Random Thoughts - Offseason 2024

[AZBearsFan]

23 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I don’t know what market is for Jenkins, but I know it would be cheaper now than if he ‘proves himself’.  That is my point.  And that I would like to keep him.

I heard a few Bears podcasters picking this same idea up this week.  

I really don’t like that NFL system has us rooting for guys to be signed as cheaply as possible.   

It’s imperfect for sure, but the alternative is the Yankees and Dodgers just buying all the good players. At least this is a level(ish) playing field. 

[dll2000]

18 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

I feel like he’s had a difficult time his entire life convincing people in public that he plays football. Like the randoms at a bar probably assume if he’s a football player at all, he must be a kicker. 

He can’t get into bars yet.  They need a real ID.  

[soulman]

8 hours ago, Ty21 said:

So Hard Knocks revealed again the Bear were a little uncouth about their wanton desire for Odunze. They played it off before like they were ice cold in waiting for Odunze to fall to them, but they had several contingencies in place or merely attempted, including a recent reveal that the bears would’ve traded 1.9, a 3 and 4 to move up to 1.6 and a 5th if MHJ and Nabers were off the board by then. The Giants’ assumption was that it would be for Joe Alt and the Giants would take Odunze at 9, had no idea the bears were in love with Odunze (but neither did we). 

Post draft tales always interest me.  There's whole lot of 3D chess being played at the top of round one.  Poles willingness to trade that much shows how badly he wanted Odunze and he's been far more right than wrong with his early picks.

[dll2000]

Billings is most underrated and least talked about good player on our team IMO.

 

[dll2000]

How it started:

How it is going:

https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2024/7/25/24205786/chicago-bears-caleb-williams-justin-fields-ryan-poles-a-scouts-take-its-time-to-say-i-was-wrong

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, dll2000 said:

How it started:

How it is going:

https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2024/7/25/24205786/chicago-bears-caleb-williams-justin-fields-ryan-poles-a-scouts-take-its-time-to-say-i-was-wrong

I'm not worried about Gabriel being wrong, him being a total dickbag about Williams was the bigger issue. 

His "apology" seemed more like a cop out than anything. lol 

[dll2000]

54 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

I'm not worried about Gabriel being wrong, him being a total dickbag about Williams was the bigger issue. 

His "apology" seemed more like a cop out than anything. lol 

A lot of the guys on social media advocating to keep Fields also decided to bad mouth Williams.  

A lot of them went back and deleted a lot of stuff they said.   They did it because they have to keep talking about Bears and Caleb is the guy now.  Not sure why they wouldn't see that future scenario as a strong possibility and eased back a little.  But many were very sure they were right.  Fields was staying.  Pick was being traded.   

I always thought it was okay to have the opinion to want to keep Fields and use the picks to surround him with more talent.  I would even say usually the draft haul in a big trade outweighs the player side historically.  It is not an unreasonable position to take.  I am usually on side of getting a big draft haul in most situations.    

But so many social media posters and youtubers went so much farther.  Caleb is gay.  Caleb can't control his emotions.  Caleb is a diva.  Everyone at USC hates Caleb.  Scouts have taken him of their boards.  USC team was better without him and on and on.

And then embraced every conspiracy theory that said no way was Poles taking Caleb or trading Fields.   My barber who also cuts Brisker's hair said it.   The media has no information.  Poles would never do that.  Whatever.

Conversely, they kind of rewrote Fields on field play.  They gave him no flaws.  Blaming everything on everyone else but him.  

It was a crazy time.  Greg was in center of a lot of it.  On the anti-Caleb side.  He took some negative rumors and ran with them as Gospel truth. 

Again whatever.  I don't hate anyone.  Anyone can be wrong.  Greg is right about a lot of things too.  

[dll2000]

Wilson has a calf injury and Fields is taking number 1 reps.

 

[AZBearsFan]

2 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Wilson has a calf injury and Fields is taking number 1 reps.

 

The +1600 ticket I got on his first snap of 2024 to be with PIT doesn’t care if he starts. He only needs one snap lol.

Worst case scenario for Wilson though. If Fields looks solid without all the Chicago pressure on him then Russ’ seat is gonna get super hot super quick. 

[soulman]

8 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Billings is most underrated and least talked about good player on our team IMO.

 

He's like "Spice" v2.0.  Stocky but fairly quick and athletic.

[soulman]

Gabe can be abrasive but he also comes stocked with a hell of a lot of experience in personnel matters.  Many of us believed the hype on CW was too good.  Too positive.  And many of us believed the issues with JF were not that bad.

That was in March and April.  Now we see it differently and so does Gabe.  Give him credit for admitting he was wrong.  That's something very few of the media types will ever do.  They'll claim they never said half the stuff they actually did say.

For me what it comes down to is that while JF isn't all bad and no good he's not a fit for what the Bears wanted in a QB.  This class had QBs who were seen as a better fit and we got lucky and had our pick of the litter.  Let's hope Poles was correct.

[Ty21]

Watching hard knocks makes me wonder what it would’ve been like with Saquon. How many would’ve been pissed we paid a rb like that, everything considered. But also what the offense could’ve looked like with Saquon playing anywhere near what he was before. He had a pretty unfair ride in NYG and I think he blows up in PHI if he stays healthy. 
 

Meanwhile, I think Swift is very overhyped. Had his first good season with Philly’s incredible line. I think he doesn’t come close to that here. I’d be happy to be wrong 

[Ty21]

Still nuts what the giants got Burns for. They even mention in hard knocks that burns is worth 2 1’s. They didn’t even get one 1. 

[Sugashane]

25 minutes ago, Ty21 said:

Meanwhile, I think Swift is very overhyped. Had his first good season with Philly’s incredible line. I think he doesn’t come close to that here. I’d be happy to be wrong 

Same, I think he will break off some longer runs and will have some exciting plays, but I honestly think Herbert is a better and more consistent runner overall. Swift's receiving ability was the biggest reason for his signing IMO though. He's no CMC, but the Bears didn't have a RB that was even as big a threat catching the ball as Juszczyk before signing Swift so there was a major need.

[AZBearsFan]

1 hour ago, Sugashane said:

Same, I think he will break off some longer runs and will have some exciting plays, but I honestly think Herbert is a better and more consistent runner overall. Swift's receiving ability was the biggest reason for his signing IMO though. He's no CMC, but the Bears didn't have a RB that was even as big a threat catching the ball as Juszczyk before signing Swift so there was a major need.

Swift has averaged 4.6 yards per carry over his career (593 total carries). His 2023 average behind PHI’s stacked OL was… 4.6.

I agree about Herbert’s limitations in the passing game being why Swift was signed though. Roschon and even Homer are also assets in the passing game. Unless that’s changed for Herbert this season he may have a hard time seeing the field at all on offense.