Did he tell you he wasn't going after JPJ? Or do you have another source to share on this?
If he told you his source, he would have to kill you. I would just lie back and enjoy.
Man, read the damn tea leaves. Poles has a 3-year history of trying to solve the center problem on the cheap with Mustipher, Whitehair, Kramer, Patrick, and now Bates.
If he told you his source, he would have to kill you. I would just lie back and enjoy.
Man, read the damn tea leaves. Poles has a 3-year history of trying to solve the center problem on the cheap with Mustipher, Whitehair, Kramer, Patrick, and now Bates.
I wonder if Poles has asked Montez for his input on Chase Young. He has the talent but can he put it all together.
It would be nice if they can get DJ Reader for a good buck but I bet that ship has sailed.
Reader tore his quad in week 15 and required surgery. Would be curious on butkus3595 thoughts on recovery? I think I read he tore his other quad in the past too.
I wonder if Poles has asked Montez for his input on Chase Young. He has the talent but can he put it all together.
It would be nice if they can get DJ Reader for a good buck but I bet that ship has sailed.
Reader tore his quad in week 15 and required surgery. Would be curious on butkus3595 thoughts on recovery? I think I read he tore his other quad in the past too.
The man will have two new quads then. Like the Bionic man, ready for his return!
I wanted Cushenberry too, but he's a "good but not great" level of player. He isn't special by any means. Good, no question of that. But you don't pay "resetting the market" money for that level of talent. Hard pass from me on that.
Cushenberry is getting about the same contract as Barkley. That seems reasonable to me, but I think we have different estimates on him. I would think multiple GMs seriously wanted him to get the contract up to $50 million. Bates will just hold down the job…”good but not great.” I am very disappointed Poles is not even going to try to get Powers-Johnson.
I admit that I could be wrong about this, but I just don't Cushenberry anywhere near a Barkley-level player. Barkley is a multiple Pro Bowl player and was a #2 overall pick of the draft. He was the NFL Rookie of the Year.
Cushenberry has never sniffed a Pro Bowl in his career.
He's a 3rd round draft pick. He graded out at 73.2 as a center this year... we can do better than this guy in the 3rd round this year. Bears GOTTA be smarter with their cap money than to overpay guys like this. Bates and Cushenberry don't seem very far apart talent wise to me - same tier guys. If anything I think Bates is the more athletic of the two and could be a fantastic fit for our particular offense. For what it's worth (I know you follow the Seahawks where Waldron is from), Bates looks night-and-day better than the Seahawks' Evan Brown. That's just my opinion and I admit I could be wrong.
Cushenberry is getting about the same contract as Barkley. That seems reasonable to me, but I think we have different estimates on him. I would think multiple GMs seriously wanted him to get the contract up to $50 million. Bates will just hold down the job…”good but not great.” I am very disappointed Poles is not even going to try to get Powers-Johnson.
I admit that I could be wrong about this, but I just don't Cushenberry anywhere near a Barkley-level player. Barkley is a multiple Pro Bowl player and was a #2 overall pick of the draft. He was the NFL Rookie of the Year.
Cushenberry has never sniffed a Pro Bowl in his career.
He's a 3rd round draft pick. He graded out at 73.2 as a center this year... we can do better than this guy in the 3rd round this year. Bears GOTTA be smarter with their cap money than to overpay guys like this. Bates and Cushenberry don't seem very far apart talent wise to me - same tier guys. If anything I think Bates is the more athletic of the two and could be a fantastic fit for our particular offense. For what it's worth (I know you follow the Seahawks where Waldron is from), Bates looks night-and-day better than the Seahawks' Evan Brown. That's just my opinion and I admit I could be wrong.
Cushenberry has proven he can play the position. Bates had 35 snaps. He has not. Maybe he will surprise the hell out of us after 5 years in the NFL, but until proven otherwise, I think we should expect to get an about average or only slightly better than average center. If that’s all the Titans get out of Cushenberry and his $50 million contract, I will be also be surprised in the opposite direction.
The Seahawks also have a problem at center. They may draft somebody or hope that Olu will step up in his second year. As you like to remind me, rookies sometimes improve with experience. We shall see. He did win the Outland trophy at Michigan.
I admit that I could be wrong about this, but I just don't Cushenberry anywhere near a Barkley-level player. Barkley is a multiple Pro Bowl player and was a #2 overall pick of the draft. He was the NFL Rookie of the Year.
Cushenberry has never sniffed a Pro Bowl in his career.
He's a 3rd round draft pick. He graded out at 73.2 as a center this year... we can do better than this guy in the 3rd round this year. Bears GOTTA be smarter with their cap money than to overpay guys like this. Bates and Cushenberry don't seem very far apart talent wise to me - same tier guys. If anything I think Bates is the more athletic of the two and could be a fantastic fit for our particular offense. For what it's worth (I know you follow the Seahawks where Waldron is from), Bates looks night-and-day better than the Seahawks' Evan Brown. That's just my opinion and I admit I could be wrong.
Cushenberry has proven he can play the position. Bates had 35 snaps. He has not. Maybe he will surprise the hell out of us after 5 years in the NFL, but until proven otherwise, I think we should expect to get an about average or only slightly better than average center. If that’s all the Titans get out of Cushenberry and his $50 million contract, I will be also be surprised in the opposite direction.
The Seahawks also have a problem at center. They may draft somebody or hope that Olu will step up in his second year. As you like to remind me, rookies sometimes improve with experience. We shall see. He did win the Outland trophy at Michigan.
35 snaps at Center last year, but Bates has played a total of 203 snaps at Center. Certainly still doesn't make him a grizzled vet at the position, but not quite as wet behind the ears as you're making him out to be. And across 1,434 total snaps on the OL, he has only allowed one sack and eight QB hits. He's penalized at a slower rate than Cushenberry (Bates 239 snaps/penalty vs Cush 217), he's graded out higher by PFF than Cushenberry over the last four years (67.5/64.3/61.8/78.7 vs 40.5/64.2/56.2/73.2), has a higher RAS than Cushenberry (9.56 vs 7.36), and is a ton cheaper than Cushenberry ($4M/yr vs $12.5M/yr).
I'm not saying that Bates is a better C than Cushenberry, but I don't think it's as much of a gap as you think and certainly not worth paying three times what we are for Bates. And, considering your love for PFF grades, I'm shocked by your stance.
Cushenberry has proven he can play the position. Bates had 35 snaps. He has not. Maybe he will surprise the hell out of us after 5 years in the NFL, but until proven otherwise, I think we should expect to get an about average or only slightly better than average center. If that’s all the Titans get out of Cushenberry and his $50 million contract, I will be also be surprised in the opposite direction.
The Seahawks also have a problem at center. They may draft somebody or hope that Olu will step up in his second year. As you like to remind me, rookies sometimes improve with experience. We shall see. He did win the Outland trophy at Michigan.
35 snaps at Center last year, but Bates has played a total of 203 snaps at Center. Certainly still doesn't make him a grizzled vet at the position, but not quite as wet behind the ears as you're making him out to be. And across 1,434 total snaps on the OL, he has only allowed one sack and eight QB hits. He's penalized at a slower rate than Cushenberry (Bates 239 snaps/penalty vs Cush 217), he's graded out higher by PFF than Cushenberry over the last four years (67.5/64.3/61.8/78.7 vs 40.5/64.2/56.2/73.2), has a higher RAS than Cushenberry (9.56 vs 7.36), and is a ton cheaper than Cushenberry ($4M/yr vs $12.5M/yr).
I'm not saying that Bates is a better C than Cushenberry, but I don't think it's as much of a gap as you think and certainly not worth paying three times what we are for Bates. And, considering your love for PFF grades, I'm shocked by your stance.
Go dissect the grade. Cushenberry is the third or fourth best pass blocking center in the league. He’s not an outstanding run blocker, but pass blocking is more important to support a rookie QB like Williams.
Bates had 35 center snaps in 2023, and 85% of his snaps in 2022 were at guard. They never played him much at center. He just filled in from time to time. A backup center.
I wonder if Poles has asked Montez for his input on Chase Young. He has the talent but can he put it all together.
It would be nice if they can get DJ Reader for a good buck but I bet that ship has sailed.
Reader tore his quad in week 15 and required surgery. Would be curious on butkus3595 thoughts on recovery? I think I read he tore his other quad in the past too.
Those kind of tears suck...but he should be ok for the season.
