2024 Draft Prospects Thread

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

No one really knows what Fields is going to be.  I'm hopeful but can absolutely see reasons why it might not work, but judging last year on mumbers or without context really misses the point. 

He was a pocket passer all his career, behind a great OL, who liked to throw deep.  Faced with an abysmal OL and a receiver cast of mostly rejects especially later in the year, he transformed his play style completely and put the entire offense on his back and carried it down the field.  That's not at all who he was in college, or the previous year, and he did it because it was the only way to move the ball.  It was a heroic performance and frankly I'm a little sad all those one score games went wrong, and the tank kept him hobbled, as it was absolutely incredible play even in a lost season.

That's the context that you need to evaluate last year.  Not his game style at all, but he was the only option.  That's why I'm hopeful he can show what he really is with better talent around him.  His biggest issue is he's so damn slow to move the ball, not sure if he's processing slow in game time or if he's wired to wait for things to open up, probably both.   We'll see, but last year he was pretty much inventing his own position so evaluating him like all the other QBs doesn't give a good final result.  

The big shadow on my expectations for this year is the OL.   He seems like he's always going to hold on to the ball no matter what I yell at the TV, so if you wanted to see his peak performance you needed to prioritize OL.   If everything Poles had done had worked out I feel like we'd still be maybe a top 15 OL, and a lot of these guys are now playing different spots and coming off injury to boot, and our best OL to date is somehow probably getting hurt right now on the bench. We'll see I guess.

[Ty21]

@beardown3231 edit the thread title to “Race for the #1 pick 2.0”

[Epyon]

imagine how much better this team would be if we could draft any 2 of the best pass rusher, 3t, or WR then put the 2nd/3rd into the OL because we already had the QB problem solved.

Then imagine how Maye or Williams is gonna have the same OL.

[beardown3231]

10 hours ago, Ty21 said:

@beardown3231 edit the thread title to “Race for the #1 pick 2.0”

Remember when @Madmike90 said no way and then I called him out on it in January and he said "yeah but remember when you said Fields wasn't the future?!" He got me so good that day

Edited September 11, 2023 by beardown3231

[beardown3231]

8 hours ago, Epyon said:

imagine how much better this team would be if we could draft any 2 of the best pass rusher, 3t, or WR then put the 2nd/3rd into the OL because we already had the QB problem solved.

Then imagine how Maye or Williams is gonna have the same OL.

It's the Bears. That will never happen

On a serious note they could use that second #1 on Sedrick Van Pran (if it's in the teens) to address the C issue. They could take JC Latham to compete with Jones. They'll be ok there, but like you said, that pushes defense to round 2 at that stage

Edited September 11, 2023 by beardown3231

[Ty21]

9 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

Remember when @Madmike90 said no way and then I called him out on it in January and he said "yeah but remember when you said Fields wasn't the future?!" He got me so good that day

I never thought I’d meet a bears fan more embittered and sarcastic than me 

[Ty21]

9 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

It's the Bears. That will never happen

On a serious note they could use that second #1 on Sedrick Van Pran (if it's in the teens) to address the C issue. They could take JC Latham to compete with Jones. They'll be ok there, but like you said, that pushes defense to round 2 at that stage

SVP literally makes no sense for us. Center isn’t an issue because you can just move your highly talented LG there whenever you want. We need to draft 37 mid DTs instead. 

[Bigbear72]

1 minute ago, Ty21 said:

SVP literally makes no sense for us. Center isn’t an issue because you can just move your highly talented LG there whenever you want. We need to draft 37 mid DTs instead. 

This is the most ridiculous statement that has been made in this forum since we moved over from the old platform. Anything over 35 mid DTs is overkill. Come on @Ty21, you're better than this brother.

[Ty21]

1 minute ago, Bigbear72 said:

This is the most ridiculous statement that has been made in this forum since we moved over from the old platform. Anything over 35 mid DTs is overkill. Come on @Ty21, you're better than this brother.

I will do better.

 

but Eberflus probably won’t

[Bigbear72]

Just now, Ty21 said:

but Eberflus probably won’t

This statement just made me cry Man Tears.

[beardown3231]

49 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

SVP literally makes no sense for us. Center isn’t an issue because you can just move your highly talented LG there whenever you want. We need to draft 37 mid DTs instead. 

Really happy this regime took Brisker and Gordon with their first ever 2 picks. Both guys look like solid but not great players. Anytime you can try to fix the phase that has made you even remotely relevant for the last 2 decades rather than an offense stuck in 1945, you have to do it. King Poles does it again!

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

Was watching the game (increasingly silently) with some people and one of them said the team was **** because they had no plan, which really stuck with me.  I don't think the problem is that the FO has no plan, it's that it's a bad plan, executed poorly and that they're bad at evaluating talent.  They wanted to tear it all down last year, except for signing an epensive 3T, but also wanted to evaluate Fields but also didn't want to give him any time to throw or people to throw to, but then they fell for him anyway, and to help him out added more carefully curated interior OL who would match their "traits" of not practicing and being injured, and then, lo and behold, actually drafted at OT but still managed to put out an atrocious OL anyway, and while it's wise to stay focused on the big picture, they've now laid an absolute egg to start the season on the worst possible note since 2019.  

They might have nice clean contracts and a young roster, but they run the real risk of wasting another season and still not having a QB.  I genuinely don't understand how they can exist in the modern NFL, and still manage to not pair this particular QB with a quality OL is beyond me.  Aside from a few freaks, no QB looks good behind a crap OL and I think it's increasingly clear this QB is going to never look good with bad OL at least at passing.  The right amount of OL investment for me would be enough that people were complaining we left the cupboard bare at LB, RB or other positions because we spent too much on the line.  Then again, the talent they've brought in on OL has been bad in many interesting ways so maybe it's best they left those poor guys alone.  It's a long season, but if this game is representative of who the Bears are going to be they should trade Fields for a late round pick and at least give him a chance to play football somewhere else. 

Another serious concern I have is understanding what this coaching staff is good at.  We might not have brought in an offensive minded or innovative play calling HC, but instead we got someone who was supposed to put together a disciplined and prepared team, and holy crap these guys look like they hate each other and came up with the game plan on the way out the tunnel.  If this is what they bring to the table, what week do we start getting mad at George again for taking too long?

Lot of games to play,  but wow did this game make a statement. 

[HuskieBear]

bears and panthers are gonna finish 1-2 and were gonna draft both Williams and Maye then they're both gonna get hit by a bus because its the bears and i expect nothing less

[StLunatic88]

34 minutes ago, HuskieBear said:

bears and panthers are gonna finish 1-2 and were gonna draft both Williams and Maye then they're both gonna get hit by a bus because its the bears and i expect nothing less

 

[Madmike90]

4 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

Remember when @Madmike90 said no way and then I called him out on it in January and he said "yeah but remember when you said Fields wasn't the future?!" He got me so good that day

Great story man 👍🏻