Bears 10.0: GM and coach watch before the draft

[ThisGuyFawkes]

I’m comfortable using FA money on a DE and using our first pick on one as well.

The next 2 selections should then be on the O line with some more spent in FA as well.

I think we’d be in a great place if we spent all our cap on OL and dL and followed that up by also using our top 3 picks on OL and DL. It would be extremely hard to mess that up.

But, we also have a lot of flexibility if w decide to throw in a couple of skill guys in there as well. I would also think Poles isn’t done clearing up cap space.

Let's hope BJ is the real deal and is guiding Poles on what exactly he requires for his roster. I still think Poles is a pretty good GM and the idea of them working together could be quite impressive.

[Almost Retired]

I’m comfortable using FA money on a DE and using our first pick on one as well.

The next 2 selections should then be on the O line with some more spent in FA as well.

I think we’d be in a great place if we spent all our cap on OL and dL and followed that up by also using our top 3 picks on OL and DL. It would be extremely hard to mess that up.

But, we also have a lot of flexibility if w decide to throw in a couple of skill guys in there as well. I would also think Poles isn’t done clearing up cap space.

Let's hope BJ is the real deal and is guiding Poles on what exactly he requires for his roster. I still think Poles is a pretty good GM and the idea of them working together could be quite impressive.

Agreed. A good coach can tailor an offense or a defense to best utilize the talent he has. But a truly successful coach builds his roster with guys that fit his philosophy. Poles may place a bigger liking for faster, more athletic offensive linemen. But if BJ likes maulers then get him maulers. Large ones. That seem to be a trend among the successful teams these days. A huge O-Line wears down the opposing defense as the game wears on. That's why you saw Barkley break so many long runs in the 2nd half of games for Philly.

[patryk7754]

I think we’d be in a great place if we spent all our cap on OL and dL and followed that up by also using our top 3 picks on OL and DL. It would be extremely hard to mess that up.

But, we also have a lot of flexibility if w decide to throw in a couple of skill guys in there as well. I would also think Poles isn’t done clearing up cap space.

Let's hope BJ is the real deal and is guiding Poles on what exactly he requires for his roster. I still think Poles is a pretty good GM and the idea of them working together could be quite impressive.

Agreed. A good coach can tailor an offense or a defense to best utilize the talent he has. But a truly successful coach builds his roster with guys that fit his philosophy. Poles may place a bigger liking for faster, more athletic offensive linemen. But if BJ likes maulers then get him maulers. Large ones. That seem to be a trend among the successful teams these days. A huge O-Line wears down the opposing defense as the game wears on. That's why you saw Barkley break so many long runs in the 2nd half of games for Philly.

I think I saw that the chiefs and eagles had the heaviest offensive lines in superbowl history. If not both, than at least the eagles. And that worked out pretty well for them

[Dresden]

Was looking forward to another draft pick, but it never made any sense that teams would be serious about hiring any executive from the Bears front office. I bet a lot of this was Rooney rule generated action

how could we expect the assistant to a bad GM to get promoted?

Maybe because the rest of the league doesn't share your negative opinion of Poles?

[jnrjr79]

Funny random thing:

I went out to brunch yesterday at a place in my hood and about halfway through, Cole Kmet and a bunch of his buddies sat down at the table across from us.

[Almost Retired]

My latest attempt at a Draft simulation. I did a few trades down and picked up the Jets 2nd and the Cowboys 3rd in 2026 and here's what I was able to Draft:

14.
Tyler Booker
OG Alabama

41.
Shemar Turner
DT Texas A&M

44.
Jonah Savaiinaea
OT Arizona

45.
Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
DT Georgia

72.
TreVeyon Henderson
RB Ohio State

204.
Luke Lachey
TE Iowa

235.
Major Burns
S LSU

242.
Seth Coleman
LB Illinois

2026 NYJ 2nd
2026 DAL 3rd

[fleet]

Was looking forward to another draft pick, but it never made any sense that teams would be serious about hiring any executive from the Bears front office. I bet a lot of this was Rooney rule generated action

how could we expect the assistant to a bad GM to get promoted?

According to Brad Biggs, it had to be a hard sell, bare minimum to opposing fans. And then maybe Tony Boselli is looking at Cunningham sideways when Cunningham has to explain his work on the Bears O-line. These suits need to put in some work very soon if the Bears people want top jobs going forward. Cunningham turned down the Cardinals job out of irrational hubris. (Maybe that’s redundant).

[patryk7754]

I don't think its a real possibility to trade Swift since it would be a step back and we can't guarantee getting a legit replacement in the draft but, if we do make him available I think the Bills could be a great trade partner. James Cook is looking for a 15m a year so they could be looking for a cheaper alternative. I think the Raiders would also be good trade partner

[patryk7754]

According to Spotrac, we'd save 8m in cap by trading Swift. My preference would be to replace him with Aaron Jones. The most he probably gets is 6ish million. We'd replace swfit with someone better and a smaller cap hit, giving us more money for other FAs. I'd like to also sign Nick Chubb. At most, he'd get 3m but i'd be surprised if that happens. And I would still not be opposed to drafting a RB.

The real trade I want to see is Edmunds. Saves us 15m (according to Spotrac). There are several options that can replace edmunds and be much more friendly to our cap. Dre Greenlaw would be my top choice from FA. Might be a top 3 ILB before his injury and looked good in the very limited time back. He'll most likely be signed to a very cheap 1 year prove if deal. My top choice overall to replace him might be Alabama's LB. He looks like Fred Warner 2.0 and we get to have 15m in cap to spend on basically whoever we want.

[fleet]

I don't think its a real possibility to trade Swift since it would be a step back and we can't guarantee getting a legit replacement in the draft but, if we do make him available I think the Bills could be a great trade partner. James Cook is looking for a 15m a year so they could be looking for a cheaper alternative. I think the Raiders would also be good trade partner

As bad of an idea as it was for the Bears to sign Swift, I wouldn’t expect another team to make a similar mistake. Especially when a team can just draft one in a loaded RB draft. The only thing worse than paying Swift would be to give up something of value to get that privilege. Not sure what qualifies as a legitimate replacement, but those Swift stats don’t look like a very high bar to clear. Sorry, but it isn’t easy to hide the disdain I have for the Swift acquisition given the other needs we had especially. Teams aren’t gonna line up to let us off the hook

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

I can imagine us targeting 3-4 of these guys and that’s why we made the recent cuts. Smith is obvious, Sweat is probably the best DE on the market, Young is familiar with our DC, and Dalman is the best C out there right now. But that’s all our cap space.

[TheSuzerain]

Smith and Dalman make sense there.

Let's see if Bosa gets cut as well.

[jnrjr79]

I don't think its a real possibility to trade Swift since it would be a step back and we can't guarantee getting a legit replacement in the draft but, if we do make him available I think the Bills could be a great trade partner. James Cook is looking for a 15m a year so they could be looking for a cheaper alternative. I think the Raiders would also be good trade partner

As bad of an idea as it was for the Bears to sign Swift, I wouldn’t expect another team to make a similar mistake. Especially when a team can just draft one in a loaded RB draft. The only thing worse than paying Swift would be to give up something of value to get that privilege. Not sure what qualifies as a legitimate replacement, but those Swift stats don’t look like a very high bar to clear. Sorry, but it isn’t easy to hide the disdain I have for the Swift acquisition given the other needs we had especially. Teams aren’t gonna line up to let us off the hook

IMO, it's a lot more likely that the Bears sign or draft an upgrade between-the-tackles type of RB and keep Swift. His contract isn't egregious, but to your point, it's high enough that I don't think there will be teams clamoring to take him off the Bears' hands.

[nomorezorro]

those EDGE contract projections make a DE @ 10 look a lot more appealing

edit: actually after a lil more research, i don't know where those numbers are pulled from (they're generally close to the "market value" estimations on the spotrac website, but not a 1:1 match), and it looks like spotrac's projections are pretty spotty on a case-to-case basis anyway in terms of matching up to real life contracts. i would not put a ton of stock into those figures (even if a couple of them feel right)

[Dresden]

those EDGE contract projections make a DE @ 10 look a lot more appealing

edit: actually after a lil more research, i don't know where those numbers are pulled from (they're generally close to the "market value" estimations on the spotrac website, but not a 1:1 match), and it looks like spotrac's projections are pretty spotty on a case-to-case basis anyway in terms of matching up to real life contracts. i would not put a ton of stock into those figures (even if a couple of them feel right)

Cutting Walker would seem to indicate that that's what the Bears will do at 10. There's a good chance Mykal Williams will be available there. And if not, trade back.

[Jeffster81]

I want both Smith and Dalman and the Bears use #10 on an OL. There are no excuses, imo. Now, I understand getting both Smith and Dalman will be difficult with a few other teams with the need and money, so I will be ok with just one of Smith or Dalman. But I really want both OL in FA.

[Almost Retired]

In a world with no salary cap I'd love to get Trey Smith. But his potential price tag is too rich. Dalman is the key signing we need to get. The Center position is too important in the cohesiveness of the O-Line. Experience is key. He's going to cost somewhere in the $10 Million a year range. For a one year starter I'd sign Kevin Zeitler to a 2 years deal. He'd start this year and backup one of our O-Line draft choices in 2026. He'd be a good mentor.

The more expensive signing would have to be at EDGE. I'd let Dennis Allen pick the guy he'd like to have. Candidates could be Josh Sweat, Chase Young, or Dante Fowler. That's gonna cost a pretty penny. High $20 Million a year territory. Josh Sweat is the top FA available but Allen has experience with Chase Young and might be comfortable with him. We can also Draft an EDGE in Round 2 and use him as a swing EDGE to give the two starters some rest.

In the Draft I'm taking Tyler Booker at #10 or in a trade down. He's an immediate starter at guard. He'd be the first building block of a revamped O-Line. In the 2nd round I'd take an EDGE at either 39 or 41. Guys that should be available include Jack Sawyer, Princely Umanmielen, Landon Jackson and JT Tuimoloau. With the other 2nd round pick I'd like to draft one of the huge college Offensive Tackles that project to moving to Guard in the NFL. The 2 that I have in mind are Cameron Williams from Texas or Jonah Savaiinaea from Arizona. They are both huge and would move inside to guard but not be expected to start in year 1. They have positional flexibility should one of our Tackles get injured. I'd expect either one would be the starter at guard opposite Tyler Booker by 2026. Zeitler would be around another year to back up both.

By not signing Trey Smith we would have a lot more FA money to spread around to upgrade other positions. Tyler Booker will probably give us equal performance by year 2 at a cost of about $6 million vs Trey Smith's $22-24 Million a year.

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

[ThisGuyFawkes]

I would really like an impact DT, either through the draft or FA. Getting that inside pressure really helps the LBs and edges.

[biggestbullsfan]

those EDGE contract projections make a DE @ 10 look a lot more appealing

edit: actually after a lil more research, i don't know where those numbers are pulled from (they're generally close to the "market value" estimations on the spotrac website, but not a 1:1 match), and it looks like spotrac's projections are pretty spotty on a case-to-case basis anyway in terms of matching up to real life contracts. i would not put a ton of stock into those figures (even if a couple of them feel right)

Cutting Walker would seem to indicate that that's what the Bears will do at 10. There's a good chance Mykal Williams will be available there. And if not, trade back.

I think it’s more likely saying we sign one or get one deeper in the draft. Dennis Allen will probably want to bring in his guys. Chase Young etc. This draft is heavy on edge, RB, DT deeper in the draft. Unless someone falls, i see us going OL at 10. Gotta start investing in the trenches asap. Especially with Ben’s offense