Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Bears

• Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic addresses the situation of Taquan Mizzell, last years deep back up at running back:
  

  “Mizzell probably received the most criticism for a player not named Cody Parkey last season, which is impressive for someone who had only nine carries and eight receptions on 69 snaps.

  “He’ll have a lot of work to do to make the team in a crowded receivers room. This move clears up the running back depth chart a bit. It’s now Kerrith Whyte Jr. vs. Ryan Nall for the No. 4 spot.”

  Count me among those critical of the Bears use of Mizzell in any situation last year. Sixty nine snaps is plenty enough to get on people’s radar and, like many observers, I couldn’t figure out why he was on the field at all. It was evident to me that he just wasn’t that good.

  You wonder why the Bears don’t just release Mizzell. There must be something about him that someone likes, probably head coach Matt Nagy. He’s going to be a practice squad project at wide receiver and you wonder if that spot would be better used on someone else and if Mizzell, himself, would be better off going elsewhere without the position change where he’ll have a better chance to play.

  From what I’ve seen the odds are slim that he’ll ever develop into the kind of player that could crack the starting lineup with the Bears.

• Fishbain also quotes defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend on the importance of tackling in the secondary.

“’The one thing that we can’t do every day is tackle,’ [Townsend] said. ’A lot of people get the misconception of DBs doing drills and it’s always footwork, but we’re going to find some way to wrap and squeeze every day. (I’m) always talking about angles. This whole game is angles. But we’re gonna do a tackle drill every day. And it’s just going to reinforce what we are. Even saying we’re going to be the best tackling secondary in the NFL, that’s our goal. If you’re not saying that, if you don’t believe it, it’s not gonna happen. That has to be the mindset of everybody in the group.”’

Fishbain is a former college defensive back so he knows the importance of this aspect of playing in the secondary even if others don’t appreciate it.

It’s nice that this is on Townsend’s mind. In the few bad games the Bears defense had last year the tackling was horrendous. See my comments on the Miami loss after the bye week as a good example. Avoiding those let downs will be one of the keys to improvement this year.

• Adam Jahns, also at The Athletic gives us the obligatory hype about Bears players that you get in May. In this case its Bears second year player Roquan Smith.

“’I feel like I can improve in a lot of areas,’ Smith said.

“If we’re nitpicking, Smith needs to improve in coverage, but that should come through his own experiences, including in practices against running backs Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery. There is a significant difference between seeing an option route from a back on film and handling one at game speed.

“When [inside linebackers coach Mark] DeLeone evaluated Smith’s rookie film, he saw a young linebacker who started to shake off the ’rust’ and improve as the weeks went by.”

That’s not nitpicking. It was a serious problem and it wasn’t just Smith. The Bears were constantly getting burned last season as receivers dragged across the middle of the field where the inside linebackers failed to pick them up in coverage.

In fairness, it doesn’t look like it’s particularly easy to do. I would imagine that it’s tough enough to be completely aware of what’s going on in front of you let alone of opposing players coming at you on routes from the side and slightly behind you. Nevertheless, that’s what these guys get paid to do.

Not to beat a dead horse but as DeLeone points out, you have to feel that Smith would have done a better job of getting on top of this had his agent not held him out. Here’s hoping that with a full offseason Smith, along with the other linebackers, does a better job of correcting this issue.

Elsewhere

• Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press checks in with the latest odds on who will be on HBO’s Hard Knocks program.

Hard Knocks 2019 – Team Featured
Washington Redskins	5/4
Oakland Raiders	5/2
New York Giants	3/1
Detroit Lions	7/2
San Francisco 49ers	9/1

I understand why Daniel Snyder’s Redskins might be the favorite. Snyder seems like just the entrepreneur who would see this as an opportunity rather than a detriment. Nevertheless my money’s on the Raiders.

Mark Davis has been adamantly against this team appearing in the past. But getting permission to move his franchise to Vegas undoubtedly came with a lot of strings attached behind the scenes. The bet here is that it’s not coincidence that the Rams both appeared on Hard Knocks and went to London to play after permission to move to Line of scrimmage Angeles was given.

Oakland plays a home game against the Bears in London this year and it would surprise no one if they ended up being forced to volunteer to be on Hard Knocks as well.

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.comspeculates upon the possibility that Jets head coach Adam Gase may be inclined to trade Le’Veon Bellafter rumors surfaced that he never wanted to sign the back.
  

  “If Gase is inclined to do it, now’s the time given his current power and control over the team. And John Clayton, formerly of ESPN and now a radio host in Seattle, recently said just enough on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh to get people thinking that a trade could happen: ’If there’s a suitor, I could absolutely see the Jets trading him before the start of the season.”’

  The thought that the Jets would trade Bell is ridiculous. The Jets have already paid Bell $12 million and the cap hit if they traded him would be extremely high.

  Furthermore I have a hard time believing that anyone wouldn’t want Le’Veon Bell, let alone an offensive coach like Gase. I have little trouble believing that Gase thought they overpaid. But the thought that Gase would trade him now that they’ve paid Bell is absurd.

  Personally I never felt that John Clayton added much in the way of reporting when he was with ESPN. And I definitely don’t think he knows what he’s talking about now.

One Final Thought

Albert Breer at SI.com writes about how the Colts are gradually shrinking their draft board year to year.

“I’d say this year we had 170 players on the board [for 2019], which is way down from where it was before,’ [General Manager Chris] Ballard said. ’I think last year we were at 220, I can’t even remember the number from my first year. But yeah, it makes it easier to navigate when you have fewer names that you know fit what you want. I think when we really get it right, and we get it down to about 125, 150, that’s when we’ll have really honed down exactly what a Colt is for our schemes.”’

What the Colts are doing is a lesson for us all. I have found that being brutal about cutting things out of my life, from tossing things from storage to pruning task lists, makes it a lot easier to get better results in the end.

Honestly, if you have something in your closet that you haven’t touched for five years, are you really going to need it in the next 5? Or the 5 after that?

Anyway, this is a sign that the Colts really know what they are doing. The bet here is that going into the draft, any general manager worth his salt probably knows deep in his heart that there are only 50 or so players they are really likely they’ll end up with. Maybe even less. So why put 350 on your board?

The ability to hone in on what’s really important and trimming the rest seems to be one underrated key to success.

Bears

• Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune asks Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin about Bears sixth round pick Kerrith Whyte:
  

  Wiederer: Do you see any limitations in his game or areas he’s going to have to either really work on or work around to be reliable at the NFL level?

  Kiffin: Pass protection. With the bigger players on that level, that’ll be more of a challenge. And being the backup here, it’s not like he got a million reps on film of that. So that’s going to be something he’ll have to work at if they’re going to want to use him on third down especially.

  No surprise there. No team will put a running back out on the field who is going to get the quarterback killed. Kiffin, a former head coach of the Oakland Raiders, would know that as well as anyone. And most good college running backs haven’t been asked to do it much.

  The good news is that Kiffin thinks Whyte is a really good pass receiver. But the bet here is that if Whyte sees the field much for the Bears his rookie year, it will be as a kick returner, a position that he excels at.

• Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune interviews David Rowe, Valdosta State’s defensive backs coach, about new Bears cornerback Stephen Denmark:
  

  Rowe: “To bring you back to that last game (his junior year), we had a staff meeting and we were trying to talk about guys who could come over and help us because our numbers were down.

  “The receivers coach and the head coach were like: Stephen Denmark needs to be over there. They were trying to sell us on: You should see the way he gets out of breaks. He’s 6-2 and can get out of breaks as well as all our small guys. So his feet are really good.

  “Just naturally, him coming over to a new position, he’d have to get better at backpedaling and all that, which we didn’t do a lot of that. He was able to do it; it just took some time and work. He busted his (tail) and got it done.”

  Campbell: “So did he play with a lot of vision, backed off a bit?”

  Rowe: “No, we played majority press coverage. Turn and run with a guy. There were some situations where he did play a bail third, and he did a pretty good job with that stuff.”

  I’m really wondering why the offensive coaches pushed for Denmark to make this switch. Big, athletic wide receivers presumably don’t’ grow on trees, especially at Valdosta State. My conclusion is that it my have had to do with his hands and his ability to catch the ball.

  The picture that Campbell and Rowe paint is of a very raw prospect who hasn’t done much other than press coverage, a technique that requires athleticism with very little knowledge of the defense or of the awareness that is necessary to play other techniques.

  Bottom line, Denmark only played a year at cornerback at a low level college. Bears fans probably shouldn’t expect an immediate contribution as he probably has a long way to go. Making the roster would likely be an accomplishment for him.

• Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Bears have signed tight end Jesper Horsted.

  At 6-4, 225 pounds Horsted was listed as a wide receiver at Princeton. He will likely compete to back up Trey Burton at the U-tight end rather than at the in-line blocking Y-tight end position.

  The latter is a weak spot in the Bears offense as Adam Shaheen tries to break out in his third year with the Bears. Shaheen hasn’t developed in part because his career to this point has been marred by injuries.

  Right now Shaheen’s primary competition comes in the form of veteran back up Ben Braunecker and undrafted free agents Ian Bunting and Dax Raymond.

  One can only conclude that the Bears are a lot more comfortable about Shaheen being given this job than many of the fans are.

• Darin Gantt at profootballtalk.com comments on the Bears “clown car” approach to finding a new kicker. They did everything they could to put the 9 kickers (including the tryout punter) in pressure situations in thier recent minicamp and drew a lot of attention to the situation by doing so.
  

  “It’s easy to view [the approach] as obsessive, if not excessive. While it’s clearly important for a team to find a reliable kicker, the way the Bears are setting up this search also puts the job in more of a spotlight than it naturally brings. Now, as soon as the next poor soul to hold that job misses a kick and the Bears lose a game, he’ll become the focus of the larger failure. They made Parkey a pariah, partly for the miss and partly for his television appearance in the aftermath, and now they’re ensuring his replacement will be under even more pressure.”

  You won’t find many people that are too sympathetic in this situation. If you have a kicker line up for a game winner in a Super Bowl, you would be hard pressed to find a situation more pressure packed. You’d like to have a guy in that role that you are confident in. I think most people will have a hard time criticizing the Bears for doing everythig they can to make sure that they have a guy who will react the right way.

Elsewhere

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com explains what the Jets might have in mind for their general manager position:

“Jets CEO and chairman Christopher Johnson wants a ’great strategic thinker’ to run the football operation. He needs someone who can work with coach Adam Gase. And at the intersection possibly resides one and only one name.

Peyton Manning.

This sounds to me more like the media connecting dots than a realistic possibility. But I’ve been surprised before.

I love Peyton Manning but a general manager? I’m not a big fan of having people without a background in personnel in that role, let alone someone with no front office background at all. It almost never works out. The latest example is in San Francisco where rumor has it that John Lynch, who also had no front office experience, and head coach Kyle Shanahan are rumored to be on the outs.

I don’t like the direction the Jets are taking.

• Florio also explains why prosecutors are appealing a ruling in the case against Robert Kraft, who is accused of solicitation in Florida.

“Multiple judges have ruled that the “sneak and peek” video surveillance violated the law by undertaking no effort to minimize the intrusion on the privacy of innocent persons who were simply getting massages. If the appellate courts don’t overturn these rulings, there will be little or no evidence against Kraft — unless prosecutors can persuade the alleged providers of prostitution to “flip” on their alleged customers.”

I have no interest in this case except that it bothers me when someone tries to legally get off the hook based upon technicalities. I know he did it. You know he did it. The lawyers know he did it.

Kraft is the owner of a franchise where players are constantly told to be accountable for their actions. Is this accountability? It might be the reality of the world we live it. But I call it hypocrisy.

In any case, the situation puts the league in a bind. They haven’t hesitated to suspend players who are obviously guilty but who have not been legally convicted, often because they paid off the victim. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 2010 suspension after sexual assault allegations is a good example.

I think its fair to say that although the league has some morally upright fans who strongly disapprove, solicitation isn’t really considered to be a big deal to most in modern American society. It certainly doesn’t rise to the level of sexual assault or similar offenses. But in terms of obvious guilt or innocence beyond the legal ramifications, there are players who are going to be watching this situation closely to see if Kraft is held to the same standard.

One Final Thought

Bears

• Gregg Rosenthal at NFL.com comments upon the Bears during their “Around the NFL” podcast (episode title: “Around the NFC”, at the 24:45 mark).Rosenthal mentions his distrust of teams that stand pat after a successful season and expect that roster to come back and perform at the same level (at the 24:45 mark). Not that the Bears had much choice, as he acknowledges.

  I share Rosenthal’s mistrust. This didn’t work in 2007 with the Bears coming off of a Super Bowl appearance and it probably won’t work this year, at least for the defense. As was the case in 2006, the Bears were among the healthiest teams in the league last year, something that is unlikely to happen a second time in a row. They also lost most of the defensive coaching staff.

  But the reasons for this wariness go deeper than that. Last year with a new head coach the players were less comfortable and likely for the most part concentrated harder on what was going on. This year with the stink of success on them, at least a certain percentage of the players are likely to be more relaxed. This can lead to a drop in performance.

  In fairness, unlike 2007, the Bears have reason to believe that their offense will be better in a second year in head coach Matt Nagy’s system. This is their best hope to maintain excellence in the coming season.

• Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times quotes new Bears wide receiver Emanuel Hall on his motivation after being passed over in the NFL draft. Hall was expected to go as high as the second round:
  

  “’I promise you it’s a feeling that I’ll never forget. That was one of the worst feelings ever, being undrafted,’ Hall said at Bears rookie mini-camp Saturday. ’It felt like the longest three days of my life. I had a draft party on the second day and the third day you’re just shaking everybody’s hand, ‘Thanks for coming.’ — no one wants to do that.”’

  “Hall’s speed (4.39 in the 40) and big-play ability made him an intriguing prospect in the draft. He averaged 23.5 yards per catch in his final two years at Missouri (70 receptions, 1,645 yards, 14 touchdowns in 22 games), with nine receptions of 50 yards or more.

  “But a history of minor injuries that kept him out of four games last season and prevented him from playing in the Senior Bowl played a part in getting overlooked in the draft.”

  Hall fell out of the draft due to concerns about his football character. Specifically, coaches at the University of Missouri were very up front about Hall’s inability to play through those minor injuries that Potash mentions. In fact, Hall missed the last day of rookie minicamp with an injury. Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic elaborates:

  “Hall battled hamstring issues and a groin injury last season, but instead of shutting it down, returned to finish off the season and play in the bowl game. Even though he got back on the field, the injury required maintenance in the winter, preventing him from playing in the Senior Bowl, and it almost kept him from performing at the combine.

  “Doctors in Indianapolis told Hall not to participate in drills because of a possible sports hernia. Hall signed a waiver so he could run and jump, and while not at 100 percent, he ran a 4.39 40 and had the best broad jump recorded for a wide receiver at the combine (11 feet, nine inches).”

  “Nagy discussed, though, how the Bears are confident in their staff to help with players who may have had durability issues in college.

  “’There’s some elements to that in regards to our training program is going to be different than every other training program from other teams that they come from,’ he said. ’We feel really good about Andre Tucker and what he does and our staff that he has, our strength staff, Jenn (Gibson) our sports dietician. And so we feel really good about when we bring people in here, we really sometimes don’t care as much about what happened in the past — what can we do now? Let’s fix it, let’s give him a clean slate and let’s roll.”

  Speed and ability aren’t enough. Apparently Hall is going to have to toughen up. Otherwise he’ll be just another track star that didn’t make it.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
  

  “Do you see the Bears signing any veteran pass rushers now that it won’t impact their comp picks? If yes, who? — @mellothunder

  “This has been a consistent question throughout the offseason, even after the team re-signed veteran outside linebacker Aaron Lynch, and I’m a little puzzled why. The Bears tied for third in the league with 50 sacks last season. Only three of those 50 sacks were by players no longer on the team: Nickel cornerback Bryce Callahan had two and strong safety Adrian Amos had one. With Khalil Mack being paid as one of the top edge rushers in the game and with investments elsewhere when it comes to rushing the passer, I think the Bears are OK here. I can’t see them spending a lot of money for another player to add to the mix.”

  I think I understand why. On some level fans probably recognize that the Bears depth is likely to be challenged more this year and they are worried about it with only Mack, Leonard Floyd and Lynch as reliable pass rushers.

  Personally I’m not as worried about it for two reasons.

  1. Not many teams have good starting pass rushers, let alone depth at th position. Good pass rushers don’t grow on trees and anyone who is any good was signed to a roster a long time ago, compensatory formula or not.
  2. I like Kylie Fits and Isaiah Irving a lot more than most people and think one or both could step up and do a decent job if called upon.

  It will be interesting to see how the depth at the position plays out this year.

• Another good question for Biggs:
  

  “Should the Bears pursue Ndamukong Suh? I think that would be a great addition. — @chiwest773

  Teams can now sign free agents such as Suh without that transaction affecting the formula for compensatory draft picks, so we could begin to see some movement for some of the name players who remain on the street. Suh is in that category, as is offensive tackle Jared Veldheer, who is reported to be signing with the Patriots. I don’t believe the Bears are planning to spend big money on any players not on the roster. It’s possible offensive lineman Cody Whitehair, who’s eligible for a contract extension, is the only player who will get a significant payday between now and the end of the season.

  Suh would actually be a good fit for the Bears strictly in terms of what he can still do on the field. At this point in his career he can still be a big, two gapping defensive lineman who will stop the run while giving a little bit of pass rush. But he’s nowhere near the player he was earlier in his career the last time Bears fans saw him on a regular basis with the Lions. Suh is 32 years old and the Bears have trended towards younger free agents since general manager Ryan Pace joined the organization. He’s also not a great culture fit.

  Whether Suh signs with the Bears or anyone else will come down to money. My guess is that no one is going to make him a big money offer at this point. As Biggs points out, the Bears almost certainly won’t. A lot will depend on whether Suh still wants to play the game for considerably less than he’s used to making.

• Yet another question for Biggs:
  

  Is Brad Childress under contract for the full season or just the preseason like last year? What role will he play with the offense? — @_d_r_r_

  The Bears hired Childress as a senior offensive assistant, and he will be around for the entire season. He was hired as a consultant last year, working with Matt Nagy from the start of his tenure and through most of the preseason. He’ll be available as a sounding board for Nagy and will have input across the board on offense. Nagy is big on taking input from all of his coaches, and Childress will be part of that mix.

  If you look back at the history of this blog, you’ll find that I had some rough things to say about Childress as a head coach for the Vikings. But I like him in this role. He’s from Chicago and at this point in his career he probably wants to be here. He’s experienced in a way that Nagy isn’t and there’s very little doubt in my mind that he’ll say what he thinks at times when maybe other assistants will hold back a little.

  But there’s one other under looked factor here that could be of great benefit to Nagy and the Bears. Childress has traditionally been a “run first” offensive coach. He knows how to run the ball and that knowledge could be handy on a team where Nagy has constantly said that the running game has to get better. Childress could help contribute to a big improvement in that area.

• One more from Biggs:
  

  Reading about all the early draftee signings, I remember a time when Cliff Stein was first to get the Bears draft class under contract. Lately it seems they’ve been bringing up the rear. What happened? — Greg M.

  What’s the race? The NFL has slotted the bonus money and salaries for draft picks. There’s no advantage to completing this right away. I have no doubt the Bears will have all five draft picks under contract before training camp begins.

  I’m pretty sure the agent was mostly to blame for the Bears troubles signing first round pick Roquon Smith last year. Nevertheless, one does wonder if the Bears could have settled the issues with him sooner had they been further along with negotiations when camp started.

  Biggs asks “What’s the race?” and that’s fair. But my question is, “Why wait?”. Get the rookies under contract so that they can workout without fear of injury.

  In any case, with their first pick coming in the third round, I doubt the Bears will have a great deal of trouble signing their picks before camp this year.

• Fishbain interviews Mitch Trubisky. He asks Trubisky about the center position:
  

  Q: “Gotta build up that friendship with James [Danels] now.”

  A: “Ha, yeah, got to. James knows. I’m talking to James even more. He’s like, ’Why is Mitch talking to me all the time?’ I was like, ’You’re my center now, bro, let’s do it.”’

  The Bears haven’t announced it, yet, but this apparently let’s the cat out of the bag. I gather from this that Cody Whitehair is switching positions with Daniels with Whitehair moving to left guard.

  It’s a risky switch. Daniels will undoubtedly be better at center but Whitehair was a Pro Bowl caliber center who was still getting better. Whether the unit overall is be better with this switch will be one of the more interesting questions early in the season.

One Final Thought

Although I did threaten to get sick if I read another kicker article, I have to admit to letting go of a chuckle when Darin Gantt profootballtalk.com characterized what the Bears are doing at the position as a “clown-car approach”.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“Does Adam Shaheen have a future with the Bears? Plagued by injuries first two seasons, I’m wondering if they’ll go in different direction, especially with capable free agents like the guy from Utah State. — @chuckietwoglove

“I can tell you that when Matt Nagy was asked about Shaheen at the NFL owners meeting, he was very positive. There is no question durability has been an issue with Shaheen, and if he can stay on the field, the Bears believe he can really help the offense. Let’s tap the brakes on the idea he will be replaced from the get-go by Dax Raymond, the undrafted rookie from Utah State. The Bears like Raymond and believe he has a chance to stick, otherwise they would not have guaranteed him 45,?000(15,000 signing bonus with $30,000 base-salary guarantee). But 32 teams passed on Raymond in the draft. The Bears still have an investment of a draft pick, money and maybe most importantly time in Shaheen. They’re not cutting the cord on him now.”

One of the bigger surprises of the Bears draft has to be that they didn’t draft a tight end from what looked like a deep class in the middle rounds. The Bears have evidently decided to roll with Shaheen. Raymond will evidently compete to back him up with an unsigned free agent.

Despite Nagy’s comments, that second, inline tight end position has to be an area of mild concern (see below). Setting aside the fact that he can’t stay healthy, Shaheen hasn’t shown anything but potential, yet.

• Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune interviews Iowa State coach Nate Scheelhaase on the characteristics of new Bears running back David Montgomery:
  

  “He’s a really good inside-zone runner. He has a good feel, especially in the shotgun, of just how the zone moves and how things feel, which is probably why Coach [Matt] Nagy and Coach [Mark] Helfrich and those guys were really interested.

  “It was funny. There were a lot of teams interested in David, but the teams that seemed to be the most interested all came from that same tree. It was the Chiefs, Bears, Eagles, the Colts. Those coaches that came from that same tree, they have a bunch of gun runs that they run really well.”

  It’s worth noting that the Bears were likely trading up to get ahead of the Bills, who were evidently looking for a running back and selected Florida Atlantic’s Devin Singletary with the pick after Chicago’s. So there was likely something of a consensus among a lot of teams that he was the next best running back on the board. Certainly the Bears suspected that the Bills would have taken him.

  This article is worth reading. There was a lot of good information beyond the usual hype.

• Campbell quotes Bears head coach Matt Nagy as he talks up Montgomery:
  

  “’Every running back has his own strength as far as what route he can run,’ Nagy said Saturday, ’whether … he’s a bigger target or he’s super fast. Some running backs you can put them (as a wide receiver with an empty backfield) and they are better on shallow crosses or better with read routes, and it’s not a vertical route or a post route where they beat you with speed. They just have a good knack at that.

  “’It’s not always in an empty set. You (deploy) a guy out of the backfield, now (there are) mismatches, right? Is he against a safety or is it a linebacker? Are they playing base defense versus a guy we think we can get an advantage in the pass game? Great. Are they going to play nickel or dime and dare us to run the ball? Well, when you have guys that can play all three downs, it’s nice for the play-caller, and it’s nice for the offense.”’

  It’s all great in theory. But there’s a legitimate question as to what kind of mismatch Montgomery will actually be out of the back field. With a lack of straight line speed, one could argue that, even lined up in a base defense, linebackers might have little trouble keeping up with Montgomery or, for that matter, Mike Davis, the presumed RB2.

  Certainly defensive backs will have little trouble keeping up should defenses feel that they can get away with playing nickel against the run (as they frequently do nowadays). In that respect, the lack of a blocking tight end who can also go out for the occasional pass route could also burn the Bears badly if Adam Shaheen doesn’t develop this off season. Campbell comments further on the situation:

  “[B]ecause they didn’t draft a tight end, let’s recognize the urgency for Shaheen to play up to his draft pedigree.

  “Remember, Pace drafted him 45th overall in 2017. That’s a huge investment, especially in a Division II player. For as much credit as the Bears deserve for developing their two fourth-rounders in that draft — Eddie Jackson and [Tarik] Cohen — Shaheen has lagged. He always was going to require seasoning for his blocking technique and route running, and missing 10 games last season was unfortunate. Now he’s a noteworthy wild card in the offense’s outlook this season.

  Arguably Shaheen’s play will be at least as big of a factor determining whether defenses feel forced to play in one formation or another depending upon his ability to both block and run pass routes. Right now I would say he’s not a factor in that decision at all.

  In any case, unless Montgomery’s shiftiness and ability to break tackles actually results in big plays despite his lack of speed, the Bears could be looking at a situation where they have a couple of work horse backs who can get them yardage on the ground but where their only true mismatch out of the back field will once again be Cohen.

• If I read one more article about kickers I’m going to be sick. Man…
• Dave Hyde at the South Florida Sun-Sentinal notes how well the Dolphins are apparently set up for the 2020 NFL draft:
  

  The Dolphins pumped a lot of resources into the 2020 draft this offseason and now have 12 draft picks.

  1 — 1st round

  2 — 2nd round (theirs and New Orleans)

  2 — 3rd round (theirs and Ja’Wuan James compensatory pick)

  2 — 4th round (theirs and Tennessee’s from Ryan Tannehill trade)

  2 — 5th round (theirs and Cam Wake compensatory pick)

  2 — 6th round (theirs and Robert Quinn trade)

  2 — 7th round (Kansas City from Jordan Lucas trade)

  I noted the optimism with which Hyde anticipated getting the compensatory picks for James and Wake. In particular, I’m not convinced that losing James is going to bring a third round compensatory pick but let’s assume that he will.

  The list highlights one of the changes I think we can anticipate in the new NFL labor contract as the old deal expires in 2 years.

  The compensatory pick system was set up to help ameliorate the damage done when a player leaves via free agency. they weren’t meant to completely compensate for the loss, only to make it less disastrous for a team when they lose a particularly valuable asset. But the system has developed far beyond that now.

  The compensatory picks that teams get for getting a free agent go are so valuable that teams are often motivated to game the system by purposely letting the player go and taking the pick instead. Consider the case of James. Does anyone think there’s any chance that James would have brought a third round pick in a trade before he became a free agent? Wold anyone have given a fifth round pick for a 37 year old Cam Wake?

  The pick system is currently being used for a purpose that it was not intended for -i.e. actually rewarding a team for not signing a player in free agency. That’s something the NFLPA cannot let stand and, given the justice of their case, I have to believe that the league won’t fight too hard against changing the system.

• Colts owner Jim Irsay says he wants the draft in Indianapolis.

  Indianapolis would be a good spot except for one thing. It’s far enough north to make weather a problem.

  When Radio City Music Hall left the draft four years ago, Chicago lobbied hard to be the new permanent home. But anyone who looked out the window at the heavy snow coming down on Saturday, the last day of the draft, had to agree that the the NFL made the right decision when they started rotating cities instead.

  Indianapolis isn’t that far south of Chicago.

  One Final Thought

• Biggs continues to answer your questions:
  

  “The Bears are planning to sign 19 undrafted free agents. As you and others have documented, this has become an important part of the draft process as teams scramble and bid against one another to sign highly regarded prospects who slipped through the cracks. The draft was cut down to seven rounds in 1994. Do you think the NFL would consider adding more rounds given the importance of these undrafted players? — Tom S., Chicago

  “No. Adding an eighth round would only force teams to have to pay players more. Good teams do well with undrafted free agents (UDFAs) and bad teams struggle to find players who can stick. Plus, isn’t the final day of the draft long enough?”

  Yes, if you are a reporter. Maybe not if you are a general manager.

  I actually didn’t think this was a bad question. Wisconsin guard Beau Benzschawel had offers from 20 teams before signing with the Lions. It’s very evident that teams are leaving good players on the board at the end of seven rounds.

• Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times reviews the Bears 2019 NFL draft:
  

  In his fifth draft, general manager Ryan Pace:

  Didn’t change. He was aggressive as usual, but this time he’s playing from strength instead of weakness — fortifying a playoff team instead of building from the ground up. Even if you consider Khalil Mack and Anthony Miller part of this draft, Pace can’t afford to strike out after that, yet he took some chances on players with big upsides. It’s risky. But with this roster, Pace isn’t playing with scared money.

  As I do annually, I did a mock draft with reps from the other NFL teams for a podcast. I was on last, as the Bears didn’t have a pick until the third round. I thought it was ironic that I was on with the Saints rep who, as usual, didn’t have a pick in the first round either.

  When Ryan Pace came from New Orleans one of the firs things I noticed was that the Saints were always extremely aggressive with the resources that they had available. Pace has definitely been applying whatever he learned there.

  Like most Saints fans, I think we’re going to have to get used to being chronically short on draft picks and cap space. If it means being a consistent contender, I think I can live with it.

• The writers are the Chicago Tribune describe the new Bears running back David Montgomery’s positive traits:
  

  “Montgomery is a well-rounded back who will contribute immediately and might even start the season opener.”

  “Where to begin? On the field, Montgomery has great instincts, vision, balance and lateral agility. He’s a human pinball. He led the nation in forced missed tackles in each of the last two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.”

  One thing you never hear about in these descriptions is the back’s ability to block. That’s because they are rarely asked to do it in college. But that will be the most important factor which determines whether Montgomery will start right out of the gate.

  No one is going to put any running back out there if they think he’s going to get the quarterback killed.

• Phil Rosenthal and Tim Bannon at the Chicago Tribune cover the draft’s winners and losers and don’t while not being stupid about it. Dolphins fans will want to skip to the last few.

  In the mean time I’d like to add my own winner: Joe Klatt at the NFL Network. Klatt usually covers college football for FOX but he came on and did a great job during Day 2 of the draft breaking down the picks. I spent most of Day 3 wishing he was still there instead of Peter Schrager, who seemed to be there more for the entertainment value.

• Scott Bordow at the Arizona Republic reviews the pick of quarterback Kyler Murray for The Athletic:
  

  Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said he didn’t want to take Kyler Murray after trading up to get Josh Rosen in the first round last year but he was won over by Murray’s talent. This is a gamble for Arizona. Few teams had Murray as the No. 1 player in the draft and it’s fair to wonder if the Cardinals would even have considered Murray if they hired anyone other than Kliff Kingsbury as coach. This will either work out spectacularly for Arizona or cost Keim and Kingsbury their jobs some day.

  My guess is that Bordow is right. The Cardinals don’t take Murray if anyone other than Kingsbury is the head coach. The reason is simple. Murray fits what the Cardinals want to do out of the box whereas any other coach outside of Seattle would have had to change their entire offense to make Murray work. Murray’s size makes him less than suitable for an offense that relies on sitting in the pocket and finding the open receiver.

  I tried to figure out where the next likely landing place for Murray was if he got by the Cardinals. My guess is that it would have been a long way down the list. Murray not only landed in the perfect spot to take advantage of his talents. He may have landed in the only spot.

• Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times describes his take aways from GM Ryan Pace’s pre-draft press conference.
  

  “Last week, NFL Network reported that the Raiders sent their scouts home to protect the secrecy of their draft room. That’s not the case at Halas Hall, where Pace said all the team’s scouts — plus [head coach Matt] Nagy — will occupy their new state-of-the-art draft center.

  “’I think, by nature, everybody in my role is a little paranoid,’ Pace said. ’We’ve been together for a long time now, and we have a tight group. Continuity. We’re all in there together. And they’re going to come in tonight and we talk through scenarios. So it’s still very collaborative all the way through.”’

  One of the things I noticed this year was how locked down the Bears were in terms of what they were doing in preparation for this draft. There was a time when a fan could track most of the pre-draft player visits to Halas Hall. That wasn’t the case this year.

  Pace has generally done a good job of keeping things under wraps as general manager. He seems to work harder than most to prevent leaks and I think he gets particularly angry when they happen despite that, as they did when the Bears were negotiating with Roquan Smith last year and his agent leaked information to profootballtalk.com about stipulations he was seeking in the contract.

• Adam Jahns at The Athletic also interprets what Pace said at the press conference. Jahns addresses the possibility that the Bears might take a running back:
  

  “It’s widely viewed as a good year for mid-round running backs. The Bears, including coach Matt Nagy, have spent considerable time looking at them, too.

  “In Dane Brugler’s recent mock draft for The Athletic, he projects that five running backs will go in the third round.

  “Moves in free agency also can shroud a team’s intentions in the draft. Don’t forget that the Bears signed Mike Glennon before drafting [quarterback Mitch] Trubisky.

  “The surprise of the Bears’ draft might be them passing on a back in the third round. Still, it’s safe to assume that one will be added during the draft. Pace drafted [Jordan] Howard in the fifth round in 2016, while Jeremy Langford was taken in the fourth in 2015.

  When looking over the Bears draft needs, running back certainly ranks high on the list. But there are a few other positions that it would be no surprise in the Bears addressed. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is on a one year prove it deal and with a contract extension for Eddie Jackson on the horizon a developmental prospect that could be ready to start next year should be at least on the list of possibilities. Same with cornerback where the Bears are paying Kyle Fuller with Prince Amukamara on the other side. Amukamara had 7 pass interference or defensive holding calls against him last year and all came in the second half of the season including one playoff game. Three came in the last two games against the Vikings and the Eagles.

  However, if I were to pick one position to keep an eye on, it would continue to be tight end. I continue to assert that the tight end class is deep in the middle rounds and there’s more than the usual degree of possibility that the Bear could pick up a big, versatile tight end that could push Adam Shaheen for the starting role.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune does a good job of breaking down the kicker situation, after news broke Tuesday that former Bears kicker Robbie Gould has requested a trade. He has reportedly informed the 49ers that he will no longer negotiate a multiyear contract and that he is no lock to show up for the start of the regular season after the 49ers placed the franchise tag on him.
  

  “It’s unknown whether the Bears, with three unproven options on the roster, would have interest in acquiring Gould, even though he has been nearly automatic since they surprisingly released him during final cuts in 2016. It’s clear Gould would welcome the opportunity to play for the Bears again. He lives in the area and brought his family to the playoff loss to the Eagles that ended when Cody Parkey’s 43-yard field-goal attempt was partially tipped at the line of scrimmage and then hit the left upright and crossbar.

  “What can’t be overlooked is that performance could not have been the driving factor in the Bears’ original decision to cut Gould and replace him with Connor Barth. Gould didn’t have his best season in 2015, general manager Ryan Pace’s first with the Bears, but he made 33 of 39 field goals (84.6 percent), which at the time was right in line with his career average.”

  “Pace has aggressively addressed nearly every area to restore the Bears into contenders. Bringing Gould back would provide a daily reminder of how Pace and his staff have gotten the kicker moves wrong at just about every turn.

  “The answer to whether Gould can come home again probably lies in the explanation of why he had to go in the first place.”

  I doubt very much that the 49ers are all that worried about this. I don’t think kickers need to be at training camp and I can’t see him skipping the season.

  As Biggs implies, there’s a reason why Gould was let go by the Bears in 2015 and it wasn’t performance. It seems clear that he’s a high maintenance player. It’s possible that with another coaching staff in place that Pace would consider bringing him back but I don’t think the Bears are going to want to commit the cap space to him with an extension for Whitehair pending.

  This is much ado about nothing at a time when the Bears first pick is in the third round and there’s little in the way of news to report.

• Darin Gantt at profootballtalk.com passes on the fact that the departure of Jake Ryan to Jacksonville last month closes the book on the entire Packers 2015 draft class.
  

  “First-round defensive back Damarious Randall was traded to Cleveland a year ago, for backup quarterback DeShone Kizer. Second-round cornerback Quinten Rollins never made much of an impact, and they tried to convert him to safety a year ago before releasing him. He made a brief appearance with the Cardinals last fall but isn’t on a roster now.

  Third-round wide receiver Ty Montgomery was converted to running back, and released last fall after fumbling a kickoff he was supposed to down in the end zone.

  After Ryan in the fourth round came quarterback Brett Hundley (who signed with Arizona having been previously pawned off on the Seahawks), fullback Aaron Ripowski (who was signed to a future contract by the Chiefs this offseason), defensive tackle Christian Ringo (who has bounced around to a second stint with the Bengals), and tight end Kennard Backman (who appeared in seven games as a rookie).

  Much has been made of the decline in talent in the latter years of Ted Thompson’s reign as Green Bay GM. But I’m going to cut Thompson a little break. A very little break.

  Talented or not, I saw very little difference between the draft classes that Thompson produced late in his career compared to early in his career. I thought the blame for the decline of the franchise lies elsewhere.

  First, they aren’t developing talent like they used to. Second, quarterback Aaron Rogers flat out refuses to get rid of the ball on time, preferring to run around and try to make plays rather than throwing with anticipation into tight windows as he did during his best days.

  It’s going to be very interesting to see if that franchise does better under new GM Brian Gutekunst or if they remain stuck in the mud with many of the same coaches and the same quarterback.

  One Final Thought

• Biggs also answers your questons:
  

  “We often saw Mitch Trubisky overthrow wide open receivers. What can you tell us about what he’s doing to improve his accuracy? — @dg122985

  “Accuracy is something football folks will tell you a quarterback either has or doesn’t have. Guys who aren’t accurate from the start usually don’t become super accurate. The good news is Trubisky set the Bears’ single-season record for completion percentage last year at 66.6. Yes, he missed some open guys downfield. Trubisky has worked with wide receivers this offseason, which could help when they get back to Halas Hall. It was a new offense for everyone last year, and with the players not having to go through that process again, you would expect things to be a little more crisp. That could make him more accurate.”

  I think Nagy’s thoughts on Trubisky’s occasional poor throws at the NFL owners meetings are particularly relevant:

  “I feel strongly about this. None of it was a physical thing. It was all just him learning where to go with the ball. See, your clock goes so fast that everything you see … Boom! Ball’s out. You know? When you know what’s going on and things become slower, you can make that more accurate throw. None of it was physical. It was all just mentally learning the offense. And the other guys too. Sometimes the quarterback makes a throw and it looks like it’s a bad throw or a poor throw, but it was a terrible route. Right? You guys don’t know that though. And I’m not going to call a guy out in the media.”

  I think this is spot on. It was very evident that Trubisky got more accurate last year as he got more comfortable in the offense. People don’t think about it but your mind and body are connected and when one isn’t right, the other isn’t going to be right either.

  I look for Trubisky to continue to progress as the game slows down for him more and more and he gets more and more mentally in tune with what is going on out on the field. If his body follows, we could finally start to see the North Carolina quarterback who was so accurate that it was an event whenever the ball hit the ground in practice.

Bears

• Adam Jahns at the Chicago Sun-Times describes how new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano will receive more defensive support than he did as the head coach in in Indianapolis:
  

  “Pagano is less than two months into his new Bears job, but working for [general manager Ryan] Pace and [head coach Matt] Nagy must feel different already. Pace and Nagy over-communicate. The Colts, according to an ESPN report, hired psychologists to improve the strained relationship between Pagano and former general manager Ryan Grigson, who was fired after the 2016 season.”

  “[I]n Grigson’s five years with Pagano, the Colts drafted only two defensive players in the first two rounds, and both were major misses.”

  “The only pick made by Grigson who started last season for the Colts’ defense was safety Clayton Geathers. A fourth-round pick in 2015, Geathers does not have an interception in his career.”

  Yes, things will be different and there’s a lot of reason to believe that the Bears defense will continue to be very good next season.

  But you also can’t overlook the effect that Vic Fangio and his staff has in terms of developing players. That was an excellent staff and almost all of them are now gone. The big question now is can Pagano and the new staff continue that excellence.

  No matter how many first and second round picks he got to work with, the fact of the matter is that Pagano’s staff in Indianapolis didn’t do a good enough job for the team to succeed, at least defensively. Even the two high round picks he got turned into busts and coaching is a part of that.

  Success or failure of a team is a balance between talent and development and of the two, I’m not entirely sure development isn’t the bigger part. The NFL is not known as a coach’s league for nothing. Pagano has big shoes to fill.

• Patrick Finley, also at the Chicago Sun-Times, talks about the possibility that the Bears will take a running back:
  

  “Whether he meant to or not, Penn State’s Miles Sanders successfully summarized the Bears’ running back debate Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine.

  “Sanders, who met with the Bears late Tuesday, was asked about the team not drafting until No. 87 overall.

  ‘‘’They told me, maybe if I’m available, they might take a .?.?. they’re going to take a .?.?. they might take a running back,’ he said. ‘Because I don’t know the situation with Jordan Howard.’

  “That’s it right there. The Bears have made no secret of their desire for a versatile young running back to plug into coach Matt Nagy’s system. Whether that player serves as a complement to Howard next season — the last of Howard’s rookie deal — or replaces him altogether is another question.

  First I sympathized with the predicament that this poor prospect was in. You could almost read his mind: “Ummmm… they told me they were looking for running backs. But they might not want that out there. How am I going to answer this without lying.” The result was a somewhat confused effort to hide something we all know – the Bears have running back at or very near the top of their list.

  Sanders needn’t have worried. Nagy pretty much gave it away with talk about bringing in Kareem Hunt a long time ago. He obviously felt that he was hamstrung by the lack of a versatile back who could do it all. And its clear from Pace’s most recent comments that is how the Bears plan to correct the problem, at least in general terms. Via Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune:

  “’The creativity on offense, the variety on offense, we’re an exciting offense to watch,’ general manager Ryan Pace said. ’And we’ve got a lot of pieces that can do a lot of different things and that’s only going to grow in Year 2. Now from a personnel standpoint, do we need to add to that? Yeah. Do we want to get faster and more explosive? Yes. That’s our challenge.”’

  It will surprise no one who is reading this – the Bears need a special running back and they need a better blocking tight end who can run a route and catch a pass. If those two positions aren’t at the top of the list, it’s only because they found that they couldn’t re-sign cornerback Bryce Callahan and/or safety Adrian Amos.

• Jahns addresses the Raiders loss of Khalil Mack in the context of the fact that the Raiders got only the #24 pick overall this year rather than a higher pick from the Bears. He makes an excellent point:
  

  “[Raiders general manager Mike] Mayock said this year has a strong class for edge rushers. He just has to the select the right one — or two — after [head coach Jon] Gruden parted with one of the league’s best last year.

  “Ohio State’s Nick Bosa is widely viewed as a candidate for the Cardinals’ first overall pick, but Kentucky’s Josh Allen could be available at No. 4.

  “Michigan’s Rashan Gary, Mississippi’s Montez Sweat, Florida’s Jachai Polite and Clemson’s Clelin Ferrell are edge rushers who also are viewed as high-round picks.”

  This is an excellent point. Defensive line is the strength of the 2019 draft. Seven of the top 8 draft prospects from NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah are edge rushers or defensive linemen. Sports Illustrated has 16 going in the first round of one of their mock drafts.

  It would be hard to get a player as good as Mack is. But the Raiders have a good chance of hitting on a very good pass rusher to replace him. One who could perhaps still be a future star.

  The Bears should be happy with this trade no matter what. But I’m not inclined to pass final judgment on it from the Raiders perspective just yet.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on the cap space that the Bears made available by restructuring Khalil Mack’s contract
  

  “It seems unlikely the Bears will make a splash addition… Former Seahawks running back Mike Davis figures to be featured prominently in the offense, and the space created by the bookkeeping could prove to be for a few more smaller moves and then for the operating space the team will require for the season. Keep in mind that an extension for center Cody Whitehair could become a business item general manager Ryan Pace attacks during the summer.”

  I think a lot of people are forgetting Whitehair. He is entering a contract year and, as the Bears’ best offensive lineman, they will try hard to lock him up later in the offseason. The guess here is that is where most of the cap space that they freed up goes.

• Speaking of Davis, Dan Durkin at The Athletic did a nice job of describing some film of him to give Bears fans an idea of what the team got.
  

  “[Davis] gets defenders to commit to him, before sliding away to gain extra yards. This run also shows another standout trait — his contact balance, which has to do with his compact build and lower center of gravity at 5-foot-9 and 217 pounds.”

  I’m not thrilled with the acquisition of Davis, though I’m willing to wait and see what he looks like for the Bears. My impression is that he’s a lesser version of what Jordan Howard was in 2017. He’ll be tough to bring down with that low center of gravity and he’ll have better hands than Howard did. But his receiving skills look only average to me and he lacks speed.

  Davis looks like a Howard replacement, not the do it all Kareem Hunt-type that Nagy may really be seeking. They may only find that in the draft.

• Biggs answers your questions.
  

  “What is keeping Adam Shaheen from ascending to become a more productive tight end? Speed? Agility? Strength? Technique? Toughness? Durability? Football Intelligence? — @rto58

  “Durability is the No. 1 issue right now. Shaheen was injured late in his rookie season shortly after his playing time was increased due to injuries to others at the position. Then, he lost the first half of his second season when he was injured in preseason in August. He’s got to get more time on the practice field and more game reps to improve. He’s never going to be a speed guy and comparisons to Rob Gronkowski have been wildly off base since Day 1. That doesn’t mean Shaheen cannot be a productive player for the Bears and right now, he’s in line for a much greater role after Dion Sims was released. The Bears will be leaning on Shaheen to give them more as a run blocker unless they go out and sign another Y tight end or draft one. It’s my belief the Bears liked Nick Boyle but knew the market was going to get too big for him for them to be involved. He wound up re-signing with the Ravens for three years at $6 million per season.”

  I’m pretty sure that the bears will be seeking help at tight end as well as running back in this draft. An I like what I see.

  Despite statements like this one from Mike Florio suggesting that people tune in to the NFL Combine just to watch workouts (i.e. the “Underwear Olympics”), most people really watch not so much for the drills as for the opportunity to hear what the experts have to say about the players. For most of us, this is our first introduction to most of them.

  Having said that, one of the sets of drills that I think are interesting to watch are the pass receiving drills for tight ends, running backs and defensive backs. The players at these positions will be expected to be able to catch passes in the NFL despite sometimes not being asked to do it much in college. It’s worthwhile just to watch guys and see if they are natural pass catchers or if they are fighting the ball all the way in as they catch it.

  To my eye, most of the bigger tight ends that the Bears will be looking for looked pretty good. Most of the mid-round-type running backs also looked better than I expected based upon the pre-combine comments from the experts. I think its going to be a good, deep draft at both of these positions.

• Mark Potash at the Sun-Times on why what the Bears did in free agency won’t be that critical to the teams future success:
  

  “Regardless of what happens in free agency, the Bears’ chances of taking the next step in the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl are predicated on growth from within:

  “1. Mitch Trubisky and the offense parlaying a foundation year in 2018 into a quantum leap in 2019 — with or without running back Jordan Howard. The story lines of better communication, improved chemistry, reacting instead of thinking and Trubisky’s ability to read the defense instead of setting the offense will be over-written and tiresome by training camp. But nobody the Bears add on offense is going to change that scenario.

  2. The defense avoiding a significant drop-off — and potentially improving — in the transition from Vic Fangio to Chuck Pagano. Even without nickel back Bryce Callahan and safety Adrian Amos, the Bears still have 10 starters returning on defense. And that includes four 25-and-under players who should be better in 2019 no matter who is coaching them: linebacker Roquan Smith (22), safety Eddie Jackson (25), nose tackle Eddie Goldman (25) and defensive lineman Bilal Nichols (23 on Sept. 14).”

  This is all true enough but there’s one factor that has been typically overlooked. The Bears were uncommonly healthy last year. In fact, according the mangameslost.com, the Bears were the second healthiest team in the NFL behind only the Buffalo Bills in terms of games lost due to injury.

  That statistic is a little bit skewed because Mack played through some injuries during the year that severely hampered his play, including the playoff game against the Eagles. But it isn’t skewed that much.

  The Bears had a lot of things go right for them last year and the odds are very good that they’ll have more adversity to overcome this year. How they handle that will, as usual, determine more than anything how well they perform.

Elsewhere

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com passes on this nugget regarding Kyler Murray’s height. Specifically the fact that some scouts don’t believe it was an accurate measurement.
  

  “’I think that his height was inflated,’ an unnamed scout told Dan Patrick on Tuesday, and Dan relayed the story on the Wednesday edition of his show. ‘Maybe it’s the tin-foil hat theory. I just don’t see it. If he refuses to be measured at the Pro Day, that will be telling.”’

  If its a tin hat theory, then its going around because I’m wearing a similar one. The possibility that this number wasn’t accurate was the first thing I thought of when I heard the result. Murray was measures at 5’9-5/8” at Oklahoma. Suddenly he is half an inch taller, meaning that his college substantially under-estimated his height rather than inflating it as is the more standard procedure.

  I’m having a hard time with that.

• Michael David Smith, also at profooballtalk.com, points out that if the New England Patriots trade for defensive tackle Michael Bennett, it could get awkward with new Pats defensive coordinator, Greg Schiano. Bennett had this to say about Schiano in 2013 when Bennett played for him in Tamp Bay:
  

  “I think he just wants to flex his power He has small [man’s] syndrome. I still talk to guys who are there, and trust me, there’s not much respect for him in that locker room.”

  Bennett also let it be known that he will be staying in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem this season:

  “’I explained to them is that my integrity mean everything,’ Bennett said, according to ESPN. ’I think they respect that about me, they respect who I am as an individual.’ ”

  Yeah, Bennett is an individual all right. Just like his brother Martellus, Michael is an individual to a fault.

  There’s a reason why Bennett will be going on the fourth team of his career (the Seahawks twice) and the third in three years. He’s an immature, high maintenance player who can be a hand full in the locker room. The Patriots are betting that they have the culture to tame Bennett but it says here that if he plays for them in 2019, he won’t be there in 2020. Talented as he is, New England could be his last stop.

• According to a report from Barry Wilner at the Associated Press, the NFL teams are proposing major changes in replay and in overtime for the upcoming season. Most of the replay proposals to the NFL’s competition committee have suggested an increase in the number of plays subject to video review.

  I have never like the league’s procedures for replay and in my opinion this is a step in the wrong direction. The challenge system for review is hopelessly broken in part because NFL coaches are expected to do both their own job and that of the officials under the current rules.

  I really don’t care what sort of system the league implements but it should be one that relieves coaches the responsibility for cleaning up the mess created by poor calls. Personally, I favor an extra official in the booth who is responsible for deciding whether a play should be reviewed. And, of course, any on field official should also be allowed to request a review of a call they weren’t sure of.

• This item from Florio explaining how badly the Steelers blew the way they handled Antonio Brown also caught my eye.
  

  “The Steelers got a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick for Antonio Brown. The Giants got a lot more than that for Odell Beckham Jr.

  “The reasons for the differences are obvious. First, the Steelers made it clear that they wanted to move on from Brown. The Giants, in contrast, insisted that they were keeping him. And the “we’ll keep him” posture often becomes the best leverage in trade talks.

  “Second, Antonio Brown embarked on a scorched earth/bleached ‘stache effort to get out of town. Beckham had engaged in no similar campaign to be traded.

  “It adds up to the Browns giving up a lot more to get Beckham (a one, a three, and Jabrill Peppers) than the Raiders gave up to get Brown, because the Giants were committed to perpetuating the ruse that under no circumstances would they trade him. The Giants played it the right way, and the Steelers simply didn’t”

  Florio’s point is well taken. But there is so much more to it than that. This was really a hard and cold lesson for the league in terms of how teas should handle disgruntled players.

  Pittsburgh’s problems started the minute head coach Mike Tomlin hit the stage after the Steeler’s week 17 game against the Cincinnati Bengals when he explained that Brown went AWOL before a contest with playoff implications. Instead of simply stating that Brown didn’t play because was hurt (he was) and that they would handle anything else that was abnormal about the situation internally, Tomlin devalued Brown with the less than tactful way that he handled the situation with the media.

  I don’t blame Tomlin for being angry and I don’t blame him for not playing Brown after receiving a phone call fro his agent the morning of the game. But there’s no way at that point you publicly degrade a player that you had to at least suspect was going to need to be traded in the offseason.

  The Steelers chose to play hard ball with Brown and it back fired. They should, instead, have buttoned up this entire situation. They should have met with Brown and his agent the minute it became evident that he wanted out and they should have promised a trade way before Brown went all Terrell Owens on them and did things that hurt both himself and the team.

  You can be sure that the next team that finds itself in this situation will handle it far differently. If they are smart.

Bears

• This post from profootballtalk.com caught my eye as being peripherally Bear-related. It seems Indianapolis guard Quenton Nelson thought his technique deteriorated over the course of the season after being the sixth overall pick in last years draft. Colts senior assistant Howard Mudd relayed a conversation from Nelson where he expressed frustration with his technique.
  

  “’I happened to be in the room,’ Mudd recalled, ’and (Nelson) was saying, ‘I really feel like my technique has slipped, and I really don’t want that to happen. I was coached in college a certain way,’ … and he wants to be coached that way. He wants to be better. That’s not, gee coach, I want you to hear what I think you want to hear. He said that because he believes that.”’

  Nelson played for Notre Dame where he was coached by current Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. Hiestand came with a reputation for coaching meticulous technique and Nelson evidently agrees. Evidently Colts head coach Frank Reich agreed that Colts offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo didn’t measure up to Hiestnad’s standard. DeGuglielmo was fired after the season and Chris Strausser and Mudd were hired to coach the group moving forward.

  The Bears are fortunate to have Hiestand who appears to be setting the standard for good offensive line coaching in the league.

• Kevin Fishbain at The Athletic comments upon the restructure of Kyle Long’s contract:
  

  “Assuming the Bears find a way to extend Cody Whitehair’s contract before the season, they’ll head into 2019 with all five starters on the O-line under contract for multiple seasons. Guard still remains a position for Ryan Pace to monitor over the next couple months to add depth considering Long’s recent injury history, and the Bears can do that by bringing back Bryan Witzmann or Eric Kush, or acquiring a guard via the draft. “

  The Bears have limited resources but the guess here is that they’d like to find something better than Witzmann and Kush to back up the guard position.

  More importantly, Whitehair is only signed through the 2019 season after which he becomes a free agent. Whitehair might be the best offensive lineman they’ve got and extending him should be a priority. The Bears have limited cap space and the need to negotiate with Whitehair might have an effect on any decision to resign Adrian Amos or, especially, Bryce Callahan.

• Speaking of Callahan, Adam Jahns at the Chicago Sun-Times reads my mind when it comes to the effect of an under the radar Baltimore signing on his odds of getting a big contract. He points out that the Ravens established a new market for nickel backs Thursday by signing Tavon Young to a three-year extension worth a reported $25.8 million, $13 million guaranteed. The average-per-year of the deal is more than Chris Harris Jr. and Aaron Colvin, and Callahan could be seeking a deal in that ballpark, or more. That might be more than the Bears want to pay given their needs and cap situation.
• Fishbain doesn’t think that there will be much for the Bears to pay attention to on the field at the NFL Combine. He makes 14 points about how the Bears can use the Combine to get better.
  

  10. The combine is known for the on-field prospect testing, which begins Friday. Those previous nine points? Maybe a little more important for a Bears team without a pick until No. 87 overall.

  I disagree. The Bears are looking for running back help and the on field workouts will be critical to their evaluation because if they draft one, he’ll have to be able to catch the ball. Here’s what NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah had to say about the running backs that the Bears might find in their situation. Via Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times

  “With no selections in the draft’s first two rounds, the Bears have limited resources to pursue upgrades to their 2019 roster. They could eye a pass-catching running back in Rounds 3-7, but, Jeremiah said, that might be difficult.

  “’As you can imagine, there’s not a lot there,” he said. “These guys don’t catch a lot of balls.”’

  Exactly.

  How these running backs look in pass catching drills will be critical to their odds of being drafted by the Bears. And its even more important for the bigger tight ends of the type that the Bears might be looking for.

  If the player looks fluid and comfortable with good hands and some natural pass catching ability, he’s got a chance. Otherwise, probably not. I expect the Bears will be watching closer than usually during these drills this year.

Elsewhere

• Bob Costas is making it known that he’s being blackballed by the NFL. Via Cindy Boren at the Washington Post answers your questions:
  

  “A year after Bob Costas was conspicuous by his absence from NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LII, the longtime face of the network’s sports telecasts explained that he was told “you’ve crossed the line” with commentary about the NFL.

  “I remember being told that now I can no longer host the Super Bowl,” Costas, who parted amicably with the network after 40 years, told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” “I think the words were, ’You’ve crossed the line’ and my thought was, ‘What line have I crossed?’”

  “It’s a line that isn’t clearly defined, but the NFL is a ratings behemoth and likes to refer to networks as ’broadcast partners. Over the last few years, Costas had moved from being the genial host of the network’s biggest sports event to someone who offered brief snippets of commentary and he quickly was subjected to an unaccustomed barrage of criticism for speaking up about long-term cognitive issues that can develop after playing football, gun control, the national anthem controversy and the Redskins’ name. He had referred to football as ’unacceptably brutal’ and a sport that ’destroys people’s brains,’ likening it to ’Russian roulette.’ The reality, he said in a 2017 Shirley Povich Symposium at the University of Maryland, ’is that this sport destroys people’s brains.”’

  Boren’s expansion in the last paragraph pretty much says it all in this situation. The line that Costas frequently crosses is, indeed, a fine one. It separates “critic” from “self-righteous”. It’s a line that we all sometimes cross, I think, but Costas has turned it into a habit.

  Costas defines himself as a journalist, which is fine. The problem is that he does it by treating sports like world peace depends upon defending its dignity. It leads to inflammatory language such as that above addressing the NFL’s concussion problem. It’s this tendency that turns off not just the NFL but those of us who are just watching for a little entertainment, not what amounts to something akin to a political tirade.

  My guess is that we have seen the last of Costas on any major network for any sport, not just the NFL.

• I found this column by Sally Jenkins at the Washington Post both advocating for a second chance for Kareem Hunt and criticizing the NFL for giving him one wildly inconsistent.

  I won’t give this too much time except to say that this was a poorly thought out piece that looked like it was supposed to be about Hunt but which Jenkins couldn’t resist using to take a shot a the NFL no matter how it conflicted with her point.

  For the record, I think Hunt is an animal who doesn’t “deserve” a second chance at anything not guaranteed him under the law.

Bears

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune reviews the cornerback position as the Bears enter the off-season:
  

  “[Prince] Amukamara set a bold goal of 10 interceptions before the season, and while that didn’t happen, he played with confidence after going through a contract season each of the previous three years. Having some security allowed him to just go out and play. He had a pick-six in the Week 2 victory over the Seahawks and added interceptions against the Lions and Rams. Amukamara had 66 tackles to lead the position and three tackles for a loss with two forced fumbles. The passer rating against him was 82.9, and he tied for 19th in the NFL with 83 targets, per [Pro Football Focus].”

  Amukamara had a good year but I fear that he was exposed a little bit in the last few games. He had 7 pass interference or defensive holding calls against him. All came in the second half of the season including one playoff game. Three came in the last two games against the Vikings and the Eagles.

  Having just signed a 3 year contract last offseason with $18 million guaranteed, Amukamara isn’t going anywhere but the Bears have to be at least a little worried that teams were trying to take advantage of Amukamara more as the season wore on and as teams adjusted to what they had going on defense. Add the fact that they might seek a replacement for Bryce Callahan at nickel cornerback rather than investing significantly more cap space into the position and this is one of the few areas of uncertainty for the Bears this offseason. It will be interesting to see what general manager Ryan Pace decides to do at the position.

• Biggs also answers your questions:
  

  “Do you think Ryan Pace would sign Matt Nagy to a healthy contract to keep him around for a long time? — @flowersdevonte

  “Nagy has a healthy contract right now, one that runs for four more seasons through 2022. He’s not anywhere close to becoming a coaching free agent. The Bears actually signed Nagy to a contract that runs one year longer than Pace’s deal. I wouldn’t have any concern. If the Bears continue to be successful, I fully expect them to take the steps necessary to retain Nagy. I would be surprised if the team contemplated a new deal for Nagy until he has two years remaining on the current contract. There is a lot of football to be played between now and then, but coming off a successful 12-4 season when Nagy was named Coach of the Year, I can understand why you would broach the topic.”

  As do I. But I agree that there’s no rush here.

  There are a lot of coaches around the league that have a lot of success their first year. Adam Gase in Miami won 10 games and made the playoffs as a rookie head coach. The team fell back into mediocrity after that and he no longer has a job there.

  Nagy did a great job and making the playoffs was a huge accomplishment. But he’s an offensive head coach and, let’s face it, the offense wasn’t up to snuff the second half of the season.

  Some of that was being conservative by design to not put your number one rated defense in a bad spot with turnovers. But some of it was the not yet fully implemented scheme run by a not yet fully developed quarterback.

  Add the uncertainty that comes with a new defensive coordinator for that defense and no one can really be sure what’s going to happen.

  I’m optimistic that the new regime will do well. But if it was my money I’d want to see more before I shelled out a lot more of it unnecessarily.

• Biggs answers another one:
  

  “Is pass rusher a high offseason priority given the lack of depth behind Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd? — @schechschech10

  “From the standpoint that no team ever looks at its depth chart of pass rushers and says, ’We’re good here,’ sure, it will be a priority. But very few teams have a pass rusher with the talent of Mack. They’re not going to go out and pay another pass rusher. They’ve got a ton of resources invested in that area. Will they always be looking for players to push for a spot on the roster? Absolutely. Maybe they look to bring back Aaron Lynch or seek a replacement for a role player. But it’s not going to be a greater priority than that.”

  I don’t think many people are going to agree with me here but I’m going to continue to insist that the Bears depth at pass rusher isn’t that bad. One of the first signs of improvement I noticed in 2018 was the play of the younger pass rushers and defensive linemen during the preseason.

  Are they guys who are going to be spectacular and replace the production of a Khalil Mack if he’s injured? No, of course not. But Sam Acho is adequate and players like Isaiah Irving and Kylie Fitts look to me like they could hold their own and give average production if they had to play. In other words, they’re good back ups. And it’s important to know that these players are still getting better and could take the next step if given the chance.

• And yet another one:
  

  “One of the Patriots’ best and most consistent, yet unsung, players over the past few years has been left guard Joe Thuney. He put on a clinic in the Super Bowl. Aaron Donald lined up over him initially, then Donald was moved to the left side of the line. What a testament. Thuney was drafted in the third round the same year Cody Whitehair was taken in the second. Do you see any chance the Patriots let him become an unrestricted free agent after next year and could he potentially sign with the Bears? I don’t see Kyle Long around much longer and I think Thuney could be a great pickup. — Terry M., Hawthorn Woods, Ill.

  Thuney has been a terrific young player for the Patriots and it’s hard to imagine them not at least working to extend him before the start of next season. If Thuney remains healthy and does reach the open market 13 months from now, he’ll likely command a huge payday. You might not see Long around much longer, but I don’t know if I see the Bears going big for a guard in free agency. It’s one thing to pay a guard big money that you’ve drafted, developed and used on a cost-controlled rookie contract. It’s another thing to pay the kind of premium required to sign a player at the outset of free agency, especially at guard.”

  A couple things here.

  1. Thuney is a very good guard. But make no mistake, the Patriots stopped Donald because they double teamed him virtually every play. Thuney had a lot of help and if the Rams moved Donald to the left side, its only because they thought tackle Ndamukong Suh might have a better chance against him one-on-one.
  2. The Bears are getting to the point where they have to keep an eye on their cap. Eventually they are going to have to pay quarterback Mitch Trubisky and that won’t be cheap. They are gong to have to ask themselves how much money they want to invest in the offensive line. Charles Leno and now Bobby Massie are on reasonable deals but they are gong to want to keep Whitehair, who is probably the best of the bunch, and he might not be so easy to sign. I’m not so sure the Bears jump into a signing on the offensive line any time soon.
• Rich Campbell, also at the Chicago Tribune reports that the Browns have signed Kareem Hunt, ending speculation that he might be headed to the Bears:
  

  “[Browns general manager John] Dorsey released a 245-word statement as part of the Browns’ announcement of the signing. He acknowledged the complexity of questions about signing Hunt but cited his relationship with Hunt in explaining the decision that ’he deserves a second chance.’

  “Said Dorsey: ’There were two important factors: One is that Kareem took full responsibility for his egregious actions and showed true remorse, and secondly, just as importantly, he is undergoing and is committed to necessary professional treatment and a plan that has been clearly laid out.”’

  Hmmmm… he took full responsibility, eh? Like when he lied to the Chiefs about the incident and only came clean after video of the incident came out and he knew the jig was up?

  Hunt strikes me as being similar to many athletes in situations like this such as Ray McDonald, who was briefly a Bear before once again finding himself in trouble for allegedly attacking a woman. He’s a con man who has grown up as an athlete who people believed because they wanted to believe him.

  Hunt is a talented running back. People who want talented running backs on their team are apt to believe that he “took full responsibility for his actions” even though the evidence clearly shows that was not the case until he could no longer deny his guilt.

  Let’s tell this like it is. This wasn’t a Ray Rice situation where an instant of anger led to a fist being thrown faster than the brain could catch up. The video showed Hunt as an out of control animal who attacked this woman like a mad dog for almost two minutes.

  Professional help or not, Hunt is a ticking time bomb who is just waiting to explode again.

  Knowing this, signing players like this puts fans in a terrible position. You want to root for your team. But how do you do it knowing that they signed such a player? To this day, I can’t watch Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger without visions of a college girl being raped in the back room of a bar in Georgia. Having to watch players like this prevents fans from fully enjoying what should be an entertaining experience.

  Thanks heavens the Bears didn’t sign Hunt. They and their fans are better off without him and his ilk.

• Biggs answers another question:
  

  “What was the deal with Taquan Mizzell taking snaps away from Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen? — @jgrythefireguy

  There have been multiple questions about this, and while I agree it seemed Mizzell was forced onto the field a little bit in the second half of the season, we’re talking about a very small percentage of plays. Mizzell was on the field for 66 offensive snaps over the final nine regular-season games. He was the only running back on the field for a total of 18 snaps. He was on the field with Cohen for 28 snaps (nearly half of the 66), so it’s not like he took a lot of playing time from him. Mizzell was on the field with Cohen and Howard for 16 snaps. Howard and Mizzell were on the field together for two snaps. Mizzell was on the field with fellow running back Benny Cunningham for one snap, and on one snap Mizzell, Cohen and Cunningham were all on the field. Mizzell got a total of nine carries and was targeted with 10 passes, catching eight of them. So I don’t think there’s a lot here. He didn’t really take many snaps away from the other backs and he certainly didn’t take many touches from them. Mizzell was performing well in practice and coach Matt Nagy wanted to create some game opportunities for him.”

  To me the insistence on playing Mizzell was an indication of Matt Nagy’s dissatisfaction with the running back position.

  Howard was obviously slower, with less burst and, at least early in the season, poor vision. To me he looked hurt but there are no reports indicating that was the case.

  Cohen is a nice little back who can make plays but his size is occasionally a liability.

  Together the two made for a “thunder and lightning” combination that could be valuable but there were definite limitations to each that Mizzell, who was putatively more of a “do it all” back, would have alleviated had he been better. For example, Biggs continues in a later article as he quotes a scout on what the Bears might find in this area in the third round of the draft:

  “If you are taking a third-round or a fourth-round guy, it’s not going to be an elite player necessarily but someone who has a complete skill set. Jordan doesn’t have that. He can’t run routes. He can’t catch. So they don’t have to be elite; they have to be complete.”

  I agree that Mizzell was not good enough to fill this role or that of a return man, which the Bears briefly positioned him as.

  Like Biggs, I’m quite sure the running back position and, probably, the tight end position are at the top of general manager Ryan Pace’s list of positions to revamp.

• Dan Durkin had this interesting comment for The Athletic regarding Mitch Trubisky’s contractual future:
  

  “[The Bears] have the luxury of Mitch Trubisky being on a rookie deal through the 2020 season. Keep in mind that the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) also expires in 2020. So it’s possible that fifth-year option — a protection afforded to teams to retain first-round picks for a fifth season after their rookie deals expire — could be eliminated in 2021 if the players association (NFLPA) pushes for an end to the provision when negotiations for the next CBA commence. That will be an interesting aspect to monitor for the Bears.”

  Indeed it will.

  Durkin’s comment is an uneasy reminder that the CBA is coming to an end and with that comes a lot of uncertainty. If Trubisky turns out to be a top ten quarterback, that uncertainty for the Bears will be many times higher than usual.

  Assuming he continues to develop, the Bears could push for a Trubisky signing after 2019. It would be unusual given the current fifth year option which would ordinarily secure Trubisky through 2021 but, as Durkin says, if the next CBA doesn’t have it, Trubisky is an unrestricted free agent after 2020 when the Bears would normally be thinking about negotiating an extension.

• Biggs also had a comment some time ago about some of the things the Bears did on offense in the playoff loss to the Eagles. I never got around to commenting on it.
  

  “I didn’t care for the two-point conversion call. Send outside linebacker Khalil Mack in motion on another gadget play with offensive lineman Bradley Sowell lined up in the backfield and then try a shovel pass to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, maybe the skill position player least likely to break a tackle for an extra half-yard in the sea of humanity in the middle of the line? Sure, it’s easy to second guess a play call that doesn’t work, and the Bears have been so good with unconventional stuff at the goalline, but it’s a different situation if the Bears are leading 17-10 with 9:04 remaining. Much different.”

  I was amused to find out from a friend in Green Bay that Packer fans were up in arms about the Bears use of gadget plays. They seemed to think the Bears were doing it because they are arrogant. This was their reason for wanting to beat the Bears so badly at home at the end of the season. As if they needed an excuse.

  I don’t think the Bears are running these plays because they are arrogant. Nor do I think the reason most fans and media give, that they are “fun” is the primary reason. I think its because its just really hard to score in the red zone and the closer you get, the harder it becomes.

  The Bears didn’t really have a red zone weapon, a big receiver that they could depend upon to reliably beat a defensive back one on one in a short field. I also don’t think that some of the throws that are required to make those plays work are Trubisky’s forte.

  So the Bears went to those gadget plays not out of arrogance but out of desperation. It was an indication of yet another limitation to their offense and was yet another reason why tight end is probably high on their list of wants.

  Elsewhere

• Bucky Brooks at NFL.com thinks the Arizona Cardinals should trade away Josh Rosen and pick Kyler Murray in the draft:
  

  “’Josh (Rosen) is our guy.’ – Kliff Kingsbury, Feb. 12

  “The Cardinals’ new head coach has told the football world that Rosen is the team’s QB1 for the future, but it is hard to ignore the dot connecting that could put Oklahoma standout Kyler Murray in the desert on draft night. In fact, I believe the opportunity to put Murray in a system designed to elevate playmakers should prompt the Cardinals to trade away the franchise quarterback they selected 10th overall last spring.”

  “’Kyler, I mean, he’s a freak, man,’ Kingsbury said in October, per KLBK-TV’s Eric Kelly. ’… Kyler is a freak. I’ve followed him since he was a sophomore in high school. Just think the world of him and what he can do on a football field. I’ve never seen one better in high school and he’s starting to show it now at the college level. I don’t have enough good things to say about him. He’s phenomenal.

  “’… I would take him with the first pick of the draft if I could.’

  “As it turns out, Kingsbury will have the chance to do exactly that, as Arizona holds the No. 1 overall pick.”

  “’Our feelings toward Josh haven’t waned or changed,’ Kingsbury said. ’I get that we have the first pick and there are going to be a million scenarios, and over the next three months they are going to come up. But Josh is our guy.’”

  “Hmmm. I would love to believe the Cardinals’ coach, but Murray’s skills are a perfect match for the team’s new system.”

  A couple things here:

  1. In my opinion, you absolutely don’t take Murray with the first overall pick.

     Yes, I know that Kingsbury effused that he would take Murray with that pick as the Texas Tech coach. But it was easy to say that then and, as Brooks points out later in the article, people can’t always be taken literally when commenting on such things as an opposing college coach. They are expected to exaggerate.

     More to the point, where you take a player in the draft has little to do with where you think he should go and it has everything to do with where other teams will take him. Murray is almost certainly less than 5’10” and has yet to show that he can throw from the pocket. He’s a risk that you don’t take with a top five pick. if you want him, you find a way to trade down and then take him.

  2. Its possible that Kingsbury is smart enough to understand what he’s got in Rosen.

     People like to think that getting a franchise quarterback is just a matter of choosing the right guy. In my opinion, they couldn’t be more wrong. It about developing the right guy. That means good coaching at the very minimum.

     Rosen had a miserable year but he was on a miserable team with a defensive head coach who had no clue how to develop him. Whether Kingsbury has a clue remains to be seen. It seems evident to me that as the need for quarterbacks has become more acute, the NFL has gotten better at developing them with some very good young quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff, Mitch Trubisky, and Deshaun Watson coming to the fore in recent years. But either way Arizona is still going to be a bad team and probably a bad situation.

     Rosen is a classic NFL quarterback. He’s got the size and physical ability. He’s accurate and by all accounts he’s smart. He simply hasn’t had a chance to show what he’s capable of. If he is traded, here’s hoping its to a team that can fully develop him and utilize his talents to give him the best chance to succeed.

• Having said that, I was intrigued by these comments regarding Murray that came via Peter King at profootballtalk.com:
  

  “’What percentage of the time,’ I asked Oklahoma coach and Murray mentor Lincoln Riley the other day, ’would you guess Kyler threw from the pocket this year?’

  “Riley thought for a few seconds.

  “’Eighty-five percent?’ Riley said. ’Ninety, maybe.’

  “Think of how amazing that is — a short quarterback who runs like a greyhound, and Riley called a similar percentage of designed passes from the pocket as many NFL teams with classic dropback passers would. Think of how the game has changed from a decade ago, when a fleet and smallish quarterback would basically be an option quarterback playing the game on the edges. Not Riley. Not with Murray. His runs? Mostly designed runs to takes advantage of a player with Vick-type tools.”

  A lot of those throws were quick hitters and running an NFL offense where you frequently have to stand tall while the pocket collapses around you is quite a bit of a different story.

  Having said that, it’s clear that Murray is a different kettle of fish when compared, for instance, to Johnny Manziel. Manziel not only didn’t show that he could throw from the pocket in college, it was proven conclusively that he couldn’t as the teams that beat Texas A&M his last year with the team were the ones that kept him there.

  Murray could prove to be one of those rare athletes like Russell Wilson who can overcome his lack of size to succeed in the NFL. Murray is shorter than Wilson and has more of an uphill battle. But you can see why a team might pick him in the top ten. Indeed, Brooks has Murray as his #6 overall prospect which, for a quarterback, means top 5 pick.

  Where Murray is selected is going to be one of the more interesting draft stories in years. I’m looking forward to seeing him at the combine.

• Brooks also quotes offensive coordinator Greg Roman on some some of the things that Baltimore has to do to get the most out of quarterback Lamar Jackson now that they have traded Joe Flacco to the Broncos and made him the unambiguous starter.
  

  “’We’ve got to develop a strong passing attack,’ Roman said. ’Lamar’s got to develop and everybody around him has got to get better in that area. Obviously, there will be more emphasis on that.’”

  “’Everybody wants you to have to fight left-handed. The best thing we can do is be able to fight with both hands. We want to be able to run it and pass it. There will definitely be more of a balance there. That’s how you win – that’s what makes it sustainable.’”

  Jackson is problematic because he lacks arm strength and he’s not always very accurate, particularly outside the numbers. Though he had some good throws over the middle in the intermediate range in 2018, his weaknesses showed and will likely continue to be a problem as the Ravens work to build a power running game to counter the game plan with 7 defensive backs that the Chargers used to beat them in their AFC Wild Card game.

  Teams will undoubtedly do what they can to take the middle of the field away from Jackson and, as Brooks points out, a strong running team needs to be able to complete deep throws when they do pass the ball to get chunks of yardage. Whether Jackson has the arm to take advantage of a good play action passing game will be an open question until he proves he can do it.

• Antonio Brown has reportedly asked for a trade.

  Personally if I’m a football fan I don’t want this guy anywhere near my team.

  Frankly, I don’t understand him. He’s got a lucrative contract and this doesn’t appear to be about money. When he’s asked to explain his problem he’s all over the place. Take this response when he was asked to explain his strained relationship with Ben Roethlisberger:

  “No conflict just a matter of respect!. Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches. Players know but they can’t say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It’s a dirty game within a game.”

  The best I can tell he just doesn’t like criticism and doesn’t like having to work as part of a team. He reminds me a little bit of former Chicago Bear Martellus Bennett.

  Wide receivers in general tend to be head cases, I think. But Brown seems to take it to a whole new level.

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com takes a team-by-team look at potential 2019 tag candidates:
  

  “Eagles: The team reportedly is considering the use of the franchise tag on Nick Foles, with an eye toward trading him. Although this approach would violate the CBA, Foles seems to be OK with it — possibly because his agents already know that he wouldn’t get on the open market a long-term contract worth more per year than the franchise tag will pay.”

  I would agree with this. My gut tells me that the payday for Nick Foles might not be what many people believe it will be.

  For one thing, you need at least two teams to drive the price up for Foles. Right now, the only team that currently makes sense for him is Jacksonville.

  But the major reason has to do with Foles’ performance, itself. He struggled for years with the Rams, admittedly under a defensive coach with a stagnant offense. But Foles wasn’t good in those years and really hasn’t been good anywhere but Philadelphia. The fear is that you end up signing a Case Keenum, who had one good year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017, cashed in big with the Denver Broncos in the offseason, then reverted back to under-perform in 2018.

  Admittedly, Foles has come up big at the tail end of not one, but two seasons in a row now. But its what he did at the beginning of the 2018 season when subbing in for Carson Wentz that would worry me if I were considering him as a signing. Foles wasn’t impressive. In particular, his 50.7 passer rating against the Falcons in the first game of the year sticks in my mind and makes me wonder if his days as a sub-par quarterback will always be limited to those with the Rams.

  Admittedly it was only two games. But I would hesitate to commit too much to Foles right now.

• The Bears signed Bobby Massie to a four-year contract extension, preventing him from entering unrestricted free agency. The deal is reportedly worth more than $8 million per year. That’s a pretty good price for a solid right tackle in today’s NFL so Massie must have wanted to stay in Chicago.

  Massie did a good job this year but I did wonder if the Bears were going to try to save some money by giving Rashaad Coward a shot at the right tackle job. Coward is a converted defensive line and and, though I’m sure the Bears like his future, he’s probably not ready to start, yet. He could be good depth though, probably on both sides, and it will be interesting to see how he does when he gets his chance to perform.

• Ryan Wilson at CBS sports thought quarterback Drew Lock showed well at the Senior Bowl in Mobile Alabama on Saturday.
  

  “And while [Daniel] Jones gets the MVP hardware, those watching know that Lock was the real star. He started the game and was composed from the first snap when he rolled right only to find Montez Sweat in his face, made an arm-angle adjustment to find McLaurin for a 12-yard gain. First down. Two plays later Lock pump-faked the defense out of position and came back to NC State’s Jakobi Meyers across the middle, but Meyers couldn’t hang on.

  “A series later and facing fourth-and-4, Lock rolled right and found Isabella for an eight-yard gain. It was poised, effortless – and something an NFL quarterback is expected to do. But it was the pass on second-and-10 from the South’s 26 that we’ll remember most.

  #OhioState receiver Terry McLaurin drops this pass in the end zone. Drew Lock placed it in the right area for him, McLaurin can’t miss out on opportunities to make these type of plays. #SeniorBowl pic.twitter.com/aeqze3DmdZ

  — Black and Gold Nation (@B_GNation1) January 26, 2019

  “Yes, that’s an incompletion but Lock put it the only place he could and McLaurin couldn’t come up with it. That’s the throw scouts will be talking about.”

  So let me say up front that I’m a proud University of Missouri alumnus.

  Having said that, I love what I’ve been seeing from Drew Lock. He did, indeed, look good in the Senior Bowl. Missouri switched to a pro style offense this year and by the end of the year Lock looked pretty good in it to my eye.

  I didn’t’ feel the same way about Blaine Gabbert or Chase Daniel when they came out. Both are from Missouri. So I think this is different.

  Lock may be the quarterback to keep an eye on as we roll towards the draft. These quarterbacks tend to fly up the boards the closer you get and he could be the one that catches the most attention.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
  

  “I understand Cody Parkey’s season was disappointing, but Mason Crosby had disappointing seasons in the past and the Packers kept him. Could this season be an anomaly for Parkey, and could the Bears look at how the Packers kept Crosby? Especially since the free-agent kickers available are bottom heavy. — John K., Parts Unknown

  “The difference between Crosby and Parkey is huge, though. Crosby had a solid reputation in Green Bay and had earned the trust of general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy. Parkey was given trust by the Bears by virtue of the $9 million guarantee in his contract. He didn’t earn it. That trust has been lost. I don’t see a scenario in which the Bears bring back Parkey.”

  I could be way off base here but I’m not so sure that Parkey doesn’t kick for the Bears next year. Yes, I know, the Today Show appearance by Parkey just days after blowing the potential game winning field goal against Philadelphia wasn’t a good look. But as Biggs himself has pointed out, its about performance on the field. Unless you are talking about a guy who did something that will take him off the field, its practically irrelevant.

  Yes, Parkey had a miserable year. He missed 11 kicks. But six of those actually hit the upright, inches from being good kicks.

  I was all in favor of getting rid of Robbie Gould at the time the Bears released him. He was obviously high maintenance and I had never warmed to his almost constant media presence (at least as kickers go). But I dislike missed kicks more than I dislike Gould and the position has been a disaster since he left while he has performed well elsewhere.

  Let’s just say that I don’t want to look back 2 years from now and know that Parkey got together with a good kicking coach like John Carney made a few minor adjustments and became a very good kicker elsewhere.

  As the questioner above implies, the Bears may be better off keeping Parkey into training camp and letting the best guy win. If Parkey performs well, I think all can be forgiven with the team. The worst thing you can do in this situation is let things that don’t really matter take precedence over performance.

• Biggs answers another question:
  

  “What are the chances Matt Nagy gives up play-calling duties next year? When he looks back on his first year as head coach, do you think he will see some of the mistakes as rookie-head-coach mistakes or having too much to do? Mainly thinking about game management. — @adamdcharlton

  I’d say there is little to no chance Nagy hands off play-calling duties to anyone on his staff, and I think doing so would be a mistake. Nagy’s offensive vision is one of his strengths, and the Bears reaped the benefits this season as they went from 29th in the league with 16.5 points per game to ninth with 26.3. That’s quite a jump in one year, and there is reason to believe the offense will be more potent in Year 2.”

  “..Was he perfect with game management? No. There surely are some things he’d like to do differently. Some of those situations may be rookie mistakes as you call them. But I don’t think the Bears had glaring issues with game management, and as I have written before, when you’re simply viewing the game and not processing tons of information on the fly as a coach, it’s a lot easier to make snap decisions.”

  I’d suggest that Nagy put a coach in the booth to advise him on some of those snap decisions, particularly those involving clock management. I don’t think Nagy was horrible with this but I think he is distracted and it might help to have someone else thinking these things through with a clear head.

• Biggs answers yet another one:
  

  “I recall some excitement about Jonathan Bullard when the Bears drafted him a few years ago, but I don’t remember seeing Bullard having much of an impact this year. Should we be resigned to the fact that he is just a rotational guy and not an impact player? Or is he doing things on defense the casual fan doesn’t see? — Rich S., Barrington

  “Bullard hasn’t panned out quite like the Bears hoped he would. He is a rotational player and was on the field for 28 percent of the snaps this season. Bullard would probably would be best in a 3-4 scheme. He can help them a bit, but as a third-round pick, it’s probably fair to say he’s been a bit of a disappointment. Entering the final year of his contract, maybe the Bears will get more out of him in 2019.”

  I’m going to mildly disagree with Biggs on this one. Although Roy Robertson-Harris out performed him, I thought Bullard made some progress this year.

  In watching him, along with Robertson-Harris, Bilal Nichols, Kylie Fitts and Isaiah Irving in training camp, my impression was that the Bears had more depth on defense than I had thought back in early July. That depth wasn’t tested as the Bears remained extremely healthy. During the season defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was obviously very hesitant to take Khalil Mack and Leonard Floyd off the field and when he did, veteran Aaron Lynch was the first off the bench. As Biggs points out, the defensive ends got more time but only on a rotational basis.

  Nevertheless, I’m going to say that it would have been very interesting to see what some of these guys could have done given the chance. My guess is that for the most part they would have all been solid but not spectacular performers. That wouldn’t make Bullard a great pick but it wouldn’t make him a bad one, either.

• In reading through this fluffy interview with former Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher at the Pro Bowl, one response stood out to me:
  

  “[Q:] What did you want from your quarterback being on the other side of the ball?

  “[A:] Don’t turn the ball over. Simple. Don’t turn the ball over. Take care of the football. Convert some third downs. And protect the ball. The No. 1 thing for us was always: Don’t put us in bad positions. If the quarterback and the offense could do that, we were happy. We could tolerate being put on a short field every once in a while.”

  I totally get this. And its very evident that Nagy got it during the year as well. But I’m not sure its the right attitude for the team overall.

  As the year wore on, Nagy got more and more conservative with his play calling, particularly as opponents played more and more zone defense to prevent the big play against the Bears. Nagy has the NFL’s #1 defense and he didn’t want to turn the ball over and put them in a bad spot.

  The problem is that football is a game of aggression and it has to be played aggressively. This is especially true against good teams like the Eagles. I’ve heard a lot of criticism of Mitch Trubisky after that game but the truth is, Trubisky’s hands were tied. He was forced to embrace the role of game manager because that’s what the team wanted.

  To be frank, the Bears flat out had a better team than the Eagles did. But Nagy played it close to the vest offensively and let them hang around. That’s really why it came down to one missed field goal.

  Next year we should all hope Nagy chooses to play aggressively and attacks on both sides of the ball. Its the only way that the team will really play up to its potential.