dasox24

Damn. I really didn't want Colson Montgomery.

Hahaha. I know. I don't know how to feel about this. I LOVE Tevan Jenkins the player. We need that kind of physicality and attitude on the OL.

Not going to read this entire thread, but I just want to echo what I am guessing tons of others have said: this is a massive organizational failure. It's not hyperbole in saying Eloy is the worst defensive OF in baseball. Dude never needs to play in the field again, which we've all been saying for at least a year. What good is he if he's always getting hurt? Or worse yet, ends up hurting someone else (Robert) too? So we have a logjam at DH? Then trade someone.

Good to see. Hopefully 2023 won't matter, but nice to have the protection just in case something goes very wrong.

For sure. The interesting thing about our off-season is that I actually really like all the smaller signings we've made. Bringing back Edwards Jr, Bush, and Ifedi. Jones is good MLB depth. Williams at RB. Blackmon at DL. Wilkinson as a swing OT with some starting experience. Those are quality depth signings, but they don't really matter until the QB position is fixed. And these signings would go over a lot better if we hadn't had to release Fuller to sign Dalton. This is off topic, but I still can't get over Robert Quinn being on the roster - it was an odd signing at the time and a real risk given Quinn has had stretches of bad play in the past and he was on the wrong side of 30. Think about how much this roster could have been improved without his contract on the books. That money should have been earmarked to upgrade OT last year or this year. It just bugs me that our weakest position in 2019 was totally neglected in the 2020 off-season except for bringing in a new OL coach (even though Harry Hiestand is generally known as one of the better OL coaches in football). We had cap space at the time and a real opportunity to bring in, say, Jack Conklin for less money than we paid Quinn. Think how much better off our OL would be heading into next year.

It's not good right now. Trufant also struggles to stay healthy. Not a great pairing when both starting CBs are injury prone.

Haven't had a chance to post since the Dalton news became official. I saw someone pages ago say that all the Pace haters are getting their wish and will be happy with what's happening because the Bears won't be good next year. At least for me, that's totally wrong. I'm not happy because we just wasted another year. We should have blown it all up instead of whatever it is they're doing. 1) There is no guarantee that Pace gets fired after this year. I don't trust George at all. This is feeling like a Cal McNair-Jack Easterby situation without the media fanfare. I don't know what Pace (and Phillips too) has done to pull the wool over George's eyes, but we're getting screwed because of it. The fact that they would not address Pace's contract in the presser scares me into thinking he has much more time than we think. I really hope I'm wrong. 2) I was adamant about wanting to start the rebuild THIS offseason and that's why I hated the decision to bring back Pace. So no, even if it things blow up and everyone is fired and we start a rebuild next year, we just wasted a year. Some people will try to be optimistic and point towards development of young players as reason to watch the games. I agree with it to an extent and by the time the season rolls around, my dumb brain will start to get excited about football and will still watch their games. But really, there's only a few young players we can actually be excited to watch develop:. Roquan is already legit, so I don't include him in this, though of course he could continue to get better. We know he's Pro Bowl caliber. Kmet, Mooney, Mustipher, Daniels, Johnson, Nichols, whoever we draft this year (assuming Pace doesn't trade away every pick to move up 1 spot and take some player who would have fallen to 20 anyway)... who else? I guess Vildor and Shelley could fall into that category now that Fuller and Skrine are gone. It's not like we're loaded with young (age 25 and under) talent. On a related note, I love Jaylon Johnson the player. My problem with him is that he can't stay healthy, and I fear that he never will. He had multiple shoulder surgeries in college and had another shoulder injury last year - he wasn't on the field when we needed him most. Do we expect him to all of a sudden stay healthier against much bigger and stronger competition? I hate to say it, but I don't even count on him. He'll be a Jason Verrett-type. Super talented but never finishes the season healthy. Worst of all, even if we hire a new GM, I fear nothing will change because of it. The ultimate problem is George McCaskey. He just doesn't get it. When Chris Ballard interviewed with the Bears, he supposedly knocked it out of the park, but proposed a lot of organizational changes that he felt the Bears needed to make. And that's ultimately why he didn't get the job - George didn't feel like anything needed to change. And now look at the job he's done with the Colts. He's made a few mistakes (as does every new GM), but he's learning from them. Pace has been on the job for almost a decade and still can't figure it out. Also, I'm tired of hearing (usually in the media) about Joey Laine being a cap expert/guru. No. Do you want to know what's easy? Restructuring deals and kicking the can down the road to create cap space until you eventually have to pay the piper and end up in cap hell. You know what's difficult and actually deserving of being known as a cap guru? Structuring deals so that you don't end up in that position.

Andy Dalton and Nick Foles are basically the same QB. I don't see how adding Dalton would improve the roster, and he'll probably end up costing a lot (~$10M over 1 year) if the Winston and Fitzmagic deals are any indication. I feel like adding Dalton would be Pace making a move simply to make a move. He'll spin it to ownership and the fans like he's trying every avenue to find a QB, but we all know Dalton doesn't move the needle. I'm trying to await judgement until everything is settled, but it is not looking good right now. I really hope I'm wrong.

For sure. It's the unfortunate reality that George McCaskey put us in when he decided to keep the same management structure. My only hope is that they've set some parameters around Pace so he can't just trade away whatever he wants.

Given where both teams are, I like the move for the Colts - they can afford to take that risk. However, I'd have been disappointed to see the Bears do it. I've harped on this a bunch in this thread, but Pace has been careless with trading away draft picks, which has put us in a position where we need to be stockpiling picks rather than trading them away. We need an infusion of youth. The Bears roster is one of the oldest in the NFL, which is a major problem for a team that is barely a playoff team. The good news is that roster turnover can happen very quickly in the NFL, but you need draft picks and cap space to do it, and we have very little of either. It would only make things worse to trade away 2 more picks and take on $47M in guaranteed money over the next 2 years.

He's an example of teams getting too carried away with combine numbers and forgetting what a guy does on tape. He was phenomenal at Oklahoma and had lots of first round buzz, but after testing poorly, started to be considered a mid-round pick. And yet here we are, Brown is a Pro Bowl OT on an incredibly affordable contract (for now). And if they trade him, they'll get a haul. You can't forget athletic traits completely, but it never made sense to me why Brown fell so far on team's draft boards.

Absolutely. The Bears need OL for sure, but we also need offensive playmakers in the worst way. If a guy like Pitts miraculously falls to #20, you take him. He's more of a move/flex TE anyway, so he and Kmet can be on the field in 2 TE sets, or Pitts can even line up at WR in some situations.

100%. There was a time when Surtain was still on the board at #20 and I took him just to see how it played out. Still ended up with a solid OT in the 2nd. Definitely speaks to the quality OT depth in this class. Because it's such a premium position, it wouldn't surprise me if we saw a run on OTs in the real draft.

Darrimore would be a hell of a two-way player. Saves a roster spot too. Lol.

Good find. I've used several other simulators, but this one might be my favorite. Less flexibility in terms of draft boards to choose from, but definitely the most fun and user-friendly in terms of trades. For everyone who's posted a draft in this thread, I like them all mostly because I keep seeing the same thing (and I did it too in my mock): multiple OL drafted and usually early.

What I meant was that those guys aren't QBs who give your team a legitimate shot each year to be a Super Bowl contender. Anyone can make a Super Bowl once if they're surrounded by an elite defense and a really good running game (hello, Rex Grossman and Jimmy Garoppolo). But that doesn't mean they'll ever get back there. Hell, Jimmy G's own team is looking to move on from him. They know he's not the guy. And Wentz didn't make the Super Bowl - didn't even play in the playoffs that year. But to your point, he was putting up very good numbers that year before he tore his ACL. That was 3 years ago, though.

Yeah, totally fair. I was being simplistic by referring to Foles, but basically my point was that we shouldn't invest in any QB long-term (either contractually or by giving up assets) unless it's a legit Top 5 QB who can make us a perennial super bowl contender. I would either sign a free agent to a short-term deal (even if it's like the Glennon contract where we could easily get out of it after Year 1),or ride with Foles, and then try again next year. Drafting a QB would be an acceptable alternative to my scenario, but personally, I don't see anyone at #20 worth taking. Nor do I see anyone (except Travor Lawrence and the JAX pick is untouchable) worth trading up for because the cost to move up would be astronomical. If you're going to give up as much as it would take, then you better be getting as sure of a thing as possible. As for Wentz, I don't hate him in a vacuum. He's better than any QB on the roster (which isn't saying much). My problem with Wentz (or the other guys I mentioned) is the likely cost to trade for him. Given his struggles and his contract (the first "out" is after 2022 where you'd have $15M in dead cap, but $19M in cap savings - which is still not great but not terrible), I would offer nothing more than a 3rd round pick for Wentz.

Isn't the main objective in sports to win championships? [Refraining from Jerry Reinsdorf jokes] ... Other than Watson, there is no QB on the market who makes the Bears a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Not Wentz, not Carr, not Garoppolo, or whoever else is rumored to be available. The rest of the Bears team isn't good enough. OL is average at best, we're about to lose our our best offensive player, and the defense is another year older... Keep Foles, ride out a shitty 6-10 season next year, and start to stockpile assets while getting the salary cap back in order. That's the strategic long-term play here. Except we kept a GM who is desperate and will make short-term moves to gain an extra win or two, leaving us in a long-term bind. On that note, Pace has zero understanding of asset management. He trades away draft picks like they're nothing because he always has to move up to get "his guy." The problem with this is that history/analytics show that trading up is a bad idea. Hell, per the Under Center pod a few weeks ago, Pace tried to trade up for Kmet last year (thankfully he couldn't). After all his bad trades, he still hasn't learned his lesson. What makes anyone think he's trustworthy of fixing this team?

No question. Agree with everything you wrote. Other than Cespedes, it is interesting that I'm most excited to see how the guys in the lower half of that list play this year. But really, other than Gonzalez, there is a certain level of excitement in any of the guys on this list. How does Adolfo look after such a long layoff from playing actual games and can he stay healthy? Was Rutherford able to continue to add muscle/change his body during the time off, and does he finally take that next step to add power to his game? Etc

Going to assume this was meant for @GoSox05 ... or else I majorly missed the point lol

I like it. He's always been a guy who's been highly thought of on the defensive staff. Heck, you have to be in order to survive 3 coaching changes and stay on staff. I like it more than going with a retread as often happens in football. Let's see what he can do.

Garfien is going to be so envious of the Blue Jays offseason

Hahaha. Fair point!

I loved it when he said that to Chuck. It's crazy that it wasn't just a one time thing where he found Soxtalk and looked at it. The guy was continually coming back here, which is pretty awesome. And I liked how he said most players do that type of thing, but just won't admit it.

It's not taking away all of his personnel decision making. It's making sure he doesn't do something to mortgage the future. "You want to trade 4 draft picks to move up and take Player X? No, we're not going to do that, but let's select the best player on the board when our pick arrives." I do think Pace is a valuable asset in terms of scouting and identifying talent in the draft. His overall track record is pretty good. And there are other job duties that a GM performs outside of just personnel decisions - he seems to be pretty solid at those things. If it were up to me, I'd have fired Pace because the above situation is not ideal - not sure how he'd take essentially being demoted. If you're going to have that kind of leadership structure, ideally you start fresh. But it's kind of my last ditch hope that we have a true president of football ops, and that person is in charge with Pace working under him. Like Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley.