2022 Free agency thread

[StLunatic88]

1 hour ago, Madmike90 said:

Personally I am of the same opinion.

And there’s a chance, however minuscule, that you may be able to trade him from something is somebody gets desperate

Again, unlikely, but at the least he’s a solid backup

[beardown3231]

On 2/22/2022 at 6:17 PM, Heinz D. said:

Hard to argue with a Jarvis Landry signing. 

But that does mean less money will be thrown at the offensive line. 

They have to spend at WR at some point

 

On 2/22/2022 at 5:58 PM, Madmike90 said:

6-1" 235lbs LB who ran 4.41 at his pro day...speed will be king on this defence.

 

He'll be lucky to be on the roster on 9/1

[abstract_thought]

14 hours ago, Madmike90 said:

 

Personally I am of the same opinion.

100% agreed. I think a lot of people want him gone simply because they associate him with Nagy's failures developing Trubisky in 2020.

He never should have been brought here to start. But now that he's here, he's a quality backup. He played well in a tough situation at Seattle. And, given the cap increase, good luck finding a better QB for less than 3M.

[chisoxguy7]

13 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

100% agreed. I think a lot of people want him gone simply because they associate him with Nagy's failures developing Trubisky in 2020.

He never should have been brought here to start. But now that he's here, he's a quality backup. He played well in a tough situation at Seattle. And, given the cap increase, good luck finding a better QB for less than 3M.

If we did let Foles go, I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on Tyrod Taylor as another athletic QB who can serve as a better mentor for Fields' play style, as well as not having to adjust the playbook in the event Fields went down for some reason. We all know we aren't going to be watching Nick Foles do the things Justin Fields does.

[AZBearsFan]

3 hours ago, chisoxguy7 said:

If we did let Foles go, I wouldn't mind kicking the tires on Tyrod Taylor as another athletic QB who can serve as a better mentor for Fields' play style, as well as not having to adjust the playbook in the event Fields went down for some reason. We all know we aren't going to be watching Nick Foles do the things Justin Fields does.

If I had to guess today, I think we’ll hang onto Foles for 2022 and look to bring in a more similarly skilled UDFA to learn as our 2022 QB3 with the idea of them developing into being our QB2 the following year, similar to what BAL did with Tyler Huntley.

D’Eriq King seems like a great fit for that role to me. Most projections I’ve seen have him as a R7/UDFA prospect. He’s a great athlete who’s apparently a really strong leader as well, but his physical limitations (mostly his sub-6’ height coupled with an average arm) probably limit him to a career backup QB / gadget player role at the NFL level without a position switch. He’s not a guy who’s going to run the vertical passing attack the same way Fields will, but he has the skill set to run many of the same playbook concepts for the most part. 

[dll2000]

Bears have a number of roster spots to fill.

Pace always liked to have a reasonable starting lineup in place prior to draft so he could ostensibly go BPA.   He tried to do that up to 2019 draft with Montgomery where everyone and their brother knew he as going RB it was just a question of which RB it was going to be.   

Interesting to see how Poles does things.  

Primary need IMO is WR, OL and CB.

He will have some money to work with in coming years with Fields.  Who he picks as FAs in next two years will be huge as to how this team does.

 

 

[Madmike90]

5 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

They have to spend at WR at some point

 

He'll be lucky to be on the roster on 9/1

I think he is a pretty clear replacement for Iggy who will fight for a spot on special teams.

[AZBearsFan]

1 hour ago, dll2000 said:

He will have some money to work with in coming years with Fields.  Who he picks as FAs in next two years will be huge as to how this team does.

 

Fields AND hopefully at least one if not both of our starting OTs on rookie deals. We should be pretty flush with cap space the next few years once we trim most of the dead contract weight Pace left behind this year. 

[Heinz D.]

Chiefs cut Anthony Hitchens on Tuesday. 

Definitely worth a look. 

[GBHalas]

9 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

If I had to guess today, I think we’ll hang onto Foles for 2022 and look to bring in a more similarly skilled UDFA to learn as our 2022 QB3 with the idea of them developing into being our QB2 the following year, similar to what BAL did with Tyler Huntley.

D’Eriq King seems like a great fit for that role to me. Most projections I’ve seen have him as a R7/UDFA prospect. He’s a great athlete who’s apparently a really strong leader as well, but his physical limitations (mostly his sub-6’ height coupled with an average arm) probably limit him to a career backup QB / gadget player role at the NFL level without a position switch. He’s not a guy who’s going to run the vertical passing attack the same way Fields will, but he has the skill set to run many of the same playbook concepts for the most part. 

There's a few guys that fit that description in the draft.   Two that come to mind are Skylar Thompson from Kansas State, and Dustin Crum from Kent St.  Both are mobile quarterbacks who attack the defense vertically, just not as well as Fields

[Madmike90]

3 hours ago, GBHalas said:

There's a few guys that fit that description in the draft.   Two that come to mind are Skylar Thompson from Kansas State, and Dustin Crum from Kent St.  Both are mobile quarterbacks who attack the defense vertically, just not as well as Fields

Dustin Crum is a guy I really like...think he can be a solid backup for years...

#1 development QB for me though is Eric Barriere from Eastern Washington...very easy player comparison for him is Tyler Huntley with the same kind of size, athletic ability and arm talent...more college production but of course at a lower level.

[GBHalas]

6 hours ago, Madmike90 said:

Dustin Crum is a guy I really like...think he can be a solid backup for years...

#1 development QB for me though is Eric Barriere from Eastern Washington...very easy player comparison for him is Tyler Huntley with the same kind of size, athletic ability and arm talent...more college production but of course at a lower level.

I'll have to look him up.  Haven't heard much about him.  I like Crum also, and agree he could be a solid backup with the right coaching.  There's a good chance that he'll be a UDFA also

[Madmike90]

The Panthers have already overpaid to retain two at best average players...maybe are best letting guys go out and test the open market before targeting that 2nd & 3rd wave FA.

[jumbo]

On 2/24/2022 at 1:34 PM, dll2000 said:

Bears have a number of roster spots to fill.

Pace always liked to have a reasonable starting lineup in place prior to draft so he could ostensibly go BPA.   He tried to do that up to 2019 draft with Montgomery where everyone and their brother knew he as going RB it was just a question of which RB it was going to be.   

Interesting to see how Poles does things.  

Primary need IMO is WR, OL and CB.

He will have some money to work with in coming years with Fields.  Who he picks as FAs in next two years will be huge as to how this team does.

 

 

Yes, we'll know soon what the short term plan is, either to attempt to spend the offense into credibility or to take a longer term strategy to maximize picks.  Comp picks are possible for Robinson (3rd?), Daniels (4th?), and maybe Hicks and Nichols.  Obviously there will be a lot of FA signings to round out the roster, so we'll be lucky to end up with any. 

 

Comp picks aside, it will be telling to watch the first wave of FA pass with no signings.  To me, this is likely what will happen, as this wave is for teams that are a player away or teams with little talent looking to attract big names.  The second wave and/or targeting street free agents could indicate to what extent Poles will play the comp pick game.  In all likelihood, he will not have the luxury to do that until this organization improves their drafting enough to lose players to FA like Baltimore, Green Bay, etc.  

Poles may just have to spend more than he would like this offseason to address the OL, CB, and WR.  Knowing that Nickelback and Slot WR are starting spots, this is 6 starters before you get to LB and 3T.  Eight starters is a lot to bring in for any team.  Let's say those starters average $8MM/year, that leaves roughly $15-20MM to sign minimum contracts and the draft class to fill out the roster (This is based on roughly $65-70MM of cap space through cuts/restructures).  

I think we'll see maybe 3-4 starters at or above this value and the rest will be bargain type players looking for the upswing, not terribly unlike Pace's first few FA seasons.  

 

I spend too much time thinking about this given that it's only a couple weeks away.  

[dll2000]

43 minutes ago, jumbo said:

Comp picks aside, it will be telling to watch the first wave of FA pass with no signings.  To me, this is likely what will happen, as this wave is for teams that are a player away or teams with little talent looking to attract big names. 

Maybe.  I think you can go first wave if the guy is going to be a staple for next 3-4 years at a key position.

Key positions for me always being QB, CB, OT, Ball Hawking safety and Edge.

Definitely not for any G, LB, TE, RB, DL, WR or S.  

That being said Bears have a lot of holes to fill so you may have to.

You absolutely need WR, CB and OL but also ...

Let's count the starting or starting rotational holes to fill in FA and draft as represented by ? marks:

QB is Fields and Foles - though Foles will be looking to leave if possible I think.  

So your starting OL as it stands today is Jenkins, Whitehair, ?, ? Borom.  That is assuming Jenkins and Borom can handle it.   

Your WRs are Mooney, ?, ? Newsome as 4th maybe and Mooney is a 2.   

Your RB is Monty and Herbert - that is fine. 

Your TEs are Kmet and Jesse James.  - not great, but whatever.  

Your DTs are Tonga and Blackson (that requires both depth and rotational upgrades) so lets put two ?'s there.

Your edge are Quinn, Mack, Gipson and Edwards - so that is good.

ILB is Smith and ? and ?

Corners are Johnson, Graham and Vildor - that needs an upgrade so lets put at least one ? marks here to make it just bad and not horrendous.   

Saftey is Jackson and ?  

So Bears have to fill at least 10 essentially starter spots in FA and draft.

That is a lot.  This years decisions will remake team in a lot of ways. 

Plus you have to think are Quinn and Mack going to be here next season (2023)?  Likely one or both will be gone.  You may even lose one this year.  You have to start looking to replace those guys.  

Eddie Jackson is likely to be gone next year.  And so on.