dasox24

I'm sure we could find an example of it at WR, but of course it's not common. You rarely see 24 year old's in college football, unless they left to do their Mormon mission, like is common at BYU. Also, is anyone saying Jones is going to be a high-end NFL WR? I don't think anyone expects that from a 3rd round pick. If he can be a high-end return man/special teams contributor, and add some value in the Slot, that's a success. Development also doesn't occur for everyone at the same pace. We saw lots of players who wouldn't have been draft picks last year, but they got drafted this year after using their extra year of eligibility b/c of the COVID season. Who's to say we wouldn't have seen this happen a lot more in the past if all players had 5 or 6 years of eligibility? I guarantee we would have.

I probably would, but I don't think Poles would. He seems intent on going young/building via draft, which I can't really argue with, even if I would have liked to see him add a few more veterans to surround Fields with better talent. Also, I'd have rather traded a 5th rounder for Amari Cooper, but that's a different discussion that's already been had. From what I can tell on OTC, we'd only be on the hook for $12M next year (last year of Anderson's deal). Not bad considering the contracts given to WRs this offseason, and the amount of cap space we'll have next year.

I hear you. I certainly wanted no part of the contract Kirk got, or Zay Jones, etc. But I would have absolutely given Chark the 1-year deal he got. I would have traded a 5th rounder for Cooper - given the contracts being dished out, $20M (with no guaranteed money left) is pretty reasonable for a player of his caliber. Definitely still some pieces out there, but we need to land them. And if we align with guys who were released (like a Jarvis Landry), then at least it doesn't affect the comp pick strategy. That would also help us take BPA in the draft. If that's another WR (or OL) in the 2nd, great. I just don't want them forced into taking a WR b/c they have no other options.

The Pringle signing feels very Demarie Byrd to me. Nobody should expect him to be more than a #3, but he's probably better suited as a #4. Thankfully it's only a 1 year deal. The way Poles is operating is strange to me. He hasn't doing anything to add weapons at the skill positions to help the development of his young QB. That would seem indicate he's not a believer in Fields. But if that's the case, why even take the Bears job? So if he is a believer in Fields, then why are we bargain bin shopping to add offensive talent? The only major upgrade was on the defense (who has now failed his physical). To this point, we have not added any value to the OL. We're about net even there with the loss of Daniels and addition of Patrick. But also, we won't have Jason Peters, who actually graded out as our best OL. I know the offseason isn't done yet, but as it stands, we're only maybe better than the Texans in terms of offensive talent. Some major additions are needed.

Whoa is right. You rarely see this happen, especially with a player of this caliber/contract that size. That foot injury must not be healing well.

I felt the same about Cooper. He was worth it for a 5th round pick. And if Christian Kirk is truly getting $17M per year (as I just saw rumored), it only re-emphasizes your point about Cooper's deal actually being solid compared to what you have to dish out in free agency. Cooper is a far better player, and worth the extra $3M per year. And if the Browns need to get out of Cooper contract after this year, it's easy. There is zero dead money.

Totally fair way to look at it. I'm not mad about the signing - just questioning the use of funds for a team that desperately needs all the offensive help it can get. He's a good player, and we admittedly needed a 3T for this defense. Getting a disruptive one makes the rest of the defense better. Just not sure I would have shopped at the top of the Tier 1 market for it. With all that said, I shouldn't be surprised. We hired a defensive minded HC - he's going to want a top player at a key position in his defense. And we both agree on the cap standpoint - if much of the deal is pushed to 2023, I'll be happy. I want room to operate this offseason.

This is kind of where I'm at. The 3T is a key part of Eberflus' defense (just it it was for Lovie's, so as Bears fans we all know how important it is). I understand the Bears wanting to upgrade there. But this offseason needs to be about putting Fields in the best position to succeed. I guess I'll reserve judgement until we see Ogunjobi's cap hit is for this year, but if it takes a large chunk of our current cap space and prevents us from adding better players in free agency at WR/OL, that's a problem. Obviously we could clear more space by restructuring deals/adding void years/etc, but I'd like to avoid that as much as possible - it's never an ideal way to make cap room, especially for a team who isn't ready to compete for championships. We need to be as cap healthy as possible heading into a competitive window, hopefully starting in 2023. Ogunjobi had a really good year last year and we'll have him for prime years (27 to 30), so I am definitely not knocking the player either. But I am knocking the allocation of resources being spent on the defense.

Yes, for sure. In my haste of posting, I did neglect to mention Les Snead being in the same boat at Pace. However, when Snead trades draft picks, he adds Pro Bowl and/or Future Hall of Fame talent with those picks. And the Rams are built to win-now, so it makes a bit more sense to "go for it." I get that a 6th rounder isn't likely to amount to much. But the more picks you have, the better chance you have to hit on some picks. And honestly, to Pace's credit, he has a pretty solid track record with late round picks, which is about the only thing he does well.

This is horrendous. I've never seen a GM so careless about draft capital. What a joke. We've already traded away so many picks and we're in salary cap hell. We need draft picks for depth in the coming 1-2 years. Even something as low as a 6th round pick is not something we can afford to just give away for a month of work from a league average, non-pro bowl return man. Just put someone else back there and have them fair catch every kickoff and punt for the next month. Instead, Pace is acting in a win-now mode for a team that is incredibly mediocre and unlikely to make the playoffs.

Pretty sure he meant Nagy, not Trestman, based on what it says in the rest of that paragraph. Just a mistype of the name. I can't imagine anyone in this world defending Trestman's overall HC competencies. What a disaster that was.

Since we're only carrying 3 RBs to start the season, I think we can effectively consider the punt returner as what will eventually become the roster spot for the 4th RB (once Cohen is back).

I've watched it at least 15 times... I saw a tweet where someone dubbed the radio call over the TV broadcast, which was pretty sweet, but I can't seem to find it via a quick search. I'm still buzzing from last night. Have never felt this way about a regular season game. Kudos to MLB. Now the key is to continue doing things like this, driving interest, and growing the sport.

Absolutely. Not that this is something you can count on, but it's another added benefit of taking the youngest player in the draft. Sometimes guys aren't done growing. Sounds like he's grown another inch or two this year, based on what they said on the BullsTalk podcast earlier this week.

This. 100%. DeRozan is still a good player and a 3 year deal is a fantastic length. Worst case, that contract will be tradeable by next off-season and a great expiring contract the year after. Also, to your point, it sets us up to have a perfectly tradeable asset/contract that doesn't take away from the core of the team if a star player becomes available. Hollinger doesn't account for that, but having that kind of flexibility is pretty important in today's NBA with a new star player seemingly available every off-season. Hollinger offered some fair criticisms in his article, but come on, fighting for the 8th seed and likely the 11th best team? That's just dumb. Also, if Hollinger was better at this job, he'd still be working for an NBA front office instead of The Athletic. So while I appreciate his insight into the inner workings of front office, I don't take his word as gospel.

I think he worded it poorly. I think he maybe meant that we owe the 2023 pick (protected) and if it doesn't convey, they it goes to Orlando in 2024. Either that, or Marks is just flat out wrong.

Very interesting. I was all-in on DeRozan when it was rumored as Lauri as the key piece. I like Young as a bench player far better than Lauri. And I dislike giving up another first round pick considering we already lost 2 to the Magic. But, if it's lottery protected, not as big of a deal. As people have mentioned, from a cap perspective, this sets us up to trade for a superstar if one wants to force a trade - but again, we don't have 1st round draft picks as an asset to give up until 2027. That's far less attractive to any franchise who's trading away a star player. Someone mentioned it earlier, but it would be ideal if we S&T'd Lauri for a first round pick to get back some draft capital.

Even if these moves don't pan out, I love it already. Can you imagine GarPax pulling off a double sign and trade for DeRozan (not that it's occurred; just the idea of doing it), or getting the Pelicans to make a quick decision on Ball so our money is not tied up waiting for them to make a decision? It's so refreshing to have a front office with some imagination and a great understanding of the nuances of navigating the salary cap/managing a roster. The days of simple, narrow thinking are gone. I love it.

If we were going to lose Theis, I like doing it this way. That's a big trade exception that could come in very handy.

I think a trade is certainly possible if a team loses a starter to injury. GMs get desperate.

Let's gooooo! Love Madrigal, but 2nd basemen with no power aren't hard to find. Plus Hernandez's option will now be picked up for $6M next year, so we have an instant replacement. Heuer has potential to be a great reliever and we saw it last year, but worth giving up to get a guy like Kimbrel. Our bullpen is absolutely ridiculous now.

Completely agree on Ledecky. Crazy to see her race in 2 finals so close together, including the 2nd one being 1500m. 15 round-trips laps is unbelievable. The men's 4x200 relay was disappointing - from 1st to 5th in the last 50m of the 3rd leg, and then never really recovered.

Selfishly I hope he ends up at Tennessee and fits right in as a weekend starter next year. But yeah, he seems to have great stuff. Just needs to harness his command, which is a big reason he ended up at UT - he said he liked their plan for him to do that.

It's terrible. He'll be 20 before next season starts. They basically took a college player again without the benefit of playing college competition. He better be underslot allowing us to take a first round talent in the 2nd round. Otherwise it's bad value.

They finally go high school, but taking an old 19 year old negates that. He's basically a college sophomore-aged already. Next year should be his Junior year of college.