https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...to-take-to-finally-end-their-playoff-drought/ Not quite sure how he gets to 8, because it's mostly, FA WR, FA WR, FA WR, Draft anyone else because WR is a reach at 8, get a Kicker. I do hope they do something at WR, because I am not a fan of drafting one, AGAIN, that high, especially when consensus is that pick wouldn't be BPA, and we drafted Captain Bust at #7 a few years back and he was supposed to be GOOD. And every mock I've read (but I don't have ESPN insider or access to any pay sites) all say Bears are picking WR with that pick.
Also, this guys optimism is bigrobo-esque, so fairly warned. Predicting a Rams level turnaround is something I'd expect from CCS (but I haven't been over there so no clue how bad things are there).
I kind of hate broad articles like this one, where its less "x's and o's" oriented and more generalizations like the way fans put stock into stupid things like "heart" or "effort." But since the board's been dead and probably will be until later next week when FA is underway, let's address the points by Wagner-McGough, CBS's resident bears/seahawks/GS warriors homer. 1) Don't trade for Jarvis Landry. Self explanatory. Miami has stupidly backed themselves into a corner being in cap hell and adding more money when they need to be shedding money. They added Robert Quinn, whom along with Suh and Cam Wake could be one of the better defensive lines. However, they just have contracts with guaranteed money all over the place. In addition to Suh, Wake, and now Quinn; there's Tannehill, Rashad Jones, Andre Branch, Kenny Stills, Kiko Alonso, Lawrence Timmons and plenty of others with a lot of money still owed. So their choices? Kick the can down the road and restructure contracts, although as we saw with Julius Peppers a few years back, that's going to get worse in a couple of years and you'll have to eat some cap when you cut them with a near-20 million cap hit. They can cut players, which again, stupid. They don't have bad players, and if they were to start cutting guys like Julius Thomas, Ju'waun James, and some of these other guys, they won't be out of a job long, and I hope James replaces Massie, injury-plagued as he may be. With the market about to open with Allen Robinson, Sammy Watkins, and Paul Richardson available, nobody is giving anything of value for Landry, even though the Phins keep asking and can continue to keep asking. We've seen a lot of teams get younger and emphasize stockpiling draft picks, almost a MLB or NBA type movement like "tanking." Miami will either have to sell low because they overplayed their hand, remove the tag (they have time I'm pretty sure, I think its June or July they can remove the tag and make him a free agent), or--find a stupid team desperate enough that's struck out on FA and the draft. Please don't be said stupid person, Ryan Pace. 2) Go after Robinson/Watkins--self explanatory. Although I prefer Paul Richardson. I see a lot of Marvin Jones in him, and he won't get crazy amounts of money like AR and Watkins are expected to chase. 3) Sign Albert Wilson. A couple of weeks ago, Erik Edholm and many others tweeted that the KC GM pretty much said "Matt's in Chicago" when asked about status of Albert Wilson's contract. I'm not sure Wilson is a "must sign." Bears have plenty of slot guys, and in KC he's never demonstrated much outside of the slot. It'd be a gamble if he's expected to be the Z or X. He was quite proficient however if there were viable options and other playmakers with eyes on them. He got a lot of looks in KC because teams were scrambling to prioritize covering Tyreke Hill and Kelce. Is he good enough when he's option #1 or 2? Remains to be seen. 4) Bring back Dontrelle Inman. Ehhhh, I'm 50/50 on this. Inman looked like the best of the garbage the bears had at WR this past season, but even he made some monumentally stupid plays/drops. And again, you'd have a glut of "slot" WRs...... 5) The 8th pick. Quentin Nelson and Roquan Smith I'm okay with, they're the best at G and ILB this draft and are instant starters and project to be pro-bowl grade players. Tremaine Edmunds I'm not, and I'll be pissed if Pace drops the #8 pick overall on a 19 year old athlete "linebacker" (<----I use this term VERY loosely) who doesn't know how to read or understand offenses and relies entirely on his athleticism to rebound when he makes bad reads and worse decisions, which he did often at Virginia Tech. He bites hard on playfakes, often misses his assignments, and gets suckered into running into an opposing OLine's wall. I don't care about the athletic comparisons to Urlacher, if this kid doesn't understand offense and frequently blows his individual assignments, he's as useful as tits on a bull. I want to beat Aaron Rodgers and those fuckers in Green Bay, not watch him go for 6 every drive when this shithead is doing something he's not supposed to. The point is to make the least amount of mistakes, because Rodgers does this thing where he's good and puts up points fast against stupidly run defenses. Before we talk about playoffs, the bears have to be much better against the NFC North. And the Vikings and Packers aren't going anywhere unless Rodgers goes down and/or the Vikes pick the wrong QB going forward. I'm also really rooting for Denver or the Jets to get Kirk Cousins. While I despise trading down, I think its a true possibility, as the Broncos and Jets pick before the bears and need quarterbacks. Cousins not going to Minnesota means one of these 2 teams won't have to drop their 5th or 6th overall on a QB. That means instead of maybe 1 of the top 4 QBs in Mayfield, Rosen, Darnold, and Allen being there at 8, 2 would be. That could entice Buffalo to trade up, and the word is they'd be willing to use the 21st and 22nd picks overall to do it. Now, if I'm buffalo, if I'm using those picks as capital to move up, ideally you want to move up ahead of 8 and get their preferred QB of the bunch. But if 2 of the 4 are gone anyways (have to imagine Cleveland stops the stupid and takes one with 1 or 4 and the Giants take one too, unless they decide Barkley is the guy at 2), it looks good for Pace. As we stand, anyways. Or maybe another team not named Buffalo really likes the 3rd or 4th QB. It goes without saying, trade on the table or not; Pace better be prepared to pick someone at 8. 6) Keep Fuller and Callahan. Duh. Or have a really good plan B..... 7) Find next Robbie Gould. Well, after being insulted and having our eyes assaulted with Barf for the last year and change, the only way to go is up at the kicker's spot, right? Right?! If Cairos Santos heals 100%, I think they have their guy. If not, I'm for signing Sebastian Janikowski. Drunken, happy Polish guy from the homeland on the sidelines in Chicago, who has the highest Polish population outside of Warsaw? It'd put butts in the seats. Plus even at 40, its better than Barf and "the Nuge." 8) Hit on low-cost options. No, I'd prefer Pace stop buying low cost options, although again--because he keeps cutting players and wont have enough draft picks to fill all the spots he keeps making, he's going to have to. For every Akeim Hicks, there's a Marcus Cooper in the bunch. Would love for Pace to sign Kevin Pierre-Louis from KC or Aaron Lynch from San Francisco. I count 3 edge rushers in need, and these mid-20s guys were great role players with their respective teams. San Fran has a lot of money to play with and likes Lynch, which means Pierre-Louis is probably the only one of the 2 going to be available. KC has less cap space and other priorities to resign. Although, if the chefs are somehow dumb enough to let Bennie Logan walk, Pace better get the fuck on the phone. Logan is a NT, and I think the possibility with a flex front for a 3-4 or hybrid version as Nagy referenced in his initial presser, or even using him as a 5 tech which he has played in Philly and KC. Although he's primarily a NT. 6'2 and 315 is smaller than both Goldman and Hicks. I love how Nagy said he doesn't want to constrain his defense to just being a 3-4, and I like his desire to use a multi-front and I like that Fangio is pulling the strings on that. Logan, Goldman, and Hicks with Floyd getting after the quarterback? I can dream. It will also make options 2, 3, and 4 at Edge rusher a little better if they're not exactly good. Like having Bumarr back (god I hope not), or dropping a late pick on a project edge, or trying the Isaiah Irving experiment again......Logan-Goldman-Hicks can mask a lot of bad if healthy.
Nice writeup Patg. Given the flurry of FA signings, it seems the hit on the obvious. That said, thus far, #1/#2 were right. Most of the others remain to be seen. Hell even #7, the kicker, Pace did pick up a signing. As for #8, no worries I guess, he shelled out some serious money in those FA signings. Defense outside of Prince/Acho isn't shored up at all. Curious if that means the draft will be heavily D focused.
