

this is why green bay has "owned" us for over 2 decades. we have seen it time and time again that 5-10 yard sideline pass for EASY completions while our corners/safeties are lining up beyond the first down markers and coming back to make the tackle beyond the sticks.

this is why the cost of lock down corners in the past rivaled that of edge rushing defensive ends in scarcity and salary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That all sounds reasonable but instead of writing here you need to send a letter to Flus and tell him to change his defense. Jaylon Johnson can be a press corner and he's pretty good.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

10 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

That all sounds reasonable but instead of writing here you need to send a letter to Flus and tell him to change his defense. Jaylon Johnson can be a press corner and he's pretty good.

This was from a Poles interview earlier.  Maybe he does put higher value in getting a lockdown CB than Flus does? 

Poles value chart.  1.QB, 2.OTs, 3. Pass Rush 4. CBs 5. LBs, 6. FS.

Tells you how he might view the draft and FA.

Bears may look OT and CB with 2nd and 3rd if they don't see a OLT on the roster.  

[Lucky Luciano]

44 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

That all sounds reasonable but instead of writing here you need to send a letter to Flus and tell him to change his defense. Jaylon Johnson can be a press corner and he's pretty good.

whatever

[GakMan23]

Guard Cole Strange visits Halas Hall

 

He is compared to Danny Pinter of the Colts

[Stinger226]

Cole would be a good get. I also like Jameree Salyer from Georgia. Poles will come up with a player not well known and having him. starting day 1. I would  also like a rookie OT that would become our swing tackle and potential starter down the road.