Moving forward to 2019 (take stock of the 2018 roster)

[topwop1]

50 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

It was more than one play.

You can't talk like you 'have' Long even if you keep him.  Odds are better than not that he will be out for several critical games and less than 100% when he does play.

You also have to factor in that he isn't likely to practice much.  That hurts team continuity and communication. 

When he does play you aren't likely to get all pro Long.   You mostly get just another guy.  A really expensive guy.  

 

Ya sure he's expensive but again, not including Witzmann, who is a viable replacement option considering the team is already tight against the cap and doesn't have a lot of draft ammo this year?

I think the best thing the Bears can try to do is restructure his deal so the cap hit is less for 2019, but as far as just letting him walk I disagree.  I believe he still has it in him and will help this team more than not.  He's a big leader in that locker room too.  That shouldn't be discounted.

[JAF-N72EX]

2 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Biggest surprise  of non-rookies was Bellamy who had a better season than any of us expected and seemed to be a team leader.  Did great on special teams and had some really nice catches.    

Biggest disappointment was Howard and running game.  Not sure that was Howards fault.  

I honestly think Fangio, for all well deserved credit he is getting, under performed for him and this team.  I think he coached better with less talent previous two seasons and is capable of better coaching.  I think he could have done more to cause havoc and confuse opposing QBs and O lines with athletes he had at his disposal and went vanilla and 'safe' more often than not.   We were in prevent and/or rushing 3 in a lot of big situations this year.  Having 10 players out there and not calling TO in playoffs is inexcusable.  He knows Nagy isn't watching defense and trusts him with that.  

Not saying he did bad.  He did great.  I just think he could have done better. 

I think offense would have been better had Shaheen not had that untimely injury.  I think that really messed with what they were envisioning offense to be in offseason and what we saw throughout training camp.   Not that Shaheen was great, but they were going to run a lot out of 2 TE and set up everything else out of that.   You especially saw it when they practiced in Denver.  Those were key practices and showed how offense was envisioned to be run at least for beginning of 2018.   It was going to be their jab punch that set up all the other punches.  That just messed up the whole time learning time table that Nagy had set up.  Get these reads done and down and move on to that.  He was forced to move to 3 WR sets and go almost exclusively from there right before seasons started.

Every year is different.  

Agreed with Bellamy. Like I said earlier in the thread he was the biggest improvement of all skill position players. He was really do it all; catching, returning, blocking, etc and do it all at a decent level.

Howard I'm still thinking it's the scheme. I don't see how it isn;t. You don't go from being a 1000 yard rusher and carrying an offense to what we saw the year just out of the blue.

Fangio, I disagree with. I actually think he outperformed Nagy this year in terms of how the offense and defense's were concerned. Sure they both had their fair share of WTH moments ut overall it feels like I was saying that alot more on the offensive side of the ball than I was on the defensive side.

That said, you make a fair point too. Nagy had more to deal with on his side as well. So who knows. 

Nevertheless, this sounds like a good problem to have lol.

[dll2000]

Long cap is 8.5 million.

Dead cap is 3 million.

5.5 million in savings if he is let go.  

Even with Long you still have to sign two additional guards because he will likely get hurt and resign Massie or his FA replacement.

Massie will cost >6 million a year.  If you aren't downgrading at OT it will cost more to replace him.  Unless you think a 3rd, 4th or 5th round rookie can do it. Then you will save money.  Possible, but that is a gamble.  

Most decent FA guards will go in 2.5 million range.  

Witzmann or equivalent would likely cost around a million.

Kush or equivalent would likely cost <1 million

You could bring in 3 younger non banged up guys to compete for Long's job for 5.5 million you are saving.  If you bring Long back you have take 8.5 million hit plus cost of 2 additional back ups.

Odds that you are getting pro bowl Long that will play majority of games and be there for playoffs is too low.

You should make the hard decision.  They won't though.  They will keep him for 2019 and agree with you guys.  I will be shocked if he is here in 2020.  In my mind it is almost always better to move one year too early on a player than one year too late.

You also have to think that Leno never gets hurt.  How long can that continue? You really need 2 good OTs and a serviceable back up.  

 

 

 

 

 

[abstract_thought]

Is moving Long to RT an option? Could that potentially help his injury issues?

[GOGRIESE]

They need to address the special teams issues this offseason....they should be at the top of the list. New punter and kicker. I wouldn't use a draft pick on them either. 

[topwop1]

25 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Long cap is 8.5 million.

Dead cap is 3 million.

5.5 million in savings if he is let go.  

Even with Long you still have to sign two additional guards because he will likely get hurt and resign Massie or his FA replacement.

Massie will cost >6 million a year.  If you aren't downgrading at OT it will cost more to replace him.  Unless you think a 3rd, 4th or 5th round rookie can do it. Then you will save money.  Possible, but that is a gamble.  

Most decent FA guards will go in 2.5 million range.  

Witzmann or equivalent would likely cost around a million.

Kush or equivalent would likely cost <1 million

You could bring in 3 younger non banged up guys to compete for Long's job for 5.5 million you are saving.  If you bring Long back you have take 8.5 million hit plus cost of 2 additional back ups.

Odds that you are getting pro bowl Long that will play majority of games and be there for playoffs is too low.

You should make the hard decision.  They won't though.  They will keep him for 2019 and agree with you guys.  I will be shocked if he is here in 2020.  In my mind it is almost always better to move one year too early on a player than one year too late.

You also have to think that Leno never gets hurt.  How long can that continue? You really need 2 good OTs and a serviceable back up.  

 

 

 

 

 

I've heard lots of rumblings that the Bears staff likes Rashaad Coward a lot, and thinks he can be a starter at RT.

I fully expect Bears to draft some more OL in the mid rounds this year as they have a coach who's as good as any in Hiestand at getting the most out of these guys.    We'll see.  

If you are replacing Long this year, all I'm saying they better do better than Witzmann and Kush because the FA market doesn't look too pretty.

[dll2000]

2 minutes ago, topwop1 said:

I've heard lots of rumblings that the Bears staff likes Rashaad Coward a lot, and thinks he can be a starter at RT.

I fully expect Bears to draft some more OL in the mid rounds this year as they have a coach who's as good as any in Hiestand at getting the most out of these guys.    We'll see.  

If you are replacing Long this year, all I'm saying they better do better than Witzmann and Kush because the FA market doesn't look too pretty.

Coward is interesting.  I have advocated for years that teams draft DL and convert them to OL because there is so much deeper athletic talent at DL.   It's not even comparable.  For every great OL athlete there are 7 or 8 great DL athletes, maybe more.   We'll see if it works out in this case.  One of those things you have to throw some darts at because its probably not going to work out as much as it fails.

Biggest problem is you have 2 years to make someone into an OL and very little practice time to do it.  If there was some kind of development program it would work gangbusters.   The idea is sound, great even, but in actual applicaton it is hard and probably not feasible.  53 man roster and 4 year contracts.  Practice squad guys can be poached.  You likely just can''t get the live reps needed to make the change.   If a team can come up with a way to do it and keep their work products it would be a huge competitive advantage.

 

 

 

 

[Sugashane]

2 hours ago, abstract_thought said:

Is moving Long to RT an option? Could that potentially help his injury issues?

I don't think so honestly. To me he should have been the OT and Mills should have been the OG from the beginning. Put our best athlete out there and let him learn the position properly (and put Mills in a phone booth, as he was strong but heavy footed), but after only playing OT one year in the NFL, with Fox being retarded and giving him a week of work prior to facing the likes of Julius Peppers, it is just too late to start that transition. To me you have to just either roll with him at RG for the limited time he is still here, or replace him.

 

 

[WindyCity]

Rashaad Coward + 4th round pick= RT cheaper and upgraded.

[Heinz D.]

The Bears lost!

[dll2000]

12 hours ago, WindyCity said:

Rashaad Coward + 4th round pick= RT cheaper and upgraded.

That would be nice.  Not being at practices we have no way of knowing.  If this was the plan you think they would have tried to get him some reps in games this year.  There were opportunities. 

As for Long they tried him at tackle and he couldn't do it. Maybe they didn't wait long enough, but it doesnt look like they are going to try again.