Kirko did go to ATL with a 4 year contract, instead of the shorter terms he was doing with Minny. I think Justin doesn't move until after the draft and the QBs are picked. I am not 100% with you and Ev on holding out for a big offer. I think if you can unload him for a 3rd, maybe 4th + some lower ones, go for it. Under no circumstances though, should he be released/cut. Someone will eventually need a QB and will get desperate and offer something. Trey fucking Lance got a 4th AFTER Purdy had started to shine. Reddit (and a buddy of mine) is really on board with the keeping both is suicide idea. Because the fans will be chanting in the stands for him, etc, the moment Caleb struggles. I don't agree, Justin seems like a class act, and we'll find out the character of Caleb. I don't hate the move in a vacuum as the Bears have lots of cap space. I DO hate what you just said, throwing money at a position of strength, while C gets neglected forever. And we still have that 5th round wonder Braxton Jones starting on the blindside.
Damn, Peckers just released Aaron Jones. That guy has killed us his whole career. He would have been a much better addition than Swift.
Yeah it would have been nice to get a payback moment for GB, I just hope he doesn't land somewhere in the division.
If this sounds big headed then i dont mean it to. But, you know, i am used to being right about NFL players, a lot. Especially when it comes to Bears players. I'm also good at reading the market etc. I only say all that because there's a big helping of humble pie coming my way. Right before our very eyes, we've witnessed the market for Justin Fields absolutely wither and die today. A lot of QB needy teams have looked over the options at the position, they've got to Fields, and they've said no thanks. You can talk shit all day long on a message board if you want, but when it comes to the crunch its the market that tells you whats what. The market proved me right way back when i said Urlacher was over-valuing himself looking for one last big payday and it has now proved me totally wrong about Fields. His market is way less then i said it was and its something i find shocking for many reasons(not least the importance of the position + lack of good options every year) but i also find it really sad. Fields has been a warrior for the Bears. He worked his ass off by all accounts, he played hurt he won over the locker room and he made some plays that ive simply never seen in all my years of football fandom. He deserved better than this, i truly believe that. I hope he can get another shot somewhere and show just what an asset he can be. Christ if Mitch Trubisky can bounce around getting chances surely Fields can. Anyway, to the posters like @blang84 buddy and @tunafat , who talked Fields down in the past(actually maybe you were just telling it real and people like me weren't listening) i just wanna say you guys were right. Its been proven so, the market has spoken. I do wonder how much it factored in that teams would've only had a year of Fields before having to pick up the option. I was setting the Darnold trade as the benchmark in all this, perhaps team were looking at that trade also, but looking at it in a different way to me. The Panthers rolled the dice on a trade for Darnold and got badly burned, partly cos they had to gamble that they would like him enough in year 1 that picking up the option became an obvious smart thing to do. Except it didnt work out that way. Poles must surely be shocked at how little market he's found for Fields. @IrishDawg42 what do you make of it all. Given how accurate you were about Fields pre draft and what (i think ) a believer you still are in his talent. This has given me plenty to think about alright.
Jesus, the Cardinals just gave Justin Jones a $30mil contract lol. He was a solid rotational player, but i would never call him a dial mover. The Bears never made any serious efforts to keep him i dont think. That deal is wild.
LOL, Packers just shelled out big coin for a Safety. $17mil per year, that is an overpay. Actually McKinney was one of three Safeties i had my eye on for the Bears this FA, but not at this price. Makes you feel a little better about the Byard signing.
Welp, Justin Jones gone to Arizona for 3/30. Good luck in your future endeavors. Gets blocked every play then gets a raise. Raiders just overpaid for Wilkins at DT. Bears still don’t have a 3T. Peckers are spending money…big money. At RB and safety. Jacobs 4/48 and McKinney at 4/68. Wow. Didn't think GB would drop 12 mil per on a RB. Fuck, the Titans got Cushenberry. It's not hard to understand idiocy. It'd be nice if I could be dead wrong one of these days. I like when that happens.
Well, I hate being right about this team because it usually means we all lose. Even though I have had my doubts about Fields since early in the 2022 season, I naively thought he could still fetch us a 2nd because of the precedent with Darnold and the general desperation we have seen from other QB-needy teams in recent years. The point being that I don't think this disappointing trade market reality necessarily proves I was right (the games do hehe). Funny that Ian Rappaport is now reporting that the Bears were never shopping Fields all along. Haaaah even the dumbest fans won't buy that BS, probably leaked from Poles himself. I think a few things have been working against Poles/Bears in this trade market. First, there were proven veteran options available, namely Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins, and you could arguably throw Baker into that group. Second, a lot of the QB needy teams are already going to be picking early in what is said to be a QB-deep draft: Commies, Patriots, Giants (maybe), Broncos. And third and most important, it is widely assumed we will use the 1st overall pick on a "generational talent" at the position, thereby making us the needier team from a trade partner standpoint. If we were picking 10-15th say, taking a QB would be far from a forgone conclusion and the wise move may have been to run it back with Fields one more season, but either way the end result would be that we'd value him more than we do now. I also don't want to overreact to the last couple of days. Lots of things can still happen before, during, and after the draft. I would hate to have to wait until camp/preseason for a QB to go down with injury before the right opportunity arises but this is a business and maybe that's smart business. Yeah, it sucks from Fields point of view but he's signed up for it all too
Ugh. Ekeler for 2 years and under 12 million to the commies makes the Swift deal look even more painful.
I think it’s too early to tell. I think free agency was always destined to settle itself before maximizing any value you would get in a trade. I think there is a very real possibility that Poles values Fields much higher than your fanbase does. So much so that he might not even have his mind made up that he wants to replace him. Hell, we haven’t even had pro days or personal visits yet. One of three things is happening 1) Fields has no value, or no suitors 2) Poles is simply asking too much. He may feel his value is a first or high 2nd and no one is willing to pay that.. at least at this time and Poles has a lot of time to shop him, if that’s his decision. 3) the most likely, we are less than 24 hours into the legal tampering period and while there are some flashy reports, the off season really just began. If you are done with Fields, patience will get you maximum value with essentially 2 years left on his contract, including the 5th year option. If I’m Poles, I wouldn’t move Fields for a mid to late pick on day one of legal tampering.
I can understand not wanting him based off of last year which was a statistical down year and he was injured, but I could also cherry pick countless examples (including Bears RBs like Matt Forte) where we thought their careers were cooked before they had a hell of a bounce back (before going somewhere else also to have success.) Ekeler's career YPC is still 4.4/4.5 depending on where you get your stats from. Ekeler is a better pass catcher out of the backfield than Swift and even coming off a down year, is still a dual threat. And he's set to cost 2-3 mil per year cheaper. They did need a RB to replace Foreman, and 8 mil for a guy behind a top 3 OL with 2 all pro OL to go to a bottom 10 unit? I think we're more likely to understand why Detroit was done with him after 3 years than we are to find some diamond in the rough everybody else was sleeping on.
Gotta say i am pretty thrilled that its not the Bears giving Mooney this contract cos that is a BIG overpay. Hasn't broken 500yards receiving since 2021 and also has 3 total TDs in that time. And for that he gets $13mil per and $26mil gtd??? That is wild as fuck. Not that im complaining, in fact im very happy about this. Not cos of 2025 comp pick stuff, they'll screw us out of that like they do every year. But because Mooney going to Atlanta must surely remove any chance of them going WR at #8. Very good chance now the Bears will be able to pick either Nabers or Odunze in the draft. Not that i trust Poles to actually get it right and make that pick if the time came. Speaking of which. Once again the Bears are sat on a pile of money in FA and are slow out of the gates. Is Poles just cheap? I mean id say he doesnt want to fall into the trap of overpaying in FA but *cough*RB*cough*.
Btw, "a top WR", Rapoport???!! Wanna know where Mooney ranked for receiving yards last season? 108th in the league!! Haha. In 2022 he ranked a heady 86th. Top WR. This league man.
Bears to meet with a former Vikings DE tomorrow. LOL not Danielle Hunter. DJ Wonnum, whom, fun fact—7.5 of his 23 career sacks came against the bears. 26 years old.
Honestly, I think this is a bigger deal that most let on. I cannot fathom that Mac Jones, Sam Darnold, Gardner Minshew are more appealing options than Fields. But the fact that they have to trade to get the chance to see what Fields looks like on their team for just one year, has to factor into it. That and while Fields has been electric, you do have to somewhat design the offense around him. The places that got these people are looking for quick, short/intermediate throws, which is where Fields *really* struggles. He instead can throw the big plays and make stuff happen with his legs. The problem is the last couple of days have more or less shored up the open "starting" QB positions, the draft will fill in the rest of the picture. The media has been all about Fields as a backup now where-ever he goes. And as Ev says, Trubisky has gotten multiple backup roles, but never giving up draft capital in a trade, and signing for backup QB money too. Fields will eventually get that chance. It's a shame, but honestly it's not that surprising. I do think Fields has grown, even this last year, but he's just not fixing the things he needs to. The thing is, I will watch a game and see all that potential, the just misses, and think about what could be. But then you look at the stat line and it's another 200 yard game that even the terrible Trubs would have blown out of the water. At some point, you can't survive on hope alone. At some point, you have to look at what he's actually done or not done. At the end of the day, the market is what the market is, and it has spoken. Whether or not Poles was "shopping" Fields, if there was a good enough offer, he'd be gone, and that clearly didn't come. Other, QB starved, teams don't see him as an option.
Phew, that is a relief. I just didn't know where those 10catches were gonna come from next season now Tonyon has gone. Its good to know Poles is tackling the big issues on this team first like adding a 3rd guy to the RB room, a TE2 and a backup IOL, rather than being distracted by the minor quibbles like a 3Tech, DE, having more than 1 WR on the team, and of course, an actual starting C. Great post all round varder
The bears signed some DB from the packers well known for cheap-shotting Justin when he was sliding of course without a flag. He's kind of unremarkable, other than he's Simone Biles' husband. 2 year deal. Really starting to get the feel that Poles is treating this 'rebuild' like he's got an enormous amount of time, even though its year 3. Which is annoying, because in 1.5 years, Houston has done a better rebuild. Just no urgency--which you'd think with Detroit trying to pay everybody while losing tons of playmakers and Minny reeling after losing their QB and star pass rusher, and they're making moves. GB is making moves to stay in the conversation for division winner next year, even with a cringe worthy overpayment of a S.
