4 things before i fuck off till draft time. 1- The Steelers got more for Pickett, take a moment to let that sink in. 2- I'm calling this now. If Wilson looks anything like a solid starter for them Fields will be moved again before the deadline, quite possibly without taking anything more than a kneel down, and the Steelers will get more for Fields than Poles just did. Indictments of a GM dont get any bigger than that. 3- Can we lay to rest any notion that Poles knows what he's doing, or especially that he is a good trader/negotiator. Im thinking particularly of the trade out of #1 a year ago. All that happened there was a desperate team fell right into Poles lap with a Bill O Brian level bad offer. It should've set this team up for years to come. In the end it will count for nothing. Poles is as bad as any GM in team history and yes i am fully aware of the gravity of that statement. 4- Just. Fucking. Die. Virginia.
These last couple of weeks I have to say have been disheartening, to say the least. It's like Poles panicked and the rebuild turned into an assembly. I liked the idea of building a young team like the Packers have done from the draft. Doing so is a better way to manage the cap, and remain consistent. The Bears were the 10th youngest team going into last season, and the Packers were the youngest. Aside from Finks/Vanisi, this guy is just like all his predecessors. Finks and Vanisi both knew the importance of building from the inside out, and Poles treated the trenches as an afterthought. There is little development of talent on this team, and that's on the GM and the coaches he put in place. Instead of having a nice shiny sports car with guys on rookie deals, and upgrading as you go along, Poles has built himself a Hooptie with mostly guys on short-term deals that other teams couldn't develop, couldn't be developed, or could no longer afford.
Initial gut reaction is to heavily roll my eyes at it, but after looking at it more—it’s the best Poles was going to get, contrary to my assertion since the end of last season that the bears shouldn’t just ‘give Justin away’. Bottom line—a likable guy doesn’t get his value increased because he’s easy to root for. In reality, he was 10-28 as a starter, and he struggled to throw 175 passing yards per game, struggles after the first read and a half, so you’re lucky to have gotten anything for him. I’m guilty of inflating his value, and now I get to watch Caleb play with an offense that still can’t block and he’s probably going to get killed. But at least, theoretically—Caleb shouldn’t have 2 OCs in 2 years. Meaning great chance Der Flus is safe unless he shits the bed. I just hope when Poles said ‘we want to do right by Justin’ he didn’t leave something better on the table, which is already being suggested by prognosticators. Poles just let the league know that the commies are on the clock. 9 needs a trade down, and an OT, C, DE, and 3T are dire needs. Just fucking idiotic that these same four positions were needs when Poles took over day 1 but, stupid teams find new ways to be stupid. Now a stupid team is taking a qb #1, while still needing the 4 positions. They didn’t get it right with Mitch or Justin, how is this time going to be different? Oh well, till the draft then. Unless the genius at the wheel feels the need to give more draft picks away first.
This is what I think happened. Poles is a nice guy, Justin is a nice guy. He didn't want to leave him hanging another month or two in limbo with his fate undecided. Still, it's a horrific business move all things considered and (I can't believe I'm saying this) a real insult to Fields himself. Again, I don't think highly of him as an NFL QB but he's fucking better than a conditional 6th round pick. Period. Fields now has a ton of bulletin board material to motivate himself to succeed and I do wish him the best. Low expectations so I'm expecting maybe 1 of those above needs to be addressed in the draft whether or not we trade down from 9, which we absolutely should.
Buy high sell low. The Bears management have it all figured out. The kicker of it all is they reportedly turned down better offers because they weren’t good locations for Justin to go to. Maybe they should get out of the football industry and go into social services. I also wonder if Poles is on the Steelers payroll. Basically a first round pick to the Steelers for Chase Claypool, now they just give fields to them for effectively nothing? Oh yeah, they didn’t want to pay Fields the extra money this year because they’re also cheap on top of everything else. That’s really the reason they dumped him.
4- Just. Fucking. Die. Virginia. You may just get your wish Everton....I had no idea she is 101 years old...(Principal Owner of a NFL Team)....good luck for your wish and your Bears.
Nice people doing nice things, don't win championships sadly. It would make a LOT of sense to me if they had better offers, and held out thinking they could do better, and had to Settle for the Steelers once again. if Justin's feelings actually figured into it, that's a really nice sentiment but I'd rather my football team make decisions in the best interests of the team.
All that matters now is how good Caleb Williams is. If he’s a stud Poles is a genius if he isn’t he’s gone. All the media pundits will pat the Steelers on the back for their shrewd moves to turn their QB room from Picket and Trubisky to Wilson and Fields. But you know what. They would trade Fields and Wilson for C. Williams in a heart beat.
Outrageous. Not surprising that there were multiple teams in. We all know enough to know his value isnt a bumass pick a year from now. I'd bet money that the Raiders were one and Fields didnt want to work with Getsy, that hire fucked us too. As for Poles, very simple, that should be an instant firing. You hurt the trade comp to your team for a player's preferences then you just put the former player before the team. Doing that once would be a failure in his job. But FOUR TIMES?!! You let his side have 4 vetos??? If that is true then what a disgrace of a GM Poles is. Instantly fired. Ha, well put.
No, thats not all that matters. Being able to build around him and support development also matters. A halfway decent draft pick helps with that.
Gonna try to stow it around here until the draft. Way too pissed off with this joke ass GM and after many years of this team grinding on me i cant be fucked ranting anymore.
The Steelers might be able to flip him after the first starting QB goes down in preseason. How is this bitch still alive?
Poles played last offseason quite well. The trade down with Carolina was a massive haul. Made good moves, had a good draft. So far this offseason is playing out the exact opposite. The trade with Buffalo makes no sense. Got fleeced by Pittsburgh, again. Suddenly short on draft picks. CW has to be a massive hit for all of this to be okay. My guess is a trade down from 9 is coming to recoup picks but if someone like Verse is on the board at that time...how do you pass it up?
If a prospect falls based on a need you have to take a swing there if that person is expected to step right in (OT 3T DE and to some degree WR) Allen probably won't be here long, and it looks as though Poles is playing to win this year in spite bringing in a rookie QB.
To be fair, we don't know what the trades would have been, but I read that tweet and I start thinking that perhaps we never got an offer, were just shut down immediately because Justin's group didn't want him to go there? I mean, Pitt is his best chance at being a starter again but it bothers me that a player could have this much sway. I mean, yeah, sunshine and flowers that we "did right" by a former player, but we have a shit team that needs improvement. I said the same thing when the season ended. I will probably slow down myself too though. It is clear that the plan is CW at all costs. I'd be fine with that, if we had addressed the lines. And the trade with Buffalo is him realizing we need linemen, but addressing it poorly. I don't want to be all doom and gloom here. We are probably in a better spot than we were last year at this time, right? And certainly CW is going to enter a better situation than either Mitch or Fields did. There is some optimism for the upcoming season. I just can't be a believer until I start seeing it on the field.
Holy smokes doesn't this thread read an awful lot like last season's Off Season thread did? Are we in the same trouble?
