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Bears "best kept secret" Eddie Goldman


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Eddie Goldman named a 'best-kept secret' for the Chicago Bears

ByMatt Eurich 17 hours ago
 
 

It is not easy to fly under the radar as a 6'4" and 320-pound defensive lineman, but Eddie Goldman has done that with the Chicago Bears.

That is not a knock on Goldman the player, rather his ability to blend in has a lot to do with the fact that he plays on one of the NFL's best defensive units. The former second-round pick has quietly become into one of the better nose tackles in the league. Even with four NFL seasons under his belt, Goldman is just 25 years old as he heads into his fifth season. Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox recently took a look at every team's best-kept secret and believes Goldman is Chicago's top candidate.

"If you follow the Bears, though, you know that defensive tackle Eddie Goldman helps make pass-rushers like [Khalil] Mack and sideline-to-sideline linebackers like [Roquan] Smith better," Knox wrote. "The 2015 second-round pick doesn't get a ton of national attention because he plays on the defensive interior, but he's an anchor of the front seven and a disruptive player in his own right."

The second-round pick saw action in 15 games with 12 starts for the Bears during his rookie season in 2015. He ended that year with 22 tackles and 4.5 sacks. Injuries then got the best of him in 2016. He only played in six contests that year and ended the season with 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks and one pass deflection. The 2017 campaign was a bounce-back year for the Florida State alum.

Goldman started 15 games in 2017 and ended the year with 44 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Playing alongside some dominant defenders in the form of Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks opened up more opportunities for Goldman to put up strong numbers in 2018. He started all 16 games for the first time in his NFL career and recorded 40 tackles, three sacks and one safety. The Bears rewarded him ahead of the 2018 season by inking him to a contract extension worth $42 million.

What makes Goldman so good, and what forces him to fly under the radar, is that he does not put up gaudy sack totals. He is great at creating pressure up front but that tends to force quarterbacks to move around in the pocket. Guys like Mack, Hicks and Leonard Floyd then are able to take advantage of the pressure Goldman creates and they rack up the sacks themselves.

Goldman is also a strong anchor against the run. Just as he is able to free up opportunities for pass-rushers to get after the quarterback he also frees up chances for his linebackers against the run. Both Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan at the inside linebacker position are able to put up staggering tackle totals because of Goldman's ability to free up space for them to make plays.

It is easy to get lost within the shuffle on one of the league's best defensives units but there is no doubt that opponents set up game plans to do whatever they can to limit Goldman's impact on Sundays.

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As I recall Goldman was first in a line of excellent 2nd round picks all of whom have become top notch core players.

He was a guys I favored by miles over Danny Shelton and I was relieved when Pace extended him last summer. I you watch enough game vids you see him either making plays himself or making it easier for others to make them virtually ever snap.  Not a guy who can be easily handled one on one and a much better rusher than most NTs.  He may not always get home but he typically collapses the pocket and forces throws with his pressure.

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2 hours ago, soulman said:

As I recall Goldman was first in a line of excellent 2nd round picks all of whom have become top notch core players.

He was a guys I favored by miles over Danny Shelton and I was relieved when Pace extended him last summer. I you watch enough game vids you see him either making plays himself or making it easier for others to make them virtually ever snap.  Not a guy who can be easily handled one on one and a much better rusher than most NTs.  He may not always get home but he typically collapses the pocket and forces throws with his pressure.

The 2nd round is where Pace usually eats. Actually he does well in the 4th round as well so maybe it is an even rounds thing.

Goldman

Whitehait

Daniels

Miller

 

The only dud in the 2nd round has been Shaheen.

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2 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

The 2nd round is where Pace usually eats. Actually he does well in the 4th round as well so maybe it is an even rounds thing.

Goldman

Whitehait

Daniels

Miller

 

The only dud in the 2nd round has been Shaheen.

I'd say the jury is still out on Shaheen.  Coming from a Div III program we knew he wasn't NFL ready day one and his injury in preseason last year really hurt his progress.  No doubt he needs to stay healthy and ascend this year and I won't critique him for good until he's had that chance.

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15 minutes ago, soulman said:

I'd say the jury is still out on Shaheen.  Coming from a Div III program we knew he wasn't NFL ready day one and his injury in preseason last year really hurt his progress.  No doubt he needs to stay healthy and ascend this year and I won't critique him for good until he's had that chance.

Compared to the others on the list he is a turd.

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46 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

Compared to the others on the list he is a turd.

That's harsh.

I think we can all agree that he was a bit of a reach in round two due to the level of experience he had in college but from all that I've ever read he would not have lasted 'til our next pick so we either take him or use the pick on someone else and burn another pick trading up to get him later IF he was still on the board.

So Pace gambled.  Whether or not he lost still hasn't been determined but yeah, out of all of his 2nd round picks Shaheen has been the least productive.

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1 hour ago, soulman said:

That's harsh.

I think we can all agree that he was a bit of a reach in round two due to the level of experience he had in college but from all that I've ever read he would not have lasted 'til our next pick so we either take him or use the pick on someone else and burn another pick trading up to get him later IF he was still on the board.

So Pace gambled.  Whether or not he lost still hasn't been determined but yeah, out of all of his 2nd round picks Shaheen has been the least productive.

The bolded is what I remember from all the Jerry Angelo drafts.  We didn't think he'd be there with our next pick, so we took him.  That's a lazy approach and/or a failure to assess the market.  If you take a guy at pick 50 because he won't be there at pick 80, either take someone who fell or trade back to where the market values the player (maye that's 65).  If you take the player who will be taken at 75 at 50, that's an overdraft.  Angelo did it constantly.  

It's possible that Pace valued him at pick 50 (or whatever number he was), but that's still a reach because of his lack of experience and lesser quality of competition.  Sometimes people look at a guy with fairly little experience and think, "he's only just begun, think of the improvement he could make."  That's a really risky way to look at things. 

I'm pretty happy with Pace as a drafter, but this one is easy to pick on.  Cohen worked out pretty well though a couple rounds later.   

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5 hours ago, soulman said:

That's harsh.

I think we can all agree that he was a bit of a reach in round two due to the level of experience he had in college but from all that I've ever read he would not have lasted 'til our next pick so we either take him or use the pick on someone else and burn another pick trading up to get him later IF he was still on the board.

So Pace gambled.  Whether or not he lost still hasn't been determined but yeah, out of all of his 2nd round picks Shaheen has been the least productive.

It's really not harsh. He's been fragile, and when he does play, he stinks.

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4 hours ago, jumbo said:

The bolded is what I remember from all the Jerry Angelo drafts.  We didn't think he'd be there with our next pick, so we took him.  That's a lazy approach and/or a failure to assess the market.  If you take a guy at pick 50 because he won't be there at pick 80, either take someone who fell or trade back to where the market values the player (maye that's 65).  If you take the player who will be taken at 75 at 50, that's an overdraft.  Angelo did it constantly.  

It's possible that Pace valued him at pick 50 (or whatever number he was), but that's still a reach because of his lack of experience and lesser quality of competition.  Sometimes people look at a guy with fairly little experience and think, "he's only just begun, think of the improvement he could make."  That's a really risky way to look at things. 

I'm pretty happy with Pace as a drafter, but this one is easy to pick on.  Cohen worked out pretty well though a couple rounds later.   

So if we use this same logic then Pace should not have traded up for Eddie Jackson, Anthony Miller, or David Montgomery.  IMHO these were all moves Pace made to get players he also valued but who may not have lasted beyond where they were taken.

We can't say for certain just how well Montgomery will do but one trade got us an All Pro FS and another a good looking WR who had 7 TDs as a rookie.  If Montgomery is injured in preseason and helps us very little this year will it have been wrong to have traded up for him?

We have no idea of how the Bears valued Shaheen on their board and I don't recall ever having heard Pace say he took him because he would not have fallen much farther.  Those comments came from several analysts who also said others were high on Shaheen.

But the bottom line is Shaheen hasn't been able to show much in his first two seasons.  Fox seldom used him despite his grading out at least as good as Sims as a blocker and far better as a receiver.  Last year his injury in preseason more or less wrecked his second year.

All I'm saying is Shaheen deserves a fair shot at being evaluated after having played a full 16 game season in this offense.  I believe the basic talent is there and he's shown it in rare glimpses but he has to remain healthy and play consistently week after week for us to know whether he was worth his selection or not.  He knows this as well.  If he fails to "own" the "Y" TE role this year we'll be looking to replace him soon.

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2 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

It's really not harsh. He's been fragile, and when he does play, he stinks.

Fully realizing that I'm not about to change your mind or anyone else's you should still be prepared to back up what you say with facts.

1) He played in 13 games as a rookie missing 3 in December due to a chest injury.  A whole lot more guys than just Shaheen missed time in 2017 so 3 games isn't a big deal.  Even when 100% Fox seldom used him as a receiver but despite that he had 3 TD catches on only 12 receptions and an 86% catch percentage.

2) His 2018 was all but wiped out due to his ankle injury in preseason.  Bad break for him but then Kyle Fuller missed the entire 2016 season and has come back from it to become and All Pro CB.  No one is calling him injury prone even though he chose to sit out once medically cleared to return.

Due to the ankle injury and concussion protocol (I don't call concussions being fragile or injury prone) he only played in 6 games last season and from what I saw he was far less than 100% when he did return.  Still, he caught 5 passes out of 6 targets (83%) and scored a TD.  So far in his two seasons he's started only 11 games but has hauled in 17 passes out of 20 targets (85%) and scored 4 tds so roughly 1 catch in 4 has been a scoring play.

Injuries have been an issue.  That much I'll agree on, but fragile.....no.  I'll also agree that he needs to stay healthy and productive for an entire season or risk being seen as a bust just as Floyd has been on the cusp of and some could claim Floyd was "over drafted" as well.  I've seen some good plays come from Shaheen and he does need to progress but I stand by my own opinion.  The potential to be a good "Y" TE is still there.

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4 hours ago, Superman(DH23) said:

That's not even remotely close to accurate.

Yeah, his slow moving feet have come in handy a lot. Burton led the team in TD's and Shaheen is obviously fantastic so I question why everyone on this board 1) wanted Pace to draft a TE and 2) why people are excited about Raymond as a UDFA. Good luck getting playing time over the agile Adam Shaheen, pal!

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25 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

Yeah, his slow moving feet have come in handy a lot. Burton led the team in TD's and Shaheen is obviously fantastic so I question why everyone on this board 1) wanted Pace to draft a TE and 2) why people are excited about Raymond as a UDFA. Good luck getting playing time over the agile Adam Shaheen, pal!

First of all Raymond has exactly 0.chance of getting playtime over Shaheen, first and foremost bc Raymond doeant play the Y and Shaheen does.  And he doesnt have anything resembling slow moving feet.  He has very good footwork, he catches pretty much everything and he scores the ball.  Shaheen has injury concerns and they are legitimate, but he certainly hasnt been tereinle when he plays.

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