Quick Mid-April Mock

[Sugashane]

As always this has nothing to do with what Pace will do.

Offseason

 

Cap Remaining - $27.6

 

Remaining Free Agent Signings

S – Kenny Vaccaro – 1 year $2.5 mil

He isn’t someone I want starting, but he can back up both safety spots. I have not seen anything from Bush, Houston-Carson, or Hall to suggest they are more than special teamers. Vaccarro might even be able to sub in as a hybrid LB in obvious passing downs for speed.

 

Draft –

Round 1

1[1] Cleveland Browns: QB Sam Darnold [USC]
1[2] NY Giants: DE Bradley Chubb [North Carolina St]
1[3] NY Jets [Ind]: QB Josh Allen [Wyoming]
1[4] Cleveland Browns [Hou]: RB Saquan Barkley [Penn St]
1[5] Denver Broncos: QB Josh Rosen [UCLA]
1[6] Indianapolis Colts [NYJ]: OG Quenton Nelson [Notre Dame]
1[7] Tampa Bay: Denzel Ward [OSU]

1[8] ***Bears trade this pick, a 4th and a 2019 3rd to BUF for 1 [12], 1[22] ***

BUF picks Mayfield to get the QB they want. He will own the locker room and give an alpha personality.  I’m not big on his character, but others will look past it because he absolutely is atalented.

 

1[12] Chicago: EDGE Marcus Davenport

-        He has warts as all the EDGE rushers do but Fangio gets his Aldon Smith 2.0. Putting him here is how successful Fangio was with Smith, hopefully we can replicate that with Davenport who has none of the baggage Smith does. He pairs with Floyd to allow us to have serious talent on the edges.

1[22] Chicago: 5T Taven Bryan

 

-        The Bears continue to stock up on passrushers, with Landry gone they look at passrushers on the DL and find a gem in Bryan. The pass rush in SF was amazing not just because of Aldon Smith, but in large part due to Justin Smith (27.324% chance that is Taven’s real father BTW) causing disruption from the edge. Now we have a duo on BOTH sides in Hicks/Davenport and Bryan/Floyd for offenses to deal with. Then in nickel all 4 can go on the DL and pin their ears back. That leaves Bullard as a primary sub for the DTs in nickel, and RRH and Lynch as the primary for DEs in nickel. Bryan needs to be coached up but is a physical specimen with a motor that gets him comarisons to JJ Watt (though he won’t ever be near that good of course).

2 [39] ***Bears trade this pick to IND for 2 [49], 3[67] ***

2[49] C Billy Price

-        With the top 4 OTs off the board, Nelson gone over 30 picks before, and Wynn and Hernandez gone, the Bears land the top rated OL right now. Price is fast, strong, and mean. With Long, Price, and Whitehair (moving to G) the Bears now own a top 3 interior OL. Nagy was also VERY apt to use pulling lineman, and IIRC they were one of the tops in the league for pulls/trap frequency. With the athletic interior, this trend continues in Chicago and we now have our worst athlete in Massie. That is a hell of a positive.

3[67] CB Perry Nickerson [TUL]

-        Freak athlete but he is thin for his height. He ran a 4.32 40 so he has speed for days, and allows us to really match up our CBs with the personnel of the opposing team. Fuller can play off and match with the best guys, Amukamara can press on the possession guy and Nickerson can match up with the burners of the league. A year or two in the NFL strength program and he will be physically able to come up and take over for Amukara opposite Fuller. The kid is simply a ballhawk, and he plays off and press both. So if Fuller or Amukamara go down, we have an outside BC able to walk in and fill a role.

4 [105] WR Antonio Callaway [FLA]

-        He is a monster talent, Nagy dealt with Hill who had a few issues and fell, and we can get a talent in the 4^th here like that. He isn’t the track star Hill is, but he is a much more refined talent and would be a 1^st round pick if he had a clean record. I disagree with Meredith being let go for so little, but will trust Pace and Nagy to focus on getting another young talent to replace him. Right now we have Robinson (great), Gabriel (ok – has a role as speed guy but isn’t a #2 at all), Burton (love the signing, but Gator homerism aside he is a projection), White (seems too fragile), Fowler (ok depth but is a special teamer) and Ayers and Bellamy (special teamer talents only). We need a high ceiling talent here, bad. Callaway is the guy we can get without spending a 1^st or 2^nd.

 

5 [145] QB Alex McGough [FIU]

-        The Bears have a major need for a developmental back up. Alex is an athlete comparable to Trubisky, and he has NFL talent. This is a chance to redshirt him and let him learn Nagy’s system, and then in 2019 and beyond if we have Tru go down we have a similar athlete with comparable physical gifts, so the offense does not need to change as much as with a pure pocket or just raw athlete. The Bears have competition for his services though, McDaniels and the Pats have already had him in for a meeting, as did KC and Reid.  Oh yeah, IND with Reich did as well. We want to get in and take him before we have to hope for a QB next year.

6[181] OG Skyler Phillips

-        This guy is a monster. Very raw, so Heistand has a project player, but when he gets low and drive blocks he can remind you of Kreutz. As some bad weight but at 324 he can lose 20 pounds and will get more athleticism. That is an interesting factor considering he ran the 40 in 5.1. Seeing some of his clips he reminds me of a Incognito clone, though not a douchebag from anything I have read. He will be able to physically compete from day one, and with some refinement he can be groomed to replace Long who will be 30 this season, and has questionable health.  

7[224] ATH Jordan Mailata

-        6’8”, 345 pounds, athletic frame, thick legs, 35.5 in arm length, 11 inch hands, had great movement and CoD skills for an OL, and played Rugby with a violent punch that can be used in pass protection. Hiestand is an OL guru, so we should get him a raw talent with amazing upside if available for the pennies of a 7^th round pick. I would pepper him in the first year, Burton sucked something fierce at FB so having him do some short yard blocks, PAT attempts, etc as a rookie and sub in as a blocking TE if we get a blowout and try to run the clock out (I don’t want Shaheen or T Burton out there in those situations) then let him have a limited role to adapt to NFL speed. The guy is a freakish athlete for his size, so I’d throw him on defense for FG block potential as well, and he has the athletic ability to play a 5T as well. Being so raw though, give him to the most proven talent developing coach and let him redshirt this year. Before laughing the Steelers have already had him visit, as have the Eagles, Browns, and Chargers. Plus he is only 21, so he has years to develop.

 

 

Depth

QB – Trubisky, Daniels, McGough

HB – Howard, Cohen, Cunningham

FB – N/A – Mailata fills role on goal line

WR – Robinson, Gabriel, Callaway, White/Fowler/Gentry/Ayers, Bellamy

TE – Shaheen,  Burton *, Brown. Sims         * Burton really will be more of a slot WR, spending over 50% of his snaps split out wide

LT – Leno

LG- Long, Watford

C- Price, Kush, Grasu

RG – Whitehair

RT – Massie, Morgan (swing), Sowell, Mailata

 

RE – Hicks, Bulllard

NT – Goldman, Jenkins

LE – Bryan, Robertson-Harris

ROLB – Davenport, Lynch

MIKE – Trevathan, Acho, Timu

JACK – Kwiatkoski

LOLB – Floyd, Irving

CB – Fuller, Amukamara, Nickerson, Cooper

NB – Nickerson, Callahan, LeBlanc

FS – Jackson, Vaccaro, Hall/Houston-Carson

SS – Amos, Vaccaro, Bush

 

K-Parkey

P – O’Donnell

LS - Scales

[WindyCity]

We severely rip off both teams in those trades.

By the trade value chart we are committing a pretty serious crime.

[dll2000]

Who went 9, 10 and 11?

 

 

[Sugashane]

2 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Who went 9, 10 and 11?

 

 

I may be WAY off, other than a quick look at team needs I do zero research on other teams. But I did a mock up to our pick at 22.

 

1[9] - SF takes ILB Tremaine Edmunds

1[10] - OAK takes CB Josh Jackson

1[11] - MIA takes ILB Roquan Smith

1[12] - We took Davenport

1[13] - WAS takes Minkah Fitzpatrick to fill the void left by trading Fuller

1[14] - GB takes OLB Landry

1[15] - AZ takes QB Larmar Jackson - They Bradford and Glennon... come on...

1[16] - BAL takes S Derwin James

1[17] - LAC takes NT Vita Vea

1[18] - SEA takes OT Mike McGlinchey

1[19] - DAL takes WR Calvin Ridley

1[20] - DET takes OG Will Hernandez

1[21] - CIN takes OT Connor Williams

1[22] - We take Taven Bryan

[Sugashane]

49 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

We severely rip off both teams in those trades.

By the trade value chart we are committing a pretty serious crime.

The trade value chart's major flaw is positional value being picked up. It isn't a factor at all in iut, and in reality it should be. The difference between drafting a DE, OLB, or OT is negligible. But if you're going hard for a QB, the stakes are raised, the pick you acquire them at is more valuable than the OL, DLs, or any other position.

This likely had BUF, AZ, MIA, and LAC all looking to move up. Some reports even have NE trying to move up. Best deal won.

 

 

[dll2000]

I think GB wants Landry too.

Didn't Price get an injury that's supposed to last into the season?  Probably drives him down a bit more, but he is a good player.  Interesting to see where he goes.

 

 

 

[beardown3231]

55 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

We severely rip off both teams in those trades.

By the trade value chart we are committing a pretty serious crime.

Trading a 1st, 3rd and 4th for two firsts is ripping Buffalo off?

[dll2000]

Price is supposed to be ready by June according to google.  Not sure I believe that ahead of a draft, but project that out to August and I would still be okay with making that pick.

 

 

[Sugashane]

3 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

I think GB wants Landry too.

Didn't Price get an injury that's supposed to last into the season?  Probably drives him down a bit more, but he is a good player.  Interesting to see where he goes.

He hurt his pec benching.  That is the only reason he makes it to us. He likely was a late first to very early second.  What I have read was that he'd be 100% well before the season though.

[dll2000]

I don't know anything about the guys outside the top 3 picks, but just those 3 would make for a good draft class.

You have to figure at least one of those three would pan into a very good player and perhaps all 3.

 

 

 

[Sugashane]

6 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

Trading a 1st, 3rd and 4th for two firsts is ripping Buffalo off?

 

And the third being in 2019 is likely valued as an early to mid round 4th if using the point scale.

[beardown3231]

53 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

 

And the third being in 2019 is likely valued as an early to mid round 4th if using the point scale.

That trade seems like BS. I wouldn’t be thrilled with that trade. 

[Sugashane]

14 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

That trade seems like BS. I wouldn’t be thrilled with that trade. 

I respectfully disagree, I think you overvalue midround picks then.

 

Look at the Mohomes trade to 10 last year.

The Buffalo Bills received the 27th pick, which they used to select LSU cornerback Tre’Davious White, plus a third-rounder (No. 91) and a 2018 first-rounder (22nd this year).

 

So BUF moved back 17 spots, got a 3rd in THAT year, and a pretty obvious late first from the Chiefs the following year.

The Bears would move back only 4 spots, and give up a 4th this year and a 3rd rounder next year (which again isn't valued as high as if it were this year). We get two firsts this year. The 3rd is easy to recoup as we have seen, and 4th rounders are even easier to get back. Pace could get both back in a single tradeback in the 2nd if he chose.

 

I get that Pace has been pretty damn good in the mid rounds, but the top talents are usually in the first round. You can point out a few guys who are top shelf from any round, you can name a lot more in the first. We have a lot of pretty good players, but we don't have anybody who is dominant on defense at all besides Hicks, who plays a ridiculous amount of snaps for a 330 pound man. Pace seems to understand that we need star players, as he went and got the best FA WR in Robinson. We need to do that on defense now.

 

We have a lot of talented players, but outside of Hicks we have

Floyd - talented, but isn't a dominant pass rusher. May be able to if he can stay healthy and have talent opposite of him

Fuller - had a great year, hopefully he progresses further and grabs the #1 role by the short and curlies for the next 6-8 years.

Trevathan - solid starter, but no one will ever confuse him with an elite ILB.

Amos - had a great year as Fuller did, but needs to show he isn't a one year wonder. Hopefully he learns to catch so Hicks stops calling him "spatula hands."

Goldman - stud vs the run, big corpse in the 4th. Get his reps down a bit and maybe he can be our version of Ngata, with a but more pass rush.

Amukamara - solid number two, rarely produces takeaways but doesn't blow many plays (the anti-Cooper)

Jackson - looked special at times, made a lot of rookie mistakes. May be a steal, but he isn't looking like Weddle or Troy yet. Hopefgully he keeps growing under Donatell.

Bullard, Kwiatkoski, Callahan, RRH and Lynch all have talent but aren't scaring anyone. Hopefully one or more advances and becomes a linchpin for the defense for the foreseeable future, but would you bet money on them ever being top 20 at their spots? I wouldn't, and hope Pace wants more options as well.

 

We seriously need some star talents to thrive.

[TB 1]

3 hours ago, WindyCity said:

We severely rip off both teams in those trades.

By the trade value chart we are committing a pretty serious crime.

Teams overpay to trade up for QB's.

[TB 1]

45 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

I respectfully disagree, I think you overvalue midround picks then.

 

Look at the Mohomes trade to 10 last year.

The Buffalo Bills received the 27th pick, which they used to select LSU cornerback Tre’Davious White, plus a third-rounder (No. 91) and a 2018 first-rounder (22nd this year).

 

So BUF moved back 17 spots, got a 3rd in THAT year, and a pretty obvious late first from the Chiefs the following year.

The Bears would move back only 4 spots, and give up a 4th this year and a 3rd rounder next year (which again isn't valued as high as if it were this year). We get two firsts this year. The 3rd is easy to recoup as we have seen, and 4th rounders are even easier to get back. Pace could get both back in a single tradeback in the 2nd if he chose.

 

I get that Pace has been pretty damn good in the mid rounds, but the top talents are usually in the first round. You can point out a few guys who are top shelf from any round, you can name a lot more in the first. We have a lot of pretty good players, but we don't have anybody who is dominant on defense at all besides Hicks, who plays a ridiculous amount of snaps for a 330 pound man. Pace seems to understand that we need star players, as he went and got the best FA WR in Robinson. We need to do that on defense now.

 

We have a lot of talented players, but outside of Hicks we have

Floyd - talented, but isn't a dominant pass rusher. May be able to if he can stay healthy and have talent opposite of him

Fuller - had a great year, hopefully he progresses further and grabs the #1 role by the short and curlies for the next 6-8 years.

Trevathan - solid starter, but no one will ever confuse him with an elite ILB.

Amos - had a great year as Fuller did, but needs to show he isn't a one year wonder. Hopefully he learns to catch so Hicks stops calling him "spatula hands."

Goldman - stud vs the run, big corpse in the 4th. Get his reps down a bit and maybe he can be our version of Ngata, with a but more pass rush.

Amukamara - solid number two, rarely produces takeaways but doesn't blow many plays (the anti-Cooper)

Jackson - looked special at times, made a lot of rookie mistakes. May be a steal, but he isn't looking like Weddle or Troy yet. Hopefgully he keeps growing under Donatell.

Bullard, Kwiatkoski, Callahan, RRH and Lynch all have talent but aren't scaring anyone. Hopefully one or more advances and becomes a linchpin for the defense for the foreseeable future, but would you bet money on them ever being top 20 at their spots? I wouldn't, and hope Pace wants more options as well.

 

We seriously need some star talents to thrive.

I like the trade down and good mock draft. We agree the  Bears need another edge rusher and Davenport has a chance to be good. Like the DL and OL picks after. You never have enough lineman.