The 2020 Draft Thread - Day 3 begins 11am CST

[G08]

16 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

You missed the Webb, Omiyale and Cutler days huh? 

I kid I kid. Yes, the OL last year was abysmal.

I still remember the MNF game against the Lions where Cutler's back foot wouldn't even hit and he was running for his life and still making insane plays. Rabbit out of the hat type ****. That dude was criminally underrated in this QB-retarded city... but I digress.

[dll2000]

13 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

You missed the Webb, Omiyale and Cutler days huh? 

I kid I kid. Yes, the OL last year was abysmal.

The Bears have had some terrible O lines and some terrible rosters.

Pace to his credit has completely remade the defense from garbage to elite.  So he had a long, long way to go across board when he came on scene.  And he didn't have total power when he started either.

We have some sporadic talent on offense, but are still struggling to put it together there.   We have been bad at QB, Oline and TE (which is most of an offense).  For a season we had no WRs as well.

Obviously he missed at QB, DE and TE and maybe on WRs in draft otherwise the problem would be mostly fixed and we would be celebrating a championship at this point.  But to expect a much better hit rate and foresight would be a bit unrealistic.

I think Whitehair and Daniels were not misses on OL.   

Pace has just been mostly good on defense and mostly bad on offense and the on field results reflect that. 

 

[dll2000]

I suck at projecting college WRs to pros or relatively so in my track record compared to other positions.  So I don't comment on it much.

It appears I am not alone though because so many first and second rounders bust.

 

[beardown3231]

15 minutes ago, G08 said:

I still remember the MNF game against the Lions where Cutler's back foot wouldn't even hit and he was running for his life and still making insane plays. Rabbit out of the hat type ****. That dude was criminally underrated in this QB-retarded city... but I digress.

I'll never understand how you trade 80 million picks for a QB and then do nothing to surround him with talent. No OL, no receivers, trade his best weapon after a year or two. Unreal. I was at the 2009 game in Seattle and he was so good minus 1 INT and I remember leaving that game, being 3-1, and thinking "we found one."

[abstract_thought]

QBs can also make OL look way better or worse with their pocket presence, movement, and coverage reading. There were many times last season when Trubisky could have stepped into a clean pocket but instead bailed on the play and was either sacked or threw off-balance. Those plays look like an OL failure to many but are really on the QB.

Tom Brady is a master of this. He stands in the middle of the rush and buys time with subtle movements, consistently stepping up instead of bailing out.

That's the difference between a franchise QB and a mediocre QB. A franchise QB can make things look smooth and make other players look better.

[G08]

1 hour ago, beardown3231 said:

I'll never understand how you trade 80 million picks for a QB and then do nothing to surround him with talent. No OL, no receivers, trade his best weapon after a year or two. Unreal. I was at the 2009 game in Seattle and he was so good minus 1 INT and I remember leaving that game, being 3-1, and thinking "we found one."

IIRC Angelo said when you get a franchise QB they are supposed to make everyone around you better. Problem is, if you surround them with pure **** the most you will get is 'average'. See: Knox, Johnny. Hester, Devin. Williams, Roy. Sanzenbacher, Dane. Bennett, Earl. Aromashodu, Devin. etc

[dll2000]

15 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

QBs can also make OL look way better or worse with their pocket presence, movement, and coverage reading. There were many times last season when Trubisky could have stepped into a clean pocket but instead bailed on the play and was either sacked or threw off-balance. Those plays look like an OL failure to many but are really on the QB.

Tom Brady is a master of this. He stands in the middle of the rush and buys time with subtle movements, consistently stepping up instead of bailing out.

That's the difference between a franchise QB and a mediocre QB. A franchise QB can make things look smooth and make other players look better.

Also true.  Why Tom could win with just average OLs.   If you look at most SB teams outside of Patriots since 70s they had great OLs.

At one time before they changed a lot of passing rules you could almost say the SB winner was usually the team with best OL in the league.

 

[beardown3231]

44 minutes ago, G08 said:

IIRC Angelo said when you get a franchise QB they are supposed to make everyone around you better. Problem is, if you surround them with pure **** the most you will get is 'average'. See: Knox, Johnny. Hester, Devin. Williams, Roy. Sanzenbacher, Dane. Bennett, Earl. Aromashodu, Devin. etc

And then had a washed up LT, a bad RT and one of the worst LG's I've ever seen protecting him. SMH

[G08]

1 hour ago, beardown3231 said:

And then had a washed up LT, a bad RT and one of the worst LG's I've ever seen protecting him. SMH

**queues up BEAR DOWN fight song**

[G08]

Jalen Reagor, TCU (5-10 1/2, 206): He averaged 15.2 receiving yards, 9.3 rushing yards, 17.8 punt return yards and 24.2 kickoff return yards. “Holy (cow), he’s exciting,” one scout said. “He was one of the guys I got most excited about. He’s an explosive playmaker.” His father, Montae, was a second-round draft choice in 1999 who started 46 of 99 games for three teams as a defensive tackle. “He is as explosive a receiver as I saw this year,” another scout said. “I haven’t seen a better punt returner, either.” Ran 4.46 seconds in the 40. Said a third scout: “I thought he was the most explosive route runner on tape. He’ll go up over people with bodies around. Little bit raw. Strong hands, but a lot of easy drops. You’re always going to have to deal with drops with him but he is a playmaker.”

[soulman]

No place like home? Not when it comes to NFL draft

Dan Wiederer On the NFL

We know what you’re thinking: This year’s NFL draft has the potential to be a bit of a circus, a quagmire, a full-blown cluster-kerfuffle.
Two weeks from Thursday, with its standard “show must go on” determination, the NFL will push ahead with its 2020 player-selection process but in a truly unorthodox manner.

All the pomp and circumstance had to be scrapped weeks ago, visions of a packed Las Vegas Strip and boat rides across the Fountains of Bellagio tossed away. And so much for the possibility of Tua Tagovailoa circling around the High Roller Ferris wheel shortly after being selected.

Because of the stifling but necessary restrictions stemming from the coronavirus emergency, the NFL is eschewing theatrics and thumbing deep into its “Plan B” binders.

The essential alterations, however, have zipped way beyond the mere elimination of excessive extravagance. Now the basic procedural elements of the draft are being modified and overhauled on the fly.

On Monday, in yet another COVID-19- related memo from Commissioner Roger Goodell, the league informed teams it will strictly enforce the shelter-in-place guidelines established in the communities of all 32 organizations.

The bottom line: All team facilities will remain closed for the draft and beyond.

Off limits. Verboten. No access allowed. No exceptions possible.

As the commissioner’s memo laid out: “Clubs have been advised to prepare to conduct the 2020 draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format, with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and draft headquarters by phone or internet. We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with both the Competition Committee and CEC (the NFL Management Council Executive Committee), and this will confirm that clubs will conduct their draft operations remotely, with club personnel separately located in their homes.”

Those last three words — “in their homes” — left general managers and personnel directors across the league shuddering a bit. Obviously, they all understand and accept these extreme times and the accompanying extreme measures. But there’s also an understandable fear of the unknown, a legitimate phobia that the trap doors of every Joe Blow fantasy league could soon be triggered.

You can picture it now, can’t you? NFL GMs involved in the biggest night of their offseason yet forced to juggle spotty Wi-Fi service and frequent interruptions from their kids.

GM: Uh, honey? Have you seen my big-board printout with the prospect clouds for Days 2 and 3?

Wife: Not lately. At breakfast, it might have been on the counter with our census reminder and the Clipper Magazine with that Omaha Steaks Butcher’s Bundle coupon.

GM: I don’t see it.

Wife: Maybe I tossed it. I don’t remember.

Yep. A potential circus. A quagmire. A cluster-kerfuffle. What could possibly go wrong?

NFL executive texting new Browns GM Andrew Berry: What’re you doing, man? Are you going to make your pick or what?

Berry: Is it our turn?

Exec: Has been for like five minutes.

Berry: Sorry, my computer froze. I had to restart it. And then I ran to the fridge but got summoned to fix the flapper valve in the downstairs bathroom. Anyway, we’ll take Michael Ojemudia. Done and done.

Exec: Great. Only one problem: The Texans took him four picks ago.

Of course, NFL teams have enough time to prepare and test and retest their at-home draft setups to be ready to go later this month. Bears GM Ryan Pace has credited the organization’s information technology team for mobilizing quickly and efficiently to help smooth the bumps of the setup.

Pace said Friday the Bears were juggling three options for their draft weekend arrangement.

Option A: getting clearance from the league to have a small gathering of key decision-makers admitted to Halas Hall to do business from the team’s state-of-the-art and technologically souped-up draft room.

Option B: Setting up shop at an off-site location with a small gathering.

Option C: Rooting down at home if so ordered and trying to make the best of it.

As Pace noted about Option C: “Obviously there are some challenges with that. … Whatever they tell us to do, we’ll be ready. We’re just going to follow the experts in that area.”

Option C it will be.

These draft mandates present obvious challenges: Working the phones for trades will be more difficult and chaotic; keeping everybody within an organization on the same page during the fast-paced selection process will prove tricky; and multitasking will be a must.
From start to finish, this draft will be a little more unusual and uncomfortable. It also will test a team’s ability to adapt and react. In that regard, Pace has been impressed with his Bears support team over the past month.

“It’s been good in that you are forced to quickly adapt to the changing landscape,” Pace said. “So when we talk about our IT and video departments, they’ve been outstanding. The silver lining is it has pushed us further (forward) from a technology standpoint.”

Since being pushed out of Halas Hall in the middle of March, Pace and his staff have become regulars in the virtual meeting world .
“Whether that’s Skype or Zoom,” Pace said, “it has actually been highly efficient and in some ways better. … Since we moved out of Halas and have been working from home, it has really been seamless with our ability to watch video and the ability to have meetings and communicate and interview players. That part has been really good.”

As Goodell’s memo detailed, the guidance from medical advisers pushed the league down the most logical path.

“We are operating in an environment unlike anything that we have experienced before, one that requires flexibility, patience and cooperation,” Goodell wrote. “As we work through those challenges together, we should not lose sight of the magnitude of this global health crisis.”

Flexibility. Patience. Cooperation. And resourcefulness.

“We have to adapt,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “We have to figure out solutions. We can’t complain.”

[abstract_thought]

2 hours ago, G08 said:

IIRC Angelo said when you get a franchise QB they are supposed to make everyone around you better. Problem is, if you surround them with pure **** the most you will get is 'average'. See: Knox, Johnny. Hester, Devin. Williams, Roy. Sanzenbacher, Dane. Bennett, Earl. Aromashodu, Devin. etc

Or was it just that Cutler wasn't a franchise QB? We've seen other franchise QBs like Brady and Russell Wilson lead championship-level teams without great skill players.

[G08]

21 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Or was it just that Cutler wasn't a franchise QB? We've seen other franchise QBs like Brady and Russell Wilson lead championship-level teams without great skill players.

Ah Brady. 19 years in the league. 8 years of a top 10 defense, 8 years of a top 5 defense.

I'll say it... put Aaron Rodgers on that team and he's got 8 Super Bowls.

[beardown3231]

53 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Or was it just that Cutler wasn't a franchise QB? We've seen other franchise QBs like Brady and Russell Wilson lead championship-level teams without great skill players.

He got that **** pile to the NFCCG in 2010 and then had them as maybe the best team in the league in 2011. He probably wasn't "great" but I think he was fully capable of winning a championship, so therefore, yes I think he was a "franchise QB."

[Heinz D.]

3 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

He got that **** pile to the NFCCG in 2010 and then had them as maybe the best team in the league in 2011. He probably wasn't "great" but I think he was fully capable of winning a championship, so therefore, yes I think he was a "franchise QB."

He was a lower end guy, but yeah, probably still a "franchise" guy. He was so burnt out by the end that it was hard to tell that, though.