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[soulman]

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Putting Justin Fields aside, how has this not been a disastrous offseason for Ryan Pace? — @coreybohler

It’s hard to put Fields aside, isn’t it? I understand what you’re saying, but when the inquiry is basically “what about the GM’s offseason with the exception of the first-round pick?” it’s sort of a loaded question.

Much of what happened this offseason is a result of what the Bears did in previous offseasons. They didn’t have a lot of flexibility in free agency because they were right up against the salary cap. They have used a credit-card approach to the cap, routinely restructuring the contracts of their highest-paid players in order to create cap space from year to year.

With the rollback of the cap this year, it all caught up to them. That led to the release of veteran cornerback Kyle Fuller, which likely played at least some role in the decision to cut left tackle Charles Leno. That forced the Bears to shop largely in the bargain bin in free agency, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you consider some of the players they’ve overpaid on the open market.

Second-round pick Teven Jenkins is sidelined for an undetermined amount of time after back surgery that the team says is not related to back issues that sidelined him late in the season last fall at Oklahoma State. Elijah Wilkinson, the swing tackle the Bears signed in free agency, was deemed early in training camp not good enough to start at left tackle, and that led them to summon 39-year-old Jason Peters. Right tackle Germain Ifedi was sidelined for most of camp with a hip flexor injury suffered in the conditioning test when players reported.

All of that has led to a lot of questions about the offensive line. Add a lack of proven depth at cornerback and the public’s very clear stance on Andy Dalton as the starting quarterback, and it sure looks like a rough offseason for Pace.

The Bears are 0-0, and there’s a lot we don’t know yet. Can the offense take shape in coach Matt Nagy’s fourth season? How will the defense look under first-time coordinator Sean Desai? Will young players such as cornerback Jaylon Johnson, wide receiver Darnell Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet take big steps forward in their second seasons?

I get the pessimism. I’ve written at length about the questions facing the front office, coaching staff and roster. We’ll see very soon how the Bears stack up against the rest of the league and the NFC North. I do believe it’s a little unfair, though, to separate the Fields selection from the rest of the offseason when judging Pace. Everything needs to be taken into consideration.

The McCaskeys have proved they are not afraid to be big spenders recently. Is it possible, however, that because their money comes solely from the team (and they don’t make their money through other avenues like other owners), could last year’s situation because of COVID-19 affect their cash flow more than other teams? Would this have influenced their free-agency decisions? — @samuraimike2

The Bears have been big spenders in recent seasons. According to spotrac.com, they were No. 2 in cash spending at $980 million in the five-season span from 2016 through 2020. Only the Eagles at $1 billion spent more. Of course, the Eagles won a Lombardi Trophy in that span. The bottom three teams in spending? The Colts ($876 million), Bills ($872 million) and Patriots ($864 million).

So the McCaskeys have been wholly supportive of football operations at Halas Hall. The reason GM Ryan Pace wasn’t a lavish spender in free agency this year had more to do with the team’s tight salary-cap situation than anything else. I don’t believe the McCaskeys suddenly tightened their grip on the checkbook.

[soulman]

Interesting topic to discuss all in one place.  Has this been a disastrous offseason for Pace and Nagy?  Let's talk about it.

[Sugashane]

It seems underwhelming. But they have finally bolstered the WR corps as well. Williams being brought in seems to be a solid move since Cohen isn't healing as well as expected. Dalton was a move I disliked but it has helped elevate the QB room over what it would be if we had to rely on Foles (which I hated that move as well, so meh).

 

OL is a mess but this is far enough in that Nagy has no more excuses to me. You have two vet QBs, a rookie franchise with crazy athletic ability, and you've had 4 years to find your groove. For me you either sink or swim, and if the season is a total flop then Pace either moves up or out (I'm not going to be unrealistic, he seems genuinely adored by top brass). The defense isn't elite anymore, but Nagy had them while they were. His offense was what wasted it. Double doink should have never been in a spot to blow the kick, the offense's putrid production was the only reason that choke-artist had to be tested. Last season the offense put up another pathetic performance. Either Nagy has the offense to carry its own weight or he's nothing more than gristle to cut away.

[WindyCity]

2020 was the disaster.

This was just the fall out of that mess.

[Heinz D.]

4 hours ago, soulman said:

Interesting topic to discuss all in one place.  Has this been a disastrous offseason for Pace and Nagy?  Let's talk about it.

Good heavens, no. This is maybe the best off-season they've had yet...

[soulman]

2 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

Good heavens, no. This is maybe the best off-season they've had yet...

OK, other than having drafted Fields what makes you feel that way?

[Epyon]

47 minutes ago, soulman said:

OK, other than having drafted Fields what makes you feel that way?

Tier 1. Jenkins (despite the injury), Borom, Tonga

Investment in the trenches is big, if just the first two hit, it'd be a stellar draft not counting fields.  And yes, even despite his injury setback, I still am high on Jenkins.worst case is he has a shorter career, but not a less productive one. Borom I'm optimistic could already be our best OL by the end of the year. and Tonga has looked like nothing but a stellar DL prospect for  his draft position

Tier 2: Herbert, Snowden, Kamara,  D. Williams, Overall WR room speed, Gibson, Johnson, and Mooney 2nd years

We upgraded the RB room significantly with Williams behind Monty, and our depth guy (Herbert) is useful now as a returner, but has also flashed a bit to get cheaper at the position longer term if we move on from Monty or the Williams-rental.

Snowden was a wonderful high ceiling pick up for us, though I stand by my pre-draft idea of putting him at ILB rather than OLB. Kamara is probably the player I've been most intrigued by in the preaseason... He's playing OLB, and DL and he brings a different size to the field.... promising developmental guy.

Then there's the 2nd year guys we're looking for the next step from... All three are big $$ positions, and all 3 have looked good-great in preseason/camp

Finally, we've been whining for years about how none of the WR get open, or block.... how the team lacks explosive plays, and then when Mooney was breaking that mold last year by getting open downfield, we realized our QBs sucked and couldn't get the football within 15 yards of them..... So now we have a TON of speed, which we can push downfield, and either open up the underneath stuff, or actually hit those deeper plays with two upgrades at QB.

[soulman]

OK, fair enough.  This is the kind of stuff we should be debating.  But how about the exceptions?

1) Despite having addressed OT in the draft (twice) Pace drafted a player (Jenkins) with known back injuries (plural) in college that ended in his quitting the team prior to their last 3 games in order to "prepare for the draft".  That's pretty non-specific and it doesn't address whether or not he was being treated with steroids and/or pain killers for his injuries and wanted to flush his system of them prior to being tested.  I'm not saying that is what happened but based on common knowledge it's not a huge reach either.

But putting that aside Pace also expected a rookie to immediately convert from his college career as primarily a RT to LT during camp and preseason.  That alone is a somewhat risky move for a rookie but riskier still was not providing an alternative if it didn't work out.  Leno was released outright with no vet alternative other than Elijah Wilkinson who played RT in Denver and not very well either.  This is what can happen when you don't manage your cap well and paint yourself into corners which Pace has had a tendency to do.

No one can anticipate every possible injury.  For instance.  There was no way to predict Ifedi's injury prior to camp.  But Jenkins injury may have been at least a concern if only because he'd injured his back multiple times before.  And incidentally the "this was something new" is nothing more than CYA bull****.  Back injuries tend to be cumulative and often a previous injury stair steps into something else when the back has been weakened by previous injuries and compensating for them.  This is not at all unusual.

But again putting all that aside we're roughly one week from the opener and we still don't know if we have a viable OL.  This would be more forgivable if not for the fact that this has been a problem throughout Pace's entire tenure as GM.  Peters is not the only vet Pace has brought in at the last minute to patch a hole he left himself during the offseason.  While I agree that he's upgrade a number of positions at least on paper he's still failed at providing a key element of offensive success.  An ability to control the LOS.

 

I'm obviously playing the devil's advocate here but I don't need to stretch the truth to do it.  If we give him credit for his successes IMHO it's only fair that we criticize his failure as well and his continued failures to adequately address and fix the OL is IMHO a biggie.

[beardown3231]

9 hours ago, Epyon said:

Tier 1. Jenkins (despite the injury), Borom, Tonga

Investment in the trenches is big, if just the first two hit, it'd be a stellar draft not counting fields.  And yes, even despite his injury setback, I still am high on Jenkins.worst case is he has a shorter career, but not a less productive one. Borom I'm optimistic could already be our best OL by the end of the year. and Tonga has looked like nothing but a stellar DL prospect for  his draft position

Tier 2: Herbert, Snowden, Kamara,  D. Williams, Overall WR room speed, Gibson, Johnson, and Mooney 2nd years

We upgraded the RB room significantly with Williams behind Monty, and our depth guy (Herbert) is useful now as a returner, but has also flashed a bit to get cheaper at the position longer term if we move on from Monty or the Williams-rental.

Snowden was a wonderful high ceiling pick up for us, though I stand by my pre-draft idea of putting him at ILB rather than OLB. Kamara is probably the player I've been most intrigued by in the preaseason... He's playing OLB, and DL and he brings a different size to the field.... promising developmental guy.

Then there's the 2nd year guys we're looking for the next step from... All three are big $$ positions, and all 3 have looked good-great in preseason/camp

Finally, we've been whining for years about how none of the WR get open, or block.... how the team lacks explosive plays, and then when Mooney was breaking that mold last year by getting open downfield, we realized our QBs sucked and couldn't get the football within 15 yards of them..... So now we have a TON of speed, which we can push downfield, and either open up the underneath stuff, or actually hit those deeper plays with two upgrades at QB.

If we're already putting Tonga and Borom in the top tier of why Pace had a great offseason despite not yet playing a meaningful snap, I think that kind of speaks to the fact that not only has the offseason been underwhelming but also Pace's offseasons are graded on a handicap because those two guys are nothing right now

Like, Snowden and Kamara are 40% of why this offseason has been great? GMAB

Edited September 4, 2021 by beardown3231

[Sugashane]

I'm huge on Fields and Jenkins too, but we can't accurately judge the picks already. Especially if they haven't played a down yet. Potential is there, but Tru had potential too.

 

This hasn't been a horrible offseason with FA moves but if that is being labeled Pace's "best" offseason in regards to non-draft picks then Pace should be on the hot seat. FWIW I think he put himself in a bad position and did well with what he could do overall, but when OL, CB, and EDGE are all areas of concern its hard to label it as a great offseason.

[soulman]

40 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

I'm huge on Fields and Jenkins too, but we can't accurately judge the picks already. Especially if they haven't played a down yet. Potential is there, but Tru had potential too.

 

This hasn't been a horrible offseason with FA moves but if that is being labeled Pace's "best" offseason in regards to non-draft picks then Pace should be on the hot seat. FWIW I think he put himself in a bad position and did well with what he could do overall, but when OL, CB, and EDGE are all areas of concern its hard to label it as a great offseason.

This is pretty much where I'm at.  I'd like to believe it's all as good as Epyon does but there are still too many positions and personnel filling those positions that will still need to play it's way out over the next 17 games.

We look stronger and deeper at some spots yet weaker and thinner at others and this has pretty much been the case for the past two seasons now.  The question it typically leaves with me is can Matt Nagy coach a less than perfect team successfully?

We seem to have finally gotten the kind of speed and talent at skill positions that he's always wanted but will the OL develop well enough for that to be of any advantage?  We have one of the best front 7 in the NFL but can the secondary cover well enough?

I'd like to cut Pace some slack over having the cap decline as much as it did but there are three or four deals he hamstrung himself with even before that happened that have hurt big time and cost us Kyle Fuller and Leno for at least one more year.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a disastrous offseason but rather one in which much of the good is again offset by the bad.

[Heinz D.]

3 hours ago, Sugashane said:

This hasn't been a horrible offseason with FA moves but if that is being labeled Pace's "best" offseason in regards to non-draft picks then Pace should be on the hot seat.

Pace should have been fired about 0.5 seconds after the playoff loss, IMO. 

 

3 hours ago, Sugashane said:

FWIW I think he put himself in a bad position and did well with what he could do overall, but when OL, CB, and EDGE are all areas of concern its hard to label it as a great offseason.

He addressed big needs, which has been a rather significant shortcoming of his in the past. Just because Jenkins hurt his back and Borom got a concussion doesn't change any of that. It's football. That **** happens. 

[Sugashane]

6 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

Pace should have been fired about 0.5 seconds after the playoff loss, IMO. 

 

He addressed big needs, which has been a rather significant shortcoming of his in the past. Just because Jenkins hurt his back and Borom got a concussion doesn't change any of that. It's football. That **** happens. 

I wouldn't have balked if they did.

CB was a huge need he never addressed, it's one of the weakest groups in the league. There's no way they released him a few days after free agency began out of the blue. Pace rarely seems to make knee jerk reactions. Going in with an injury prone #2 as your #1 and a half dozen nobodies behimd him is simply a terrible plan.

We're in a conference with Rodgers, Goff and Cousins. I expect big numbers from them against the borderline SEC group of CBs.

[soulman]

GMcC enjoys promoting the collaboration between Pace and Nagy which may be refreshing following some of the other experiences he's had since taking over as the head honcho McCaskey yet both tend to get only half the job done and we end up finishing in the middle of the pack because of it.  They succeed just often enough to hold onto their jobs and I think that has to come to an end no matter how difficult it may be.

From all appearances we now at long last have a franchise QB and we need to either put a franchise level OL in front of him or develop blocking schemes to protect him with who we have.  There's no shame in keeping the TE in to help the OT or a RB to pickup an edge guy or a blitzing LB or Safety.  Now that we have speed at WR and players who can create separation the QB needs more time to get the ball to them downfield.

I watched one play early on that should have been a completion for a 1st down had Fields had time to make the throw but rather than pick up the rusher Williams ran a useless route into the flat that was both covered and far short of the sticks.  If he picks up the rusher instead Fields hits his open man on an out route several yards past the sticks.  He had the correct read from the start but no time to complete the pass.

Nagy seems to have this expectation that his 5 man OL will handle every blocking assignment perfectly and they don't.  Not even close.  One less receiver in the pattern in exchange for enough time to hit a route that needs more time to come open would be a wiser approach but instead his approach always seems to be finding ways to scheme guys open with complex routes.  Didn't work for KC against TB either without blocking.

[Heinz D.]

19 hours ago, Sugashane said:

CB was a huge need he never addressed, it's one of the weakest groups in the league. There's no way they released him a few days after free agency began out of the blue. Pace rarely seems to make knee jerk reactions. Going in with an injury prone #2 as your #1 and a half dozen nobodies behimd him is simply a terrible plan.

Pace  doesn't handle the cap particularly well, and that prevents him from being as strategic as he probably should be. We'll have to see how much the defense drops off...but the offense should improve.