Our first 4 picks options.

[Stinger226]

So what do we do with pick 9? Using taknathon for reference

1)  Draft the best OT in the draft. Whoever they rate top player, grab   Paris Johnson, Pete Skoroski, or Broderick Jones.

2) If Jalen Carter drops - take him?  The interview we have with him will determine that decision.

3) Take a DL there?  Byran Bresee, or Luke Van Ness.

4) Left field pick, Devon Witherspoon/ CB

 

Option 1

9) Paris Johnson/OT

53) Tuli Tuipulotu/edge or 3T

61) Felix Anudike-Uzomah/edge

64) Keeanu Benton/DT

Option 2

9) Jalen Carter/DT

53) Tuli Tuipulotu/ DT

61) Felix Anudike- Uzomah

64) Jaelyn Duncan/ OT

Option 3

9) Lukas Van Ness/edge

53) Tuli Tuipulotu/DT

61) Keeanu Benton/ DT

64) Jaelyn Duncan/OT

Option 4

9) Devon Witherspoon/CB

53) Tuli Tuipulotu/DT

61) Feliz Anudike- Uzomah/edge

64) Jaelyn Duncan/OT

 

Pick you lane or use Tankathon to vary options.

 

[Mongo3451]

Options be damned, I'll take Peter Skoronski at the beginning of all of those scenarios.  Young bodies are bountiful at DL after the OL is set.  OT, DL, DL and RB are my priorities...(in that order)

Edited March 18, 2023 by Mongo3451
After watching more video and reading scouting reports and combine results, I've switched my choice to Skoronski. Despite his short arms, he has elite athleticism and agility and can play all five positions. Some at an elite level and average at his wor

[ASHKUM BEAR]

1 hour ago, Mongo3451 said:

Options be damned, I'll take Paris Johnson at the beginning of all of those scenarios.  Young bodies are bountiful at DL after the OL is set.  OT, DL, DL and RB are my priorities...(in that order)

Too many negatives for Carter, so I am all In on Paris J, unless Tyree Wilson DE falls. 

[killakrzydav]

I want to trust our staff on the Sit down with Carter.  Remember we don’t want a choir boy as DT.  If he’s there at nine he’s likely the Selection if they deem him worthy.

I think that he’s going to trade down twice or more to fill holes

[dawhizz]

Ideally Poles would have added someone you could play at RT, but since he hasn’t I guess I have to go there at #9, even though I’m not really in love with this OT class. Of course, the other way I could go is that, if Poles didn’t prioritize RT in FA, why would he prioritize it in the draft? So, with that in mind, I’ll take the guys I want, which is Witherspoon at 9 (because there is zero depth behind Johnson/Gordon and you need three good CBs) and then some combination of C (Wypler/Schmitz/Avila/Tippman), OT (Freeland/Duncan) and edge (Tuipolatu/Hall/Foskey).

 

[Stinger226]

Anything he didn't fix in free agency, he will address in the draft. 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

47 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

Anything he didn't fix in free agency, he will address in the draft. 

.I would almost say if he sticks hard to his values of not over paying and drafting BPA, he may not address everything until after the draft

[Stinger226]

4 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

.I would almost say if he sticks hard to his values of not over paying and drafting BPA, he may not address everything until after the draft

I'm sure we end up not getting everything fixed. Later in the off-season players become available after the draft. With having money, that's still an option.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

35 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

I'm sure we end up not getting everything fixed. Later in the off-season players become available after the draft. With having money, that's still an option.

Like last year, Gordon and Brisker were too good to pass up, even though a WR was a bigger need than a SS.  Brisker might be my favorite d guy now.

[adam]

Poles just needs to find 4 starters. The Velus pick was his Shaheen, trying to be smarter than the other GMs with Lucas (picked right after Velus), Raimann, and Parham still on the board. He can't do that again. There are too many holes to whiff on an early pick. Velus was pick #71 and the Bears have at least 4 picks inside 64. He can't get those wrong.

DL, Edge, OL, and CB have to be priorities. 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

17 hours ago, adam said:

Poles just needs to find 4 starters. The Velus pick was his Shaheen, trying to be smarter than the other GMs with Lucas (picked right after Velus), Raimann, and Parham still on the board. He can't do that again. There are too many holes to whiff on an early pick. Velus was pick #71 and the Bears have at least 4 picks inside 64. He can't get those wrong.

DL, Edge, OL, and CB have to be priorities. 

I still think Velus can show his worth.  All it will take is the offense to click.  Send Claypool down one sideline and Velus opposite, they both cannot be double

[DABEARSDABOMB]

1 hour ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I still think Velus can show his worth.  All it will take is the offense to click.  Send Claypool down one sideline and Velus opposite, they both cannot be double

Velus is pretty explosive so I do think he will be a good gadget player / special teams player. 

[adam]

Velus was high risk already with his age, but lack of production too is already two red flags. Even if he becomes a gadget player and regular KR, that is still a reach in the 3rd round imo. 

 

 

[BearFan PHX]

53 minutes ago, adam said:

Velus was high risk already with his age, but lack of production too is already two red flags. Even if he becomes a gadget player and regular KR, that is still a reach in the 3rd round imo. 

 

 

I think we needed someone to take the top off of the defense, so Fields would have a chance of growing. We didnt have much cap space or draft capital to do it, so we reached on Velus. He may still become a decent player for us, but if he doesnt, he is a relic of the situation we were in. As we become more complete and sustainable, we shouldnt see reaches like that in the 3rd round any more.

Also, in the future, I wont be upset if Poles takes some flyers on high risk high upside players, and I expect a decent percentage of them to fail. The way to judge Poles starting this year is wins and losses, not to nit pick over every player he chooses, since we know they wont all make the team as our roster gets stronger.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

2 hours ago, adam said:

Velus was high risk already with his age, but lack of production too is already two red flags. Even if he becomes a gadget player and regular KR, that is still a reach in the 3rd round imo. 

 

 

It was a reach any way you look at it, but he was a project and it takes more than a season.  He improved the last game or two, so if he can take off from that, he could be the #4. 

[BearFan PHX]

13 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

It was a reach any way you look at it, but he was a project and it takes more than a season.  He improved the last game or two, so if he can take off from that, he could be the #4. 

he may well still have a future, but i think he was picked out of desperation for last year. If he becomes more than that, then great.

[Stinger226]

Hard to judge rookies on first year production. Some do well most don't. I think his second year will bring praise. Including STs , if he gets 6-8 touches a game and has one chunk play a game. D's have to pay attention to him because of his speed.

No GM hits on all of their draft picks, but if this is a miss, he made a wow choice with Braxton Jones. That's what  everyone will remember.

This draft brings us 4 starters , considering a rotational DL is practically a starter when they get 40% of snaps. 

He drafted Doug Kramer last year. He didn't do that as a filler pick, he wanted him. His draft profile states nasty attitude, football intelligence, above average athleticism, moves well in 2nd  tier blocking. His biggest slam is upper body strength of which an elaborate off-season program can fix.  He won't start this year but don't count him out going forward. In college he only gave up 3 sacks in 28 games, 9 pressures, and 2 QB hits. He could end up being a better Sam Mustifer story.

[dawhizz]

Interesting article on Poles’ thought process with the trade that I think is relevant here. In particular the fact that (1) It sounds like Poles has a “top seven” tier in its draft, and (2) based on everything he says about value, i don’t think he’s going to reach based on need in the draft if he has a higher ranked player on his board. 
 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/03/20/ryan-poles-never-told-justin-fields-he-was-the-starting-qb

[Stinger226]

His 7 players are:

Anderson

Carter

Wilson

Murphy

Biden Robinson

Peter Skoronski

Either Devin Weatherspoon or Paris Johnson Jr tweet

[Pixote]

1 hour ago, dawhizz said:

Interesting article on Poles’ thought process with the trade that I think is relevant here. In particular the fact that (1) It sounds like Poles has a “top seven” tier in its draft, and (2) based on everything he says about value, i don’t think he’s going to reach based on need in the draft if he has a higher ranked player on his board. 
 

https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/03/20/ryan-poles-never-told-justin-fields-he-was-the-starting-qb

Thanks for the link. Interesting article.

[dawhizz]

3 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

His 7 players are:

Anderson

Carter

Wilson

Murphy

Biden Robinson

Peter Skoronski

Either Devin Weatherspoon or Paris Johnson Jr tweet

I would be shocked if it’s Gonzalez over Witherspoon. Gonzalez is more of the athletic freak, like Kyler was coming out. 

[Stinger226]

I hope this opens, It's an article by Greg Gabriel about scheme fits.

https://twitter.com/WCGridiron/status/1638208960623697921?s=19

[AZ54]

Great article but I wish he detailed a little more on the DT traits.  Nonetheless I trust his scout's eye on talent and their fits.  I thought he'd mention Gervon Dexter as a 3-tech but I was wrong.  I was surprised to see him list Van Ness as a 3-tech but I can see that in him with his quick first step and brute force style as long as he adds a few pounds.  

For this thread I think Anton Harrison needs to be an option at 53.  I also don't think Anudike lasts until 61 but this is a deep draft for DEs and sometimes scheme fit and depth at a position leads to a guy dropping more than we expect. 

I have considered if we should just take Skoronski knowing he'll be really good inside but might be good enough at RT this year for us to get by.   If you're drafting in the top 10 you want to come away with a Pro Bowl caliber player and I think he fits that.  He won't be worse than Reiff and definitely will be better than Borom.   I doubt Poles takes that chance especially since he just signed Davis and think he'll just prefer the guy who fits his OT profile in Paris Johnson.   

One thing I'll be watching for as the evaluation process drags on....

Will we have another visit with Jalen Carter?  Last year we met with Braxton Jones 3 times including a position coach working him out close to the draft.    If Carter's recent visit helped allay some concerns then I could see the Bears trying to take the same under-the-radar approach with Carter to see where he's at in a few weeks.  That could be as much to take him off the board as it is to keep him on it so they can be firm and confident in their strategy for draft day.    

 

[Stinger226]

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

Great article but I wish he detailed a little more on the DT traits.  Nonetheless I trust his scout's eye on talent and their fits.  I thought he'd mention Gervon Dexter as a 3-tech but I was wrong.  I was surprised to see him list Van Ness as a 3-tech but I can see that in him with his quick first step and brute force style as long as he adds a few pounds.  

For this thread I think Anton Harrison needs to be an option at 53.  I also don't think Anudike lasts until 61 but this is a deep draft for DEs and sometimes scheme fit and depth at a position leads to a guy dropping more than we expect. 

I have considered if we should just take Skoronski knowing he'll be really good inside but might be good enough at RT this year for us to get by.   If you're drafting in the top 10 you want to come away with a Pro Bowl caliber player and I think he fits that.  He won't be worse than Reiff and definitely will be better than Borom.   I doubt Poles takes that chance especially since he just signed Davis and think he'll just prefer the guy who fits his OT profile in Paris Johnson.   

One thing I'll be watching for as the evaluation process drags on....

Will we have another visit with Jalen Carter?  Last year we met with Braxton Jones 3 times including a position coach working him out close to the draft.    If Carter's recent visit helped allay some concerns then I could see the Bears trying to take the same under-the-radar approach with Carter to see where he's at in a few weeks.  That could be as much to take him off the board as it is to keep him on it so they can be firm and confident in their strategy for draft day.    

 

I think any of the top 3 OL prospects will come in and produce. Skon, Johnson, or Jones. I think their moving back from 9. The top OL , CB, or WR will be on the board and someone will want one.  Also Levis may still be on the board. Jets, Green Bay, Wash, NE, TB all could want something. If we move back in the teens, Broderick Jones and Lukas Van Ness come into play. Could get a second or 3 rd to add to the mix. 

Remember the name Jake Andrews/OC from Troy. He has traits and could  be added late rounds at center. We have met with him twice.

[dawhizz]

I’m convinced Paris Johnson is the guy at #9. Sounds like he looked great in drills at the Ohio State pro day today. Athletic so he fits the scheme. Can definitely be an OT and can be a backup plan at LT if Braxton falters in year two (or Paris just looks better). Has the connection with Fields. Sounds like a great culture guy for a team that’s been preaching that -started a charitable organization, is a team leader, father played in the NFL and is a coach, good student, etc. If he fails there were really no red flags that would have predicted it. 
 

I wouldn’t be shocked if they double dipped on Ohio State o-line and tried for Luke Wypler in the 2nd/3rd.