Bears 11.0: Free Agency, College Pro days, Draft & beyond

Dresden · Post #61 » by **Dresden** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:03 am

dice wrote:what a gift to the rams. good gracious

https://sidelionreport.com/rams-benching-of-jonah-jackson-further-proves-great-decision-by-the-lions

My gosh you're negative whenever anything doesn't fit your rigid scheme of team building. You think Ben Johnson wasn't aware of his history when he and Poles talked about this?

Almost Retired · Post #62 » by **Almost Retired** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 12:38 pm

dice wrote:what a gift to the rams. good gracious

https://sidelionreport.com/rams-benching-of-jonah-jackson-further-proves-great-decision-by-the-lions

Yes. We're going to miss that 6th round pick on our practice squad.

biggestbullsfan · Post #63 » by **biggestbullsfan** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:10 pm

Read on Twitter

People can’t say Poles doesn’t read the room :lol:

I just hope we don’t give up a 1st or second rounder for this. I’d do a Third. Maybe multiple 4ths?

1985Bear · Post #64 » by **1985Bear** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:24 pm

Dice this chart is for you any time you get upset about the Bears trading away a pick where expectations are “draftable/ Backup”

Bleacher Report's NFL draft grading scale:

10: Generational talent/No. 1 overall
9.5–9.9: Top-five prospect
9.0–9.4: Top-10 prospect
8.5–8.9: Immediate impact prospect / 1st round
8.0–8.4: Year 1 starter / Late 1st-2nd round
7.5–7.9: Potential impact player / 2nd round
7.0–7.4: High-level backup / Potential starter / 3rd round
6.5–6.9: Potential role player / 4th round
6.0–6.4: Developmental prospect / 5th round
5.5–5.9: Backup/Draftable / 6th-7th round
4.0-5.4 UDFA

For me, this chart helps keep me level headed when trading picks away. It has also made me realize that top 100 picks are very valuable and how you have to hit on rounds 1-2.

My expectations:
Pick 10 - immediately impact starter. This has to be penciled in as a day 1 starter. It’s why I am open to a Jeanty here over a broke kneed Simmons.
Wish list: Will Campbell, Graham, Membou, Jeanty, Pearce

Pick 39 & 41 - year 1 starter/ potential impact player. Edge, DT, IOL OT, RB.
Wish list: Booker, Zabel, J Sawyer, Ersery, K. Johnson, Judkins, M. Williams, Princely

Pick 72:: High level backup/ potential starter
Wish list: Arroyo Te, Skateboo, Taylor (TE) Ratlidge (g)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

patryk7754 · Post #65 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:37 pm

Just traded a 6th for joe thuney. Is a 6th too much for a HOF OG?

Whoops...its a 4th rounder. got a little too excited

nomorezorro · Post #66 » by **nomorezorro** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:41 pm

it's a 2026 4th rounder, but still like that deal a lot

patryk7754 · Post #67 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:46 pm

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44120523/source-bears-trade-chiefs-all-pro-guard-joe-thuney

Article about the trade ^^^

My two take aways: Thuney was voted team MVP this past season. He's due 16m and I assume that will be the cap hit.

Go get dalman

patryk7754 · Post #68 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:48 pm

The one concern (or by far the biggest concern) was how Poles was going to handle the OL this offseason, after floundering every other year. I think it's safe to say he's all in

Post #69 » by **fleet** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 2:56 pm

patryk7754 wrote:https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/44120523/source-bears-trade-chiefs-all-pro-guard-joe-thuney

Article about the trade ^^^

My two take aways: Thuney was voted team MVP this past season. He's due 16m and I assume that will be the cap hit.

Go get dalman

Grey Zabel would be a nice project behind a Shelton now. Sign Sweat, and draft Mikel Williams and Kaleb Johnson. Let’s go.

patryk7754 · Post #70 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 3:00 pm

This trade has me thinking that Ryan Kelly is a legit option for us to sign at center. He's definitely the best center available but he's older. However, if Poles is willing to trade a future 4th for a OG who will turn 33 this season and who is on the last year of his deal, he might be looking to the best players and not looking to the future as much as some of us thought. Kelly is better and will probably be cheaper.

I think a very solid strategy would be extending Thuney and signing Kelly to contracts that align with Jackson in duration. And focus on drafting possible replacements in the future.

IliketheBullsNBearstoo · Post #71 » by **IliketheBullsNBearstoo** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 3:38 pm

Sign Dalman for center period. Not opposed to also get Will campbell at 10. Just draft best available at 10.

I feel we should treat the Jackson trade as depth but potential to be a starter and still get another interior OL. Maybe Pryor and Jackson can compete with Thuney manning the other side.

Almost Retired · Post #72 » by **Almost Retired** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 3:52 pm

If Poles continues to solidify the O-Line then it opens up lots more possibilities in the Draft. Maybe Ben Johnson could persuade Poles to pick Jeanty at #10 if he's still on the board. Or a trade down. Lots of intriguing players could be available with extra picks. One guy that I'd love to grab is Nick Emmanwori the big safety out of South Carolina. If Poles can grab Josh Sweat in Free Agency adding Emmanwori would really give our defense a boost.

HoopsterJones · Post #73 » by **HoopsterJones** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 3:59 pm

So maybe Ashton Jeanty is lining up as a possibility at #10?

cocktailswith_2short · Post #74 » by **cocktailswith_2short** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:00 pm

Chiefs feeling that mahomes contract.you guys just got their best lineman.

cocktailswith_2short · Post #75 » by **cocktailswith_2short** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:01 pm

HoopsterJones wrote:So maybe Ashton Jeanty is lining up as a possibility at #10?

It would be a mistake so I hope the bears do it .

patryk7754 · Post #76 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:09 pm

I think the plan is pretty clear going forward. The only question I have is do the bears plan on having Jackson play guard or center. We've seen him be great a guard so that makes the most sense to me, but if the plan is to acquire the best available lineman, then we still have a great path forward. If Jackson plays center, we sign Zeitler. If Jackson plays guard, we sign Kelly. and we can reasonably assume they will get similar contracts. I'll just assume 2/16m. Our starters a set. We have our backup interior OL set (maybe one more via draft). We need a backup OT. 5-10m for resigning players. The rest of the cap for DL. And if we get those for a "bargain" we can sign some backups at lower-priority positions

Assuming the Jackson and Thuney contracts a are fully against the cap, we have about 45.3 in cap. To make it a round number I'll say we spend 5.3m on resigning our free agents. Go into FA with 40m

Ryan Kelly (C) or Kevin Zeitler (G): 2/16m (I prefer Jackson to play OG so I think Kelly would be the best choice)
Jaylon Moore, OT: 2/6m
Kahlil Mack, DE: 1/12m
Mo Ali-Cox, TE: 2/3m
Tim Patrick, WR: 2/3

We'd have 14m left over to play around with. I wouldn't mind bringing back Allen for 10m after those signings.

I think that would give us a lot of flexibility for the draft. I would trade down from 10 to somewhere around 20 and acquire at least a 2025 2nd and 4th

RD1: Donovan Ezeiruaku, DE
RD2: Tyleik Williams, DT
RD2: Jihaad Campbell, LB
RD2: Treveyon Henerson, RB
RD3: Billy Bowman Jr, S
RD4: Jake Majors, C
RD5: Terrance Fergenson, TE
RD7: Jacob Parrish, CB
RD7: Tyler Batty, DE

HearshotKDS · Post #77 » by **HearshotKDS** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:12 pm

Really like the Thuney trade - 4th round pick in next years draft is equivalent of a 5th roun pick this year. KC eats about $11M of the bonus money on their cap, and Bears get incumbent position to extend or re-sign if they want to wait til next year. Think Poles pairs this with a day 3 G to develop behind Thuney - my guess is Joshua Gray from Oregon State @149.

Big decision from Poles now is if he overpays Dalman, tries to snag Kelly as a 1-2 year stop gap, or drafts the C of the future - could go Zabel in the 2nd or Wilson in the 3rd maybe. You have a 2nd year QB so avoid the dreaded rookie qb/rookie C pairing that teams do their best to avoid, and you have 2 veteran Gs (if healthy!) to sandwhich the rookie between to help with learning curve if they go that route.

nomorezorro · Post #78 » by **nomorezorro** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:17 pm

i would keep an eye on evan brown as a potential budget C option in free agency. did an ok job playing there for detroit a few years ago

NZB2323 · Post #79 » by **NZB2323** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:21 pm

I’m a fan of both trades. How many times do you hit on a 6th round pick? How good is that 2026 4th round pick going to be?

It’s hard to get offensive linemen. The Patriots have more cap space than any other franchise and they’re 1 of 32 teams that would like to improve their o-line.

I’d much prefer these trades than trading multiple 1sts for a DE. Maybe take back Khalil Mack and take a DE in the draft. We still have 3 picks in the first 2 rounds, so even if you take a DE 1st you could still use both 2nds on OL.

patryk7754 · Post #80 » by **patryk7754** » Wed Mar 5, 2025 4:27 pm

NZB2323 wrote:I’m a fan of both trades. How many times do you hit on a 6th round pick? How good is that 2026 4th round pick going to be?

It’s hard to get offensive linemen. The Patriots have more cap space than any other franchise and they’re 1 of 32 teams that would like to improve their o-line.

I’d much prefer these trades than trading multiple 1sts for a DE. Maybe take back Khalil Mack and take a DE in the draft. We still have 3 picks in the first 2 rounds, so even if you take a DE 1st you could still use both 2nds on OL.

I think something about these trades is that they indicate that poles and Johnson are in win now mode. So it will not be surprising if we got after vets help winning now vs signing younger guys who can be helpful in a semi-rebuild.

I think this also moves the needle more towards resigning Allen