Chisoxfn

Why is Landry off the market? I assume Browns are moving him or cutting him. Michael Thomas is probably on market as is Metcalf, both would be great...but I think both of them will cost more than Cooper (since Cowboys had very little to no leverage). The nice thing about Cooper is you don't have to play the FA game and you can keep him 1 or 3 years and whenever you are done you cut him with zero impact to your cap.

Man. I was a big fan of getting Cooper. He isn't the best and might be slightly overpaid, but you acquire him and you basically can go year by year with him and cut him at any point with zero rammifications. I know Bears are thin on draft capital but knowing that if I were in charge I'd still have at least a few more picks coming my way (i.e, from a Quinn trade) I would have pulled the trigger on this deal and than still taken another wideout with one of the 2nd round picks. But oh well - we'll see what Poles can do.

What was the return?

I was in your camp and thought he was taking about Nintendo. Too scared to google it so I won’t. For the record I liked the wii reference.

I would have liked him at that price. I’ll take elite d combo up the middle and it’s a nice depth move if Tim goes down too.

Check that - 35 to 36M now with ability to get it up to 40M. Next year they are now a little more than 140M under the cap.

I think they don’t know what they are doing. I don’t think the White Sox adequately know how to value the free agent marketplace. I think they got caught with their pants down in their valuations and offseason plans going back to start of free agency. They can absolutely overcome it and have plenty of time to make this team better - but right now this is a worse team than it was last year in my opinion. Note: It is still a very good team though.

Yeah - I think they are over 40M in cap space now and could get as high as 45 depending on how they handle Danny T. My presumption is they will use that cap space on an olineman and wideout (I think they trade for a wideout vs fa market).

I prefer him vs the boards picks of Comforto and Castellanos.

That was the point. Rodon over Kimbrel was the smarter play all day. If they just wanted flexibility do neither. Plus Rodon at 1yr 18M if he did accept is just fine of a risk for a team that could manage his innings and certainly benefit greatly if he was healthy (which I believe he is).

Nope - they misread the market on Rodon. If they didn’t want to go multi-year with him fine, but this was a bad use of an asset, plain and simple.

And this is where I say screw you Hahn. Kick ass Rodon but Hahn was an idiot for not giving the qualifying offer (and yes I was adamant about it at the time).

Pace didn’t have enough of a plan - he seemed to be one of those people who was constantly doubling down - whether it made sense or not. He actually drafted decent enough (outside of some high profile misses)…but the way he managed the roster and draft capital was just so bad.

I will note that I wish Trevathan the best too. His first contract was a great move and I can’t blame him for Pace making wrong bet on him 2nd time. Father Time caught up with him but Poles quickly cleaning house on this in a sensical way makes total sense. Looks like a man with a plan thus far…still early.

I don’t expect a lot but even if they could get a 6th or 7th a year from now it is something. More likely he gets cut but you never know.

Both of those tweets make total sense. I like Tarik and hope he can recover but they can’t pay him that sort of money. Would be fine if he came back for the cheap but wouldn’t be shocked to see Chiefs or Rams or someone like that pick him up on the cheap.

I believe Mack's actual contract was pretty backloaded so Charger will be paying him quite a bit next year and following year. But Chargers are really the team on the hook...but you are right, Bears are accepting some dead cap (but from a cash perspective they did nothing). Chargers are on the hook for his actual contract so they are not really getting cap relief based upon how Bears structured this. Bears having all this dead cap space goes back to how they kept kicking the can so they could sign people like Graham and others who didn't move the needle. I can't get over how many times Pace made those moves that robbed from tomorrow for mediocre players...this is just so freaking refreshing and I am curious to see what else they could pull. I am kind of hoping they can somehow get a final round or future pick for Jackson/Goldman too. If they could - now Bears could use one of those picks to try and get Cooper (vs. trying to get him in free agency). I don't love Cooper but for Bears to get him I think it becomes more cap friendly as they don't have to worry about signing bonus and just get the contract and if at any point they don't want him basically ZERO dead cap space.

I don't think the Bears ate anything. Chargers took everything on. Bears just have $24M of dead space (but they picked up $6M of cap space) tied to the signing bonus they gave (whenever that was).

Yep. Man I've been talking about trading Mack since last off-season, so refreshing what this move showed from Poles. Now I'm really excited to see what else he has up his sleeve. I should also point out - I think this is a good move for the Chargers to. A true win/win trade.

By the way - for those comparing the Miller to Mack trade; Bears actually got more based upon the draft chart (not saying its perfect): Pick 48 = 420 points. 6th round pick is worth 5-18 points (depending on where they end up picking next year) Broncos got pick 64 and 96. 64 = 270 points 96 = 116 points 2022 NFL Trade Value Chart

I am in your camp. He isn't worth that big of a contract. If they spend that much, spend more and get Bryant.

$121M in cap space next year is the new Bears #.

I get it - but I said before with Mitch - they put the all-in chips one year too early. I think the way Poles is doing it is better - if Fields takes the right steps, you are in a position where you can go all in during year 3/ year 4 of the rookie deal and than year 5 you have the option on the rookie contract which still gives you a ton of flexibility. What the Bears did by going all-in a year too early was put all the chips in and create a situation that if they were wrong, they would have almost no window and have to do this type of restart. Instead - if Fields doesn't look the part and make real strides in year 2 - you have massive cap space but can actually take another shot at QB (knowing you have already put a stronger foundation under whomever the new QB, which just increases your chance at success this go-around while maintaining maximum flexibility). I basically think Poles is designing this where he'll have a ton of flexibility to build a great team around a young QB (but knowing he essentially has Fields and than 1-2 years from now can take one more shot).

One other thing - this means Gipson gets a shot to show what he's worth. He can either take advantage and Bears find a nice, cost effective fit or they know in a year they have more work to do in that department. But it creates opportunity for a potentially ascending player to show that. I absolutely think with this move, Quinn also has to be on the move.

More than anything - the tone Poles made here makes so much sense. It tells me they aren't trying to do some lame patchwork rebuild attempt...they really are taking a stepped approach and I presume we will see this offseason that whole approach will be built on putting the right pieces around FIelds while doing a patchwork job on the defense (but while presumably trying to find some more young playmakers who can grow into better roles on the defense).