Bears draft WR Velus Jones (Tennessee) 71st overall

[soulman]

To state the obvious this Bears draft is becoming more bizarre by the round but as far as finding value goes Poles has done well and he's filled two positions of need on defense and added a "Swiss Army Knife" type WR/KR/PR.  Now the question is......

What does Poles have up his sleeve that we aren't aware of?  Everyone here and nearly every media type and mocker had the Bears going with DL, OL, and WR as their primary focus and we walk out of the Round 2 Draft Store with two DB.  There was nothing sneaky about either pick.  Both went right about where they were ranked.

Purely as a WR Velus Jones seems to be a reach but when I look at all of the ways he can be used offensively to score points all of a sudden the pick makes sense.  Jones is somewhat like a Tyreek Hill.  Someone whose as much a weapon as he is a core type player.  But where are the OL and DL coming from?  Today will be interesting.

[Heinz D.]

21 minutes ago, Bigbear72 said:

Your real, and possibly more valid argument is that in your eyes JACKSON was the weakest part of the defense...

That was pretty much my point, yeah. 

7 minutes ago, soulman said:

Purely as a WR Velus Jones seems to be a reach but when I look at all of the ways he can be used offensively to score points all of a sudden the pick makes sense.  Jones is somewhat like a Tyreek Hill.  Someone whose as much a weapon as he is a core type player.  But where are the OL and DL coming from?  Today will be interesting.

The DL isn't a settled situation, but it's not a concern, really. It won't be an outstanding line, but it should do. Part of the beauty of the 4-3. You don't need to find unicorns to make it work. 

I don't know what to think about the OL. Hopefully Poles has some insight into that which we don't. 

[soulman]

9 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

The DL isn't a settled situation, but it's not a concern, really. It won't be an outstanding line, but it should do. Part of the beauty of the 4-3. You don't need to find unicorns to make it work. 

I don't know what to think about the OL. Hopefully Poles has some insight into that which we don't. 

This is what I was thinking about when I wondered what else Poles has up his sleeve.  He couldn't draft Hall because Hall went at the top of Round 2 and Winfrey fell all the way down to Round 4 where we don't have a pick.  I'd say there's at least some chance Ogunjobi will be signed again once he's closer to being able to practice and play.  Either that of Poles has his eye on another late round hopeful

[Heinz D.]

6 minutes ago, soulman said:

I'd say there's at least some chance Ogunjobi will be signed again once he's closer to being able to practice and play.  

That's a real possibility, for sure. 

[MonserinNC]

What worries me about age isn't the longevity but the evaluation in college

Like he's a 25 years old playing against 19-21 year olds...... how will he look against other grown men

[soulman]

11 minutes ago, MonserinNC said:

What worries me about age isn't the longevity but the evaluation in college

Like he's a 25 years old playing against 19-21 year olds...... how will he look against other grown men

Oh.....I'd say taller than a few but much shorter than some.   😁

[soulman]

"I run through the smoke" - Velus Jones

 

Nickname for Jones; The Velvet Smoke.

[JAF-N72EX]

Belichick went 3 for 4....and not in a good way.

 

[soulman]

All no more than an opinion based on subjective rankings for one thing and also not having any thought given to how well a certain player may fit a particular team.  The other issue not considered by any of this is......

What happens when a player you like well enough to draft (we'll use Velus Jones) is there for you to take in round three but you feel he won't last until you pick again early in round five.  With Jones this is more than likely an accurate viewpoint.

You have to take that player then if you don't want to risk losing him and clearly the Bears had him ranked highly enough to believe he still offered value at pick #71 and because we had no 4th round period so it was quite possibly then or never.

Over drafted vs under drafted is a nice way to keep draft junkies entertained post draft but in the final analysis it doesn't mean much when players like Charles Leno (7th round) have had long NFL careers while the Kevin Whites (1st) round are no longer around.

Edited May 1, 2022 by soulman

[Sugashane]

Honestly I barely even looked at him when I saw he was 25 but watching him I could definitely see him getting some designed go-plays and acts as a safety net if they use Kmet to push the seam. Just get the ball in his hands and have the other 9 guys blocking (Fields stays TF away lol) and he could be . Dude is crazy athletic and made some major chunk plays vs FLA. He seems like he is a space monster who occasionally will run a post or flag to keep you honest

I think they are thinking the same thing and hoping to carve out the Tyreek Hill or Samuel role with those kind of designed one man routes. I can see him getting used the way Hester SHOULD have been used rather than being a traditional WR. Daunte Hall as a WR more than anything.

I'm not crazy about the pick but a few time of getting huge chunks after making a guy miss in space and I'll likely change my tune really quick.

[AZBearsFan]

8 hours ago, Sugashane said:

Honestly I barely even looked at him when I saw he was 25 but watching him I could definitely see him getting some designed go-plays and acts as a safety net if they use Kmet to push the seam. Just get the ball in his hands and have the other 9 guys blocking (Fields stays TF away lol) and he could be . Dude is crazy athletic and made some major chunk plays vs FLA. He seems like he is a space monster who occasionally will run a post or flag to keep you honest

I think they are thinking the same thing and hoping to carve out the Tyreek Hill or Samuel role with those kind of designed one man routes. I can see him getting used the way Hester SHOULD have been used rather than being a traditional WR. Daunte Hall as a WR more than anything.

I'm not crazy about the pick but a few time of getting huge chunks after making a guy miss in space and I'll likely change my tune really quick.

Right. It’s all about how they use him. Sure didn’t seem like in the intro press conference they’re expecting him to be a complete receiver. And to the extent that we need day 1 contributors I think what he can do and what they envision him doing in 2022 should work right away because it’s the less complicated stuff that he already does well. It seems they’re looking for him to be a manufactured touch YAC guy in a WR3-4 role right away. That should play right away in that role while he (hopefully) broadens his skill set to include more as time progresses.  

[Madmike90]

If this is true it's a very intrieging development...put it this was...not going to put him in the Deebo conversation since those comparisons are just unfair...but lets say he has the same kind of season Cordarrelle Patterson just had...would anyone be unhappy with the pick then?

 

[Nads786]

1 hour ago, Madmike90 said:

If this is true it's a very intrieging development...put it this was...not going to put him in the Deebo conversation since those comparisons are just unfair...but lets say he has the same kind of season Cordarrelle Patterson just had...would anyone be unhappy with the pick then?

 

Or Devin Hester. I feel much better about this pick of it was targeted and thought out rather than “we need a WR.”

[AZBearsFan]

1 hour ago, Madmike90 said:

If this is true it's a very intrieging development...put it this was...not going to put him in the Deebo conversation since those comparisons are just unfair...but lets say he has the same kind of season Cordarrelle Patterson just had...would anyone be unhappy with the pick then?

 

I think the Deebo stuff was “use him like Deebo is used” and not “we think he’s the next Deebo.” Samuel is a very unique talent in that he’s the YAC freak/RB attribute guy but also a pretty developed route runner at this point too. Nobody should expect that version of Deebo as a rookie from Jones even if you LOVE the pick. Even rookie Deebo (57/802/3 receiving, 14/159/3 rushing) would be well beyond my expectations. That’d be an absolute home run. 

2021 Patterson on the whole (1162 yards and 11 TD) would be a ridiculously high bar to set but if you’re talking just his receiving (52/548/5) that seems attainable depending on usage. If Jones is their primary WR3 from go I could see him getting enough targets for something like that in a very specific role. I’ve been thinking 2020 Mecole Hardman (62 targets (3.6/game) with a slash line 41/560/4, plus some jet sweep action and PR/KR usage) as their target for him which is pretty well in line with that. 

[Madmike90]

1 hour ago, AZBearsFan said:

I think the Deebo stuff was “use him like Deebo is used” and not “we think he’s the next Deebo.” Samuel is a very unique talent in that he’s the YAC freak/RB attribute guy but also a pretty developed route runner at this point too. Nobody should expect that version of Deebo as a rookie from Jones even if you LOVE the pick. Even rookie Deebo (57/802/3 receiving, 14/159/3 rushing) would be well beyond my expectations. That’d be an absolute home run. 

2021 Patterson on the whole (1162 yards and 11 TD) would be a ridiculously high bar to set but if you’re talking just his receiving (52/548/5) that seems attainable depending on usage. If Jones is their primary WR3 from go I could see him getting enough targets for something like that in a very specific role. I’ve been thinking 2020 Mecole Hardman (62 targets (3.6/game) with a slash line 41/560/4, plus some jet sweep action and PR/KR usage) as their target for him which is pretty well in line with that. 

I think much like the staff have said you don't want to put a ceiling on anyone...no on the surface he isn't as talented as Deebo and more than likely Getsy isn't as talented at scheming up touches for him as Shanahan is...also no doubt from the rushing standpoint the numbers Patterson gave the Falcoms would be unlikely given we have proper RBs but if he can give you that essence of teams having to know where he is lined up on any snap that alone is worth a ton...I think Hardman's stat line is a far call but I could see Jones doing more just simply because we don't have as much talent to spread the ball too...if he goes for 550+ yards receiving & 200+ yards rushing in year 1 that is a success story...anything more and he will have been a real factor for us.