no not a FA, his FIRST, highest PRIORITY signee. the guy when the team had limited cap he targeted first and foremost, while foregoing helping his 2nd year qb who need OL and WR help.
it was dumb, short sighted, and near blind and it's b/c of who he hired for HC.
Been over this a million times, dude.
Christian Kirk reset the FA market for WRs on day 1 last March when Jacksonville massively overpaid for him. I know of him well as he was drafted by and played for the Cardinals who I also follow. It was a huge overpay for a "B" quality player.
So WHO SPECIFICALLY did you want Poles to sign?
JuJu is about the only reasonable option I can think of. Everyone else available in FA last year was a JAG.
And the OL? Why do you go straight to WR when I mention both?
And why only discuss FA when they ignored both in FA and the draft until it was to late. Both FA and the draft were Def focused.
I don't understand why Poles should have added contracts with term when all we need in the future is the Cap Space. This team isn't ready and is looking for a good draft pick while the young players and future (Fields, Brisker, Gordon, Johnson, Kmet and Mooney) improves. Maybe even find some surprising pickups while they are in a transition year.
Getting rid of the older players that get paid was the easy part. Using the Cap Space and Draft picks to contend for a wildcard spot next year will be the difficult one.
It is easier to remodel a house than build one. Unless you think Poles is a genius GM who can out-smart all the other GMs in FA and draft, then we need him to just get lucky with some of these guys he brings in next year. More guys like Sanborn who just arrived from nowhere.
I don't understand why Poles should have added contracts with term when all we need in the future is the Cap Space. This team isn't ready and is looking for a good draft pick while the young players and future (Fields, Brisker, Gordon, Johnson, Kmet and Mooney) improves. Maybe even find some surprising pickups while they are in a transition year.
Getting rid of the older players that get paid was the easy part. Using the Cap Space and Draft picks to contend for a wildcard spot next year will be the difficult one.
It is easier to remodel a house than build one. Unless you think Poles is a genius GM who can out-smart all the other GMs in FA and draft, then we need him to just get lucky with some of these guys he brings in next year. More guys like Sanborn who just arrived from nowhere.
The house analogy is a great way to describe our situation. Yeah, most of the time it's best to remodel. But if a person has the resources and the right builder - then building a home can give you EXACTLY what you want with no compromises. It can end up being the best result. I see something similar with Poles. He believes he can build from scratch and have the best result. To do that he had to have the resources (draft and money). To acquire the resources he chose to move on from a lot of players. What he cobbled together for this season was basically like living in a tent on your property lot - the building of the new home begins in 2023. All fans can do is watch and see if Poles can be the right builder. Could be good. Could be bad... or something in-between. We don't know.
Regardless of which approach is taken, success depends upon the builder, the GM. I think either approach can work, and most don't build a team from scratch. But if (a big if) if Poles has the skills then we could end up with a better team than we have had here in the past few decades. Worst case we just have another dud GM. We are used to having them, so it's not exactly a "new" experience for Bears fans. But we can all hope Poles is a good builder and can finally build a nice home for us fans :-)
It is easier to remodel a house than build one. Unless you think Poles is a genius GM who can out-smart all the other GMs in FA and draft, then we need him to just get lucky with some of these guys he brings in next year. More guys like Sanborn who just arrived from nowhere.
The house analogy is a great way to describe our situation. Yeah, most of the time it's best to remodel. But if a person has the resources and the right builder - then building a home can give you EXACTLY what you want with no compromises. It can end up being the best result. I see something similar with Poles. He believes he can build from scratch and have the best result. To do that he had to have the resources (draft and money). To acquire the resources he chose to move on from a lot of players. What he cobbled together for this season was basically like living in a tent on your property lot - the building of the new home begins in 2023. All fans can do is watch and see if Poles can be the right builder. Could be good. Could be bad... or something in-between. We don't know.
Regardless of which approach is taken, success depends upon the builder, the GM. I think either approach can work, and most don't build a team from scratch. But if (a big if) if Poles has the skills then we could end up with a better team than we have had here in the past few decades. Worst case we just have another dud GM. We are used to having them, so it's not exactly a "new" experience for Bears fans. But we can all hope Poles is a good builder and can finally build a nice home for us fans :-)
Poles is going to be picking off FA from other teams again but with a much larger wallet. Hell, it’s going to look like an expansion draft for a new franchise! They will replace the 10-15 JAGs residing in his “tent” this season. He has to get the right players at the right $$$ in FA and then get a rookie class in the draft in 2023 nearly as good as the Seahawks had in 2022 (4 solid starters). It might work, but he doesn’t get a free pass until 2025-26 just because he CHOSE to start with a tent….at least not from me.
The house analogy is a great way to describe our situation. Yeah, most of the time it's best to remodel. But if a person has the resources and the right builder - then building a home can give you EXACTLY what you want with no compromises. It can end up being the best result. I see something similar with Poles. He believes he can build from scratch and have the best result. To do that he had to have the resources (draft and money). To acquire the resources he chose to move on from a lot of players. What he cobbled together for this season was basically like living in a tent on your property lot - the building of the new home begins in 2023. All fans can do is watch and see if Poles can be the right builder. Could be good. Could be bad... or something in-between. We don't know.
Regardless of which approach is taken, success depends upon the builder, the GM. I think either approach can work, and most don't build a team from scratch. But if (a big if) if Poles has the skills then we could end up with a better team than we have had here in the past few decades. Worst case we just have another dud GM. We are used to having them, so it's not exactly a "new" experience for Bears fans. But we can all hope Poles is a good builder and can finally build a nice home for us fans :-)
Poles is going to be picking off FA from other teams again but with a much larger wallet. Hell, it’s going to look like an expansion draft for a new franchise! They will replace the 10-15 JAGs residing in his “tent” this season. He has to get the right players at the right $$$ in FA and then get a rookie class in the draft in 2023 nearly as good as the Seahawks had in 2022 (4 solid starters). It might work, but he doesn’t get a free pass until 2025-26 just because he CHOSE to start with a tent….at least not from me.
+1 I'd add that my own hope is for Poles to use some of that money to re-sign our best remaining players. We do have some good young talent. Let's lock 'em up long term.
Poles is going to be picking off FA from other teams again but with a much larger wallet. Hell, it’s going to look like an expansion draft for a new franchise! They will replace the 10-15 JAGs residing in his “tent” this season. He has to get the right players at the right $$$ in FA and then get a rookie class in the draft in 2023 nearly as good as the Seahawks had in 2022 (4 solid starters). It might work, but he doesn’t get a free pass until 2025-26 just because he CHOSE to start with a tent….at least not from me.
+1 I'd add that my own hope is for Poles to use some of that money to re-sign our best remaining players. We do have some good young talent. Let's lock 'em up long term.
He has 3 more years to evaluate the rookies.
Which FA and UDFA guys would you like to keep? Most of these guys are expendable, beginning with most of the defensive front-7. And, of course, it will be absolutely critical how he handles the OL and WR needs.
Except for the fact the we didn't have the money to pay them.
And the fact that those guys were very unlikely to come to Chicago to play with an unproven QB on a shit team. Signing FAs requires both parties to agree.
Other than that, it was a great plan.
The money was there, if he hadn’t wasted so much on others. Who says they won’t play for Chicago? Did you interview either of them?
Of course I didn't interview them and you didn't either.
It's simply well-known that vet FA WRs are gonna take into account those factors. Should I sign with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs or an unproven young QB on a talentless team? Any agent worth a nickel is gonna advise their client which direction is better for their future career.
If you're a "less desirable landing spot", you are gonna have to overpay even more to attract FAs that have a choice, especially WRs. Supply and demand is real.
The Bears have been an undesirable landing spot for FAs for as long as I can remember. We got Brandon Marshall only via trade and signed Robinson coming off an ACL tear. That's about it. We have long been known as "the place WRs go to die".
Maybe, just maybe, that is starting to change now that Fields has caught some buzz and seems to be a young QB on the rise. We will see in a few months.
+1 I'd add that my own hope is for Poles to use some of that money to re-sign our best remaining players. We do have some good young talent. Let's lock 'em up long term.
He has 3 more years to evaluate the rookies.
Which FA and UDFA guys would you like to keep? Most of these guys are expendable, beginning with most of the defensive front-7. And, of course, it will be absolutely critical how he handles the OL and WR needs.
FA starts from within. You can't even talk to other teams' FAs until March but you can sign your own immediately.
I'd like Poles to re-sign: Mooney Monty JJ Kmet (maybe...this one can wait a year)
I don't know Sanborn's contract info but he looks like a guy you want to keep around too. Won't be expensive at all.
Then look to exterior FA in March. A Center would be a good target. Maybe an RT too though that's a tougher ask. Both JuJu and Hardman are on KC and slated to hit FA. The Chiefs probably can't keep both so I'd look to make a play for whoever they let walk.
On defense, Poles has to sign some DL help. There's no way he can't.
Then head to the draft where I hope we are picking high enough to engineer a nice trade-down.
The money was there, if he hadn’t wasted so much on others. Who says they won’t play for Chicago? Did you interview either of them?
Of course I didn't interview them and you didn't either.
It's simply well-known that vet FA WRs are gonna take into account those factors. Should I sign with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs or an unproven young QB on a talentless team? Any agent worth a nickel is gonna advise their client which direction is better for their future career.
If you're a "less desirable landing spot", you are gonna have to overpay even more to attract FAs that have a choice, especially WRs. Supply and demand is real.
The Bears have been an undesirable landing spot for FAs for as long as I can remember. We got Brandon Marshall only via trade and signed Robinson coming off an ACL tear. That's about it. We have long been known as "the place WRs go to die".
Maybe, just maybe, that is starting to change now that Fields has caught some buzz and seems to be a young QB on the rise. We will see in a few months.
If not JuJu, then DJ Chark. He does have injury history the last couple years,but had 1,000 yards and 73 receptions with the Jags in 2019, so the talent is obviously there. Watkins and Fuller were also available, and arguably better than EQ, Pringle, Harry, Moore, etc. stream of lost dogs he brought in.