Brad Biggs Mailbag; 4/10/2019

[soulman]

 

Bears Q&A: Will Cody Whitehair and James Daniels trade positions? Is Ryan Pace more likely to trade up, trade down or stand pat?

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-mailbag-cody-whitehair-james-daniels-ryan-pace-biggs-20190410-story.html

Brad BiggsContact ReporterChicago Tribune

 

The Tribune’s Brad Biggs answers your questions in his Bears mailbag.

Do you think the Bears will go ahead and make the switch on the offensive line with Cody Whitehair and James Daniels? — Greg W., Winfield

The team hasn’t committed one way or the other, and I imagine that is something that will be ironed out shortly after the voluntary offseason program begins Monday at Halas Hall. My instinct tells me they will switch Whitehair to left guard and Daniels to center this season. I say that because the team wouldn’t freely discuss the possibility of a position swap, as it has this offseason, if that weren’t the direction things were pointing.

Whitehair was a Pro Bowl alternate and played well in 2018, so it’s not like the Bears would move him because his play was inadequate. Whitehair worked really hard at center and played well. Ultimately, I think the Bears believe Daniels’ best position will be center and Whitehair is more natural at guard. Either way, the club has a nice combination on the interior of the line.

 

If the Bears switch the players’ positions, they will do so early in the offseason — maybe right from the jump, because coach Matt Nagy believes in the quarterback and center working together. They don’t want to be switching back and forth.

What’s more likely? Bears trade up, stay put or trade down? Logic tells me they should trade down in Round 3 and get another pick. But some of the running backs they’re looking at suggest a trade up. Standing pat seems least likely. Ryan Pace likes trading too much. — @gustov3030

For starters, I am not sure what trading too much means. The Patriots always seem to be active during the draft when it comes to trades. That doesn’t seem to set Bill Belichick and his team back. The sense I get from readers, via email and social media, is that they will be disappointed if the Bears don’t trade one way or the other.

If I had a $5 bill for every question I’ve received about trading up or trading down, the Tribune could fly me first class to this year’s game in London. I get it. People like action. If Pace trades up, the Bears are getting a star in the making. If Pace trades down, the Bears are turning one pick into multiple contributors. At least that’s how the thinking goes.

 

My hunch is that the Bears are less likely to trade up than stay put or trade down. I say that because the franchise’s draft inventory for 2019 and ’20 is thin, with a total of three picks in the first three rounds: a third-rounder in 2019, their second-rounder in 2020 and the Raiders’ second-rounder in 2020. In order to make any kind of real move up in this draft, it’s going to cost a good price — possibly one of those 2020 second-round picks. In other words, that could leave the Bears with only two picks in the first three rounds of the 2019-20 drafts. I don’t think he wants to go there.

Eventually the bill comes due on the Khalil Mack trade, and the Bears will have to wait and watch during two drafts when they’re short on some picks. Perhaps Pace could look to trade down this year, but he needs a trade partner and the compensation has to make sense. I think the Bears try to get a player who can help right away in Round 3. Not necessarily a starter, but a player with the talent to at least play in some type of rotation as a rookie.

When is the regular season schedule coming out? — @danielp96581197

Soon. The regular season schedule was released on April 19 last year. If I had to guess, I would go with Thursday, April 18. The league seems to like to unveil the schedule on Thursdays. Stay tuned.

Is the Bears-Raiders matchup in London the most intriguing game of the year, or does Thursday night Week 1 Packers-Bears top it? — @sam_gutterman

Week 1 with the Bears and Packers on Thursday night to kick off the NFL season is much more intriguing to me than a game against the Raiders, who were pretty sketchy last season. In fact, I’d list a half-dozen games on the schedule as more intriguing than a meeting with the Raiders. Sure, you have the Khalil Mack storyline, but the Raiders probably have some work to do in their rebuild under Jon Gruden.

No Bears vs. Browns for Week 4 of preseason. How long since that’s happened? — @hex86294155

The Bears closed the preseason against the Bills last summer. That ended a 14-year run (2004-17) of the Bears and Browns meeting in the final exhibition game. The Bears now have a relationship with the Titans for the last week of the preseason. We’ll see if that lasts 14 years.

How do teams evaluate injured draft prospects? Are their medical teams allowed to bring players in for testing, or are they stuck having to use some third-party evaluation supplied by the league? Bryce Love and Rodney Anderson have huge upside, but have past injury concerns. — @roybal5598

That’s the biggest component of the NFL scouting combine every year — the medical information all 32 teams are able to gather through a process that sends each prospect’s physical information to each team before he leaves Indianapolis.

The teams work in small groups, and every prospect goes through multiple physicals. Teams can order up MRIs or other tests as they deem necessary, and that information becomes available for all 32 teams to evaluate on their own. Clubs also rely on their scouts to gather information. When they’re well connected with schools, they have a good idea of what issues a player has had. All of that material is reviewed, and teams will give a player with an injury history a yellow or red flag. A player with a yellow flag will have his injuries taken into account, but he will remain on a team’s draft board. A red flag removes a player from a team’s draft board.

Everyone asks, “Can the offense take the next step?” My question: What is the “next step?” — @padfoot1126

Well, they can always score more points. The Bears averaged 26.3 points per game last season, which was a big jump from 16.7 in 2017. That total of 26.3 was aided by six return touchdowns by the defense. The Bears can be more explosive. They tied for 17th with 7.3 yards per pass attempt. They can certainly can be more explosive in the running game. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and with the offense entering Year 2 and able to use the word continuity this year, I think things are looking up.

With the draft around the corner, it's fair to say Chicago has a few needs in the secondary and at running back. With Matt Nagy being an offensive mind and Chuck Pagano in need of a few pieces on defense, what direction do you see the Bears going in the third round? — @da46defense

My money would be on a running back. They won’t be looking for a starter in the secondary. If there is a tight end they really like, that would not be a surprise. Sames goes with a lineman. But running back has to be the leading candidate if you’re trying to handicap it.

How will Matt Nagy mix in a new running back from the draft with Mike Davis and Tarik Cohen? — @brendancole205

Well, that’s going to depend on what kind of running back the Bears come out of the draft with, right? I doubt Cohen’s role changes too much. He’ll get handoffs from time to time and be a matchup piece in the passing game. But I don’t think Cohen is looking at much more than the 99 carries he had last season. Maybe he gets up to 125, but not if the Bears get a back they really like from the draft. Of course, this question will be a lot easier to answer once we see what back the Bears get and how he looks in training camp and preseason.

Is there any chance that the NFL shifts the draft date up to where it was, a bit sooner in April? The football "dog days" of winter/spring are dragging a bit. — @coreybohler

I kind of doubt that happens. The last time the draft was held in the middle of April was 2000, on April 15-16. The teams like the draft where it is, as it allows them time to vet players in the pre-draft process and determine what needs they have after the first two waves of free agency. The schedule will be released soon, and that ought to provide you with a football fix until the draft arrives.

How do you feel about Bryce Love? While living in the Bay Area I have gone to a number of Stanford games the last few years, and Love is a special player. He plays hurt, yet when healthy is a special player. He catches the ball well, and every time he touches the ball he has a chance to score. Also, having lost Jordan Howard, do you feel that Ryan Nall can be a short-yardage player and maybe play a little fullback, where the Bears experimented with him last year? — Phil, San Jose, Calif.

The Bears have, no doubt, done plenty of work on Love, along with every other notable running back prospect as well as prospects with whom you’re not as familiar. He’s coming off a significant injury and will certainly not be ready for the start of the season. That makes me think it’s unlikely the Bears would draft him. Love would have been much better off leaving Stanford to enter the 2018 draft, but that’s 20/20 hindsight.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Nall. He’s going to have to be a top-notch special teams player to have a chance to stick on the 53-man roster. I doubt he would be a short-yardage specialist. I think the Bears feel Mike Davis can fill that role well enough. It’s hard to envision Nall as a fullback, considering he’s never really played there and the Bears did very little with the position a year ago.

How do the Bears really feel about Adam Shaheen? Do they plan on him having a big role this season barring injury? — @blur_of_lons

Until they replace him on the depth chart, they’re telling you he’s their second tight end. Just look at the roster and you can make a determination about how they feel about him. Will they look to challenge him with a draft pick? That’s possible. Shaheen has to stay on the field. The coaching staff felt pretty good about him last year, but things got sidetracked when he was hurt in the preseason. He’s got to stay on his feet more. He has a tendency to wind up on the ground on too many plays, and he can improve his durability by doing a better job of staying on his feet.

Last year, the Bears carried five tight ends on the 53-man roster, but so far there are only three healthy tight ends on their team. I figured they would look at drafting a tight end with one of their picks, but I was surprised to find out they have not brought a tight end prospect in for a pre-draft visit or private workout. Does this mean Zach Miller may be healthy enough to play this year? What about converting Ryan Nall to a halfback/tight end hybrid? Nall is almost the exact same size as Trey Burton and tested well in agility drills at last year’s combine. Do you think they will add a player or go to camp with just the four tight ends currently on the roster? — Tony, Pasadena, Calif.

If they don’t add a tight end via the draft, they certainly will sign one before they get deep into the offseason program at Halas Hall. Miller will not return to the NFL as a player; his knee injury was career-ending. I doubt Nall has a future as a tight end.

It seems as though the Bears need a right guard prospect to groom for Kyle Long’s departure. They will be paying good money to Cody Whitehair and eventually James Daniels. Ryan Pace needs to draft a mid-round guard either this year or next to step in and complete the interior of that line on a cheaper rookie deal. At any rate, I was wondering about Rashaad Coward. Obviously, they are grooming him at right tackle, but it looks like Bobby Massie will be here for at least two more years. Can they or are they preparing Coward to play guard too? Seems like it would make sense to develop him at both positions and increase his versatility, especially since Massie is here to stay for a bit. — Matt K., Rochester, N.Y.

Yes, the Bears plan to work Coward at guard and tackle when they get back on the field this spring. He’ll be a guy to keep a close eye on in the preseason, as I am sure they want to give him a lot of playing time to evaluate him. It’s a big offseason for Coward in Year 2 of his transition to the offensive line. He can carve out a spot for himself moving forward if he does well. Having a player who can play guard and tackle certainly helps when constructing a 53-man roster that whittles down to 46 for game day.

bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs

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[soulman]

24 minutes ago, soulman said:

My hunch is that the Bears are less likely to trade up than stay put or trade down. I say that because the franchise’s draft inventory for 2019 and ’20 is thin, with a total of three picks in the first three rounds: a third-rounder in 2019, their second-rounder in 2020 and the Raiders’ second-rounder in 2020. In order to make any kind of real move up in this draft, it’s going to cost a good price — possibly one of those 2020 second-round picks. In other words, that could leave the Bears with only two picks in the first three rounds of the 2019-20 drafts. I don’t think he wants to go there.

We've talked a lot about trades if only because Pace seems fond of doing it.

But I believe Biggsy has produced a good answer here.  We only have three Day 2 picks in 2019-2020 combined and while we have no need to draft a starter in the secondary this year we may need to draft two next year when those two 2nds may come in handy.

Since we're looking primarily for depth at RB and TE, and this draft is well stocked with middle round prospects at both positions, it may be best for Pace to simply let it play out in front of him then shop for value possibly even trading down to get a 6th round pick.

To a certain degree the middle rounds are full of crap shoots along with some very talented guy who for whatever reason slipped down a round or two from where we may have them ranked.  This is an area where so far Pace and his guys have been very good at finding talent.

So this draft may be a true test of just how good they are at keeping their streak alive.

[malagabears]

I think TE is going to be a sleeper role but if both Shaheen and Burton stay healthy and produce we can focus on other needs. I don't think it is as critical as CB or SS next year.

[HuskieBear]

bigg's q&a's are the most fluff pieces ever. most questions are stupidly obvious, or he picks questions that a SIMPLE google search can find, then it makes him look smarter

[soulman]

6 minutes ago, HuskieBear said:

bigg's q&a's are the most fluff pieces ever. most questions are stupidly obvious, or he picks questions that a SIMPLE google search can find, then it makes him look smarter

Could that be because many fans ask so many "stupidly obvious" questions.

I'd say the majority of fans of any team are not as knowledgeable about their teams as we who post in forums are.  We tend to come here for info and discussions and not write to Brad Biggs.  On the other hand there are millions who don't post in sports forums and write to Brad Biggs instead. It's very possible the well he's drawing from isn't very deep and questions are not all that well thought out.

He typically has at least a few good questions and well thought out responses along with the fluff needed to fill so many column inches because that's what he's being paid to do.  Tell ya' what.  I would not want to be a writer on the Bears Beat today trying to come up with anything to write about that isn't either fluff or a topic that's been beat to death, dug up, and then beat to death again at least once more.

Like um.....the Howard Trade for example.

It's dead time so we see a lot of repeats and echoes in the NFL media.  I'm just trying to add new content for discussion or news and/or opinions that may be of interest to others.  If Biggsy's mailbag is universally despised I can always just not bother with it.  That's up to you all.

[dll2000]

32 minutes ago, HuskieBear said:

bigg's q&a's are the most fluff pieces ever. most questions are stupidly obvious, or he picks questions that a SIMPLE google search can find, then it makes him look smarter

I wouldn't be that harsh, but I agree it wasn't insightful.  But that is game sometimes, he has to put stuff out. 

Soul was right Bears more likely to trade down than up was probably his best answer, but to most Bears fans that is just common sense.  A trade up with no ammo would be a wild move. 

 

 

[WindyCity]

I wonder if we see the Bears punt on this draft.

What I mean by that is that they take their medicine for the Mack trade, no move ups, maybe multiple move downs to rebuild the draft stock and maybe add future picks into 2020 so that it is not light.

They could still address depth positions with a greater volume of picks and rebuild the cupboard next season.

[soulman]

7 hours ago, malagabears said:

I think TE is going to be a sleeper role but if both Shaheen and Burton stay healthy and produce we can focus on other needs. I don't think it is as critical as CB or SS next year.

If we exclude Zach Miller we have only 3 TEs on the roster instead of the four or five we typically carry.  That alone should be a tip off to us adding at least one via draft pick or UDFA.  Even if one TE remains inactive most games we're still gonna need a 4th TE for depth and competition for Braunecker.

[soulman]

22 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

I wonder if we see the Bears punt on this draft.

What I mean by that is that they take their medicine for the Mack trade, no move ups, maybe multiple move downs to rebuild the draft stock and maybe add future picks into 2020 so that it is not light.

They could still address depth positions with a greater volume of picks and rebuild the cupboard next season.

With as much success as Pace has had in the middle rounds IMHO that seems like the most logical thing to do. I really like having two 2nd round picks in 2020.  Pace has always drafted well in round two.

Unless there is a player we just have to have I could easily see just letting the picks fall and picking from what I believe may still be a very full board for us when our first pick comes.  I've read reviews and at least a dozen or more players who fit needs we have now or may have in 2020 so I don't think we'll be at a loss to add some talent and depth.  We really don't have any 2019 starting roles uncovered except PK.

[dll2000]

44 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

I wonder if we see the Bears punt on this draft.

What I mean by that is that they take their medicine for the Mack trade, no move ups, maybe multiple move downs to rebuild the draft stock and maybe add future picks into 2020 so that it is not light.

They could still address depth positions with a greater volume of picks and rebuild the cupboard next season.

Good thought.  Conversely, I think you have to be careful with your ego.  Meaning Pace not you.  You have to give credit to other GMs ability to evaluate and take good players so you aren't always going to find gems in later rounds.  Sometimes you need the higher choice to get a good player.

Having a a bunch of bodies isn't helpful if none of them can play.  Trading down into lower rounds gets you more volume, but you are getting left overs.  You need to find impact players to win games.  They have done a great job of filling roster with a bunch of them through luck or skill in mid to late rounds. 

Tough ask to keep finding impact starters 5th round and lower.  Most good players are found in 4th round and higher.  

I think you make your choices as they come.  I wouldn't be opposed to one trade down into 4th.  I don't want all our picks 5th round and lower.

 

 

[soulman]

5 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I think you make your choices as they come.  I wouldn't be opposed to one trade down into 4th.  I don't want all our picks 5th round and lower.

If we do trade back our pick at #87 would be the one to trade and then only if we can get one of the guys we want with a 4th we get in exchange.

[Heinz D.]

8 hours ago, soulman said:

If Biggsy's mailbag is universally despised I can always just not bother with it.  That's up to you all.

I see no reason why you would. Bears news and commentary comes in all flavors. I'd rather discuss what Biggs is saying with you all, than other options. I'd sure as hell never look it up myself--as a thing. 

[soulman]

1 minute ago, Heinz D. said:

I see no reason why you would. Bears news and commentary comes in all flavors. I'd sure as hell rather discuss what Biggs is saying with you all, than other options. I'd sure as hell never look it up myself--as a thing. 

I realize that not everyone has a digital subscription to the Trib like I do.  It's how I keep up with my Chicago teams while living 1000 miles away.

So I choose to share columns I believe might be of common interest.  I like to keep Page 1 fresh with new material to discuss.

[Heinz D.]

1 hour ago, soulman said:

I realize that not everyone has a digital subscription to the Trib like I do.  It's how I keep up with my Chicago teams while living 1000 miles away.

So I choose to share columns I believe might be of common interest.  I like to keep Page 1 fresh with new material to discuss.

That's actually helpful. I'd say, anyhow. Keep it up!