2023-24 NFL Season Thread

[Kyyle23]

51 minutes ago, SoxAce said:

They'll sign him. I mean the Bears have the most cap space in the league. It would be dumb to trade for him and let him walk. I wanted Chase Young more though. Maybe Poles was scared off of acquiring another player named Chase.

I think that knee is a worry for anyone going forward 

[Kyyle23]

20 minutes ago, Milkman delivers said:

That is exactly what I mean. And if this guy is looking to get paid, why would he not hit free agency?

So the only hope for the Bears to sign him to an extension would be to drastically overpay him, right?

It just doesn’t make sense to me. Just sign him in the offseason and keep the pick.

Maybe they are trying to keep the signing bonus on this seasons spending

[Chisoxfn]

12 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Maybe they are trying to keep the signing bonus on this seasons spending

Plus I am assuming they basically have a deal agreed to. In free agency it’s a whole nother wild card. So you never know who hits or how market goes (could be better or worse). 

[Balta1701]

15 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Plus I am assuming they basically have a deal agreed to. In free agency it’s a whole nother wild card. So you never know who hits or how market goes (could be better or worse). 

Is there a chance that, if this guy wasn't traded for now, the Commanders might have used the franchise or transition tags on him? 

[Milkman delivers]

31 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Maybe they are trying to keep the signing bonus on this seasons spending

Ah, that part of the sport eludes me. It probably makes more sense when looked at through that lens. Thanks.

[Chisoxfn]

13 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Is there a chance that, if this guy wasn't traded for now, the Commanders might have used the franchise or transition tags on him? 

I think it all depends on what and how Washington allocated their cap. They just have so much money tied to that line already. They can afford it if they role with Howell - but at same time an elite line with weakness elsewhere isn’t working that great for them either. But yeah - totally a chance they would have kept Young and Sweat. 

[T R U]

Not sure I would like this trade as a Bears fan. A very high second round pick for a 27 year old edge rusher who you have to immediately sign to a big money extension.

Would rather have that pick in the Bears situation.

[Chisoxfn]

Wow - Chase Young for 3rd rounder. Wtf. Dumbass. 

[Tony]

3 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Wow - Chase Young for 3rd rounder. Wtf. Dumbass. 

That’s like a 50+ pick difference, and the Bears still have to sign him. Yikes 

[Kyyle23]

Just now, Tony said:

That’s like a 50+ pick difference, and the Bears still have to sign him. Yikes 

I think his knee and the larger commitment drove that price down but I would prefer to see a second rounder come to fruition at some point 

[fathom]

2 minutes ago, Tony said:

That’s like a 50+ pick difference, and the Bears still have to sign him. Yikes 

This is an awful look for Poles

[Kyyle23]

Dang if they want to keep young they have a lot of work to do, right now just under 2M available next season in cap space.  

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/san-francisco-49ers

[chw42]

6 minutes ago, fathom said:

This is an awful look for Poles

The Velus pick and the Claypool trade were already awful enough for me. 

[chw42]

2 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Dang if they want to keep young they have a lot of work to do, right now just under 2M available next season in cap space.  

https://overthecap.com/salary-cap/san-francisco-49ers

He's a pure rental. And maybe there were some real medical concerns about him so he doesn't make as much sense for the Bears. But there's no way Sweat is worth a pick that's 50 selections better than Young. Both are going to hit free agency. 

Poles got fleeced...again. His trade deadline deals have both been huge overpays. 

It makes no sense to me that this guy refuses to overpay for FAs and even pay his own players fair market value, but he goes all out on trade deadline deals with draft capital. 

[caulfield12]

12 minutes ago, chw42 said:

He's a pure rental. And maybe there were some real medical concerns about him so he doesn't make as much sense for the Bears. But there's no way Sweat is worth a pick that's 50 selections better than Young. Both are going to hit free agency. 

Poles got fleeced...again. His trade deadline deals have both been huge overpays. 

It makes no sense to me that this guy refuses to overpay for FAs and even pay his own players fair market value, but he goes all out on trade deadline deals with draft capital. 

Kmet got a handsome deal...probably for far more than fair value.  

[caulfield12]

The news of the trades comes hours after sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that the Bears granted cornerback Jaylon Johnson permission to seek a trade. Johnson, 24, is in the final year of his rookie contract and said he is looking for "respect and security" in the form of a new deal.

The trade injects talent into Chicago's league-worst pass rush at the halfway point of the season. The Bears (2-6) replaced three of their four starters along the defensive line ahead of the 2023 season in free agency and spent second- and third-round draft picks on defensive tackles Gervon Dexter Sr. and Zacch Pickens. The Bears have an NFL-low 10 sacks this season and 46 pressures, which ranks 30th.

Through eight games, Sweat has 6.5 sacks, bringing his career total to 35.5 over five seasons.

 

 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/38786847/sources-bears-trading-commanders-montez-sweat

[caulfield12]

The Commanders also had told Young they would reward him if he had a productive season.

The high-priced line did not result in productive play by the defense. Washington does rank tied for sixth in the league with 25 sacks, but the Commanders rank 23rd in pass rush win rate. Among defensive linemen, Young ranks fifth in this area -- but none of his linemates are in the top 55.

Washington drafted Sweat with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft, a pick obtained when the team traded back into the first round.

Sweat was an immediate full-time starter and has been productive (and durable), though he has yet to finish with more than nine sacks in a season. Sweat is one of seven players with at least five sacks in each of the past five seasons (since 2019), along with Chris Jones, Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby and Brian Burns, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

[Kyyle23]

Josh McDaniels and their GM fired overnight 

 

bears just fired their running backs coach David Walker today

 

everything is great 

https://x.com/kfishbain/status/1719686708537565552?s=20
 

[bmags]

I am definitely nervous about the Sweat trade, but that said am a bit embarrassed at how behind the strategy the national writers of the sport are. Biggs and the local writers caught on by this year.

This is definitely a new thing. The trade deadline was largely a calendar item of the same significance of whatever "national hot dog day" level occasions there were.

But there has definitely been a shift where teams have either gotten so good at managing the cap, along with the franchise tag just continuing to exist in CBA navigations, where FA has been void of finding significant upgrades.

You can sign a "top tackle on the market" like Mike McGlinchey, but it's not clear you get an upgrade. You do pay a lot though.

So if you are a team, you have two avenues of explicitly adding top talent. Draft and FA. When FA is only providing the ability to improve bad talent to average talent at a premium, you are stuck with hoping it is a good draft that supplies talent at the places you need. And that they produce right away. Because otherwise, you are Sasha from the Browns, trying only to improve via draft and getting fired before you can see the rewards.

So now you have teams going to teams with FAs, who have ample ability to keep via tags or other measures, but have some incentive to let them leave via comp picks. The market has been to either match the comp pick (except it's same year, so more valuable), or more.

That market hasn't really been established yet, and it's where it feels nerve wrecking since a top 2nd is valuable (it basically netted a tyreek hill), you can't use it twice, and I'm not sure Sweat is the best you could net for that.

But the lens of national writers is to view football like baseball or basketball. I.e. Why not sign them in the offseason. 

But after being a bears fan who basically cashed that Daron Payne would be a bear, it's not a real thing. You don't know who will hit, and often it's way worse than the level of FAs, and rarely is it someone south of 30 years old.

I think it shows it's not worth it to rip an NFL team down to the studs. I think our secondary is hard to judge with how bad our D line is. I think our offense was hard to judge last year with how bad our WR was. And it's too hard to fix it in one offseason.

As the sox have taught me, you don't really improve replacing below average with average. You need to add elite.

But adding elite players in the nfl is extremely hard to time. And now we end up trying to time better with a top 20 guy...but not an elite guy.

[Chisoxfn]

1 hour ago, bmags said:

I am definitely nervous about the Sweat trade, but that said am a bit embarrassed at how behind the strategy the national writers of the sport are. Biggs and the local writers caught on by this year.

This is definitely a new thing. The trade deadline was largely a calendar item of the same significance of whatever "national hot dog day" level occasions there were.

But there has definitely been a shift where teams have either gotten so good at managing the cap, along with the franchise tag just continuing to exist in CBA navigations, where FA has been void of finding significant upgrades.

You can sign a "top tackle on the market" like Mike McGlinchey, but it's not clear you get an upgrade. You do pay a lot though.

So if you are a team, you have two avenues of explicitly adding top talent. Draft and FA. When FA is only providing the ability to improve bad talent to average talent at a premium, you are stuck with hoping it is a good draft that supplies talent at the places you need. And that they produce right away. Because otherwise, you are Sasha from the Browns, trying only to improve via draft and getting fired before you can see the rewards.

So now you have teams going to teams with FAs, who have ample ability to keep via tags or other measures, but have some incentive to let them leave via comp picks. The market has been to either match the comp pick (except it's same year, so more valuable), or more.

That market hasn't really been established yet, and it's where it feels nerve wrecking since a top 2nd is valuable (it basically netted a tyreek hill), you can't use it twice, and I'm not sure Sweat is the best you could net for that.

But the lens of national writers is to view football like baseball or basketball. I.e. Why not sign them in the offseason. 

But after being a bears fan who basically cashed that Daron Payne would be a bear, it's not a real thing. You don't know who will hit, and often it's way worse than the level of FAs, and rarely is it someone south of 30 years old.

I think it shows it's not worth it to rip an NFL team down to the studs. I think our secondary is hard to judge with how bad our D line is. I think our offense was hard to judge last year with how bad our WR was. And it's too hard to fix it in one offseason.

As the sox have taught me, you don't really improve replacing below average with average. You need to add elite.

But adding elite players in the nfl is extremely hard to time. And now we end up trying to time better with a top 20 guy...but not an elite guy.

Good post - it is really interesting how much the national media hates this deal though. Like I can't think of this many deals that have been this panned.  And I get it - high 2nd round picks have a 40% hit rate - that means you are getting a good player on the cheap for 4 years (which is huge - cause you than have cap space for other moves).  With that said - Poles should have assets with two high(ish) 1st round picks to move assets and if they take a QB, I'm guessing they might be able to get a 2nd and future 3rd for Fields (so maybe they view this from that lens).

I do think that Sweat is a good player and his measurables are elite too - so it isn't as if he doesn't have really good athleticism. He also is by all accounts a really good teammate, which may not be what Young is.  So for a team in flux - having those leaders probably helps as well. I just wish they would have got a deal done right away - so you know you have him inked, etc. But I get it - they can use transition tag or franchise etc.  

[Kyyle23]

Not sure if any of you heard Eberflus press conference,  but holy s%*# is he gone.  Just fuckin quit and go, dude, this is beyond your capabilities 

[Chisoxfn]

12 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Not sure if any of you heard Eberflus press conference,  but holy s%*# is he gone.  Just fuckin quit and go, dude, this is beyond your capabilities 

Any highlights?  

[Chisoxfn]

I really think this is the year that McCaskey's go nuclear and hire Harbaugh.  And nuclear in the good way. It could be a disaster, like everything else McCaskey's have done (post Lovie).  What that means for Poles - I don't know and I'm not saying he needs to be gone or not.  I do think at the end of the day - if a Harbaugh is out there - you go get him and that should be a Warren card.  

Shoot if Michigan was out of National Championship picture at any point - maybe they just go pay the man now and start the process (not that I recall that ever being done in the past).  

[Kyyle23]

5 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

Any highlights?  

I’m just going to recommend listening to the audacy replay from today around noon.  It’s something that made me want to throw my phone 

[Kyyle23]

6 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I really think this is the year that McCaskey's go nuclear and hire Harbaugh.  And nuclear in the good way. It could be a disaster, like everything else McCaskey's have done (post Lovie).  What that means for Poles - I don't know and I'm not saying he needs to be gone or not.  I do think at the end of the day - if a Harbaugh is out there - you go get him and that should be a Warren card.  

Shoot if Michigan was out of National Championship picture at any point - maybe they just go pay the man now and start the process (not that I recall that ever being done in the past).  

If they get Harbaugh, then Poles is either on board or he is replaced by Harbaughs guy.  Harbaugh isn’t going to let another 49ers Baalke fiasco happen again