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February Mock Offseason


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4 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Horstead was basically a big WR in college at a small school.  And was a baseball player to boot.   So playing TE in NFL is a radical transition and a project.  

I know Bears were historically weak at the position, but its amazing that he 1) even made the team, 2) ended up starting.

I think as pure all around athletes, Horstead is superior to Burton in every way.   

 

I think you are making good points, and the upside is there, I'm just not there with you yet.  I've Tanner Gentry'd myself into too many players in the past. 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, RunningVaccs said:

I think you are making good points, and the upside is there, I'm just not there with you yet.  I've Tanner Gentry'd myself into too many players in the past. 

 

 

Proper perspective on 'projects' and UDFA is if they become valuable contributors or decent role players.   I think we talk a guy a up and it sounds like we are thinking pro bowler.  That is the dream, but rarely happens.  

It's all relative.  But it is fun to root for underdogs or to find that hidden gem that suddenly is very good.

 

 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Proper perspective on 'projects' and UDFA is if they become valuable contributors or decent role players.   I think we talk a guy a up and it sounds like we are thinking pro bowler.  That is the dream, but rarely happens.  

It's all relative.  But it is fun to root for underdogs or to find that hidden gem that suddenly is very good.

 

 

 

 

We kind of need for a bunch of unlikely guys to get good if we want to have success in 2020. I'm including Mitch, but really we need to get some home runs in the draft and FA.  Hilarious considering how confident we were starting the 19 season. 

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Just now, RunningVaccs said:

We kind of need for a bunch of unlikely guys to get good if we want to have success in 2020. I'm including Mitch, but really we need to get some home runs in the draft and FA.  Hilarious considering how confident we were starting the 19 season. 

Projections for improved play for a lot of young guys went in exact opposite direction and guys that were playing well suddenly weren't.  Basically our only positive prediction that came true was that Robinson would come back to near pro bowl form from his previous ACL injury.  

It's not out of realm of possibility that we are pleasantly shocked in 2020.  Not saying its going to happen, but its not impossible.

Guys like Daniels, Nichols and Roquan Smith have a lot of natural talent and could really step up their game.  Who knows what will happen.   

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I'm starting to predict the Bears' seasons in "clouds" and frankly could see them going anywhere from 6-10 to 11-5. I'd say on the low end they don't improve the offesne and the defesne has injuries, on the high end the d stays a top ten unit and the offense sees imporvements on scheme and blocking, with QB being average.  

This past season also taught me that my favorite whisky wasn't scotch after all, but the Japanese version of it, so who knows I may end up watching soccer instead. 

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7 minutes ago, RunningVaccs said:

I'm starting to predict the Bears' seasons in "clouds" and frankly could see them going anywhere from 6-10 to 11-5. I'd say on the low end they don't improve the offesne and the defesne has injuries, on the high end the d stays a top ten unit and the offense sees imporvements on scheme and blocking, with QB being average.  

This past season also taught me that my favorite whisky wasn't scotch after all, but the Japanese version of it, so who knows I may end up watching soccer instead. 

LOL.  I didn't watch like 3 Bears games in a row last year because I was so disgusted with offensive play.  

Like someone just said, who knew Burrow was going to be the man of the draft and the 2019 collegiate season.  It was all tank for Tua.

The future of football is hard to predict.  Things change fast and in unexpected ways.

 

 

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7 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Horstead was basically a big WR in college at a small school.  And was a baseball player to boot.   So playing TE in NFL is a radical transition and a project.  

I know Bears were historically weak at the position, but its amazing that he 1) even made the team, 2) ended up starting.

I think as pure all around athletes, Horstead is superior to Burton in every way.   

 

I think a realistic high end hope for Horstead is that he become by 2021 what Burton was for Ertz in Philadelphia in 2017 - a capable backup behind an alpha player at the position. Reality is that if he becomes what Ben Braunecker is as a pro it probably should be seen as a success story. 

Burton may be a pretty average starting NFL TE but from where he was entering the league he’s a rousing success, and he came from a football factory school in Florida. Princeton (Horsted’s alma mater) is many things, but a football factory school it is not. 

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1 hour ago, AZBearsFan said:

Burton may be a pretty average starting NFL TE but from where he was entering the league he’s a rousing success, and he came from a football factory school in Florida. Princeton (Horsted’s alma mater) is many things, but a football factory school it is not. 

So...Horstead is automatically below average? Interesting. 

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2 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

So...Horstead is automatically below average? Interesting. 

Automatically? No.  But is he a below average TE right now? Hell yes, without question.  He went undrafted for a reason,  and even with how horrible our TE group was he barely saw action late in the season. 

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2 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

So...Horstead is automatically below average? Interesting. 

Yeah... that’s not at all what I’m saying. 

I’m saying he’s a UDFA without the benefit of a major college program pedigree from a competition standpoint who’s making a position switch at the highest level of competition and who will almost surely get very limited live reps while doing so because of more significant financial and draft capital investments ahead of him on the depth chart.

I’m saying the cards are stacked very heavily against him ascending beyond a bottom of the roster role player. The vast majority of guys in his position don’t even get to where Braunecker has (low end 2nd contract and primarily a ST contributor). Expecting significant things from Horsted even in the long term is probably a fool’s errand. Guys who go from there to prominence are very much the exception. I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen. I’m saying it’s incredibly unlikely. 

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20 hours ago, Sugashane said:

Automatically? No.  But is he a below average TE right now? Hell yes, without question.  He went undrafted for a reason,  and even with how horrible our TE group was he barely saw action late in the season. 

There was a stubborn reluctance to admit the position was a problem, though. Nearing a delusional level sort of denial. 

20 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

Expecting significant things from Horsted even in the long term is probably a fool’s errand. Guys who go from there to prominence are very much the exception. I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen. I’m saying it’s incredibly unlikely. 

Fair enough. I saw enough to suggest he deserves an actual shot. 

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2 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

There was a stubborn reluctance to admit the position was a problem, though. Nearing a delusional level sort of denial. 

Fair enough. I saw enough to suggest he deserves an actual shot. 

I’m not looking to rush him off the roster but I don’t think he’s in a place where we can give him an actual shot at a top 2 depth chart spot in 2020, and I’m expecting Harris will be our #3. Him against Holtz, Raymond, etc. for our TE4 is where I see him getting a shot in 2020 and I think he has a great chance to win that competition. 

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