Official 2019-2020 Chicago Bears Thread - Keep Moving Forward

[Shawn1112]

Bears say they're going after Austin Hooper.

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Can they afford him with garbage ass Burton under contact?

 

[Flyn]

Maybe Burton gets cut if they sign Hooper?

Maybe Leonard Floyd, too, because the bears are scoping out EDGE players hard at the combine. Floyd is set to make more than Hooper would cost.

 

[Shawn1112]

Maybe Burton gets cut if they sign Hooper?

Maybe Leonard Floyd, too, because the bears are scoping out EDGE players hard at the combine. Floyd is set to make more than Hooper would cost.

Burton out of guaranteed money? I didnt think so, I thought they were still on the hook
Fuck Floyd, he is 100% BASURA

 

[Kensington]

Maybe Burton gets cut if they sign Hooper?

Maybe Leonard Floyd, too, because the bears are scoping out EDGE players hard at the combine. Floyd is set to make more than Hooper would cost.

They are on the hook for Burton this year....$7.5M in dead money if they cut him, and only $1M in cap savings. No way they cut him, especially with the tight cap situation

 

[Kensington]

Lots and lots of talk about Dalton to the Bears over the last few days. Bears did hire one of Dalton's old OC's this offseason...It would also be in line with their thoughts of bringing in a veteran with starting experience.

Dalton isn't a great QB, by ANY stretch....but is he better that Trubisky? Could he work better in Nagy's system?

To me, I think the target should be Alex Smith, IF he's healthy. He could step in and make an immediate impact, and be an immediate upgrade, at least in the short term.

 

[Flyn]

I'd take either Dalton or Smith as a good backup/challenger at the QB spot.

 

[Flyn]

Bears have been using a lot of their formal meetings (45 allowed) on the EDGE position. Good chance the Bears pick up an EDGE rusher in the draft.

 

[10sec]

The Bears need a SMART person to be QB to understand the playbook. Smith is certainly that guy but after that injury IMO he's too old to come back from that and still be good. We just need Trubisky to not be a dumb jock and he'd be good enough.

 

[Shawn1112]

I'd take either Dalton or Smith as a good backup/challenger at the QB spot.

Backup/challenger, lol
Both would run circles around Tru Bust Ski

 

[Kensington]

The Bears need a SMART person to be QB to understand the playbook. Smith is certainly that guy but after that injury IMO he's too old to come back from that and still be good. We just need Trubisky to not be a dumb jock and he'd be good enough.

Yeah, I am definitely scared by that injury, and the money he's owed. The Redskins would have to make some money considerations to make it worthwhile. He definitely needs a very clear medical...hell younger guys than him have had those types of injuries and been done for their careers. But, from what it sounds like, he's making every effort to come back, which is a good sign.

 

[Kensington]

Bears are almost definitely out on getting Hooper...he's going to be too pricey considering the Bears' cap situation. Bucs' Cameron Brate, Broncos Jeff Heuerman, Steelers Vance McDonald, Titans Delanie Walker, and Packers Jimmy Graham have been noted as possible trade targets for the Bears.

At Least Six Teams Reportedly Interested In Falcons TE Austin Hooper

According to Matt Verderame, at least six teams have expressed interest in pending Falcons free-agent TE Austin Hooper. Verderame adds that number could soon increase if the Chargers place the franchise tag on TE Hunter

nfltraderumors.co

NFC Notes: Bears, Buccaneers, Saints

Bears The Athletic's Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns note that while everyone knows Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky has to be better, the team and outsiders all acknowledge he wasn't in the most advantageous situation last

nfltraderumors.co

 

[Flyn]

Floyd is supposed to make $13.2 mil. this year. That's Hooper money if the Bears choose to use it.

 

[Kensington]

We'll see if decide to keep Floyd or not...I'm not sure he's worth the $13.2M a year, but I'm not sure you are going to find much better where the Bears are in the draft or in free agency

 

[Flyn]

I think they will draft an EDGE, maybe with their first pick in round 2.

 

[Kensington]

With so many needs...do they take a flyer on a QB project there (Fromm?), do they go O Line, get a tackle? I think that's probably a poor spot for a TE given the bad TE class coming out. Grab a corner back that may have dropped out of the first round to fill in for Prince (quite a few on that 1st/2nd round border)? Or maybe a speedy WR who dropped out of the 1st to fill in for Gabriel (Reagor or Ruggs?)

So many needs, so little money and so few picks.

 

[Flyn]

Trade for Dalton, sign Hooper, draft an EDGE and an OL in round 2 and I'd be happy. That's all doable.

 

[Kensington]

Still need at least one starting corner (Prince cut, McManis a FA), at least one starting safety (Clinton-Dix, Houston-Carson, Bush all FA's), 2 starting inside linebackers (Pierre-Paul, Kwitkowski, and Travathan are FA's), defensive line depth (Robertson-Harris and Irving FA's), edge depth (Lynch and Irving FA's) a slot receiver (cut Gabriel, who knows where Ridley is), 3rd QB (preferably one that knows Nagy's system for the QB room), TE depth (Sowell and Holtz FA's, Shaheen likely a cut), and offensive line depth....plus like at least 2 startable players...Daniels is meh, Whitehair is fine at guard only (he's a bad center), Massie and Leno are both trash, I don't what they did the year before, but it had to have been a fluke, because they were both awful before that year and were awful last year.

That's a lot....and the Bears don't have a lot of cash to throw around and don't have very many picks....plus Pace loves to trade away picks, so I'm assuming there will be some draft day terribleness (trading up to reach for a player)

 

[Flyn]

I agree the needs outweigh the picks and money. Bears gotta do what they can with what they have. They're not going to fix all the needs this year.

 

[Shawn1112]

I think Ridley is going to end up being pretty damn good. Not Jones, Adams or Hopkins good but the tier below them.
I know, wishful thinking, but I just believe in him.

 

[Kensington]

My only issue with that was...where the fuck was he last year?

I mean, the Bears were throwing out 4-5 wide out looks, and Ridley was nowhere to be seen....one of the big knocks coming out of the draft was some doubted he had the ability to separate, despite having "the best route running skills in the draft". To be THAT absent throughout the entire year, with so many injuries at wideout, doesn't instill me with much confidence. I mean, he was only a 4.58 40 guy, so he's not burning down any corners...

 

[Kensington]

This is a VERY interesting analysis on Ridley coming out of the combine and into the draft....

Almost every season, #BigDraft will try to peddle an objectively bad wide receiver prospect as a potential “surprise” second or third round pick. The number of low production, no athleticism wide receivers to succeed in the NFL is extraordinarily low. However, that will not stop the draft industrial complex from randomly identifying wide receivers with “smooth hips” or “phonebooth quicks” to be randomly pegged as a good prospect. In what is certainly unfair to Riley Ridley, the human being, Riley Ridley the wide receiver has been saddled with that title this year.

		Receiving	Rushing	Scrimmage
Year	School	Conf	Class	Pos	G	Rec	Yds	Avg	TD	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Plays	Yds	Avg	TD
*2016	Georgia	SEC	FR	WR	6	12	238	19.8	2	3	41	13.7	0	15	279	18.6	2
*2017	Georgia	SEC	SO	WR	8	14	218	15.6	2	1	5	5.0	0	15	223	14.9	2
*2018	Georgia	SEC	JR	WR	14	43	559	13.0	9	0	0		0	43	559	13.0	9
Career	Georgia					69	1015	14.7	13	4	46	11.5	0	73	1061	14.5	13

Data courtesy CFB at Sports-Reference.com.



In three seasons at Georgia, Ridley had 69 receptions, 1,015 yards, and 13 touchdowns or just slightly worse than JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s 2018 final season. Immediately, there are production concerns for Ridley. His one year of production (leading Georgia in yards/touchdowns) came at the age of 22 and was not near as impressive from either a raw or market share perspective as other one-year production players like Hakeem Butler. When dealing with wide receivers who only have one year of production, there are a lot of variables to nail down and some of them are unknowable. In Ridley’s case, he got outproduced by future UDFA Javon Wims and played in an archaic college offense.


So that you know I am not beating up paper tigers, there are those out there that are high on Calvin Ridley’s brother. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote that he “projects as a better pro than college pass catcher.”, and Matt Miller from Bleacher Report has him as a top-10 wide receiver in the class. I do not include the opinions of those two to poke fun but to merely show that the opinion that Ridley is a top prospect in this draft does exist.


I would be willing to give some wiggle room to projecting Ridley to the NFL if he had been a stud at the combine. Guys like Jazz Ferguson, Ashton Dulin and Miles Boykin all have some serious work to do in order to be good enough to play at the NFL level but they proved at the combine that they have the tools to do it. Riley Ridley… does not.

For a player who stands 6’1″, 200 pounds, running a 4.61 40 time just isn’t going to cut it. That is above the minimum threshold that I generally apply to wide receivers (4.55) for the 40-yard dash and it doesn’t get better in other categories either. His agility times were horrendous and his vertical jump could be beaten by the average offensive lineman. Overall, Riley Ridley’s physical profile is weird. His arms and hands are NFL-size but everything else seems to be pretty far off. Just for example, his older brother Calvin (of the Falcons) is faster, lifts more weight and more agile and still didn’t rate out as a very athletic prospect. To add on to all of this, Riley Ridley is also going to be 23 years old during his rookie season which places him in an unsuccessful projection node.


So what does all of this mean? What is instructive about the case of Riley Ridley, an old wide receiver prospect who was neither productive nor athletic in college?


In general, I think this is a lesson about allowing an analysis of data to take precedence over “watching the film”. Adding in falsifiable data thresholds to project running backs and wide receivers to the NFL makes it easier for us to make good selections for our dynasty fantasy football teams. Our eyes have value but they also are trained to trick us and therefore our decisions should be mostly based in facts that we can check (or debunk).


Riley Ridley might even have good draft capital put into his stock by a misguided NFL team. For him to succeed in the NFL with his college production and combine performance would make him a historical outlier of a high degree. There are those who love to found the outliers and pride themselves in their ability to do so but prospect in dynasty is much more about avoiding mistakes. Riley Ridley as a top-10 wide receiver in this class is a certain mistake.

 

[Kensington]

• Bradley Anae, DE/3-4OLB, Utah (COM)
• Jet Anderson, RB, TCU (COM)
• Ben Bartch, G, St. John's (COM)
• Rodrigo Blankenship, K, Georgia (SR)
• Antoine Brooks Jr., S, Maryland (SR)
• K'Lavon Chaisson, DE/OLB, LSU (COM)
• Rodney Clemons, S, SMU (EW)
• Gabriel Davis, WR, Central Florida (COM)
• Jeremiah Dinson, S, Auburn (EW)
• Blake Ferguson, LS, LSU (SR)
• Jake Fromm, QB, Georgia (COM)
• Trevis Gipson, DE, Tulsa (SR)
• A.J. Green, CB, Oklahoma State (SR)
• Charlie Heck, OT, North Carolina (COM)
• Matt Hennessy, C, Temple (COM)
• Brycen Hopkins, TE, Purdue (COM)
• Van Jefferson, WR, Florida (COM)
• Jauan Jennings, WR, Tennessee (SR)
• Braden Mann, P, Texas A&M (SR)
• Michael Pinckney, OLB, Miami (EW)
• Joe Reed, WR, Virginia (EW)
• Logan Stenberg, G, Kentucky (COM)
• Binjimen Victor, WR, Ohio State (EW)
• Logan Wilson, ILB, Wyoming (SR)

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