Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2016 8:07:09 GMT -6
Did Ryan Pace leave Bears' QB cupboard bare?
It’s not quite that simple
By John Mullin November 16, 2016 10:14 PM
GM Ryan Pace is coming under fire for not having a good young arm in the pipeline, for not selecting one in either of his first two drafts, made exponentially more painful if only because of seeing what the Dallas Cowboys have done behind Dak Prescott, on whom the Bears passed three times in the 2016 fourth round alone.
Maybe it’s not as simple as Pace simply not drafting quarterbacks. In fact, it’s not that simple at all.
Consider: How would a Bears depth chart of Jay Cutler-Brian Hoyer-Connor Shaw have looked? Because that’s what Pace had assembled for the Bears, plus David Fales, going into the preseason after signing Hoyer, a veteran addition that underscored a very definite mindset that the Bears were pointing toward winning now.
Coaches aren’t permitted the luxury of excuses, but “we have been through four quarterbacks,” John Fox said on Wednesday during a call with the New York media. “That can be problematic. I go all the way back to Connor Shaw getting hurt in the third preseason game. We only go into the season with three quarterbacks, he went down, then we had Jay go down in the second game against Philadelphia on Monday Night and went to Brian Hoyer and then we are in Green Bay on a Thursday night and he got his arm broken.
“So we have had a broken leg, a messed up throwing thumb and a broken arm, so now we are back to Jay.”
Back before all this started, going into training camp, Cutler hadn’t yet regressed, was heading into an interception-free preseason, and it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption that his arrow was at least holding steady in the black, consistent with his apparent ball-security leap forward in 2015.
In his opportunities, Shaw flashed in the New England game with 4 of 6 passing for 42 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions and a 126.4 rating. Shaw made another strong impression against Kansas City, completing 5 of 6 for 68 yards, another TD and a near-perfect 153.5 rating.
So there the Bears were, with Cutler ensconced as the starter, a proven No. 2 in Hoyer and a clear favorite in the young-arm category with Shaw. The Bears looked to be as good or better than they were with Cutler-Josh McCown, with Shaw in the pipeline.
Except that Shaw’s year ended with a broken leg suffered in the Kansas City game. Fales got another look but only enough to clarify that he was not a future option and he was released, following Jimmy Clausen out to Baltimore to play (briefly) for offensive coordinator Marc Trestman.
When Cutler went down for five games with a thumb injury, Hoyer played better than expected, better than Cutler in fact, with a streak of four 300-yard games before his season ended with a broken arm in the Green Bay game.
So should Pace have been drafting quarterbacks, like previous GM’s Jerry Angelo (Dan LeFevour, Nathan Enderle) and Phil Emery did (Fales) did? Maybe. In hindsight, sure. But with Cutler-Hoyer in place, and knowing through offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and other avenues that Shaw was coming free from the Cleveland Browns, Pace did not forget about the quarterback position.
No easy QB solutions even in draft
The state of Bears quarterbacking does simplify the 2017 draft for them a little, at least in terms of ranking needs. Recriminations for not hitting on mid- and late-round picks of young quarterbacks can go on and on, but really don’t matter at all now. The Bears and everyone else over the years had their multiple chances at Prescott, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Joe Montana and so on. That’s all in the past and now all the Bears can generally wish is that what’s past is not prologue, with apologies to The Bard here.
But prioritizing a quarterback at ANY level is without question the single most difficult undertaking in NFL personnel endeavors. Having a high pick means nothing, as the Cleveland Browns found out with Tim Couch, the Cincinnati Bengals with Akili Smith and the Bears with Cade McNown, all within the top 12 picks of a supposedly deep 1999 quarterback draft being likened to the ’83 class, at that time. Next year was better, with Brady and Marc Bulger in the sixth round.
All of which underscores the magnitude of the problem for the Bears, who are stumbling toward the decidedly undesirable spot of being forced to draft for need. The degree of that need will depend somewhat on how the Bears’ plan unfolds with Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer and Connor Shaw, the last being a roster darkhorse before breaking his leg in preseason, having teamed up with Alshon Jeffery at South Carolina and Dowell Loggains in Cleveland.
The Bears drafted for need in 1999 and wound up with McNown, the annual “most ready for the NFL” quarterback prospect, who really wasn’t. The twist in that situation was that the Bears, coming off a dismal 1998 season that got Dave Wannstedt fired, thought they had engineered a coup, with their pivotal role in the three-way trade involving New Orleans and Washington.
Moving down from No. 7 to No. 12 netted them five picks. In the process of it all they were content to pass on eventual three-time Pro Bowl’er Daunte Culpepper in favor of McNown.
The point: The Bears may use their 2017 first-round pick on a quarterback. Guarantees that it will be the right one are maybe 50-50 at best.
It’s not quite that simple
By John Mullin November 16, 2016 10:14 PM
GM Ryan Pace is coming under fire for not having a good young arm in the pipeline, for not selecting one in either of his first two drafts, made exponentially more painful if only because of seeing what the Dallas Cowboys have done behind Dak Prescott, on whom the Bears passed three times in the 2016 fourth round alone.
Maybe it’s not as simple as Pace simply not drafting quarterbacks. In fact, it’s not that simple at all.
Consider: How would a Bears depth chart of Jay Cutler-Brian Hoyer-Connor Shaw have looked? Because that’s what Pace had assembled for the Bears, plus David Fales, going into the preseason after signing Hoyer, a veteran addition that underscored a very definite mindset that the Bears were pointing toward winning now.
Coaches aren’t permitted the luxury of excuses, but “we have been through four quarterbacks,” John Fox said on Wednesday during a call with the New York media. “That can be problematic. I go all the way back to Connor Shaw getting hurt in the third preseason game. We only go into the season with three quarterbacks, he went down, then we had Jay go down in the second game against Philadelphia on Monday Night and went to Brian Hoyer and then we are in Green Bay on a Thursday night and he got his arm broken.
“So we have had a broken leg, a messed up throwing thumb and a broken arm, so now we are back to Jay.”
Back before all this started, going into training camp, Cutler hadn’t yet regressed, was heading into an interception-free preseason, and it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption that his arrow was at least holding steady in the black, consistent with his apparent ball-security leap forward in 2015.
In his opportunities, Shaw flashed in the New England game with 4 of 6 passing for 42 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions and a 126.4 rating. Shaw made another strong impression against Kansas City, completing 5 of 6 for 68 yards, another TD and a near-perfect 153.5 rating.
So there the Bears were, with Cutler ensconced as the starter, a proven No. 2 in Hoyer and a clear favorite in the young-arm category with Shaw. The Bears looked to be as good or better than they were with Cutler-Josh McCown, with Shaw in the pipeline.
Except that Shaw’s year ended with a broken leg suffered in the Kansas City game. Fales got another look but only enough to clarify that he was not a future option and he was released, following Jimmy Clausen out to Baltimore to play (briefly) for offensive coordinator Marc Trestman.
When Cutler went down for five games with a thumb injury, Hoyer played better than expected, better than Cutler in fact, with a streak of four 300-yard games before his season ended with a broken arm in the Green Bay game.
So should Pace have been drafting quarterbacks, like previous GM’s Jerry Angelo (Dan LeFevour, Nathan Enderle) and Phil Emery did (Fales) did? Maybe. In hindsight, sure. But with Cutler-Hoyer in place, and knowing through offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and other avenues that Shaw was coming free from the Cleveland Browns, Pace did not forget about the quarterback position.
No easy QB solutions even in draft
The state of Bears quarterbacking does simplify the 2017 draft for them a little, at least in terms of ranking needs. Recriminations for not hitting on mid- and late-round picks of young quarterbacks can go on and on, but really don’t matter at all now. The Bears and everyone else over the years had their multiple chances at Prescott, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Joe Montana and so on. That’s all in the past and now all the Bears can generally wish is that what’s past is not prologue, with apologies to The Bard here.
But prioritizing a quarterback at ANY level is without question the single most difficult undertaking in NFL personnel endeavors. Having a high pick means nothing, as the Cleveland Browns found out with Tim Couch, the Cincinnati Bengals with Akili Smith and the Bears with Cade McNown, all within the top 12 picks of a supposedly deep 1999 quarterback draft being likened to the ’83 class, at that time. Next year was better, with Brady and Marc Bulger in the sixth round.
All of which underscores the magnitude of the problem for the Bears, who are stumbling toward the decidedly undesirable spot of being forced to draft for need. The degree of that need will depend somewhat on how the Bears’ plan unfolds with Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer and Connor Shaw, the last being a roster darkhorse before breaking his leg in preseason, having teamed up with Alshon Jeffery at South Carolina and Dowell Loggains in Cleveland.
The Bears drafted for need in 1999 and wound up with McNown, the annual “most ready for the NFL” quarterback prospect, who really wasn’t. The twist in that situation was that the Bears, coming off a dismal 1998 season that got Dave Wannstedt fired, thought they had engineered a coup, with their pivotal role in the three-way trade involving New Orleans and Washington.
Moving down from No. 7 to No. 12 netted them five picks. In the process of it all they were content to pass on eventual three-time Pro Bowl’er Daunte Culpepper in favor of McNown.
The point: The Bears may use their 2017 first-round pick on a quarterback. Guarantees that it will be the right one are maybe 50-50 at best.
