Bears 10.0: GM and coach watch before the draft

[Jimako10]

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Season isn't even over and I'm already hyped for next season.

[fleet]

OMG, Ben wants his offense to bring back the ghost of John Shoop

He says he was most worried about this Bears the past offseason

I don’t know why it never occurred to me that this guy is like football Hoiberg.

[patryk7754]

Now that we have our coach in place here are the roster moves I would like to see, based on what I think would fit Johnsons' wants/needs.

Cuts:
Walker and Everett: Saves a total of 10m and that money can be better allocated else where. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson thinks he can do a lot with Everett. These moves would land us about 80m in cap.

Resignins:
I think we probably spend less than 10m on resigning players (not including Allen). Here are the players who I think are the most likely candidates to be resigned. All for the minimum.
Josh blackwell
Jaylon Jones
Matt Pryor
Chris Williams
Pat Scales
Travis Homer
Amen Ogbongbemiga

After these moves we have roughly 70m in cap

I think resigning Allen would depend on what else happens with the roster and how much Allen asks for. So a decision won't be made on him until after we make most of our moves.

Trades:
2025 5th and 2026 4th or a 2025 3rd for Rasheed Shaheed. Like I mentioned in previous posts, he could be used to replicate (to an extent) what Jameson Williams does with the Lions. Shaheed is a top tier deep threat and on top of that he's probably a top 3 returner. Trading for him has a 2025 cap hit of 4.2m according to spotrac.

Free agency
Start with 66m in cap.

Dan Skipper, LT: 2/6m. I think Johnson and Fraley will let him compete for the starting job with Jones.
Kevin Zeitler, OG: 1/4m
Trey Smith, OG: 5/100m
Ryan Neuzil, C: 1/2m: He's a back up but if bates is bad or hurt he can do what he did in Atlanta and step in adequately
Khalil Mack, DE: 1/10m

I think the above moves are the moves the *need* to happen. Maybe not those exact players, but those positions. After that, we have about 30m in cap. . I think we can use that for a couple of "luxury" signings or on players that have yet to be cut. Also more depth on the OL/DL.

Some candidates for luxury moves:
Erik McCoy, C: via trade. Would have a 10m cap hit for 2025. I think he'd be worth a 2nd but it probably wouldn't take that.
Kenan Allen, WR: Depending on our cap and roster moves, I would love to bring him back. Even with Shaheed on the roster.
DJ Jones, DT: I don't see us going after a starting DT but he played well for Denver and would be on a great value contract
Any of the top Corners: Ward, Reed, Murphy, Samuel Jr, Jackson, Gilmore and Jones would all be great additions. Reed probably gets the biggest pay day but everyone else will probably get a very team friendly contract. If we want a balance between talent, skill, and age the best candidates are probably Ward, Samuel, and Jackson.

With 30m in cap we can realistically sign to of those guys.

Honorable mention free agent: Jamal Williams. He's HM because he's not a free agent yet, but he seems to be a prime candidate to be cut by the saints. He obviously has the history with the Saints and he had his best season under Johnson. Also fills the need of needing a big/down hill back. would be lethal on the goal line

Draft:
I feel like we are in a position to draft best player available or draft with the idea of molding the prospect to be a starter in a year or two.

RD1: If Free agency plays out the way I have it above, I think we have 3 options here.

1. Draft best available LT.
2. If Johnson is confident in Jones or Skipper as the starting LT, just draft best player available.
3. If none of the blue chip guys (graham, carter, Will Johnson) drop, then trade back and take BPA. This could be whoever but I think Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland would intrigue Johnson a lot. Loveland is just a freak TE and Warren is a "mid-class" man's version of bowers and I can see Johnson salivating to have him on the roster.

RD2: Donovan Jackson is my guy here. He's a brick wall at OG and he's done better than good filling in at LT. I love his versatility and I think he could even play center if needed. I would even trade back into the 1st for him (I think teams might draft him to be OT).
RD2: JTT. I think he'll be the best DE available here and we need youth behind Mack
Rest of the draft: OL/DL draft

[molepharmer]

I hope the Chiefs don't slap a franchise tag on Trey Smith. He would vastly improve our O-Line at Right Guard next to Darnell Wright. ........

Can't say I've really study franchise tags all that much but just noticed that defensive end and defensive tackle are two different values but when it comes to the offensive side, tackles, centers and guards are all combined. In 2024, franchise tag for o-linemen was basically $21 mil. Dickerson (Phi) re-signed last year for $21 mil and he's the highest paid guard. I'd expect T Smith would need something very close or above the $21 mil.

[patryk7754]

I hope the Chiefs don't slap a franchise tag on Trey Smith. He would vastly improve our O-Line at Right Guard next to Darnell Wright. ........

Can't say I've really study franchise tags all that much but just noticed that defensive end and defensive tackle are two different values but when it comes to the offensive side, tackles, centers and guards are all combined. In 2024, franchise tag for o-linemen was basically $21 mil. Dickerson (Phi) re-signed last year for $21 mil and he's the highest paid guard. I'd expect T Smith would need something very close or above the $21 mil.

What gives me confidence that they let smith walk is that they’ve already given out so many record deals, they might not think it’s worth giving one of the least valued positions a record deal as well. They’d probably prefer to reup in the draft or bargain shop in free agency and spend big on a LT. But it would definitely be a difficult decision to part ways with possible the best OG in the league

[IliketheBullsNBearstoo]

Johnson and Poles. I guess our HC and GM did align up.

[patryk7754]

Johnson and Poles. I guess our HC and GM did align up.

Hopefully that means we go deep in the playoffs

[Jcool0]

What a dumpster fire

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[biggestbullsfan]

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This could’ve been us if we didn’t land Ben lol

[nomorezorro]

for anyone who was still concerned about our commitment to investing in the offensive line, this poles answer to a question on ESPN should be reassuring:

There's a lot of work to be done to improve that group. Ben and I have talked about that. Shoot, my pro staff is already rolling with UFA work, and we're on top of it — there's some cool options coming up this year.

(it's especially comforting because the question was basically "can switching to a new system make the o-line look better?". poles went out of his way to tack on that addendum about how they couldn't just rely on coaching to get better, and that they're looking to free agency as a place for upgrades)

[Betta Bulleavit]

Johnson and Poles. I guess our HC and GM did align up.

Hopefully that means we go deep in the playoffs

It all starts with good protection..can’t forget that!

[Betta Bulleavit]

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This could’ve been us if we didn’t land Ben lol

It’s wild to think that this is the team that some people thought BJ might shun us for.

[Betta Bulleavit]

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This could’ve been us if we didn’t land Ben lol

Given how things played out, I don’t know that there was ever much of a chance that we weren’t going to get Johnson. Just looking at it purely from the outcome, it feels like is was somewhat of a formality.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

this hire is going to be a spectacular failure. the Bears are going to be running all these **** trick plays next season when no one on the team can even run a regular route...or run period. or throw or catch. they needed a coach who will teach them how to do some of these things, they don't need to be running fake field goals on second down or a flee flicker with the left tackle or whatever the Lions have been doing. This has Nagy pt. 2 written all over it.

[cocktailswith_2short]

this hire is going to be a spectacular failure. the Bears are going to be running all these **** trick plays next season when no one on the team can even run a regular route...or run period. or throw or catch. they needed a coach who will teach them how to do some of these things, they don't need to be running fake field goals on second down or a flee flicker with the left tackle or whatever the Lions have been doing. This has Nagy pt. 2 written all over it.

you're right but prepare to be flamed lol

[nomorezorro]

do you think the lions were just running trick plays every down

[Dresden]

I don't understand how some WR's can be poor route runners. I mean, how hard it is? We learned how to run down and outs, down and in's, button hooks, post patterns, stop and go's, in junior high School. It's not rocket science or even algebra.

[patryk7754]

do you think the lions were just running trick plays every down

yes they do

[Dresden]

It will be interesting to see how BJ views Tyler Scott and Colin Johnson. Both were very underutilized last year. Scott has the speed element DJ and Odunze lack, and Colin is like 6'5" or something and showed in preseason that he can make plays.

[IliketheBullsNBearstoo]

this hire is going to be a spectacular failure. the Bears are going to be running all these **** trick plays next season when no one on the team can even run a regular route...or run period. or throw or catch. they needed a coach who will teach them how to do some of these things, they don't need to be running fake field goals on second down or a flee flicker with the left tackle or whatever the Lions have been doing. This has Nagy pt. 2 written all over it.

This is definitely something that is in the back of my mind keeping me very cautiously optimistic. But yeah hopefully he gets them good at good old fashioned fundamental football first and doesn't get too cute with the play calling all the time.We shall see.