Young Bears Who Need to Step Up

[dll2000]

On 5/10/2021 at 2:09 PM, MonserinNC said:

My #1 is Jaylen Johnson....this kid basically needs to step up from a rookie from Utah, to CB1 on a veteran defense and replace a pro bowler.

My #2 is James Daniels.....2nd round pick who was pretty highly touted....he needs to be playing good football this year, plain and simple

My #3 is David Montgomery....he cant be icing on the cake anymore.....he needs to straight up be the lead tailback for a playoff team....no more, "well he's young and developing"....kind of the same point I was making with Jaylen, these guys need to need to be full blown men, not just young guys we are watching.

One and Two 100%.   Two guys that need to play to their ability.   

#3?  Montgomery was the best player on the team last year.  

[dll2000]

17 hours ago, Epyon said:

#1 The obvious answer is Fields..... since he's more important than the rest combined.

#2 Barring that obvious outlier, Kmet is far and away my answer.....  Graham was good in the red zone, but seemingly useless anywhere else last year, and Kmet is basically the only other TE on the roster. Wouldn't be shocked if we picked up a guy on the cheap, tbh.   Fields needs all his weapons firing on all cylinders, and Kmet has to be a big part of that.

#3 for me is actually going to be Cohen... He's a weird case for me because I feel like he's underutilzed for his talent level, but also overutilized in that he hasn't been super effective.... This year, he's also coming off an injury and has his new contract to go out and earn/live up to. It's time to see if he can really be a fixture on the offense instead of the pure gadget/gimmick part timer he has been.

#4 Teven Jenkins Leno.... is gone, but starting at either tackle spot as a rookie is a lot to handle.   I'm a little torn with him, since I did like him more at RT, to smash the ball on that right side, but it would appear he's the LT now, and that's a massive weight on a dude's shoulders, when he's gonna be protecting two statues and a rookie.

'#5 Larry Borom..... Maybe I'm higher on this kid than I should be and lower on  some of our actual roster than I should be, but I think this could could end up starting this year as well.... He was phenomenal in the SEC statistically.... and like Jenkins may very well end up a starter in the front 5 day 1..... for the same reasons as above, it'll be interesting to see how he handles it.

1-4 100%

I think Borom is the hopeful future replacement to Whitehair or Daniels at G.  Probably Daniels when he is up for a contract.  He is probably not going to see field this year unless injuries.  

[soulman]

The Bears finished 8-8 last year.  Wouldn't that mean nearly all of them need to step up, rookies and vets alike?

[WindyCity]

14 minutes ago, soulman said:

The Bears finished 8-8 last year.  Wouldn't that mean nearly all of them need to step up, rookies and vets alike?

Ideally, but some are more important than others.

We know that not everyone will step up, we know not all spots will be improved, which spots do you view as being the priority.

[soulman]

1 hour ago, WindyCity said:

Ideally, but some are more important than others.

We know that not everyone will step up, we know not all spots will be improved, which spots do you view as being the priority.

I being kinda facetious but not entirely.  When you're 8-8 the entire team has to improve as a unit.

The offensive positions that need the most improvement are pretty obvious.

We can begin with QB.  Jump over to Slot WR.  Then also look for more production out of the "Y" TE position.

All of the above becomes far more likely if the OL can settle in with five solid blockers who remain healthy for 17 games.

On defense it's just about as simple.

Pass rush, pass rush, pass rush.  Between Quinn, Attaochu, and Gipson we need more than just good effort.

And then of course 3 CBs need to show up one of whom needs to prove that not extending ARob and making other moves in order to keep Kyle Fuller around wasn't the dumbest f'n thing Pace did all spring long.  Personally, I think it was.

[WindyCity]

1 hour ago, soulman said:

I being kinda facetious but not entirely.  When you're 8-8 the entire team has to improve as a unit.

The offensive positions that need the most improvement are pretty obvious.

We can begin with QB.  Jump over to Slot WR.  Then also look for more production out of the "Y" TE position.

All of the above becomes far more likely if the OL can settle in with five solid blockers who remain healthy for 17 games.

On defense it's just about as simple.

Pass rush, pass rush, pass rush.  Between Quinn, Attaochu, and Gipson we need more than just good effort.

And then of course 3 CBs need to show up one of whom needs to prove that not extending ARob and making other moves in order to keep Kyle Fuller around wasn't the dumbest f'n thing Pace did all spring long.  Personally, I think it was.

The Fuller thing was a mistake from 2020 when they moved money around on his deal and used it to sign Quinn.

His cap number got bigger. Quinn’s cap number was backloaded and you end up cutting your best CB for a 1 sack pass rusher.

 

[Sugashane]

Pace and Nagy are going to force some guys to show they can play early.

 

1. Fields - He is the face of the franchise, as soon as his name was called the hopes of the franchise were put on his shoulders. Dalton will start but it won't be but 2-3 mediocre games and the fans will be chanting for Fields after every failed 3rd down. If he is ready (and OL is performing at an acceptable level) then let him take his lumps early and learn from them.

2. CB - Fuller was let loose, a former All Pro who had played at a high level the last several years. We need Johnson to continue stepping up and being more consistent to be a legit number one, but who is going to take hold of the number 2 spot? Or 3? We have a number of young and promising talents, but it is massively unproven. Paired with a suspect passrush from people not named Mack and Hicks, that could be a major issue.

3. Borom - I like Daniels, but I want to see him be healthy and perform highly for an entire season. It's hard to give a bigger deal to a guy who is going to miss time, and for a position like OG that is usually a fallback position for OTs who underperform (Ifedi) it becomes easy to see poor money management. I'd like to see Borom and Jenkins (who I feel will step in immediately to be a plus player) lock down the bookends of the OL. That allows us to have 3 people who can snap, and 3 solid OGs who can rotate in and provide high end depth if there is an injury.

[beardown3231]

12 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

Meaning? 🤔

Anyway...

Vildor 

Borom 

Newsome.

(If we're talking three...) 

 

The thread is "young Bears who NEED to step up." Not EVERY young player on the roster HAS to step up for them to be a playoff team again

[soulman]

8 hours ago, WindyCity said:

The Fuller thing was a mistake from 2020 when they moved money around on his deal and used it to sign Quinn.

His cap number got bigger. Quinn’s cap number was backloaded and you end up cutting your best CB for a 1 sack pass rusher.

 

Well you could look at it that way or you can see it a half dozen other ways as well one of which is ARob's new deal in lieu of the tag.

His cap hit under that tag is $17.8 mil.  Surely there was a way to knock that down by $8-$10 mil for 2021.

It's pretty obvious Pace wasn't gonna sign him to an extension anyway but why put yourself in a position where you just allow a Pro Bowl level CB to just walk away without getting fair value.

Johnson looked pretty good last year 'til he injured his shoulder again but he's also a much different style CB and far more a younger version of Amukamara.  On the other side it's seems like far more about quantity over quality so we'll see if anyone stands out in the mix.

[MonserinNC]

13 hours ago, dll2000 said:

One and Two 100%.   Two guys that need to play to their ability.   

#3?  Montgomery was the best player on the team last year.  

Oh yeah, Montgomery was great, all 3 guys I named were good......my whole point is that they all need to take that step from young guy, to "yeah of course they are good, how much is the extension gonna be" type of guys.....like I would love if we could barely afford Montgomery and the whole league takes notice haha

[WindyCity]

22 minutes ago, soulman said:

Well you could look at it that way or you can see it a half dozen other ways as well one of which is ARob's new deal in lieu of the tag.

His cap hit under that tag is $17.8 mil.  Surely there was a way to knock that down by $8-$10 mil for 2021.

It's pretty obvious Pace wasn't gonna sign him to an extension anyway but why put yourself in a position where you just allow a Pro Bowl level CB to just walk away without getting fair value.

Johnson looked pretty good last year 'til he injured his shoulder again but he's also a much different style CB and far more a younger version of Amukamara.  On the other side it's seems like far more about quantity over quality so we'll see if anyone stands out in the mix.

I am with you. A bunch of contract mistakes led to Fuller being gone.

It looks like 2022 we won’t be losing guys for cap reasons, but that desperation year in 2020 and not getting Robinson extended are a couple of lasting cap screw ups.

[dll2000]

11 hours ago, WindyCity said:

The Fuller thing was a mistake from 2020 when they moved money around on his deal and used it to sign Quinn.

His cap number got bigger. Quinn’s cap number was backloaded and you end up cutting your best CB for a 1 sack pass rusher.

 

Agreed.  I would not trade Fuller for Quinn.  

But Quinn was not a good fit for Pagano.   We said all off season he has to play at 5 tech with his hand in dirt to be effective and Pagano stubbornly played him in his system as a hybrid backer.  That isn’t all on Pace.  I often think Pace brings in good talent or potential talent and the coaches screw it up and he gets the blame.  Not saying that is 100% case here.  

On top of that Quinn either did the classic drop off after FA year or didn’t prepare properly due to Covid making season an uncertainty or was injured or some combination.

Quinn when used properly and motivated was one of best edge defenders in entire NFL in 2019.  There is some hope he can be very good again if he is motivated and coaches use him properly.  

I always go back to Belichick.  Don’t tell me what a guy can’t do.  Tell me what he is good at and I will use him to do that.  In other words device a plan around skills of your players not jam your players into pegs whatever shape. 

[dll2000]

Devise

[abstract_thought]

12 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Agreed.  I would not trade Fuller for Quinn.  

But Quinn was not a good fit for Pagano.   We said all off season he has to play at 5 tech with his hand in dirt to be effective and Pagano stubbornly played him in his system as a hybrid backer.  That isn’t all on Pace.  I often think Pace brings in good talent or potential talent and the coaches screw it up and he gets the blame.  Not saying that is 100% case here.  

On top of that Quinn either did the classic drop off after FA year or didn’t prepare properly due to Covid making season an uncertainty or was injured or some combination.

Quinn when used properly and motivated was one of best edge defenders in entire NFL in 2019.  There is some hope he can be very good again if he is motivated and coaches use him properly.  

I always go back to Belichick.  Don’t tell me what a guy can’t do.  Tell me what he is good at and I will use him to do that.  In other words device a plan around skills of your players not jam your players into pegs whatever shape. 

Quinn is about to turn 31 with a history of injuries. I don't think it's out of the question that he's no longer a top EDGE defender. 

[Madmike90]

17 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Quinn is about to turn 31 with a history of injuries. I don't think it's out of the question that he's no longer a top EDGE defender. 

With Quinn I feel Desai needs to do more than Pagano & even Fangio did in terms of scheme...for the past few years we have played a very very simple defence that has relied on talented players making plays...Desai hopefully will be able to scheme a more exotic blitz package to use Quinn's speed more.