JAF-N72EX Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 What are yours looking like right now? QB: Mitch, Foles RB: Montgomery, ???, Nall TE: Graham, Burton, Harris, Horsted WR: Robinson, ???, Miller, Ridley, Wims, Corderelle RT: Massie, ??? RG: ???, Coward C: Whitehair LG: Daniels, Bars LT: Leno, ??? DE: Hicks, ??? DT: Goldamn, Nichols DE: RRH, ??? OLB: Mack, Irving OLB: Quinn, ??? ILB: Smith, Ieya-howeveryouwannatrytospellit ILB: Trevathan, ??? CB: Fuller, Roberson, Toliver, ??? NB: Skrine SS: ???, Bush FS: Jackson, ??? K: Piniero P: Pat K/P R: Corddarelle IMO, we need to shore up the OL, WR, CB, RB, and depth at LB, DL and secondary. -Enough has been said about the OL. -We need an all-around back who can be a threat in both the pass and run game with the ability to play in the open field. That's just the way the NFL works now. Montgomery is not that. He is a good strong runner but is limited as a north-south runner. He could benefit greatly from a player who is a dual threat. Let Montgomery run those short and 3rds, goalines, and clock late in games. -Need a player at WR who can stretch the field (if Nagy allows them too). This team needs someone who can keep those safeties and corners deep before the snap. This would play well into Mitch's strengths as well and further away from his weaknesses.. -I don't know enough about Roberson at CB so I'm still reluctant there. Although, there has to be a reason why Pace jumped on him so quickly and so I'll take his word and scout teams word on in it. -DL is an underrated concern, imo. Call me old school but I'm of the opinion that the game starts and ends up front. And lets be honest here. Hicks plays a big part in this defense and last season showed it. Outside of him, we have Goldman, RRH, and Nichols as real threats. Goldman is good with times of being great. RRH is a good backup but is not a full-time starter. Nichols was disappointing last year in that he didn't seem to progress in the way that some of us had hoped(although he is still learning). So if Hicks gets injured again, are you guys comfortable with this? I know I'm not. We need some more depth here, whether by FA or draft. -Between Trevathan's injury history and losing most of our backups to free agency. LB depth needs to be addressed. -The SS position I'm not worried about even if they bring in a late FA singing. I would be fine with bush just as long as we have a solid player behind him who could fill in behind in a pinch (only because I question how much faith the staff have in him at this point--time will tell). Secondary concern not mentioned: -Kicker. While I am okay with Piniero this year, I do think there are better options out there for the long-term. I still get the feeling that most Bears fans have been content with him ONLY because he has relieved us from the disaster that Cody Parkey, but it's time to get back to reality here. Just how good has Piniero been vs league? (I also take into consideration of how decent he was while playing injured too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soulman Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) No way I could even come close to filling in the "blanks" with names but I can't disagree with where the holes are. Offense: RB: I expect that Pace will either find a vet back he can sign for under $2 mil or he'll be content to use the draft and UFDA to find one. My take is that his ability to identify decent RBs is pretty good so I'm sure we'll see at least one or two rookies in camp. But his main thrust should be to get Montgomery far more involved in the offense in 2020 than he did in 2019. That kid thrives on work and his short area elusiveness and power can wear defenders down provide we can get him out of the backfield. IMHO it's actually Cohen's role as a #2 RB that needs to be dealt with. He was very poorly schemed last year and if we repeat that we're wasting whatever big play potential he has. WR: We draft them every year and according to what I've read this is a deep draft for WRs. Speed would be nice but unless we can also find a kid who can catch like Gabriel could he'll end up being a decoy more than a receiving threat. Of note is that Foles has a much better deep ball than Mitch at least so far so how effective a "burner" might be may depend on whose under center. What we need as much as anything is for Miller to step up and become a bigger threat as a #2 and for Ridley to get into the game as our clutch possession guy. Wims seems to have topped out but I believe Ridley still has far more he can do once he gets into playing more. OL: I have no idea what Pace plans to do for a RG except to say apparently he doesn't like the price tags on some of those who are getting signed now. Since he's had good luck finding interior OL in the draft I'm thinking one of his 2nd round picks will be an OG like one of the two kids from LSU who are ranked as mid second round picks. Vet OGs worth their paychecks are getting scarce and almost as pricey as OTs so keep building from the draft. For depth I can see both Bars and Coward improving some under Castillo and able to handle swing roles at OT and OG. They show some decent skills but both still need a lot of coaching and game experience. As for OT we're kinda stuck with who we have which isn't horrible but both need to play better in 2020 than they did in 2019. Defense: DL: I hated losing Nick Williams but when you're cap strapped those are some of the toughest guys to keep. Fortunately there always seems to be a supply of vet DL looking for work Other than Anderson I don't see much help currently on the roster and we are about out of cap room until we either extend ARob or rework some other deals so it may take a bit before we can add any depth in FA. Nichols had to deal with an injury that hurt him last year but I expect him to bounce back and RRH will be playing for a higher dollar long term deal in 2021 so we might expect one of those contract year efforts from him. Other than that pray Hicks and Goldman stay healthy. ILB: We lost our experienced vet depth so guys like Iggy, Josh Woods, and Devante Bond are gonna be expected to be more than just ST guys. It seems to me that Woods who came in as a much lighter SS might be a guy who can become a good coverage LB and Iggy has the speed to cover well too but still needs to learn to play with better instincts. Bond has been in the NFL for 4 years now so if he's got anything to show now would be the time. I can see us adding more competition but anyone we draft will come late and won't be of much immediate help so again pray Smith and DT stay healthy and that at least one of the subs ascends to at least a KPL level. OLB: Irving and maybe Vaughters and that's about it so once again we're thin at OLB and in need to some help but lacking the "juice" to sign anyone who could be of much help. Looks like the draft, UDFA and the waiver wire for us. CB: Can't help but thinking Tolliver could ascend to at least the level of Amukamara. He's got great size and didn't embarrass himself subbing last year. Behind him we have Skrine who could move to the edge and possibly Shelley as well but both are gonna be better playing the NB spot. Who knows what Roberson can do. CFL CBs have a lot of coverage experience but not against the kind of passing offense he'll see in the NFL. Then we've got Denmark, Joseph and a few more "bodies" so someone will have to step up. SS/FS: Dunno who we use to backup Jackson other than Bush whose really more of a SS type. If I'm running this draft I would probably use one of my 2nds on an OG and the other on a DB. Either a pure SS or an kid with enough versatility to play either CB or FS. We're replacing two solid but unspectacular vets in the secondary so having a whole lot of competition is a must. And here again we watch the waiver wire for adding some experienced depth or we squeeze out some more cap space and go after a vet SS. The ST guys are pretty much locked in but we should always bring in some camp competition at P and PK. Patterson and Cohen can handle KO and PR and they're two of the best. The real improvement needs to come with our coverage teams. Paging Dave Toub! Edited March 21, 2020 by soulman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyCity Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Abdullah Anderson was good in relief last year and should have the inside track on backup NT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Team depth is not great to say least. Vast majority of teams in same boat though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WindyCity Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 QB: Foles, Trubisky RB: Montgomery, Cohen, 7th Round, Nall, Holtz WR: Robinson, Miller, Ridley, Wims, Patterson, 6th TE: Graham, Burton, Harris, Horsted LT: Leno, FA LG: Daniels/Bars C: Whitehair RG: 2nd, Coward RT: Massie, 6th RE: Nichols, RRH NT: Goldman, Anderson LE: Hicks, FA OLB: Quinn, 5th ILB: Smith, Iggy, 7th ILB: Trevathan, Woods OLB: Mack, Irving CB: Fuller, Tolliver, Roberson, Skrine, Shelley, McManis FS: Jackson, DHC SS: 2nd, Bush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) @WindyCityYou see Holtz playing a FB/back up TE role eh? Maybe. Makes sense. I think Foles wins job too. But who knows with this worldwide virus panic offseason. If they want MT to win job in practice he will. If they want Foles to win it he will. Coaches can manipulate that and actually fool themselves one way or other. Its live reg season games that are outside your control that will tell you if you screwed up. I think the 2nd biggest problem with the O after lack of physical run blocking is teams don’t respect the deep threat. Maybe part of that was MT thing. Since it is coming out that game plan for some teams was make him throw deep and left. IMO nothing worked so no point in focusing on one thing. They couldn’t run, hit middle or deep with any consistency. But biggest personnel weakness IMO is physical run blocking and WR speed. I don’t trust Iggy or Woods at ILB at all if they have to play and odds are they will. Irving is garbage at edge and we have no one else. We have zero safety depth and an average or below average 2nd starter. If Bears can have remarkable injury luck they can field a pretty good team that I think will flat shock some people who think they are garbage. But their depth right now is awful. Edited March 21, 2020 by dll2000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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