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

[fleet]

Trey Hendricksons value is probably as low as it can get, for, someone who gets 15 sacks a year. I would not be surprised if we could trade a third for him at this point. The only obstacle would can we afford him. There’s usually a way to make it work.

If we hadn't signed Dayo in the off season it would be a no brainer to take on Hendrickson. But we gave Dayo a $48 Million deal with almost $30 million guaranteed. That being said do you think adding Hendrickson gets us to the Super Bowl this year? I have to think that if the O-Line can gel in time we'd at least make it to the NFC Final against the Eagles.

People aren’t considering a Thuney (or Bagent) extension when they try and figure out fitting in Hendrickson. At the end of the day, the Bears will definitely sacrifice names currently on the team to do this. It’s a bad idea unless you think the Bears won’t need to sign anyone else for a couple years.

This is how a team that consistently neglects drafting an important position (defensive end/pass rush) gets off balance, compounding the mistake by throwing money at it to cover it up. They have already been doing that with Sweat and Dayo. Tripling down the money at one position seems like it would be a bizarre allocation. Actually, if the Bears hadn’t been premature with the Sweat deal, you could feasibly consider doing a better timed, and more convenient Hendrickson deal with the current state of the team. Not that any of it would be preferable than appropriately addressing the edge position in the draft over the years instead

[jnrjr79]

Trey Hendricksons value is probably as low as it can get, for, someone who gets 15 sacks a year. I would not be surprised if we could trade a third for him at this point. The only obstacle would can we afford him. There’s usually a way to make it work.

If we hadn't signed Dayo in the off season it would be a no brainer to take on Hendrickson. But we gave Dayo a $48 Million deal with almost $30 million guaranteed. That being said do you think adding Hendrickson gets us to the Super Bowl this year? I have to think that if the O-Line can gel in time we'd at least make it to the NFC Final against the Eagles.

People aren’t considering a Thuney (or Bagent) extension when they try and figure out fitting in Hendrickson. At the end of the day, the Bears will definitely sacrifice names currently on the team to do this. It’s a bad idea unless you think the Bears won’t need to sign anyone else for a couple years.

This is how a team that consistently neglects drafting an important position (defensive end/pass rush) gets off balance, compounding the mistake by throwing money at it to cover it up. They have already been doing that with Sweat and Dayo. Tripling down the money at one position seems like it would be a bizarre allocation. Actually, if the Bears hadn’t been premature with the Sweat deal, you could feasibly consider doing a better timed, and more convenient Hendrickson deal with the current state of the team. Not that any of it would be preferable than appropriately addressing the edge position in the draft over the years instead

I saw Brad Biggs note this week in a mailbag when asked about Hendrickson that the Bears already have the 9th most salary invested in edge rusher and they'd likely be at the top of the league if they traded for Hendrickson and extended him.

It seems a lot more likely to me they either try to roll with what they have or throw a one-year contract at someone like Clowney and then try to revisit EDGE in next year's draft.

[patryk7754]

Trey Hendricksons value is probably as low as it can get, for, someone who gets 15 sacks a year. I would not be surprised if we could trade a third for him at this point. The only obstacle would can we afford him. There’s usually a way to make it work.

If we hadn't signed Dayo in the off season it would be a no brainer to take on Hendrickson. But we gave Dayo a $48 Million deal with almost $30 million guaranteed. That being said do you think adding Hendrickson gets us to the Super Bowl this year? I have to think that if the O-Line can gel in time we'd at least make it to the NFC Final against the Eagles.

Having Dayo is the obvious obstacle but I don't think it completely takes us out of the running for a DT. I think Dayo can be our starting DT and rotate all along the line. Does it make us a SB contender? Idk, but I think we'll be top 5ish defense. Our ability to compete for a SB would be on how much Willaims improves and if the OL actually plays well. On paper, I think we'd be able to go head-to-head with anyone.

Hendrickson/Dayo/Garret/Sweat (Booker/Dexter/Billings/Stweart/Hardy) that's a great rotation on the DL. Plus, you have to assume adding Hendricksons will make it much easier for Sweat.

[patryk7754]

Trey Hendricksons value is probably as low as it can get, for, someone who gets 15 sacks a year. I would not be surprised if we could trade a third for him at this point. The only obstacle would can we afford him. There’s usually a way to make it work.

If we hadn't signed Dayo in the off season it would be a no brainer to take on Hendrickson. But we gave Dayo a $48 Million deal with almost $30 million guaranteed. That being said do you think adding Hendrickson gets us to the Super Bowl this year? I have to think that if the O-Line can gel in time we'd at least make it to the NFC Final against the Eagles.

People aren’t considering a Thuney (or Bagent) extension when they try and figure out fitting in Hendrickson. At the end of the day, the Bears will definitely sacrifice names currently on the team to do this. It’s a bad idea unless you think the Bears won’t need to sign anyone else for a couple years.

This is how a team that consistently neglects drafting an important position (defensive end/pass rush) gets off balance, compounding the mistake by throwing money at it to cover it up. They have already been doing that with Sweat and Dayo. Tripling down the money at one position seems like it would be a bizarre allocation. Actually, if the Bears hadn’t been premature with the Sweat deal, you could feasibly consider doing a better timed, and more convenient Hendrickson deal with the current state of the team. Not that any of it would be preferable than appropriately addressing the edge position in the draft over the years instead

Good point about Thuney. I have no idea what our cap situation looks like in the future. If bringing in Hendrickson mean sacrificing a player or two, it would depend on the player for me. If it means we have to let Bagent walk, I'd be fine with that. No that fine with letting Thuney walk. I don't think we need to add any positions of significance until 2 off-seasons from now (unless something changes) and by the time that rolls around, I think it would be pretty easy to cut Dayo (if necessary). And if we do need to make some changes next off-season, there are a few players that would be cap friendly cuts (that might happen regardless of adding another high dollar player). Three that come to mind are Byard, Swfit, and Edmunds (I believe that would save us between 30-40m in cap) and those players can be "easily" replaced via draft or cap friendly FAs.

[nomorezorro]

dayo is not going to be our starting 1t man

[biggestbullsfan]

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[TheSuzerain]

Trey Hendricksons value is probably as low as it can get, for, someone who gets 15 sacks a year. I would not be surprised if we could trade a third for him at this point. The only obstacle would can we afford him. There’s usually a way to make it work.

If we hadn't signed Dayo in the off season it would be a no brainer to take on Hendrickson. But we gave Dayo a $48 Million deal with almost $30 million guaranteed. That being said do you think adding Hendrickson gets us to the Super Bowl this year? I have to think that if the O-Line can gel in time we'd at least make it to the NFC Final against the Eagles.

the reality is that adding him might not make us better at all in the present,

wait what?

[patryk7754]

https://youtu.be/7sWuZz7A_FA?si=w5i2PvHFC4a_1juB

[fleet]

Smart kid. And I would think anyone in his position would have this reaction.

[TheJordanRule]

Why can't we prioritize an edge rusher in free agency? The FO should understand that while we have a strong secondary, it doesn't matter without a pass rush. Every secondary will get picked apart if you give the QB enough time. I don't want another game against the Packers while this roster hole remains.

[TheJordanRule]

Bring back Khalil Mack! I wanna relive the glory days! Plus he's still effective!

[jnrjr79]

Bring back Khalil Mack! I wanna relive the glory days! Plus he's still effective!

He already re-signed with the Chargers.

[nomorezorro]

Why can't we prioritize an edge rusher in free agency? The FO should understand that while we have a strong secondary, it doesn't matter without a pass rush. Every secondary will get picked apart if you give the QB enough time. I don't want another game against the Packers while this roster hole remains.

we gave an edge rusher a $16m/year contract the first day of free agency

[biggestbullsfan]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

[NesimLE]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

That was my guess as well when we were watching it happen in real time. They'd say something was a priority for the team, and Fields came back after the offseason with no changes made. Like, even if you can't coach/teach someone to "good" you should be able to get them to "better," and we consistently saw zero improvement in the areas that were of obvious concern. Footwork and timing being the obvious ones...and given that Waldron wasn't teaching/coaching there either...it's just an indictment on the organization, to not know what a functional offensive coaching staff looks like.

[TheJordanRule]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

While he was here, I had endless excuses for Justin. Now, I've come to grips with the fact that Fleet and Doug were right-- Justin's problems were exacerbated by Justin. So what if he had to watch game tape by himself the way Caleb did. My guess is that every starting QB has to go through that. Justin is a running back who can throw. Caleb is a quarterback who can run. The difference in mentality, impact and upside is night and day.

[burlydee]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

While he was here, I had endless excuses for Justin. Now, I've come to grips with the fact that Fleet and Doug were right-- Justin's problems were exacerbated by Justin. So what if he had to watch game tape by himself. My guess is that every starting QB has to go through that. Justin is a running back who can throw. Caleb is a quarterback who can run. The difference in mentality, impact and upside is night and day.

I think it's pretty weird to be told to watch film on your own with no insight into what youre supposed to be keying in or studying. Coaching the QB position is pretty much a teaching position.

[jnrjr79]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

While he was here, I had endless excuses for Justin. Now, I've come to grips with the fact that Fleet and Doug were right-- Justin's problems were exacerbated by Justin. So what if he had to watch game tape by himself. My guess is that every starting QB has to go through that. Justin is a running back who can throw. Caleb is a quarterback who can run. The difference in mentality, impact and upside is night and day.

I think it's pretty weird to be told to watch film on your own with no insight into what youre supposed to be keying in or studying. Coaching the QB position is pretty much a teaching position.

Yeah, I'm sure QBs watch film on their own all the time. But this suggests the Bears were neglecting the coaching element of that process and making him just figure it out for himself. This seems like asking someone to do homework, but not having him sit for the lecture beforehand or grading his work afterward.

[TheJordanRule]

I feel you guys on what you're saying, JR and Burly. Flus wasn't doing his job the way an exemplary coach would. I'm glad he's gone.

[MAQ]

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I don’t see how ppl can read this stuff and not realize how much a disservice we were to Justin as well. Flus was such a train wreck. Wow.

While he was here, I had endless excuses for Justin. Now, I've come to grips with the fact that Fleet and Doug were right-- Justin's problems were exacerbated by Justin. So what if he had to watch game tape by himself the way Caleb did. My guess is that every starting QB has to go through that. Justin is a running back who can throw. Caleb is a quarterback who can run. The difference in mentality, impact and upside is night and day.

It's one thing to think Justin would have never put it together.

It's a totally different thing to say it didn't matter that he was not properly coached and developed. That's a bad take. Doesn't matter who the qb is, he had to be coached and developed. And not doing that is football malpractice.