Fantasy Football Daily - Chicago Bears with Carmen Vitali | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

The excitement in Chicago is palpable about 2023 Bears team. But how justified is all the hype? Carmen Vitali (@CarmieV) of @FOXSports joins Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) to talk about Justin Fields, DJ Moore, the Bears' new backfield, and even a little 21 personnel. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. The franchise focus podcast here at Fantasy Points.com and the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. My name is Joe Dolan. I'm your host. I've been your host for the franchise focus podcast. We have over 20 in the books. Well, if you're listening to this, maybe over 20 or maybe just 20 even, because we have made our way through the entire AFC and the NFC East,

and I am kicking off the NFC North segment of the podcast series. I can't believe we are almost done with it. 32 of these is a massive undertaking. But again, I think it's something that's necessary. I think it's something that is going to help me. It's going to help people who listen to them. kind of prepare and get the insider perspective for each of the 32 NFL teams. And if you're listening to this podcast, it is at least July 13th.

It might even be July 17th. And I have to point out that on July 17th, which is Monday, we are releasing what we think is going to be an industry-changing product in terms of being able to do fantasy and betting research. It's called the Fantasy Points Data Suite. I am not the guy who is going to tell you the most about it. That would be Scott Barrett, Brett Whitefield, Grant Barfield, and Chris Wecht,

who have put in so many hours to develop this tool. But we do believe it is going to be absolutely industry changing. So I want you to head to FantasyPoints.com and check that out. Trust me, you will be hearing a lot more about the Fantasy Points Data Suite in the weeks, months, and years going forward. But I do still want to bring you, of course, to the main event, at least on this program, that would be the franchise focus podcast series. And if you're listening to this one, you're listening to one about the NFC North.

I hope you enjoy and tune in. Welcome back to the franchise focus podcast here at FantasyPoints.com. I am Joe Dolan, and today we have a very special guest. All 32 of my guests are special, but this one's especially special. Her name is Carmen Vitale. She covers the NFC North for Fox Sports. She is based in Chicago. So, Carmen, I thought, why not?

bring you on to talk Chicago Bears since you're based in Chicago. If you like the Bears, if you want to know more about the Bears, just follow her on Twitter at CarmiV. Carmen, welcome to the program. Thank you for joining me. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. It feels like Bear fans are really fired up for this season. And I know like if you take the outside perspective, like you can still say, oh, Justin Fields has a ton to work on and I think he does. but just from a feeling standpoint,

how palpable is the excitement for this year for Bears fans? As someone who grew up in Chicago, who grew up a long-suffering Bears fan, I'm uniquely qualified, I feel like to say that hope is a hell of a drug. And that is basically the, how Bears fans, this is their Super Bowl every off-season is their Super Bowl.

So it's interesting to me because there is a lot of, promise and obviously Justin Fields has a ton of potential, but we have not seen him put it all together yet. And that is what I think Bears fans are looking so forward to seeing and hoping. And that's what the Bears front office is hoping for too, because they invested so much on offense this off season. So that is their main goal. I don't think success looks like winning games for the Chicago Bears. I think it looks like the offense scoring points. And Justin Fields kind of cementing himself as the quarterback of the future for this franchise. And you don't think that's a given yet, right?

I mean, the way you were talking, you were saying there is still some doubt in here. They had an opportunity, clearly. They chose to invest more in Justin Fields. But why don't you think it's a given that he is the quarterback in the future just yet? I think you have to look at what the Bears did to ensure that they had all of the capital they would need next year to move on if that was potentially the case. if Justin doesn't live up to the expectations that they're placing on him, if he isn't able to assimilate into this offense now that he's going to be in a second year of that. Ryan Poles has done a really good job of setting the bears up in 2024 with multiple first round picks,

and that's going to allow the bears no matter where they finish to be able to grab one of Caleb Williams, Drake May, one of those top tier quarterbacks, and move on. So I think that they're hedging their bets a little bit. And again, Justin Fields hasn't shown us that he can be a balanced passer, which is going to be extraordinarily important because he said himself, he doesn't want to run for 1,000 yards every season. So if he's not running for 1,000 yards, he's got to be passing for at least 3,000. Right.

So, well, the Bears have never had a 4,000 yard passer, which is kind of just indicative of where this franchise's focus has been in decades past. It's always been about defense. but this is the dawning of a new era, which I feel like everyone is super excited about. I'm just not ready to commit to it yet because I've seen this franchise for all of my life. So I think if you're talking to Bears fans,

let's put more of an optimistic slant on this. If you're talking to Bears fans, you just mentioned, oh, they have two first round picks next year. They're kicking the can down the road. Bears fans will say, well, that is exactly what the Eagles did with Jalen Hertz. And Jalen Hertz, you know, even though he got to the playoffs in 2021, was not, he did not play well in that game against Tampa Bay. All of a sudden, he's an MVP candidate the next year with added help.

DJ Moore is here. That is a huge, huge addition. How do the Bears think his addition is going to help Justin Fields become that more balanced player? That is the X factor. That is the key player that is going to allow Justin Fields. If you're not going to talk about the offensive line, being able to protect Fields, which they should with more continuity this year, you're talking about DJ Moore. And I've heard from multiple players.

on this team that both offense and defense, that that relationship has come along so quickly between Justin Fields and DJ Moore. They have gotten on the same page. They've been working out with each other. There is a chemistry there already, which is really good news to hear in the off season. We're not even into training camp. And we got to see a little bit of that chemistry in mini camp. Justin Fields was going to DJ Moore quite often down the field. DJ Moore is so good, too, at creating plays, creating space, creating the big play down the field and being productive because if you look at his time in Carolina, had three back-to-back, 1100-yard seasons with very subpar quarterback play.

So if DJ Moore can do that much with so little, you have to think that Justin Fields is also going to be a beneficiary of the fact that DJ Moore is so incredibly productive. And they're already on the same page. So optimistic spin here, that's going to be something that the Bears are going to do and focus on come this season. I think it's fair to say that the Bears expected more out of Chase Claypool after trading the, what it essentially turned out to be the equivalent of a first round pick for him. Is it fair to say sunk cost right now, or are they going to try everything they can to get more out of Chase Claypool in 2020? I don't think it's fair to evaluate Chase Claypool last season.

and given how late that he got to Chicago. He was barely there long enough to get the terminology down at that point, much less developed chemistry, especially while the team was losing, and Justin wasn't able to let plays develop, and he was the one kind of bailing the offense out with his legs. There wasn't a ton of targets to go around, or to go around. And so I don't think it's fair to judge Chase Claypool on that.

I think that he had a soft tissue injury for mini-camp, so they held him out as precautions. cautionary thing, but for all indications of that he's going to be ready to go for training camp, he was working out with Justin Fields this offseason, both in the facility and away from it. So I think that he's going to be a really good number two kind of guy, number three kind of guy, really, because you've got Darnell Mooney, hopefully healthy by the start of the season. And he can be that red zone guy that he's a big dude. Chase Claypool is a big dude.

And that's not something that the Bears have had. Darnell Mooney is not a big dude. He's got his other strengths. He's very, very fast. and it can really beat you down the sideline. But Chase Claypool is going to be that red zone threat, I think, which could translate into a lot of production, even if it doesn't translate into a ton of yards.

What's Darnel Mooney's health status right now? That's a big one. He, as of mini camp, the last official word we heard from Coach Eberflus was that he is on track. Coach Eberflose would not tell us what that track was if he was out of the pool, if he was on turf. But he did just, Darno Mooney did just have his football camp, I believe, last weekend or sometime in this. past week where he was on the field, he was doing drills with the kids, and it seems as though

he is going to be ready for the start of training camp, definitely the start of the season. They're not going to push him, but I think that he should be available and should be this team's number two easily come week one. So Darnow Mooney was one of those guys. He comes off the, I would say, a surprise thousand-yard season in 2021. For our game in fantasy football, he goes way up. up the board. Do you think it's, do you think he was miscast as kind of a number one receiver? And how what, how do you expect the DJ more Darnel Mooney relationship to, to work, at least in

terms as it, as it affects darnel Mooney? Yeah, listen, there's a lot of guys that were kind of out of their probably best positions because the Bears personnel and their roster had turned over so heavily once Ryan Poles took the reins and Matt Eberflus got there. So, really didn't have another option other than to push Darnell into this number one wide receiver spot. And of course, any wide receiver is going to be like, yeah, I'm the guy, make me the guy. But that's not his strengths. He's not a guy that is going to be one of those physical slot receivers because he's not that big. I think that he's much more of a guy that can stretch the field using his speed down the sideline, that kind of stuff. So he's going to be the guy that while

the defense is paying attention to DJ Moore, he's going to skis. get by, escape those back levels of the defense. And Justin can then, if he's given time, can open up and let loose that cannon that we know he has. I mean, the big play, the long, the long ball has never been Justin's issue. That's always been something we've known he can do back, you know, going back to Ohio State. So I very much see kind of Darnell Mooney being the guy that stretches the field that kind of cleans up what Darnell Mooney or what DJ more can't do. Colcomette from, I think it was week seven or eight on, had a fantastic end of the season.

I think he scored seven touchdowns, basically in the second half of the season after a really slow start. Do the bears think that he can take the next step and become maybe more as opposed to just a red zone guy, maybe more of a big time threat? I think they were trying to do that, but Cole Comatt was a blocking tight end coming out of Notre Dame. So his role in the receiving game has been something that he's had to learn. I do think that we're going to see an uptick in that, but the team also side Robert Tunyon.

And if the indication of the, or the, he's wearing number 18. And if that's any indication as to what he sees himself as, for receiver. So I have to feel like Robert Tunyon is there to take a lot of targets, to do kind of that easy. Maybe it's not the red zone stuff, but it's the easy kind of dump off passes. It's the short to intermediate routes. He's, I feel like, more of the receiving threat. He was one of Aaron Roder's most. the targets in Green Bay. So now that he's in Chicago, I feel like Justin is going to be able,

Justin Field is going to be able to lean on him because Robert Tunyon has already taken on kind of a leadership role, especially in that room, given the fact that he has so much experience and at such a high level as well. So Robert Tunyon, I feel like it's probably going to take away, for fantasy purposes, is going to take away receptions and work from Cole Komet. That being said, I do think Cole, again, is a big target and can be utilized in those red-sad situations as he was last year. That's the kind of stuff we're looking for on the franchise focus podcast, Carmen, stuff like Robert Tunyon contributing because he wasn't even on my mind just yet. So one thing that happened big time for the Bears this off season, a big difference is David Montgomery's gone.

And they didn't go out and spend money to replace him. They brought in Deontay Foreman on a one-year deal. Spent a day three draft pick on Rashon Johnson is the relative low-end investment in the running back room after David Montgomery, leaves. Is that kind of in support of Kalil Herbert, or is this an open competition with guys who you think might have different roles? The coaching staff has a lot of faith in Khalil Herbert to be that three down back and to take over that role. I mean, he was already wrestling carries away from David Montgomery, not just because of injury, but because he's

good back and he's very versatile. That's the name of the game with running back, this running back room, and it's probably not conducive to the fantasy game because it's truly kind of a running back by committee team. Not to mention you have a quarterback that can act like a running back as well that's going to factor into the scheme. But if you look at all of the top three running backs on this roster, you've got Khalil Herbert, Dante Foreman, and now Rochon Johnson, they're all very versatile. They can catch passes out of the backfield, but they can also run north-south.

And that's going to be, they're going to deploy these guys kind of in a rotating cast because they can. And again, they're quarterback factors into this run scheme. And so you can create a lot of matchup problems for defenses that way

that also kind of creates problems for fantasy players trying to figure out if they want to take a Bears running back. My best advice for fantasy is just don't. Don't take a Bears running back. I just don't see any of these guys

breaking out for a thousand-yard season plus, especially given the fact that they're kind of being seen more as weapons rather than just running backs. I want to talk about Rishon Johnson in particular because it's almost like he's this secret weapon, right? He's a fourth round pick, which this day and age is not is not a low pick for a running back. That's still a decent investment. But he's a guy who wasn't even the starter on his own team in college because, of course, B. John Robinson.

What have you seen from Rishon Johnson in camps? What have the coaches said about him and how they think he can be deployed? Yeah, he got into the rotation in minicamp. but again, that's a really small sample size, and it's not something that you can kind of take the heart, given the fact that it's minicamp and they're just kind of trying to figure out where guys fit in. The big thing with Rochon Johnson,

I could see him in these third down situations because he did do something in college that most running backs don't do in that he pass blocked. And that was because of the fact he had B.J. Bejohn Robinson in front of him. And that's not something that running backs come into the league. That's not a skill set they come into the league usually having.

So I do see Rochon Johnson maybe being a factor in those third down situations because he can also catch passes as well, but he knows how to pass block. And that's something that I feel like they're going to utilize him for, given the fact that that's not usually a running back strong when you get them. Carmen, I've been wrapping up all the franchise focused podcast series by asking my guest, if there's a player on the bear's offense or any team's offense, but yours is the bear's focus. If there's somebody you wouldn't be surprised is more involved than maybe the general public thinks, who is that player on the bears?

I'm going to throw you for a total loop, and it could be just wishful thinking because I want to make fullbacks great again, but Carrey Blaseng game. We saw him have a couple of big plays last season even where he escapes the defense because nobody's paying attention to him. And he's got some hands on him. And Justin Fields has already built up a rapport with him. So I could see him kind of being a sneaky little weapon in there that no one accounts for. and he just pops off for a couple big plays a game. And I think that the Chicago Bears will be utilizing a fullback more in their scheme this year. But again, that could just be wishful thinking because we love our own.

We love ourselves. Yeah, and by the way, fullback snaps are going up with the proliferation of the Shanahan scheme going all around. We all want fullbacks. And how many other fantasy podcasts are going to give you significant fullback talk? I would hazard to guess not many. Her name is Carmen Vitale. She covers the NFC North for Fox. sports. You can follow her on Twitter at CarmiV. She is a fantastic reporter based in Chicago and a 21

personnel enthusiast. It was great having you on the podcast, Carmen. Thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Well, continue our journey around the NFC North. As we move throughout the week, we're going to go to the Detroit Lions next. It's been great talking to you, and I'll see you later this week. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.