Chisoxfn

I like Lux if the Sox are looking for a package maybe a bit light on the top 50 prospect size, but much deeper in terms of the overall prospect count and quality of talent. Make it the type of move where you are light on top 50 guys but you get a lot more Top 150-200 level guys. A guy like Lux is kind of the equivalent - in the sense that he has the upside of a Top 50 guy, but injuries and other stuff obviously drives up his risk. You also obviously get less years of control for Lux.

I don't think there is any scenario they get MHJ other than MHJ being injured (or Bears taking him with their 1st pick and than taking a QB with the 2nd pick). Arizona isn't taking a QB and is going to pick early and Bears aren't going to have 2 picks in top 5. MHJ is going top 5. In the top 5 - I see Pats & Giants as 2 teams for sure taking a QB with their 1st pick. I think the Jets & Cardinals are likely not going QB. Cardinals could - but that would require them to move Murray (he has a lot of guaranteed money - but it is certainly possible for them to do so). I also see whomever is sitting at #1 (ie., if it is Bears there) to take a QB. That either means the Bears or the Bears making a trade with another team who wants to jump the other teams to take a QB. So long story short - I see 3 QB's going very early. I have Jets or Cardinals as being the team(s) most likely to nab MHJ (or Bears if they trade back ever so slightly and don't take a QB with the Panthers pick).

I watched the game and my view of the game was even more convinced to move away from Fields. I just don't think he plays within the confines of the offense. With that said - he is physically the most dynamic QB in the league. Him and Josh Allen to me are the two most physically superior QB's in the NFL. Mahomes is the goat - so not saying the other 2 are above him - but what Allen and Fields can do - they are just huge dudes, who can run, and who have cannon's. So I get if the Bears just want to bet on the physical and leadership qualities that Justin has and figure the rest of the game will come to him. To be honest - the Bears having the #1 pick is what makes this hard. If the Bears didn't have the 2 picks or were picking at 8 and 14 - I would be pretty square in the camp of stick with Flus and just keep adding talent. But when you have the #1 overall pick - you have to ask - do I go QB. And if I go QB - than I probably need to change HC so I align the HC and QB's clock (doing otherwise is a mistake). If I stick with Justin - I don't have to dump the HC if I don't want to. I may still dump the OC - I don't know (and I get it - that could be a hard job to hire - but that is also going to be a job where if you go in and do well you are going to get a ton of visibility). In reality - I think the Bears are in a win-win situation as long as they draft well. Scenario 1: Keep Fields - Trade #1 for Top 10 #1 in '24, Next Year #1, '24 2nd Rounder, '25 2nd Rounder, & 1 Blue Chip Player (or a '26 1st rounder). In this scenario - continue to build a very good football team around the QB. Just watching that Eagles / Cowboys game - Dak and Hurts are good (and how good is a debate we can have) - but they have a TON of talent around them. Both have strong olines and historically good rushing attacks - they also have deep wide receiving corps (their WR room is 3X the Bears room - which at this point is basically Moore and everyone else). Cowboys have Cedee, Gallup, Cooks plus a strong TE. Eagles have good TE play, AJ Brown, Devontae Smith, etc. Both teams have good defenses too. 1st Round: You draft a blue chip wide out (potentially you are talking about MHJ still depending on how much you move back) and draft an olinemen (or double down on weapons). Or you draft a 3 Tech and an Olinemen and draft a wideout in Rd2 and spend money on Tee Higgins and the Vikings Dlinemen. Or the blue chipper you get on the Line is a Max Crosby via a trade with the Raiders. Free Agency: Resign JJ & Sign a couple impact players - think Tee Higgins, Vikings Dlinemen, FA center Rest of the Draft: Best available - continue to build depth - try to identify a young center prospect and a safety to replace Jackson. Scenario 2: Draft QB @ #1 overall - Pick Playmaker or Oline with other Bears pick. Trade Fields to Raiders, Seahawks, Falcons or anyone else and ideally get 2 2nd Rounders. Hire new coaching staff. In this scenario - you still have the goal of building best football team, but now you reset the QB clock. The bulk of my off-season would stay the course of the above scenario - other than I'd probably be a bit more aggressive to sign more blue-chip players via free agency, however, there is a balancing act here as we will have hired a new coaching staff which means there will be more turnover. Yes the defense is trending favorably - but a new HC will have new people and new philosophies. Some players will fit, some won't. Turnover will definitely happen - it always does - new coaches have new favorites and use certain players to send examples.

I joked earlier but this could be the straw that breaks Jerry the owner.

I do think Seattle and Atlanta would be in play for Fields potentially. Raiders as well. In ideal scenario maybe get a 2nd rounder this year and a 2nd rounder next year.

Contract is real - but in fairness they have him without needing to go long term for 3 more years. Last year of rookie deal is next year, fifth year option the following year and than you could franchise him if you wanted.

The defense is playing excellent.

I am pretty convinced it’s time to draft someone else. He can be Superman but he just isn’t it on a regular basis.

Makes total sense.

I am hoping this signing is the move where Jerry calls a board meeting and says it is time to exit baseball and they put the team up for sale.

Damn

I won't believe this until it happens - would just shock me to the core, given how much hype around Dodgers/Giants/West Coast.

That is big time

He traded for aging Lance Lynn (who was great his first year) and than the Kimbrel move for a closer. I don’t recall many other trades but I’m sure im forgetting and than all the money that went to relievers or aging guys.

I think the bigger issue was Lavine and Derozan don’t work. But awful timing cause Lavine value is down so much - despite coming off 3 straight highly efficient seasons. The roster design was so bad sans the window with Lonzo (but even than on paper that offseason the whole league ripped the fit with Derozan and Lavine). Took 3 freaking years to get here. Lavine now out another month - take them to around January 15th. My guess is he will get traded by than and has played his last game with Bulls.

If I were the Orioles I would stay the course. You aren’t going to beat the Yankees giving up your prospects and going move for move with them. So stay the course and if you are in position at deadline to make a deep run than see what you can do. Otherwise the risk you give up a bunch for cease and are back to being the Orioles and 10 games back puts you in a bad spot. Kind of like how Rick Hahn ran this org from the second they had one decent season to like pretend like they were going to spend like big fish and instead he spent annual money and on stupid stuff.

If it were me, I would take the Sox. I think you will have a longer runway to show you are a new player and to get rid of the old stigma attached to him. The Mets may not give that same flexibility / run, so to me, if I were him and money was even near equal, the opportunity Sox would provide him to have is > for his long-term earnings capacity. Mets could pivot away from that $10M in a week, where as Sox are going to view that as a bigger investment and thus put more time before entirely "writing it off".

All reports seemed to indicate the players aren't on board with him and it sounds like new ownership's lean was likely for an entirely fresh start. What I don't know is - are the players not lining up with Bieniemy is that a player issue (as in the players are soft) or is it really a coach issue and his more direct, aggressive nature doesn't work for these athletes. Maybe it was fine when he was with Andy Reid and they compared and contrasted well and same with Rivera - but when you switch to HC maybe it causes an issue. In general though - from outsider(s) view I would think if you stuck with Flus (and not sure this is what it is saying) than yeah, Bienemy would be a great candidate as an OC. I don't know that he would be my go to as a head coach. I'm entirely in the camp of right a blank check to Harbaugh and give it a whirl.

Could the Giants be a sleeper and in on Cease? Especially after Dodgers get Shohei

I’m good with this. Right type of chance to take.

This was really the year where 8 would have been perfect. I've always been in favor of 8 or 10 with top 2 getting a bye. I always say after that - you really can't argue and in fairness, most years 4 was probably enough. Heck in almost all instances 6 is enough. So yes - 4 is better than 2, 12 is actually probably too many, but I can live with it as well. But I could just see in the NFL, say Niners are the top seed and than they lose their 3 best players. Should the NFL step in and say - nah, you don't deserve a bye. Or maybe said the other way - would anyone think it would make sense to institute a committee to make that assessment and have the ability to shift who does it.

I'm in the camp of - best chance to for sure make playoffs next 2 years is to keep Fields, take the 5th year option on him and than basically you have franchise tag option for year 3. So basically you have 3 years at him before he totally kills your cap. In the meantime you will have 2 more years where he costs materially less than a non rookie deal QB and have plenty of other assets to stockpile everything. I am also in the camp that FIelds is at this point going to be on average a #10 QB. This means he may have a year where he slides into the back half of the top 10, he'll also likely have years where he is the 13th-15th best QB at times. I don't see him ascending into difference maker spot and I don't see the team winning a superbowl with a QB outside of the top 10 nor do I see a long term sustained run of success (i.e., I see the team making the playoffs for 2 years but probably not being dangerous enough...although they could have a year they make a run if they wanted to push their chips in). The inverse is - If the Bears draft a QB with Panthers pick and move Fields...I don't see them making the playoffs next year and reality is even the following year may be difficult, although I wouldn't say impossible. I would expect the 2nd year the trend would be upward because I see the floor of Williams as being a 10-15 QB as well. He just has way too many plus attributes not to be that sort of guy in my mind. I watched a lot of Washington games and Penix is a very good pocket passer - his release is long and slow and the zip on his arm is nowhere near what Williams can do. Williams also has that added dimension. He also goes too much ad-lib, but I don't see him like Fields because he's always keeping his eyes down field. Its why I like him and McCarthy as my top 2 QB's (I haven't watched enough of Daniels to figure out). But after that 2nd year - the team still will have basically 4 years of control on the QB (if they want to) - that includes a 5th year option and use of franchise tag in the following year (we hope it doesn't get to that point). In that window this should still be an ascending football club given the rest of the assets they have and if you hit on the QB (and the QB is going to be coming into a situation where the cupboard is much better equipped...oline sans center is solid, you have a #1 wideout (and this is a draft where you can get a 2nd high end wideout with the Bears pick) and the defense is trending up. The Bears also have a TON of cap space so they could really stockpile the offense. For example - they could sign Tee Higgins and go with Moore / Higgins and than use a draft pick on someone like Bowers to go with Kmet. Basically 4 above average weapons, solid oline (draft a center & sign one - they have the cap space for it) and your young QB should be in a tremendous position. I'm in the camp that I'm going option 2 - unless Fields really balls out where it looks like his ceiling is a 5-7 QB, in which case than I think you are talking about someone like Dak, and at that point, I think I trade out of #1 and get way more assets and basically just say this guy is good enough to consistently win with and if I put the right team around him I can go far. Fields has shown a ton of improvement this year - I won't deny that, but he hasn't shown that he elevates the rest of the team and that to me is what I consider a different maker and the type of player that I would give a multi-year extension at QB.

100 percent wrong choice. I get it - FSU would lose but they played the season that got them there. Can’t punish them because their qb got hurt. The resume is the resume and they should get in over a one loss Bama or Georgia. Otherwise what is the point.

Yes they should have. Sad how much they probably killed Lavine trade value. Should have moved him in offseason and Derozan. Bunch of idiots.

He also just looks like a dude. I hope he doesn't get injured, cause he's got special written all over him. Last player I said that about was Robert, but Montgomery in my mind has more upside.