Post Draft 2017

This was not a draft for the fans, this was Ryan Paces draft for the future that will give us nightmares at least until the season starts. I didn’t want a QB with the 3rd overall pick, I hated the idea, so when I see Pace trading up to get Mitchell Trubisky with the 2nd overall I just felt my stomach turn waiting to know what was given for the move, although I didn’t care to know at the same time because any pick lost to that was a punch in the nuts. I don’t hate Trubisky I consider him a good prospect but wasn’t my favorite, I  could say that I wouldn’t have cared if they had gotten him at mid to late round but the reality is that he wasn’t going to be there watching teams going up for Mahomes and Watson at 10 and 12. The night was ruined for many of us, it took me until the end of the first round when I stopped reading tweets about the pick because I feared for my health and started watching the interviews on youtube (doesn’t sound like it was a better idea as I write it). On came Paces press conference and the one thing that I heard that made me feel better was the part where he said (not quoting) he really wanted the guy and was going to do everything possible to get him because he believes in his talent, and then he said something I will quote, “I don’t want to be average around here, I want to be grate”. He really doesn’t have a choice but to convince everyone that this is the right choice, but at least he does say it convincingly. Like I said, I don’t think he could have gotten him later on the day so he did what he needed to do to get the guy he wanted, even if he gave a 3rd rounder for next year’s draft when it should have been a 4th, it just shows how much he wanted this QB although his "best player available" philosophy does not show in this draft at all, after this trade every other pick felt like a reach. Now the trade up was because, as the rumor goes, the 49ers told the Bears they were going to trade down with another team, I won’t go as far as to say the niners told them the team was drafting Trubisky, I believe that was the logical chain of thought for the Bears war room so they jumped to get their guy, so I don’t know if it’s a tool to make other teams react like that with rumors or false information but if it really is this is a business tactic well I would have to give kudos to the 49ers war room and shame to the Bears war room, but if this is cheap trickery then I give the middle finger to John Lynch.

   With nothing else to do but to swallow the reality that we will have less chances to strike a promising player, but the rest of the draft shows us something else. In the second round the Bears trade down to get back a 4th rounder and ad a 6th rounder we didn’t have and another 4th for next year in exage for the 2nd and 7th pick this year, weeeh! Right? Well, it didn’t last long for the happy rollercoaster to go swishing down.

With the 45th pick Pace gets Adam Shaheen, the big and athletic TE form a small school. This fell a bit like a reach only because there were some other players available in areas of bigger need. The reality is that this is a promising talent that if he pans out should contribute immensely and because we lacked a 3rd round pick there was a chance that he would not be there in the 4th round so it’s another pick for the future of the franchise. Fists, second and maybe even third round players are picked with the thought that they should contribute as starters on the year they were drafted, but in this case with the 2 picks that we finished having this year made this a draft for the future, the tools these two players have are top notch but they aren’t ready to play day 1 because they lack experience to play at their best and it’s hard to digest the idea that our two top picks are going to start on the bench and will have to wait for them to develop to what Pace thinks will be great players. So, charge up your patience pack because this could take a while.

   We go to day three of the draft and don’t have to wait too long because here comes Pace lunging forward 5 spots to get his man, giving up the 6th pick we got on the trade down. Picking with the 112 slot we get Eddie Jackson, YES! Although he is also considered a reach I don’t care, I like it, gives us a promising center fielding safety with good coverage and ball skills, a poor man’s Malik Hooker maybe and that’s fine by me because we are poor at this moment. So here comes the roller coaster back up again, seven picks later and I can’t really see the bottom anymore. With the 119 pick we get Tarik Cohen, WHO?! I see his stats and immediately think that pace misses Darren Sproles so he picks his mini me. A RB that destroyed his division with speed and agility maybe because nobody could bend that much to get him, but if he plays anything similar to Sproles I don’t care what he measures. Experts say this is a reach and I agree this time, Josh Reynolds went to the Rams two picks earlier and was my last best choice on offense and Desmond King was still there I would have preferred him or even a developing OT like Julie’n Davenport or Will Holden, but that wasn’t the case so let’s move on.

   With the final pick, the 147 on the 5th round we get a guard for some reason, Jordan Morgan from a small school. King and Holden were still there, but we got a guard who is promising but as I watch the result of this draft I see that Pace drafted players at positions that are already set, I could say that we just solidified the positions, not necessarily made them better which that is yet to be seen but there is depth now, there isn’t much to do in these areas but to wait and see who is the better player.

   I can see the CB position as already filled with promise but I can’t say the same on the other positions like the OTs, DL and WRs. Ryan Pace really put a target on his back with this draft and could now be in the hot seat with John Fox if this season turns to be a bad one. I really like Pace as GM and would give him time to see the development of his draft picks, but with some big contracts given to average players as some experts see and now with a questionable draft, they cant end with a top 5 pick next year because it would mean they gave up way to much for Trubisky, they would positioned themselves to have gotten a better prospect or even a starting QB next year as viewed by scouts and that would just show how poor Paces decisions on this draft were.

2017 NFL Draft Prospects

   If Chicago stays put with the 3^rd overall pick there’s just too many options, the easy/logic decision would be to go with Jonathan Allen or Solomon Thomas because you should start solidifying the line but I don’t like Allen’s medical record and both him and Thomas size bugs me a little not really convinced they can dominate at the 5 tech. What I would love to see is going for Jamal Adams, I believe he is a complete player at safety and his leadership is a plus. The only thing that bugs me is not him as a player, but the need on the team where I believe that, if Malik Hooker is who he and everybody else says he is, then a centerfielding cover safety is what the Bears lack, but he is raw and has medical issue’s and that is a risk that I don’t see in Adams. Other players I can consider is Marshon Lattimore who has the same ceiling and issues as Hooker and O.J. Howard who is just an animal but the pick may be too high for the position with other needs.

   QB I would prefer they go for on the mid to late round if he’s still there, DeShone Kizer. He’s big, strong, athletic, big arm, has played pro system, reads defenses, doesn’t have to play day one so he can be polished.

   On day two we get anything that drops from the first round, seeing this draft is full on talent. Some prospects I like in order are Chris Wormley, Jordan Willis, Zach Cunningham, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Zay Jones, Antonio Garcia, Budda Baker, Desmond King, Eddie Jackson, Curtis Samuel and Tre’Davious White. Again, if any of these guys drop to the third round take him. 

   If Kizer get to the bottom of the first round or goes to day 2 of the draft and the Bears want him then go get him, if not I would wait to round 3 and see if Nate Peterman is there or if the team really wants him they could reach for him with the second pick. Other than these 2 QBs, I feel unsure with the rest of the bunch especially Deshaun Watson, he may be a winner but so was Vince Young. Mitchell Trubisky isn’t a bad prospect but I believe Kizer has more upside than him with better physic and knowledge of the game. Patrick Mahomes and Davis Webb have a better arm than Peterman but they are more erratic, Mahomes mechanics are all over the place and the tape on Webb against Washington is awful especially his decision making, they feel like Cutler clones so I don’t see them going for either of them although I do see some Tony Romo in Mahomes but I do believe that would be his ceiling. Brad Kaaya is intriguing but he really does look like he has the yips or something and his character a big negative for him. Chad Kelly is a big “NO” with ups and downs with his game and life in general. Other two I may be ok with Chicago targeting are Joshua Dobbs and Jerod Evans on day three but I don’t see them being more than backups, I would prefer getting talent on other positions with the picks.

Other players I consider for round 3 through 7:

Jarrad Davis ILB 3rd

Raekwon McMillan ILB 3rd

Adam Shaheen TE 3rd

Chris Goodwin WR 3rd

Josh Reynolds WR 3rd

Adoree Jackson DB/RS 3rd

Amara Darboh WR 4th

Malachi Dupre WR 4rd

Carlos Henderson WR 4th

Taylor Moton OT 4th

Julie’n Davenport OT 4th

Jaleel Johnson NT 4th

Carlos Watkins NT/5T 4th

Montavious Adams NT 4th

Fabian Moreau DB 4^th

George Kittle 5th

Michael Roberts TE 5th

Jake Butt TE 5th

Stacy Coley WR 5th

Jehu Chesson WR 5th

Will Holden OT 5th

Dion Dawkins OT 5th

Fish Smithson S 5th

John Johnson S 5^th

Corn Elder DB 7th

Damontae Kazee DB 7th

Shaquil Griffin DB 7th

Darius English OLB 7^th

Deatrich Wise OLB 7th

Pre-Draft 2017 Free Agent Signings

   With the 2017 draft just 2 days from starting Im ready to give my opinion on the top free agents that the Bears signed with Ryan Pace on the helm. Since I don’t really know how to evaluate a good contract or how to evaluate the cap space going forward, I won’t get to much into that.

   So, Mike Glennon got signed with a contract that reflects he is the starting QB for the Bears this year, giving Jay Cutler the boot out of town. For starters, I don’t see this as an upgrade and the contract for his first year on the team shows he gets more money than Cutler would have got so that’s a negative for me. Glennon deserves a chance to start no doubt as he received a lot of hype the last 2 years as Tampa Bay’s backup QB although now you hear that he isn’t that good to be a starter, so make up your minds already, as for me I say he has enough to get a chance. What I don’t like about him is his zero mobility and therefore needs a good O-line that the Bears lack of in consistent tackles, that is scary as this draft lacks talented plug & play tackles, so the only option I see is to game plan this weakness so he doesn’t have the ball for more than 5 seconds in the pocket, something that a more agile Cutler usually would do. And for those who say that Jimmy Garoppolo would have been a better option because his less of a risk I say nay! because why is he less of a risk? Because of his better stats in 1 and a half games agaist Glennons average stats in 21 games? At the time of the signing, Glennon was cheaper and more experienced than Garoppolo who was sold at a cost of a franchises future with a promising high ceiling.

   So, bottom line is that the Bears organization get what they wanted; a battle tested, good guy, promising starting QB who they can mold in to their system at a “reasonable” price, getting rid of Cutler who they didn’t want any more let it be because he wasn’t liked, didnt fit on their system, injury prone or/and getting old. This gets them a chance to get a young QB to polish whether its Connor Shaw or one at this year’s draft. This is where it gets… interesting.

   If they pick a QB with the 3^rd overall pick, it’s going to be a long 3 months for me. I may scream hell I may even shed a tear or two I don’t know what to expect so I really hope they DON’T DO IT! Only way I can accept drafting a QB in the first round is if they trade down to wherever and get a 2^nd rounder and even better if they use that 2^nd rounder to get back and select a QB they really want instead of using the 1^st pick.

   Back to the free agent signings, I like that they picked up 2 good promising experienced corners with Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper they have good size and have looked good on the field, but to get rid of Tracy Porter was a little surprising for me although I understand that the team is filled with young talent at the position but there is no sure #1 CB. Our best shot is Amukamara although he is as injury prone just as Porter is. Good thing this draft is loaded with promising DBs but how much raw talent can we get on a team and pick the right starters out of the bunch? I believe this is going to take 1 more year to solidify the position but it looks we will get there.

   Quintin Demps will try to do the job that Antrel Rolle couldnt do when he was on the team, to be the experienced, sure tackling leader at the safety position. I feel we will have two SS on the field if Demps gets that assignment and Adrian Amos get the FS spot because I see him more as a punisher that a cover guy so I expect it to be the other way around. If DeAndre Houston-Carson or Deiondre Hall don’t step up I don’t see a deep cover FS on the team.

   I like to think Pace went to the market to get some speed on the WR spot with Markus Wheaton and Kendall Wright who are still young and can play slot and outside with good rout running, something we are not getting consistently out of Eddie Royal because of various injuries throughout his 2 years as a Bear. Needless to say, I like these signings, because the speed is needed so that Glennon gets rid of the ball faster. Just hope Wheaton is worth those $11 million, that contract looks awfully like the contract Royal got.

   My favorite signing was Dion Sims who in my eyes looks like a big young menacing double threat TE who got payed yes but I believe it was the fact that Miami didn’t want him to leave thus Chicago broke the bank a bit to persuade him to join the team. I imagine Sims and Zach Miller on opposite ends of the line and I get goose bumps, I love it.

   The rest will battle for positions like re-singed Deonte Thompson against Benny Cunningham for return duties, Tom Compton will have a swing at the swing tackle position (see what I did there?). Chris Prosinski, Sam Acho and Christian Jones get a crack at special teams and backing up at safety, OLB and ILB respectively. Johnthan Banks and John Jenkins will battle for backup duty at CB and DE. B.W. Webb is there too don’t know why really and lastly Mark Sanchez… whatever.