Chisoxfn

I answered better - not because I think the team is in a good spot, they aren't, but because they have brought in some outsiders of interest and made some unique moves. I have no idea - they could all be bottom feeders and bad (wouldn't surprise me). But I thought they were horrifically off 2 months ago, but at least they have made some moves that make me go, okay, not awful. The other thing that I'm observing is it seems like they are potentially going to do more of a reset - which is what they need to do. I liked TA - but moving away from him and starting to charter down new roads is the right path, even if he eventually comes back on a 1yr prove it deal for less. Bottom line - I'm feeling slightly better - but that is really going from a 0 to a 1 out of 10 on the confidence scale...

Wow - great move by the Cubs. I also would be perfectly fine relocating another manager from the Northside to Southside.

They better lose Lavine before his value hits the tubes.

I wish him all the best at his new destination.

This is spot on. We can argue the return for Burger, but the logic to move him and get depth in other places was there. I always said you had to get value if you moved him, but that was based upon where if Burger made some strides in certain areas - he would have been a pretty valuable cost controlled player. The inverse was - he didn't make those changes and regressed slightly and/or had another injury, in which case you had a chance to get asset(s) for him and ended up with nothing.

I really think this is the year that McCaskey's go nuclear and hire Harbaugh. And nuclear in the good way. It could be a disaster, like everything else McCaskey's have done (post Lovie). What that means for Poles - I don't know and I'm not saying he needs to be gone or not. I do think at the end of the day - if a Harbaugh is out there - you go get him and that should be a Warren card. Shoot if Michigan was out of National Championship picture at any point - maybe they just go pay the man now and start the process (not that I recall that ever being done in the past).

Any highlights?

Good post - it is really interesting how much the national media hates this deal though. Like I can't think of this many deals that have been this panned. And I get it - high 2nd round picks have a 40% hit rate - that means you are getting a good player on the cheap for 4 years (which is huge - cause you than have cap space for other moves). With that said - Poles should have assets with two high(ish) 1st round picks to move assets and if they take a QB, I'm guessing they might be able to get a 2nd and future 3rd for Fields (so maybe they view this from that lens). I do think that Sweat is a good player and his measurables are elite too - so it isn't as if he doesn't have really good athleticism. He also is by all accounts a really good teammate, which may not be what Young is. So for a team in flux - having those leaders probably helps as well. I just wish they would have got a deal done right away - so you know you have him inked, etc. But I get it - they can use transition tag or franchise etc.

Wow - Chase Young for 3rd rounder. Wtf. Dumbass.

I think it all depends on what and how Washington allocated their cap. They just have so much money tied to that line already. They can afford it if they role with Howell - but at same time an elite line with weakness elsewhere isn’t working that great for them either. But yeah - totally a chance they would have kept Young and Sweat.

Plus I am assuming they basically have a deal agreed to. In free agency it’s a whole nother wild card. So you never know who hits or how market goes (could be better or worse).

I will caveat - my worry is they just traded for Alex Brown. Good all around end, but not special. I would have preferred doing this for Chase Young - higher risk, but the upside was there. Hopefully I am wrong on that front. No doubt Sweat is a good player though and a clear upgrade.

He is going to get paid a ton. And you are right - if they didn't extend him, OMG. I think the reality is - its a premium position and whether now or in FA - they were going to give a massive deal to someone. And even than - there are no guarantees you can get it. And the draft doesn't seem to be a deep pass rushing draft. So for all of those reasons I get it. He's also not old, he's not super young either, basically in his prime years at 27. And I presume Poles is going to focus the draft on offense, whether its a new QB plus a playmaker or if they need to a LT.

Which is technically a true statement. They also have a couple other young DB's, not saying they are as good as Johnson. If they got a 2nd for Johnson great - but when it turns into like a 4th rounder than yuck. I am a pretty big fan of Johnson and think we'll see him start creating a ton more turnovers when the line starts getting to the QB (which will happen more with Sweat - although Sweat doesn't magically make the Dline good).

I hope this works better than the last time they traded a 2nd rounder for a player. In this case - Sweat doesn't have the same concerns Claypool did (in terms of lockeroom and downward trend). They need to pay the guy - he is at a premium position so at least I get the fact that if they were going to give up a top notch draft asset (and they are) than this is the type of guy / position to do it for. I would have just loved to NOT give up the pick.

I think Bulls could deal Lavine. His shooting fits plenty of places but he obviously has his flaws. This roster brings them out a ton. Zero spacing and play. Demar is fine to keep and get assets for Lavine but even that I don’t get a ton, but different is at least different…maybe you get the same outcome maybe a better one, maybe a worse one…but what they have is clearly broke. Drafting has been s%*#, trading has been bad (Vuc was a massive overpay), and roster construction was poor. Yes Lonzo got hurt but good lord pivot. I love basketball and I just hate everything about this team. Even White who has been a good story just slowly developing - nice growth, but that is like the only like truly likeable thing on this team. Ayo plays hard so I guess that too - but he obviously had flaws. Derozan is good dude so you can root for him and he seems like a great teammate so I get that. But god such a boring an awful zero upside team.

And yes - trading Butler in hindsight was not good. Of course I said that at the time too. Part of that is more how bad the Bulls did resetting too. This front office is so much worse than Paxson.

They need to move one of Derozan or Lavine. Those two together don’t work. They really need to blow it the hell up but I know that won’t happen - but trading one and getting better fits and parts would be an improvement.

The penalties and mis blocks that drove negative plays were brutal yesterday and definitely put the Bears in an uphill situation against a really good team. It seemed like any good play - you took a step back and you can't afford that on the road against a team like the Chargers, especially with a young QB making their 2nd start.

I did notice that in person at the game. I thought his deep ball was awful looking - other than the throw to Mooney. The Velus throw was such a bad throw - I get Velus shouldn't have slipped - but I MEAN a total lame duck wobbly throw. Same thing on the pick - he air mailed an intermediate route. I guess someone said it was a misunderstanding - but from my eye he was either throwing to Moore or Mooney (and Mooney looked open) but it got away. He would than come back and throw an out and throw with some real zip and accuracy (like he threw some tremendous balls yesterday too).

Yeah - he left some throws out there and you can tell arm strength isn’t there. His deep ball was everywhere. Penalties were bad too. Chargers crushed them. Hopefully Fields is healthy and ready to rock starting next week.

I said it two years ago and I’ll say it again - Patrick Williams absolutely sucks. He somehow continues to get worse. Such a bad 4th overall pick.

The double moves should be open for some big plays. He's going to have to show his arm is good enough to hit on those. If he doesn't, things are going to get a lot tougher for him.

The thing is - if Fields can ever have that switch go off - he can be really really good. I'm predicting we see him back in 2-3 more weeks, potentially missing 4 weeks and he'll be coming back after the Panthers / Bears Thursday night game. That would give him 10 days to get reacclimated and hopefully enough time to start feeling better. I am hoping that Fields is really watching and learning some things in the meantime. But I'm not going to vicerate him for the Vikings games and forget the 2 previous games where he played at a high level. Yes, against bad defenses, but there was real growth in those games. Quite frankly - I'm kind of impressed how the team has largely held it together despite so much. Not saying Flus is someone special, but it shows me at least a little something. Also shows me something about the players they brought in. But geeze, defense is really flying to the ball, again, despite having a weak pass rush. I do think this defense could take a HUGE step forward in a year if we see the pass rush take off. Like a lot of the new additions on defense and Brisker had a weak start, but he is FLYING all over the place now that he has gotten healthier. Edmunds and Edwards too.

I go back to, I think at the very least they have found a very solid, cost controlled back up in Bagent and that is good. I don't know that he has the arm to be more than that, but lets see what can happen while Fields gets healthy. I still expect to go back to Fields, cause his physical tools are elite. But I'm a glass half full guy and I think Fields seeing this first hand can only help him develop and push and grow more as well. And in the meantime I will continue to hope and root that Bagent is more than just a backup and that he can be one of those guys that transcends things. Its happened. Brady and Brees, neither one of them were full of all of the physical tools - but their physical tools were good enough and they made up for it with pin-point accuracy (which is a physical tool) and an elite skill to read/react and get the ball out and make plays. I will also point out - the defense has been very fun to watch now for a few games in a row. This was largely against bad offenses though, so I'm somewhat curious to see what happens against Chargers. I expect a beatdown, but am hoping somehow they pleasantly surprise us.