Do you really think there will be that much of a dropoff? At least with someone, anyone out there they have a chance at moving forward not saying that they will because the odds of that are microscopic, but with Leno, they're just going backward.
As bad as Leno was, he's better than J'Mucus and Omiyale. I think a 39 year old banged up Peters is probably closer to those 2 than to Leno.
I'm not a big PFF guy at all, especially in regards to offensive line grades, but I think a unhealthy Peters graded out similar to Leno last season. I could be wrong. Obviously being unvaxxed and 39...the risk of him missing games is real.
Fucking Pace. Fucking fucking Pace. The level of fucktard re the T positions all offseason is just too fucking dumb for words. Its fucking Bill O' Brien level management. Its so bad i don't even have the will to rant about it, and anyway, you guys already said it, so fuck it
It really makes one wonder. Emery found Charles Leno in the 7th round and paid a ton for one nice year of Jermon Bushrod before bad. JA struck out on 1st round tackles, castaway tackles like John St. CLaire, project/positional change tackles like Lance Louis, J'Marcus Webb, and Frank Omiyale, and FA's (with the exception being John Tait). Does this franchise just not value the OT spot? Years of offensive ineptitude has shown waaaay worse OT play, because at least with G/C there were cult heroes like Kreutz, Long, and even Garza. On an complete side note, I think this should be interesting:
I would say that no, this franchise has not valued the OT spot. You can make the argument that they've invested 1st round picks and free agency money, and therefore they have valued it, just done so incompetently. This was my first thought. But when you examine the context of those moves, I think it shines a light on how the position has become an after-thought. First, let's acknowledge how hard it is to get a good NFL OT, specifically LT. It's the hardest position to get right second to QB, and I don't think it's a close competition after that. The Bears are not alone in having a hard time with this, nor is it simply their failing that's gotten us where we are. But, the Bears also don't approach this position in a way that sets up for success. Taking 1st round swings on players with injury histories every handful of years is not how you invest in a position. You spend high draft picks on the position regularly, and then keep the talent once it's found. The Bears aren't finding talent in the first place because they're only spending on the position once they realize they're screwed, and hoping some panacea fixes it. That's not the way things work. Look at the interior of the OL - Pace was investing high draft picks in that position even when there was talent there, and jettisoning older talent in favor of young. Now imagine if he had treated OT that way. You go back to the free agency signings and swing draft picks from previous admins, and it was the same thing. These guys don't invest, and then desperately try to bail themselves out. Any objective viewer could see this team has been in trouble at OT (LT) for years. That Pace's first real investment in the position came as a second round pick with a recent injury they were aware of, and no backup plan available, shows the philosophy. Kevin White could've been an OT. Leonard Floyd could've been an OT. Shaheen could've been an OT. The list goes on.
Well now the Alec Ogletree signing makes more sense. Also--cutting DT saves 480K this year and has 8.925 mil in dead cap for next year if cut now. Next year as a pre-June 1 cut its 8.95 mil in dead cap or 2.45 mil in dead cap if designated post-June 1 with savings of 3.5--so 1 ish mil saved. Our genius General Manager, everyone...
Interesting. He started out last season out of shape as well and looked really slow before getting into form and playing strong the rest of the year. I guess we know that he doesn't work very hard in the offseason.
That is a keen observation dline. You're probably right. There is certainly a shortage of good LT's when you look around. To your point, Pace gave up multiple picks to take a mental midget with an eating disorder when he could've got amazing value in Laremy Tunsil. I still remember Tunsil falling due to that BS pre-draft hitjob and us screaming for Pace to pick him. Just one more where we were right and fucknuts was wrong. 2 years running, kinda looks that way. Should be moot cos he shouldn't have been here last year nevermind now. Kwit & KPL>Trevathon. Obvious then, obvious now.
I distinctly remember watching that draft at a friend's house with two buddies. I had told them ahead of time that it seemed Leonard Floyd would be the pick - that Pace's roster management and needs of the 3-4 kind of pushed them into that corner. I said that I didn't think Floyd was a good fit or worth that high of a pick. I also said that there was no way Tunsil would drop enough for them, and that killed me because OT was such a huge need. When they traded up, my friends got excited - Tunsil was there. I told them that no, it was going to be Floyd. When it was, I left the room for half an hour and drank heavily. Ryan Pace is so bad at his job that I remember entire chunks of my life simply because of the misery he caused me in those moments. I've spent thousands of dollars on therapy, and maybe equal amount of that time talking about my childhood vs Chicago's idiot GM's. I will be very, very happy when Pace is gone.
Last night made me think of this tweet we saw. Given how poor the 2nd & 3rd string ILBs played last night, talk this week of Trevathan being on the bubble suddenly seems very far fetched. I mean last night didn't make Trev himself any better, but no one put an ounce of pressure on him for his position either. Seems hard to imagine him even losing his starting job let alone his roster spot at this stage.
The secondary could be a big big problem going into this season. Not something none of us knew, but it walked up and slapped us round the head last night. JJ did give up the first TD, but he also had two nice PD's and to me looks like a kid who is growing. He seems more confident this year which is great. After that tho there is nothing. At CB or S. The shocking descent of EJax shows no signs of halting in the early look this year. The Bears seem to think Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley are starter material, all i see is a couple of backups getting way too much PT. The Bills ripped our secondary to pieces in that first half and they didnt even play Diggs or Beasley. This was their backups torching our starters. Worrying.
Makes sense now how we landed Jenkins though. If the Bears knew it, others knew it and that's why he fell. And we still traded up for him. Quintessential Pace/Emery/Angelo. Stop this crazy thing, I want to get off. Just wanted to quote this, because Fuck Pace. The only bit that might bail him out here, is Fields has shown some mobility, so maybe we get out of him the first few Russel Wilson years, where he was running around like a madman avoiding pressure. Not to bring up too much old stuff, but if this is true signing Kwit would have been much better in hindsight.
Big roster cut (80 to 53) has to happen by 3 PM tomorrow. Bears have already started with names we already knew/didn't care about. Lacy WR among some others. I don't know if this is a "loophole" or Pace buying more time, but bears place some guys who could be cut/plucked/claimed on injury list, including Tre Roberson, Joel Iggybuniwe, and Deon Bush. Curious to see if Horsted or Jesse James gets TE3. I want Horsted but assume Nagy will pick James. More curious to see who Pace gets for the OLine.
