Post by malagabears on Mar 20, 2023 12:47:07 GMT -6
One thing to remember, Poles as a former lineman maybe be looking to find the next diamond in the rough as far as the Oline is concerned. He might even think with his analytics team he can hit gold looking for a RT on day 3 like Jones.
They threw their money to solve the LB position, and get a few pieces for the lines. Smart move imo, as stated multiple times the depth of this draft appears to be in the lines. And the LB's don't appear to be special.
Poles focused on the areas outside the strength of this year’s draft in free agency. Grabbing LB’s and WR1 was exceptional with nice pieces added elsewhere. I’m very impressed and hopeful about the upcoming season.
Pretty much hated all last offseason as it harmed Fields development. But this year I'm pretty happy, he had the entire year to come up w/a gameplan and it looks like he is nailing it. Does it work out, no idea but I like there does seem to be a plan that he's following through with.
Spent some time looking over those remaining FA and to be honest there's not much left on the plate we could use right now. A few DBs maybe but most would want more than Poles would pay at the moment. These guys will probably still be on the street post draft and more willing to accept 1 year deals for far less money. I'd rather seem him bring back DH-C.
There's literally nothing left for OT or DT that looks good to me unless Poles picks up another run stuffer on the cheap just to add depth and competition. I believe for the most part his shopping is done unless maybe he engineers a trade for a vet using later round picks. From my perspective it's now gonna be 90% about the draft and how to maximize his return there.
Yannick Ngakoue is still out there, and I'd really like to see him brought in. He isn't the dominant edge rusher that a Bosa type guy is, but the guy has also never had less than 8 sacks in a season in his career. He's only 27 and would be a boost to our defensive line for sure. At this point in free agency he'd surely command less than in the outset. Poone Ford is another guy who would be a good addition to the d line. A guy worth a 1 year flier deal might be a guy like Bud Dupree to see if he can regain any of his early career form.
The question with him is does how much does Poles want to spend on a guy whose essentially a one trick pony edge rusher who doesn't appear to have much ambition to be a run stopper. He may be a better pass rusher than Muhammad was but again we'd have a guy who can't set the edge and our run defense suffers.
His 2 year deal with Indy paid $13 AAV. If he's looking for anywhere near that number IMHO he's probably asking far more than Poles would pay at least right now. The draft appears to be deep in DE talent and knowing Poles he may be content to see who he can snag there and also find out how much Robinson has progressed since last year. He may be a guy who can give what Ngakoue has in the past.
One thing to remember, Poles as a former lineman maybe be looking to find the next diamond in the rough as far as the Oline is concerned. He might even think with his analytics team he can hit gold looking for a RT on day 3 like Jones.
A lot can happen between now and draft weekend but my gut is telling me that Poles has at least one of the OTs earmarked to take a #9 or possibly after trading back a few spots. If we count Skoronski there are 4 OT's who could be taken there or over the next 9 picks. My question is how do Poles and Cunningham see each of them?
My reasoning is pretty much based on getting both a BPA and filling a massive need at OT that wasn't filled in FA and IMHO can't be filled with anyone other than another stop gap type vet post draft. Does he really feel either Borom or Leatherwood are an answer? I'm not an OL analyst but when you have four possibilities one should fit.
Braxton Jones looked good for a 5th round rookie and could get better. Or he could plateau. How much risk do we want to take with the OT position now that we have a core of WR who can help win some games with a QB whose as good a deep ball passer as Fields? Why have their deep speed and ability and limit it's use?
Taking players like Tyree Wilson if there or Lukas Van Ess are tempting but with the addition of Nate Davis and the ascension of Jenkins as an OG maybe Poles should finish what's been started and try to get 5 quality starters out in front of Fields along with the requisite depth so the offense can start carrying the team for a change.
I'm convinced we can find a 3t prospect in round 2 who doesn't bring the baggage Carter does and we should have enough draft booty to trade up to get one if it's necessary. I see at three prospects and maybe a 4th for the 2nd and 3rd rounds. There should be quite a few DE prospects and 1t/NT types later on as well.
If it's gonna be all about value I question whether or not the value at OT is there in the middle or later rounds whereas it appears to be in round one. So far Braxton Jones seems to be a nice score but how many times do we want to go to that same well hoping to score again? Remember, Borom was a 5th round pick as well.
Yannick Ngakoue is still out there, and I'd really like to see him brought in. He isn't the dominant edge rusher that a Bosa type guy is, but the guy has also never had less than 8 sacks in a season in his career. He's only 27 and would be a boost to our defensive line for sure. At this point in free agency he'd surely command less than in the outset. Poone Ford is another guy who would be a good addition to the d line. A guy worth a 1 year flier deal might be a guy like Bud Dupree to see if he can regain any of his early career form.
The question with him is does how much does Poles want to spend on a guy whose essentially a one trick pony edge rusher who doesn't appear to have much ambition to be a run stopper. He may be a better pass rusher than Muhammad was but again we'd have a guy who can't set the edge and our run defense suffers.
His 2 year deal with Indy paid $13 AAV. If he's looking for anywhere near that number IMHO he's probably asking far more than Poles would pay at least right now. The draft appears to be deep in DE talent and knowing Poles he may be content to see who he can snag there and also find out how much Robinson has progressed since last year. He may be a guy who can give what Ngakoue has in the past.
You bring up a good point in regards to Yannicks inability or unwillingness to play the run. Thats probably why he's still a free agent and I'd imagine as more time goes by his price is going to have to come down. Depending on what the Bears do in the draft he might make more sense. If they draft a guy like Van Ness...he is more than capable of playing the run. Now Yannick would strictly be a passing downs guy. I wouldn't pay that guy $13 mill...but Poles may not have to.
Here again with Cole it seems that Poles is consistently up grading his depth and special teams with an experienced vet with starting experience. We always tend to focus on front line starters but over the course of a 17 game season our depth or lack of it is also gonna become a factor.
Here again with Cole it seems that Poles is consistently up grading his depth and special teams with an experienced vet with starting experience. We always tend to focus on front line starters but over the course of a 17 game season our depth or lack of it is also gonna become a factor.
+1 Depth is a very important factor often overlooked - until injuries start eating into your starters. One school of thought with fans is that "if your starters go down, then your season is over" but that is just not true if there are quality players behind these injured starters. Sure, they are not at the same level as the guy who gets injured. But the dropoff in talent doesn't have to be enough to kill your your season.
In fact, even at QB there have been super bowl winners - with backup QBs. There have been 10 Super Bowls won with backup QBs. So that old wives tale of how backups don't matter... well, those are just meatball fans who are clueless about the game.
Signing solid backups is important.
LINK 10 Backup QB's who led their team to the Super Bowl