I'm not a fan of "a 25 year old first year player has never broken out before" reasoning.  This entire draft is a bunch of kids who had nowhere to go for an entire season, there is probably going to be a lot of oddities that come out of the draft because the talent got stacked for a year due to covid 

Oh it is getting interesting in the Bears front office now.

https://twitter.com/670TheScore/status/1521508101467353101?s=20&t=eGfUtnECLV4AJwjN1P4sEA

 

Man Olin Kreutz is nuts

7 minutes ago, bmags said:

Man Olin Kreutz is nuts

Lmao that man is not to be trusted.  And probably just lost himself a lot of future jobs.

13 minutes ago, bmags said:

Man Olin Kreutz is nuts

Always has been. I'm surprised it's taken this long for some of his behaviors to come to light 

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

I'm not a fan of "a 25 year old first year player has never broken out before" reasoning.  This entire draft is a bunch of kids who had nowhere to go for an entire season, there is probably going to be a lot of oddities that come out of the draft because the talent got stacked for a year due to covid 

Yeah. This year and probably next are exceptions.  Due to the COVID year,  many prospects other than the absolute top are going to be a year older than normal.

1 hour ago, Kyyle23 said:

I'm not a fan of "a 25 year old first year player has never broken out before" reasoning.  This entire draft is a bunch of kids who had nowhere to go for an entire season, there is probably going to be a lot of oddities that come out of the draft because the talent got stacked for a year due to covid 

This right here.  Covid is going to ripple through sports for a long time.  There are going to be a lot of "first ever's" because of the externalities of the pandemic.

Worth noting that Velus was on USC teams with Amon St. Brown, Michael Pittman Jr., and Drake London. The QB position in Tennessee has been an absolute cluster these past 2 years. Last year the Vols had a WR drafted in the 3rd round as well and he only had 400 yards. 

Poles and the FO seem to value separation va guys who can just go up and get it. Pringle ranked 2nd in the NFL in separation and Velus was 8n the 100th percentile among all college wide receivers in that stat as well. Mooney is good at creating separation too. 

 

 

On 5/3/2022 at 9:32 AM, Kyyle23 said:

I'm not a fan of "a 25 year old first year player has never broken out before" reasoning.  This entire draft is a bunch of kids who had nowhere to go for an entire season, there is probably going to be a lot of oddities that come out of the draft because the talent got stacked for a year due to covid 

What do you mean by nowhere to go for an entire season?

50 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

What do you mean by nowhere to go for an entire season?

Covid kids missed a lot of time man

2 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

Covid kids missed a lot of time man

Yep, many of my daughters teammates are hanging around for the 6th COVID year. They missed many meets.

More than covid, I'm sure there's been a player who's been stuck behind some really good players that end up being really good players themselves.  

I guess the question with that is why didn't he transfer sooner? 

3 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

Covid kids missed a lot of time man

I’m really not trying to be difficult, but what time did he miss?  The SEC played football throughout the pandemic.  Velus played 10 games in 2020 and 13 games in 2021.  It’s fine if you think the age thing doesn’t matter, but I’m struggling to understand the COVID angle here.

Edited May 4, 20223 yr by Chicago White Sox

13 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I’m really not trying to be difficult, but what time did he miss?  The SEC played football throughout the pandemic.  Velus played 10 games in 2020 and 13 games in 2021.  It’s fine if you think the age thing doesn’t matter, but I’m struggling to understand the COVID angle here.

Almost every conference played abbreviated schedules, teams opted out, like the entire FCS didn't play or delayed until spring.  There is a reason players received that extra year 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_season#

I am getting really excited about what Poles actually did.  The secondary is going to be better, I think one of those lineman ends up panning out as a starter in the long-run and who knows about Velus but in some ways making Fields have to go through reads early in his career (vs. just throwing it to a guy) may actually help him to some extent and just having speed around him, while using Montomery, Kmet, Mooney and a better defense to put him in better spots may be huge for year 2. 

I don't expect to win a ton - but if the players they drafted show promise (get 3 good starters out of this draft) and Fields can progress and show something - end up with still a top 10 pick and hope in a QB draft you have your QB already and might get some serious value for another QB needy team looking to move up. Get to a spot with multiple picks next year (maybe some future picks for the following year) and a ton of cap space and this could actually be a pretty fast turn around.  

Obviously - Fields development is key to that - but I think having quality defenders around him and not giving him a ton of elite weapons in some ways might actually help in sense that it tempers everyone's expectations so he can continue to focus on growth and development.  

24 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I am getting really excited about what Poles actually did.  The secondary is going to be better, I think one of those lineman ends up panning out as a starter in the long-run and who knows about Velus but in some ways making Fields have to go through reads early in his career (vs. just throwing it to a guy) may actually help him to some extent and just having speed around him, while using Montomery, Kmet, Mooney and a better defense to put him in better spots may be huge for year 2. 

I don't expect to win a ton - but if the players they drafted show promise (get 3 good starters out of this draft) and Fields can progress and show something - end up with still a top 10 pick and hope in a QB draft you have your QB already and might get some serious value for another QB needy team looking to move up. Get to a spot with multiple picks next year (maybe some future picks for the following year) and a ton of cap space and this could actually be a pretty fast turn around.  

Obviously - Fields development is key to that - but I think having quality defenders around him and not giving him a ton of elite weapons in some ways might actually help in sense that it tempers everyone's expectations so he can continue to focus on growth and development.  

I don't think people realize how QBs are evaluated by coa he's and scouts. Ot isn't just the numbers they put up.

They look at factors like, decision making, did he throw to right target, did he put the ball where it was supposed to go.

None of these factors have anything to do with the catches the receiver makes.

There will be a lot of information on which to base their decision about Feilds upon. Plenty of which have nothing to do with how talented the receiver is. That is another factor of course but it isn't the only or even the primary factor.

Is it possible, looking at how Fields performed with Robinson, who is more of a contested catch guy, that the Bears think he's gonna work better with guys like Pringle and Jones who created separation? I know everyone was clamoring for that big X reciever but maybe that's not Fields game. Poles sat down with Fields and looked over the recievers and they went with Jones. 

On 5/4/2022 at 4:22 PM, scs787 said:

More than covid, I'm sure there's been a player who's been stuck behind some really good players that end up being really good players themselves.  

I guess the question with that is why didn't he transfer sooner? 

There were strong rumors that he was going to transfer after the 2018 season, but it never happened.  Then he ended up transferring after the 2019 season.  Word came out later that he didn't feel he'd be granted a hardship transfer waiver from the NCAA, so he would have had to sit out the 2019 season if he had transferred then.  Instead, he played at USC one more year to graduate, and then at that point, he could transfer anywhere freely (without having to sit out a year) because he was a grad transfer.

5 hours ago, dasox24 said:

There were strong rumors that he was going to transfer after the 2018 season, but it never happened.  Then he ended up transferring after the 2019 season.  Word came out later that he didn't feel he'd be granted a hardship transfer waiver from the NCAA, so he would have had to sit out the 2019 season if he had transferred then.  Instead, he played at USC one more year to graduate, and then at that point, he could transfer anywhere freely (without having to sit out a year) because he was a grad transfer.

Good find, I hadn't heard that. Dude was legit buried behind 3 guys who might be #1 WRs. One guy just had 900 yards in his rookie season, another just put up 1000 in his 2nd season, and the 3rd just got drafted 8th overall. 

 

I don't expect Velus to be a #1, but if he comes in and gives you even 50 catches for 600ish yards, and stretches the field with his 4.31 speed, it's a quality 3rd round pick. 

31 minutes ago, scs787 said:

Good find, I hadn't heard that. Dude was legit buried behind 3 guys who might be #1 WRs. One guy just had 900 yards in his rookie season, another just put up 1000 in his 2nd season, and the 3rd just got drafted 8th overall. 

 

I don't expect Velus to be a #1, but if he comes in and gives you even 50 catches for 600ish yards, and stretches the field with his 4.31 speed, it's a quality 3rd round pick. 

Is it reasonable to expect normal levels of production from the Bears wide receivers and tight ends?

I do think I've switched to my main area of concern being the line, especially scary because the bears seem way too comfortable with it. It is clear they value Patrick at Center being able to make the calls since he had familiarity with Getsy's GB offense it's bringing over, and that kinda sucks because there is a great C available in Tretter.

I like a lot of Zachary Thomas to G, but that is just way too nerve wrecking. 

The guard market doesn't exist right now, but Quinton Spain is still an upgrade over what they have. They are definitely in 1-year stop gap mode. It seems like they really do seem to like Borom at LT. Would feel a whole lot better with some real competition, getting a Flowers or Brown to pit Jenkens v. Borom.

22 minutes ago, bmags said:

I do think I've switched to my main area of concern being the line, especially scary because the bears seem way too comfortable with it. It is clear they value Patrick at Center being able to make the calls since he had familiarity with Getsy's GB offense it's bringing over, and that kinda sucks because there is a great C available in Tretter.

I like a lot of Zachary Thomas to G, but that is just way too nerve wrecking. 

The guard market doesn't exist right now, but Quinton Spain is still an upgrade over what they have. They are definitely in 1-year stop gap mode. It seems like they really do seem to like Borom at LT. Would feel a whole lot better with some real competition, getting a Flowers or Brown to pit Jenkens v. Borom.

Yeah, I'm definitely with you on the line. I'd be super bummed and a little surprised if they don't bring  in a LT. I guess with sooooo many bodies they might be able to find a competent guard. 

 

Poles said he needs to see guys in pads. I just hope the limited market doesn't pass him by. 

32 minutes ago, scs787 said:

Yeah, I'm definitely with you on the line. I'd be super bummed and a little surprised if they don't bring  in a LT. I guess with sooooo many bodies they might be able to find a competent guard. 

 

Poles said he needs to see guys in pads. I just hope the limited market doesn't pass him by. 

Gotta just hope for a vet cut.

14 hours ago, The Beast said:

Is it reasonable to expect normal levels of production from the Bears wide receivers and tight ends?

Depends on what you consider normal levels. Lol.