NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 224. Fixing The Chicago Bears

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers take a deep dive into the Chicago Bears. The answer questions like: was it the right decision to keep Matt Eberflus? Who should be the new OC? Has Justin Fields played well enough to stay? Is Ryan Poles a good GM? Who do you go after in free agency? And wrap it all up with two (or is it two?) Bears 3-round mock drafts (seeing what it would be like if Chicago kept Fields or if they didn't)

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. In this episode, we are fixing the Chicago Bears. We're going to run through it all, whether it was the right decision or not to keep Matt Eberflus. What do you do with Justin Fields? Has he played well enough for them to move off of that number

one overall pick? Ryan Pohl's era, a free agent strategy for them. What players do you go after? How much money do you have? And just because we love you guys. Multiple three-round mock drafts for the Chicago Bears. One where they do not keep Justin Fields and one where they do. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers.

Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers joining you for a very special Fix Your Franchise edition of the show. It is the Chicago Bears. This is probably the most anticipated Fix Your Franch edition of the show. It is the Chicago bears. This is probably the most anticipated picture franchise of the off season. It feels like Connor, every other episode of fix your franchise that we have done, the comments are littered with do the bears, do the bears,

do the bears. And honestly, we were obviously going to get to it at some point. We wanted to let the season play out because the Justin Fields, Matt Eberflug's coaching decisions were going to loom large in how we went about this episode but now that the season is over now that that book has closed if you will we can fully go through all those pages assess it how we need to we're of course going to give you a breakdown of all that stuff we're to talk about justin fields what it looks like if they keep them, what it looks like if they don't, their free agency money, the team needs. And just because we love you guys,

we're going to do two different Chicago Bears three-round mocks at the end of the show, one keeping Justin Fields and one moving on from him. Connor, we're going to pack a lot into this episode, my friend. I hope you're ready for it. I am. And you laid it out perfectly of why we've waited. It's been worth the wait. There was a lot of variables with this team that it would have been a waste to fix them in October or November or whatever it may be. Number one is now we have in concrete two top 10 picks and where they are. Number one overall and number nine overall.

Like you said, Trevor, we had no idea what was going to happen with this staff. The head coach stays. Obviously, Ryan Poles, the GM, stays. The offensive staff is wiped out. They're currently requesting interviews. We'll go over some of our thoughts there as well, considering the ramifications and the effect that that offensive staff will have when it comes down to the development of this offense going forward with a lot of key young players. So this is a big one. There's no way around it the bears have as many as many assets really as anyone when you factor in cap space

draft capital within this year um and just the power they have in this draft that this one is really really important for not only how it sets up the bears but the trickle effect of everything else yeah let's so there's a lot to get into when it comes to that free agency spot you mentioned really important for not only how it sets up the bears but the trickle effect of everything else yeah let's so there's a lot to get into when it comes to that free agency spot you mentioned some of the money that they have to spend but we're going to go through a little bit of the roster make some cuts that we think are going to happen so actually they have even more money to spend than what is currently like out there like what if oh if you project this or that like we've got some cuts on this team that i've read about this like Like, all right, this is probably going to happen.

So we've got even more money to play with. We've got two first round picks to play with. And when we go through the draft and we trade number one, if we're keeping Justin Fields, that's even more picks. Picks on picks on picks. Man, it's what the show was built on. The imagination and the creativity here for the Chicago Bears is, it's going to make for one of my favorite episodes.

Let's start at the top though. Obviously they don't move on from Matt Eberflus, their head coach. But I do want to kind of recap a little bit of where he's at and the conversations about him going into the offseason. Because I do think this is now a make or break, completely make or break year for him coming up. So he just finished up his second year as the head coach for the Chicago Bears um currently were before that he was the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts under Frank Wright

so they hired him a couple years ago so he just finished his second year he was 3 and 14 in 2022 as a head coach the roster was cheeks so they weren't really going to do much better than that 7 and 10 at the end of this year. So certainly got a lot better. And I think things started to really turn around towards the second half of the season. When you look at the defensive side of the ball, so Iberfalus' side of expertise, they were 32nd in the NFL in EPA per play allowed in 2022, his first year. They were 15th this year. So it was a major jump forward i think the defense

got a lot better a lot of young players improved and got a lot better but on the other side of things offense aside they were 22nd in the nfl and epa per play on offense in 2022 23rd in 2023 so stagnant it did not improve it did not get better on the offensive side of the ball. And that plateau not moving in the right direction is why they move on from their offensive coordinator, Luke Getze. And before we kind of like get into that, I wondered your thoughts on Eberflus. Do you feel like they should have moved on or do you like the fact that both him and Ryan Poles stay married together, if you will. And this now just becomes a, we got to figure this out this upcoming year or both of us are going to get fired.

What do you think about this? This is a tough one, right? Because in a vacuum, I don't really have a problem with Iberflues as the head coach of this team. But under these circumstances, it is a little surprising, right right when you think of the odds are what the odds are of him really being the guy for the long term right and you know whether it was

ownership whether it was polls everything and the bottom line is Ibra flu's second half of this year especially after trading for Montez Swe, this a defense that really, really figured it out. And I think that's something he was hired to do. Now, the other side of it that you can get hung up on that. I'm a little hung up on as we do this show is man. This coaching pool looks really good.

In my opinion, the guys that are out there. And secondly, this you're the risk here of turmoil for a young quarterback is what scares me, right? Let me say it like this. And I know this is,

this is a lot of, but, and ifs and whens say they nail the offensive staff higher. And I'll use Shane Waldron as an example, because they've requested him. So they nail that one. Shane waldron they take caleb williams caleb williams wins rookie of the year somebody like what might happen to bobby sloic and the texans by the way right now hire shane waldron as your head coach or the other way around ibra flu's bottoms out this year and they fire him anyway after a year you're already creating

some turmoil for the number one overall pick that we think is going to be a quarterback we're going to lay it out both ways if they keep fields and doesn't change if they kept fields because fields has been through a ton of turmoil on the offensive side as well right so it feels like they wanted a little stability but ironically they might have kind of evaded that. Just a year from now, it might come down. So you're saying that even if Eberflus nails that offensive coordinator higher, the fact that Eberflus himself is not an offensive-minded coach means that a big voice in the ear of whoever the quarterback is is going

to change no matter what yeah it could and even if it doesn't i think there's a reality too where like i want to see i think what needs to be fair is i do want to see who they could hire because i don't think ibra flu's is the most steady situation in the NFL right now. And that will give some offensive minds maybe a little bit of reservation. We'll see. Maybe they'll nail the hire and there was no reservation at all because this coach is excited about working with the upgraded offensive personnel and going to Chicago. I think what it comes down to for me, though,

when you combine that factor with the fact that Vrabel's out there, Harbaugh's out there yeah I don't know if this is the right job for Belichick and Pete Carroll like that I'm not saying that but those guys will probably affect all of this coaching cycle that maybe you could have went out and got a Vrabel maybe you could have went out and got a Harbaugh so I don't hate keeping your flus I think that's what I want to make clear but I think there is a feeling of is this really gonna work I don't know I don't feel great about it because how many times was a coach this close to being let go and then two years later like thank god they kept him there's not a lot of examples of that in

the nfl if i'm being honest no right and it you know you bring up a really good point of the caliber or i'll just say like allurement of the guys that are available now right now in the coaching pool certainly offensive coordinator they could still dip into that and that's fine but you know you were firing your offensive coordinator anyway so you were probably going still dip into that and that's fine but you know you were firing your offensive coordinator anyway so you were probably going to dip into that pool no matter what and so you could have done that with a new head coach and a new offensive coordinator maybe that does set up a little bit cleaner of a timeline because I you know I agree with you I don't hate Matt Eberfalus I think fans can point to you know some in-game decision making and things

like that and and yeah he has not been perfect but there's not many head coaches that are perfect. You know, sometimes it's just better years than others when it comes to timeout usage or fourth down decisions, or just like how aggressive you are, certain game plans, certain game scripts, like it's only his second year as a head coach. And so he's learning this as well. I think it's realistic to believe going from three and 14, the first year, seven and 10, the second year,

it's realistic to think, Hey, another good off season, a lot of money to spend in free agency, a lot of potential money to spend in free agency. You can get a handful of impact players, maybe in free agency, maybe in the draft as well.

A combination of those, you can make a fight for a play, maybe in free agency, maybe in the draft as well, a combination of those. You can make a fight for a playoff spot next year. I don't know if you're overtaking Detroit. It depends what kind of Detroit's offseason looks like. Depends, Ben Johnson's out of there, which we assume that he is. Depends if Aaron Glenn's out of there, which it kind of looks like he might be. So maybe you're not making a run at Detroit, but they're close. They just got to figure out

the offensive side of things so it is tempting to get into this head coaching pool but I don't hate it I really don't now I look players can say quotes like this and and pump up their head coach uh all the time and and you you hear players kind of pump up their coaches because they don't want to throw them under the bus but I read I read this from an interview the montez sweat said this after the season he said oh yeah i love flues he's smart he's innovative he listens to his players he trusts his gut he trusts his players i'd love to see flues come back and that's cool that's really right it's great to see you know that's a great to hear from the guy that you traded for who then was a major impact

player awesome great yeah he's gonna be a cornerstone for you moving forward on the flip side you got dj moore being asked about luke getzey i think before luke gets he got fired and dj moore said yeah he's fine right yeah i mean you might you might as well just like back the truck up over somebody's dead body at that point to call somebody fine. And you just, you don't really, at least I haven't heard that from Ibrafluz. So I think a lot of Chicago Bears fans, at least from what I read, wish that they would have cut ties with the whole coaching staff. Yeah.

But I don't hate it. I don't hate it for Ibrafluz. Let's move on to the offensive coordinator spot, because Luke Getze, he was the offensive coordinator over the last two years. He was Green Bay's pass game coordinator under Matt LaFleur, I think for two years before then. It just, it hasn't been good enough, man. Not that that's all Luke Getzey's fault, but it felt like when you're watching Chicago bears games and when you're really getting into the film, it's like, sure. Phil fields is doing things that are self-inflicting wounds, but at the same time, like the spacing's bad on some plays that the, the design is not good at some place.

Like some of the play calls on certain down and distances, just like, man, almost what's field supposed to do. And not every offensive coordinator is going to be perfect very few of them are but it needed to look a lot better than what it was looking like under luke etsy so he ends up he ends up getting fired um i have a handful of offensive coordinator candidates that i would be very interested in seeing for this team. But I wondered, do you have a certain list? You mentioned Shane Waldron. Is he number one on your list? And was there anybody else that was kind of like on the high part of that list for you?

I'm glad they put in for him. Honestly, I would love this hire with Shane Waldron. I think there's two things that stick out to me. Number one, it's funny how people view Shane Waldron now. Not view. I've seen just a lot of Seattle fans in general. Not all of them, but be like, oh, he sucks. It's like, okay, the Geno Smith turnaround didn't happen until Shane Waldron.

Okay, that was Shane Waldron's offense. And Geno did a lot himself, but let's not completely take away the guy that was calling the offense here. Also, two years ago when their line was healthy, they drafted two rookie offensive tackles and did a hell of a job with them. And that's Waldron as a play caller and Andy Dickerson, their offensive line coach. I would think that after how things ended in Seattle, and we've seen on Twitter that that staff's been told they can go find jobs, basically.

Waldron just brings some of his staff with him. So you get somebody that's proven to develop young offensive linemen, which is one of the hardest things to do in this league. Yeah, truly. Get the most out of the quarterback position. And then let's be fair to Shane Waldron. He worked under Pete Carroll. Pete Carroll is the king of being in his offensive coordinator's ear saying,

you have to run the ball more. So I think with a little bit more freedom, and Pete Carroll's a legend, and a lot of the times he was right when they won all those games. But the bottom line is, I think Waldron could be even better. So I think this is a guy that, coming from Seattle, has a staff that he could bring with him. Not verbatim, but some key people. And he's somebody that we've seen improve quarterback play

from where it was judged before. Work with young offensive linemen. Design an effective run game. That's one to me that, if they hired, I would have less questions about than a lot of the other ones where I'm like, I don't know how this is going to work. Maybe it'll be great. Maybe it won't.

But with Waldron, I see a floor that I would feel really, really comfortable with. I love the Waldron idea. And to be honest, of course, I didn't think that he was going to be available, especially for a lateral move. Right. If you wanted Shane Waldron in your organization a week ago, you were going to have to hire him as a head coach. And now you don't have to anymore, which is which is wild. But here we are. So I think that he would be a great candidate.

I like that one. There's a couple more that I want to throw out at you. And I'm curious if you are intrigued or if you're on board or if you're just like, no, okay, no, I'm not down with this. The first one is sort of similar to that of Shane Waldron is Kellen Moore. Kellen Moore's getting head coach interviews as he has in the past, but he's in a similar situation to that of Waldron. He was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers. They fired Brandon Staley. So he's basically free to go wherever he wants. And he's been the OC for the Chargers. He was the OC previously with the Dallas Cowboys. He's worked with two fantastic quarterbacks in Dak Prescott and Justin Herbert. He's orchestrated very good, modern offenses that do kind of what you want to see.

The play action, the pre-snap motion. And not that those are always prerequisites to great offenses, but they are at least hints that this guy is willing to evolve. He's willing to go to what is successful in today's NFL. And so that's been great to see. I think the passing offense has been good generally when they've been healthy for both squads. So I like the idea of him in Chicago

to potentially work with Justin Fields and however they're going to re-brand that wide receiver room. Thoughts on Kellen Moore? You don't have to give like super big thoughts,, but you're on board, you're intrigued. Is it a hell no? Thoughts? It's right in the middle. I wouldn't be excited about Kellen Moore.

Okay, so you're intrigued. You're intrigued. I'm intrigued. You could do worse. I do have a little bit of an issue with how much better Dallas' passing attack looked when Mike McCarthy took the reins back and Moore left. That really is something that just bothers me. Big Mike McCarthy believer.

I mean, Dak was incredible this year. He was. And CeeDee Lamb was incredible this year. He was indeed. So I'm in the middle on that one. Definitely below Waldron, but he'll probably be above some more names you're going to throw at me. I would have to imagine considering how this thing goes. Okay. here's another one frank reich all right i can't do it all right

hold on wait wait give me a second let me send no no i'm just kidding no i'll hear you panthers head coach all right so frank reich uh not the most popular man in football america right now because of how things went with the Panthers, but we know the Panthers are very dysfunctional. So it might not have all been Frank Reich's fault. That's all I'm saying. Ibra Floos and Reich obviously have a relationship because Reich was the head coach in Indianapolis

when Ibra Floos was the defensive coordinator in Indianapolis before he went over to Chicago. So they got that connection there. They got that stepbrothers, best friends kind of connection. How do you feel about it? Bringing your friends is great. Just ask the Jets with Nathaniel Hackett with Aaron Rodgers. All right, when you put it that way.

It's phenomenal. You'll never regret anything. All right, so you're out on Frank Reich. Okay. No, I think Reich at this point of his career, at least from what we saw last year in Carolina, my goodness, the best move for him this year is to go to an organization. And whether you want to title it quarterback's coach, assistant head coach.

Senior offensive analyst. Thank you. Senior offensive consultant. That's where he's at, where he's in the room with the quarterback. And he can give some, some pointers. And I, it feels like he needs a year of just a little, it's like an anchorman, right? You might want to lay low for a little while. That's actually, that's what I was trying to get.

That's actually perfect. Yeah. And Frank killed the guy. Yeah. He almost did. But meaning to talk to you about that. He almost did. All right. So, okay. The next one killed the guy. Yeah, he almost did. Been meaning to talk to you about that. Yeah, he almost did. All right, so, okay, the next one on the list.

So we're low on Frank Bright. How about this one? Ken Dorsey. All right? All right? The villain of the Bills Mafia. Bills' former offensive coordinator. And look, obviously things turned around for the Bills

after they moved on from dorsey but it's not like things were bad with dorsey right when he got fired as offensive coordinator middle of the season because honestly the bills just needed a spark something needed to change for that team but the reason why a lot of people felt like it was a scapegoat at the time is because they were fourth in the NFL in total points scored at that point. They were second in EPA per play and second in successful play percentage. They were third in yards per play. They had a touchdown drive rate of 29.8%, almost a third of the time. No team in the NFL at that point had generated a positive EPA

on a greater percentage of their offensive plays than the Buffalo bills. So yeah, the bill season kind of like turned around and it was this, I don't know. I don't even want to say like inspiring change. Cause I don't even know if moving on from, from, from Dorsey was the actual catalyst for the change,

but what he was doing when he was the offensive coordinator was working. And you tie that into the fact that he had a quarterback with a similar skill set to that of Justin Fields. These are two of the best dual threat quarterbacks when it comes to potential, not necessarily execution. Justin Fields still getting there in the passing game part of it but these are these are similar mold type of players very high tier athletes big arm you can use you could do a lot of things with their legs i kind of like this one unless unless we find out that that dorsey was literally like hated in the locker room and that's why the bill season turned around the numbers kind of speak for themselves and if that's not the case man then i i would actually like this in chicago that one's the trickiest one

because the bill's offense looked a lot better after they fired him even though at the time it felt like a you know fall guy situation scapegoating whatever you want to call it but at the same time Dorsey for years was described to us as this up-and-comer very bright guy very smart so that I fall into the Kellen Moore bucket with that one I don't love it but I think there is some upside there but I do the bills are such a weird one too right because there's no denying josh allen at least from a turnover worthy play perspective regressed after brian dable left but that's also just kind of the nature of josh allen to a degree yeah i think josh allen's almost like a roller coaster ride no matter what right there's really not a lot of people that can just completely you know mitigate that side of him so yeah i'm in the kellen moore bucket on that one okay i do

think it's interesting though like how little room for error there is with this one if they are drafting caleb williams or drake may number overall, can I at least get Ken Dorsey above Kellen Moore and below Shane Waldron? Can I at least get it? Number two? No. God, I think I'd take Kellen Moore. What am I going to do over here?

Okay, great. So I got, I got two more. I got two. Okay. This is great. They're wild cards.

You're going to hate both of them. All right. The Frank Reich line? Above or below? One of them's me. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, one of them's...

Done. Number one. Somebody tweeted us saying that you and I should duo coach Alabama or take over Alabama as a duo. Sure. It was very funny. Yeah. I was like, I couldn't think of a worse idea.

Dude, I think it's funny everybody has been talking about like oh nobody wants the bama job right after nick savin like you want you don't want to be the coach right after nick savin you want to be the coach after the coach after nick savin right which makes sense but i've seen so many people tweet that out i'm basically like i'll i'll coach bama give me the money i don't care what what do you get 15 mil sure 15 mil over we'll say we'll keep it light four years i'll go out there easy do i get a real staff that actually like i'm not calling any plays right you could hire whoever you want you you could hire whoever you want right this done hire whoever you want. Right. That's done.

And you have one of the deepest pockets. Right. I'm going out and buying a roster. Nick Saban's literally around because he doesn't want to see the program fail. So you're basically leaning on Nick Saban. I'll coach Bama at this point. Let me do it. It's not this awful job everybody's making it out to be. Anyway.

Turns out. Turns out being rich and having the most recruiting power in the country is a good thing no it's for the birds yeah so the next one's nick saban no i'm kidding it's not my goodness but i don't know this coordinator i don't know this one might be as as funny people keep talking about cliff kingsbury so i gotta throw his name out there yeah you have to you know cliff Cliff Kingsbury, former Texas Tech head coach, former Arizona Cardinals head coach, former offensive coordinator for USC, just known as this offensive guru, right?

And I don't think anybody's giving him the reins to be a head coach again. No, no, it's not him. It's not him. But to be an offensive coordinator, I think the day will come when he will be an offensive coordinator again at the NFL level. If he doesn't jump back to college first, you're ready for a surprise.

Are you still going? Okay. This is number two for me. I'd have him only below Waldron. Who cliff I'd have him above Kellen Moore and Ken Dorsey. Whoa. Yeah. You mad,

man. No, it's really not. I just, cause he's handsome. Isn't it? He's a good looking guy. Good style. It's he's handsome, isn't it? He's a good looking guy. Good style.

It's the sunglasses sponsorship, isn't it? It's all good. I think that Cliff is the classic case of a guy that is not an NFL head coach, as we've seen. It's just not his demeanor. It didn't work for a lot of reasons. I think Cliff is the exact kind of guy that you would want to staple to a Caleb Williams or a Drake May. That's what I'm thinking of with this hire. I'm not thinking of like who's going to be pass over expectation.

And I mean, these things matter, but I'm thinking first and foremost of the number one overall pick. And maybe offensive coordinator is a stretch. But at a minimum, I think he would be a great quarterback coach on the staff. And I like him more than Dorsey. Maybe he's not above Kellen Moore. Maybe he's not above Kellen Moore. But I don't think he's like, when you were about to throw a name at me and you were like, it's going to be below everyone,

I was expecting something terrible. I think we've gone too far on Cliff kingsbury because he wasn't a good head coach to think he just doesn't know shit about offensive football which is insanity to me when you know cliff's background i i also look at steve kimes background as a general manager and he had to work under steve kime and kimes one of the worst general managers that we've had since the turn of the century their drafts were certified cheeks their drafts were horrendous their team building was horrendous and so yeah i think you bring cliff in and cliff obviously had an input on a lot of those things so i don't think he's blameless but you know a lot of times you've you've you've got to

have you've got to have a general manager that kind of like maybe pushes what your opinion is into maybe a better direction of different scouting directions, something and whatever direction time was, was pushing it in sucked. Sorry. I got one. It does. It's amazing.

They won 11 games in a season. I got one more under him. Go ahead. Dan Mullen is the other one. Yeah, that might be, that might be that's, but that's the last place. Dan Mullen is the other one uh that might be that might be that's but that's the last place dan mullen is the other one and i figured that it would be last for you and even when i thought about it myself i was like it gave me chills i was like god no but here's it but here's the thing dan mullen is a really good football coach sure no denying that he coached

dac when he was at mississippi state and he made him into an sec record breaker he coached multiple high scoring offenses at florida including a monster of an offense that included that had kyle trask leading them with kyle pitts and cadarius Toney. This dude knows how to call plays. He knows how to be an offensive coordinator. The thing that Dan Mullen hates is recruiting. And that's why he failed at Florida. And that's why he burned out so hard at Florida because he essentially stopped recruiting. He doesn't like it.

He wanted an NFL job. And I think that he's kind of sitting around still waiting to potentially get a gig and that is the far out name that i just wanted to throw out there as i was thinking about this exercise and i was like look if they aren't able to get all of these other hot shot offensive coordinators in the building. I don't think Mullen's the worst you could do. Cause I, I do. I think,

I think he's, I think he is a good football coach. He just did not like recruiting. And that was his demise when he was at Florida and while he was at the college ranks. But I think he wants an NFL gig and I think he's a really smart offensive play caller. So it's an interesting one.

I, to be fair, I just don't know enough about how his transition to the pros would be. That's my biggest holdup, but all right. It's, I think there's a lot of risk there. All right,

there we go. We threw out the offensive coordinators. We're going to talk about Justin Fields next. We're going to get to Justin Fields. We're going to talk about Ryan poles. We're going to get into the team. He is the free agency is all the good stuff, but had a question for everybody out there. Is 2024 bringing either

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All right, the Justin Fields conversation. Yeah, got to have it. Got to have it. No other way to have it. Here's the thing with Fields. A little bit of an overview, and then would love to hear your thoughts on it because there's a lot that goes into it.

I think that there are sort of separate conversations between judging how Fields has been over the last year as a player versus his situation contractually, financially. These are two different conversations, but unfortunately, you do have to marry them because that is the situation that they are in. They cannot remain in a vacuum. You have to talk about both of them. Justin Fields, quarterback from Ohio State, was drafted in the first round by this team three seasons ago.

He's got a fourth year and a potential fifth year option still on his contract. This year, he will be going into that fourth and final year. And I think they have until May. I think May is when they would pick up the fifth year option for him. The fifth year option for him, by the way, would cost somewhere around like $20, $22 million. So still, if you think that this guy is a franchise starting caliber quarterback, bargain for you. But it's still a price increase from, I think, the $6 million that he has on the

books for his fourth season. Passing grades from Justin Fields since 2021 to now, so the last three seasons. 60.8 his first year. 54.4 the next year. 67.1 this past year, so a career high. Passing grade under pressure for Justin Fields over the last three years. 33.1 his first year, not good. 29.4 the next year, even worse. 48.9 this year. It's not stellar, but better.

Adjusted completion percentage for him over the last three years. 66.1 first year, 70.3 the second year, 72.6 this past year. So going up every single year, I will note for some context, the average depth of target for him has gone down by about a yard every single season. So that goes into obviously how high of a completion percentage that you have. This is a number that I want to say before we totally get into the conversation. I kind of turn it over to you because I'm curious what you think of Fields right now. The average time to throw for Justin Fields,

which gets into a lot of the notes that I have about him as a player and where he is. Average time to throw in that first season 3.06 is one of the only quarterbacks actually i think he was the only quarterback in the nfl who started enough games to have an above 3.0 time to throw average last year's time to throw is 3.47 that's caleb williams at usc kind of stuff yeah and this past year was 3.47 wow so that's high sorry at USC kind of stuff. Yeah. And this past year it was 3.47. Wow. So that's high. Sorry.

3.41. I believe. Very high. I'm going to double check that last one, but kind of your thoughts on Justin Fields. What do you, what do you think about him just as a player overall? And then we'll get into kind of like where he is with his situation in the

contract. Undeniably has improved over these years. And I think that's very, very important that the trajectory is going the right way for Justin Fields. I think there are significant concerns that make you wonder if it caps his ceiling. And what I say about that is, you talk about holding onto the ball for a very long time.

The fumbles that are a large product of one, holding the ball to being a guy that leans on the run a lot. And three, because he's a guy that leans on the run a lot, he gets hurt every year and that matters a lot because he's not somebody that you could just go well don't run as much so you don't get hurt can't do that it's something that makes him valuable so i think where you land on it at the end of the day is there's a lot to be excited about fields like when fields gets traded to atlanta or somewhere i feel good about i'm i'm gonna be excited and i'm gonna talk up that move but it's not just that simple for chicago in this spot because they are sitting there with an opportunity that is unique and rare that they have to specifically ryan poles has to weigh the balance of where he grades out caleb williams as a prospect and what you project him to be.

At the end of the day, as a human being, that is all you can do with this process, is weigh out what you think a guy is going to be. If you're wrong, then so be it. And then since he didn't draft Justin Fields, he needs to go through his college evaluation and his pro evaluations of him over these last three years and evaluate where he thinks he will be in a couple of years. He also has to figure out, realistically, what is Fields looking for in an extension? And justifiably so, Justin Fields should be starting with Daniel Jones' number. That's the league. You might hate it.

You might think it's insane. This is the quarterback market. Look at Derek Carr. Look at Daniel Jones. What's the, what's the, what's the, isn't it the Randy Savage line where he's like, you might not like it, but respect it. Right. That's what we're talking about here with the, with where we're at with Justin.

100%. So that's a variable in all of this, where that number one pick is going to be pretty cheap for a while. That's another part of this where that number one pick is going to be pretty cheap for a while that's another part part of this as well so for me and i know this isn't popular and you can do both you can like fields and think man like he's he could be a top 15 quarterback in this league and i'll always have the the some ball security concerns and staying healthy concerns but the upside is very promising and you could also sit there and go well through our evaluations take away the financial aspect which is a huge huge part of this we might project Caleb Williams or Drake may to be a top

eight quarterback so we're going to take him and we're going to save the cap space and the money and we're going to start with our offensive coordinator by the way that has a big say in this pie that you're hiring whether he wants to go build his offense around justin fields or whether he wants to start from scratch and build this offense with caleb williams or drake may so i think at the end of the day what they are going to do is they are going to trade justin fields they are going to get day two compensation for justin fields i will be very happy for fields to get a fresh start somewhere and i'll be happy for the bears that ultimately at the end of the day it's not an easy decision it's not a no-brainer but i think it's the right move yeah i see it similarly to you in a lot of ways you know when i watch justin fields and um i won't pretend to

have watched every single snap but certainly for this exercise and over the last couple of years you keep tabs on it because it means a lot right got the number one overall pick last year and they decided to move on from it and they were well i don't it depends right like you could say oh they were smart to do that because if they would have taken bryce obviously i don't know if it would have looked great but if they would have taken c, obviously, I don't know if it would have looked great. But if they would have taken CJ, then maybe it would have been geniuses of a decision. But, you know, I think that they made their decision. They stuck with it.

The thing is, they got a great haul for that number one overall pick. And we'll get to that when we talk about polls in a second. But they got a really great return on investment for that number one overall pick there. You're lucky if you're a general manager that you are in such a position that you can trade a number one overall pick the way that they did last year. You're lucky if you get that once ever. And the Bears now have that decision twice in a row, which is pretty insane. And when I watched Justin Fields this year year he is getting better as a player and i think he's playing with more confidence in a lot of ways his first two years in the league

he just didn't look confident people go what happened where is the kid from ohio state who was just an absolute monster in the college football playoff game. He was certain gives me, but like, where is he? He was not confident. He was not that same sort of player. He didn't have that same kind of trust in what he was seeing and what he was capable of all of that. And I think you saw that over the last two years, this past year, especially kind of towards the end of the year, second half of the season,

I think he got a lot more confident, but there are still parts of his game that are not as fast as they need to be. That time to throw average above three every single year, some people are going to look at that and say, no, no, no, his offense is forcing him off of the spot, and he's got to scramble, and that's increasing the time to throw. I can hear that for some of it, but there are also some plays where Justin just holds onto the ball a long time.

Like he's trying to read the field, but he's, he's, he's, he's either like a pick late to get to his progression and like, okay, now that window is closed. Now I got to go to my next progression. So, and it's just, it's, it's not always as fast and decisive as it needs to be. I think that certainly the pressure that he's had to deal with with a less than ideal interior offensive line has forced him maybe into some bad habits when it comes to his mechanics and his footwork and trusting all of that. And I think that you see some deficiencies there from him.

Ultimately, Connor, where I land on Justin Fields is that he could still be a starter in this league. I don't think it should be in Chicago. Right. Because I think we said this on the show that we did on Monday, the mock draft. Justin Fields, for as much as he has improved from the past year, he was not a viable starter his first two years in the league. If he continued to play like that, if he would have given you a third year of production there,

we would not be talking about this. So he was not playing at a starter level for those first two years. This year, he's kind of playing at a salvageable level. He'll give you the highs, but he'll also give you the lows. And having that kind of variance is tough to start in this league. There are not many quarterbacks that get that chance to be able to do that when you're that high variance. Yes.

He nailed it. For Fields, it is a risk sticking with him. I don't want people out there to think that, oh, if the Bears go with Justin Fields, like, that's the safer option because he's played NFL football before. Right. People look at Caleb Williams. They go, Drake Mayne. They go, well, what do you hold on? Well, wait a second. They haven't even played NFL football before.

Why are you saying that they're going to be better than Justin Fields? It's like, OK, sure. We don't know that for sure. That is a risk. That's the risk that you take with all prospects Justin Fields becoming a true starting caliber playoff caliber quarterback is also a risk because for as much as he has improved he's not that yet so if you're going to take the risk no matter what I think you take the risk on a guy that resets the quarterback rookie contract window for you that's where where I land on fields. I agree with you. I think that he's got starting caliber ability. If he cleans some things up, if the processing gets faster, and I would love to see him in a fresh start with a new team and a new offensive

coordinator, new voices, all that good stuff. I would love to see him hit the ground running from what we saw to end this season. But ultimately, I don't think it should be in Chicago. And for as much as we're going to go through the scenarios of, okay, if the Chicago bears are keeping Justin Fields, here's kind of what you do in the draft. These are the drafts that we're going to do. We'll do that at the end of the show, but it sounds like Connor, both of us are kind of of the thought process that you got to reset that

rookie quarterback contract window over what you have seen from fields right now. Yeah, that's where, I mean, that's where it stands. It's just, to me, it's the best. Now it also makes it easier that this is a great quarterback class. I can't say it enough. If you're picking one or two, right. I mean, not everybody will feel this way, but a lot of evaluators will be extremely high on Caleb Williams. They will be extremely high on Drake May. And that changes the dynamic of this conversation. Because with everyone else, like, take those two guys out of the class.

Well, there's easier things to pick at with Jaden Daniels and Michael Penix and Bo Nix. And that's another conversation for the quarterback episode. And there are things to pick out with Caleb Williams and Drake. I'm not saying they're not, but they are upper echelon quarterback prospects that realistically a little secret for you will probably grade out higher than where polls had fields in that draft. Even though polls didn't take him because he wasn't the GM of the bears at

the time. And that's a huge part of this yep i would agree i would agree i think that's a good transition into ryan pole so ryan poles going into his third year as the general manager for this team some notable traits you know i think that he's he's had some interesting moves like the trade for montez sweat i i was like all right buddy like i i think you're overpaying for this dude this isn't gonna work out and what does he do he ends up leading chicago in sacks despite only playing there for a little over half a season so he traded for montez sweat for a second round pick this year he also not so great traded a second round pick for chase claypool which was a disaster and chase claypool was no longer even on the team.

His first year, right after he took the job as a general manager, he traded Khalil Mack for a second-round pick. So this dude just loves moving second-round picks. I mean, that is just his bread and butter. Yeah, wheeling and dealing. And then, of course, the trade last year, the big one, was you trade number one overall for DJ Moore, you get two first-round picks, and you get two second-round picks.

And I thought that that was brilliant from them um i thought that that was a it was they they did very well to get where they needed to get while also getting a really good play can you imagine this team moving forward without dj more like can you imagine can you imagine if they didn't include dj more in the trade right it looks so different. And let's say they had an extra first-round pick, right? Let's say it was just plain old three first rounds, no DJ Moore, no extra day two capital. I mean, this roster would suck on offense if they did not have DJ Moore.

It'd be bad, man. You'd hang your hat on Braxton Jones hopefully Darnell Wright Cole Komet's good and then some running backs that you're okay like by committee but holy cow this team would be terrible without DJ Moore so for them to get DJ Moore I think it's at least a cornerstone for them moving forward so good on him to be able to get him there um notable draft picks got Braxton Jones I mentioned left tackle uh in the fifth round good pick i think chaquan brisker and kyler gordon are coming along um their first two selections in his first two year there so i would say that those are good picks valish jones pick not great um admittedly

but when i went over this i think there's more good than bad with ryan poles at this point um which i didn't think again when the trade deadline was coming around so i'm glad that poles is sticking around i'm i'm glad that he's getting another chance to do this because i don't think he's gonna i don't think he's gonna trade the number one overall pick again and uh i think you'll have a chance to get a franchise changing player at that number one overall spot so what do you think about polls you like polls i think he's been okay so far. I think that this is kind of that make your money draft, right? Totally. Because the resources you have.

Now, the thing we do need to keep in mind here, while it's hard to have a real judgment about Darnell Wright, he's probably going to be fine, is, and there were character questions, so that's fair rebuttal here too. But how will we look back on passing Jalen Carter, this team? That's something I've thought about a little bit. Yeah, Jalen's tough, right? Jalen's tough. Jalen's tough because I think there were not, not every situation was tailor-made for him. And the Eagles was definitely a good one for him to go to with the veteran leadership that they have.

But when you just look at the talent, it is something to think, to wonder about. And then I'll also say this. I thought Broderick Jones was better than Darnell Wright this year. Now, there's a lot of time for all of that, but this is nitpicking stuff. I mean, this is nitpicking stuff. His drafts have been okay.

What he'll make his money on is this year, and I think you brought up that he probably won't trade the number one overall pick this year. I agree, but I think number nine is a prime pick to trade out of if you want. And the creativity doesn't have to stop here for Ryan Poles. And that's something that excites me. It's just because number one gets used, you could maybe get out of nine

and really make this draft that should be a great draft for them into an all-timer. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at it more and obviously like polls free agent additions haven't been good but tj edwards is the only one that like really and obviously yeah they they shelled out a lot of money for linebackers which is always interesting kind of nuts but right they've been i feel like they've been okay a lot of the

low tier free agents really have not worked out for them right so i think that's been a major issue um because it is the gm's job to build the depth of the team and i will say that for as much as i can highlight some of the moves that i've liked from him this is you you kind of brought it up like this is kind of make or break for him. He's got to nail this free agency period. He's got to nail this draft. And I think to this point, when it's come to free agents, he has not really been able to do that.

The wide receivers that he brought in has not been good. The interior offensive line shuffling just has not been ideal. Like I said, I like Jones at at left tackle i think right will be fine at right tackle tevin jenkins i've been in and out of the lineup like i moved cody white hair i think lucas patrick was bad at center it's like yannick and gawk went a one-year deal like he's been nothing for them so there have been plenty of signings that they have made that feel like major whiffs but they've been more of those low grade signings which matter but he he has a chance at a lot of redemption i don't mean to sound like a ryan poe's apologist but it's like he to me he hasn't had the big screw up

outside no i don't think so outside of the Claypool trade, which has not been good. I mean, that was an undeniable disaster. And if you want to argue, like if you want to argue putting as much money as they did into the linebacker position. Okay, I see it. But like, I think they've been okay since this point. You got to, I feel like you've got to wait until this offseason, is what I'm trying to say, to see what the plan was for them. Right, and that's kind of what we're here to do. Yeah.

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which is, I think, like the 11th most. Maybe it's a little higher than that. $36 million in effective cap space is not too bad. However, looks like they're going to move on from Eddie Jackson. If they do that, saving another 13 mil. Okay. And it also looks like they're going to move on from Cody White here, who is the longest tenured player on the Chicago Bears,

but he's going to be 32. He's going to cost a big chunk of change. They're trying to get younger on the interior offensive line anyways. I think he is also going to be a candidate to potentially be cut. That's another nine mil. So extra 22 mil on top of that. We're talking like $55 million here that the Chicago Bears have to play with in free agency. Their big pending free agents get Jalen Johnson, they got Darnell Mooney, they got Yannick Ngakwe, and they got Justin Jones.

I think those are the big four, unless I'm really missing somebody. But, Connor, you and I were talking a little bit before the show. Jalen Johnson feels like he should be a, yeah, you got to bring this dude back. No doubt. That's the one you got to figure out before you look outside. And they gave him the chance to seek a trade at the trade deadline no you got to mend that i don't even i have no idea what the relationship is i don't even know if it's but he graded out as an elite cornerback he was great this year him you got him on one side you

got tyreek stevenson on the other i think that's a really nice cornerback duo you've got your kwan brisker you got kyler gordon anyways i think that's a really nice cornerback duo. You've got Jaquan Brisker. You've got Kyler Gordon anyways. I think that's a really nice young secondary, even moving on from Eddie Jackson. You have your two linebackers. All you got to do is get better up front. And, Connor, I'm going to throw this out there. I don't think Chris Jones leaves Kansas City. But if Chris Jones does leave Kansas City,

Go do it. This is a team that can throw some serious money at Chris Jones and say, come play on the defensive line. The secondary is getting better. We're bringing back Jalen Johnson. We're getting Chris Jones. You got Montez Sweat. And then, dude, if you go quarterback at one,

and then Dallas Turner at nine, okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here. We'll get to the mock draft. Settle down. Think of that team, though. All of a sudden, that defense think of that mind like think of that team though all of a sudden that defense like you got the players you got the horses all of a sudden and for the longest time what have we said about chicago oh they don't have the players they don't have the depth chart they don't have the roster boom you fix it right immediately trading for sweat signing chris jones that's the dude that i would go after the most is Chris Jones here for them.

I mean, that'd be awesome. And if you can't figure it out, you know, to bring back, which you should be able to bring back Jalen Johnson, I'd go after LeJarius Sneed from Kansas City as well. Oh, just bring both over. All right. Make a play or just yeah, that would be my play. If you really can't figure it out with your own guy that deserves to get paid. Yeah, that would not be good.

What do you think about, because they spent a lot of money on linebacker last offseason. They've invested resources in this secondary through the draft. Either bring back your own guy or go get LeJarius Sneed. You brought up Chris Jones, which I love. Do you think they need to go back into the edge market again yeah i mean it's kind of similar to what did we we must have talked about this with washington right where because they just they have now they paid sweat so do they look to get do they look to draft their other edge?

Did they officially pay Sweat? Is that just in my brain? I mean, you traded the second round, but it's not like he's going anywhere. No, he got the extension when he got traded. That's what I thought. I was like, did I just make that up? No way. So his contract's already on the books, which is great.

But then, yeah, I mean, you can go as high as you want. You go out to Bryce Huff. You go after Brian Burns. Jonathan Grenard. Right. We brought up Jonathan Grenard as well. We've done this. Yeah.

But, like, that's where I would go. The episode is fixing the Chicago Bears. When I look at free agency, I'm spending most of my free agent money on the defensive side of the football. Go get another interior defensive lineman i mentioned christian but like christian wilkins is hitting well in theory get hit the market that justin matabike from the ravens is also like do they have enough money to bring him you know i'm saying like any of those guys i think is a big presence boost on

their defensive line you can maybe get a good another rotational edge rusher then draft another one and all of a sudden like like i said linebacker rooms got the talented players the defensive line looks even better the secondary should get better especially if you're bringing back jalen jones that's what i would do that would be my free agent strategy for chicago i'd go after defensive line hard i wouldn't bring i would not be bringing back that's how words work yanni kingakwe or darnell mooney which man two years ago we were talking about darnell mooney is he was going to be the next best thing and i think similarly justin fields his best days are going to be not in chicago so they should move on from him. But that's what I do, man. I go D-line if I'm Chicago.

Hard. So, offensively, is there anything you're doing? Because like you said, Mooney can walk really wild. I think he's two years removed from a 1,000-yard season, but that's just the reality of it. You got Moore there, which is great. But you also have the ninth pick in the draft that could be used on a wide receiver as well right i'm i'm not spending on i'm not spending heavy on wide receiver i'd get a value

guy i would go after one of these guys i'd go after okay let. I'd go after Kendrick Bourne. And maybe Noah Brown. Okay, yeah. Or the other way, this is a big body guy, but like a Donovan Peoples Jones. Those are all valued signings. They're going to cost you what? One or two years, six million per. Yeah. I mean, you're talking like, and they're going cost you what one or two years six million per yeah no I mean you're talking like no and they're gonna probably be your number three if you go in the draft and go get

another a number two like that I would I would make sure you have depth at wide receiver for the young quarterback I would throw you know I love Josh Reynolds like sure I would throw Josh Reynolds in there as well I think Marquise Brown might be too expensive at that point. I like him in theory, but probably not. Right. Yeah, I'm looking at the other free agents. Gabe Davis, no. I'm passing on him. No.

Oh, Chase Claypool was a free agent, by the way. Oh, that's a great agent. Yeah, you didn't even think of that, did you? Did you? Yeah, there great great yeah yeah you didn't even think of that did you did you yeah there's a reason why you didn't think of that um how about how to marcus robinson has finished this season for the rams a gator great baby it is unbelievable what he's done for the rams down the stretch yeah i like the kendrick bourne call out to kendrick bourne's that was my favorite one yeah like the call out that's nice yeah if you could get look look free agent

strategy all right get yourself chris jones kendrick bourne johnny grenard and you bring back jalen johnson i don't even know if we went too high over we probably did no there's always money there's always money all right, that's what, and correct me if I'm wrong. That's what I'm doing. Justin Fields or not. So we said that we were going to kind of split this show in half, obviously like talk about people that we bring in with Justin Fields, without Justin Fields.

My free agency strategy for this team doesn't really change. No. If, if, if it's just Fields. Because I'm drafting offense anyways. I think that's where we're going to lean. Whether you're taking a quarterback at one or not, I think that that's where I'm going. Would you agree? I would agree.

Okay, there we go. Those are our free agent targets. Those are our free agent additions, which means now it's time. It is time to get into the three round mock drafts plural for the chicago bears uh we do three round mock drafts and chicago has three picks as it stands right now they have two first round picks they have one number one number nine and then they also have pick number 75 which is in the third round obviously don't have that second round pick because they traded it for Montez Sweat.

Connor, which one do you want to do first? We'll work through this together. Do you want to do the trade Justin Fields strategy first and then save the keep Justin Fields strategy for the end? Or do you want to flip it? What do you want to do? I think we flip it i think we talk about what they look like with fields okay all right so we're going to talk about what they look like with justin fields first so we're entering the pff mock draft simulator obviously

everybody out there we're going to be doing trades in this and so if you have a pff subscription you can get like the fully unlocked trades and all that good stuff you can even select players right here obviously i don't think we've highlighted this before but you can get like the fully unlocked trades and all that good stuff you can even select players right here obviously i don't think we've highlighted this before but you can select all sorts of players that you could trade as well to make it as realistic as possible um so let's do it obviously we're on the clock here at number one so we can hop into this draft we want to so we're keeping fields correct correct in this. Who's trading up? Who do we want to trade up? Giants 6?

I really have to walk away with Marvin Harrison Jr. Oh, okay. I don't know how excited I am about the idea of trading out of this pick, which I know is the ultimate contrarian. Everybody thinks, oh, well, you just keep Fields and you can trade the pick. Why would I not just take the best player in the draft? That helps Justin Fields. You're throwing the,

you are throwing the nastiest curveball at me that's ever been thrown. Screwball, I spit all over it. This is the EFIS pitch before anybody knew what it was. I still don't even know what it is. Right, though? Is it that nuts to say, you know what? I'll just take the best player in the draft

and the best wide receiver prospect since Jamar Chase. Okay, look. It's nuts because you've got to think about what you're giving up. You're picking Marvin Harrison Jr. with one pick. Sure. You're giving up three first rounders to do so. Do you really think that? Yes.

All right. Maybe. When we go through the, okay, you know what? You've convinced me. We're going to run through three mock drafts. We are. We're going to do this really quick, okay? We're going to do this.

We're going to do this here. Okay. The first scenario that we're doing, we're going to take this really quick, okay? That's fair. We're going to do this. We're going to do this here. Okay. The first scenario that we're doing, we're going to take Marvin Harrison Jr. number one overall. Okay. Okay. So you took Marvin. You just went full nuclear on everything the draft knows,

and you go Marvin Harrison Jr. Now, who are we taking at nine? Odunze is on the board. DeGene is on the board. We don't need a wide receiver. We signed Trevor Ford and drafted Marvinvin harrison yep yep yep so let's let's be let's go under the impression that we signed a wide receiver three a impact defensive tackle okay that helps here because johnny newton would have been in play yeah so i'm i i think that you're signing an impact defensive

tackle and then probably some other sort of edge rusher, maybe like a mid-tier edge rusher. Sure. Okay. So that's what we've got here. Oh, wow. Could go Fuag and play him on the inside if you wanted to. You could.

God, that'd be hilariously nasty to have tevin jenkins to lise fuag and darn all right on the same that's pretty nasty that is pretty nasty um part of me here too is like just take dallas turner get a freak for the front seven i feel like it probably should i think that's the play okay so let's go dallas turner and then we're going third round yep um yeah we're doing third round here oh I like I kind of like yeah Bullard jumps out to me right away because Bullard can like play slot for you for a time you can keep some of that versatility there Bullard definitely jumped out. Okay, all right.

I don't hate the Bullard pick. Tykee Smith's the same way. Tykee Smith, although he... Tykee Smith is more of the corner than the safety that Bullard is. So maybe with Brisker and... What did Gordon mostly play this past year? I gotta look this up.

What were his splits? Where are we at here? I'll pull it up. I got it. I'm almost there. Okay. Hopefully. Damn, Kyle Gordon's got some sick hair in this picture.

I was thinking the same thing. Slot. Okay, so they did play him in the slot. Yep. Alright, so then if you're getting rid of Eddie Jackson, then Kyler's going to keep playing the slot, then Bullard, yes, is the right play for them.

I'm okay going Bullard. Unless you wanted a center. I would take Zach Frazier. I wouldn't think twice about it. All right, let's do it. Okay, let's get Zach Frazier on the line here. Okay, so.

This draft rules. I mean, this draft is awesome. This draft is sick. All right, A- here. So for everybody, just to recap for everybody out there, Marvin Harrison Jr., we took him number one overall because Conor's an absolute sicko. We went Dallas Turner at number nine, the edge rusher from Alabama,

and then Zach Frazier in round three. So you got wide receiver one. Marvin Harrison Jr. is playing with DJ Moore and Kendrick Bourne. You got Cole Komet as well. You got Justin Fields at quarterback. The offensive line is the same other than getting Zach Frazier to now play at center, which I like a lot. And then Dallas

Turner is infused into that defensive line. He's got Montez Sweat now, Dallas Turner and impact defensive tackle. Oh. Alright. Good looking team. Alright, it's a good looking team. Alright, we're firing it back up. Okay, now we're firing it back up. So we got to think about that.

Now we are trading this pick. Right. To who? Giants? I don't know if the Giants are that desperate, are they? I don't see Joe Shane doing this, but you never know. You know who's going to be desperate? Arthur Blank. This team be desperate? Arthur Blank.

This team right here. Arthur Blank. The team that traded a wild amount of picks to move up to go get Julio Jones many, many years ago. And tried to get Deshaun Watson. And tried to go get Deshaun Watson, and we're not able to do it. I think the Atlanta Falcons are a big-time sleeper team to trade at the number one overall. And I think we should do it. By the way obviously

a lot of people probably sitting there going well you could have trade with new england and still got marvin harrison jr yeah it's not that simple though is the is the point i kind of yeah i obviously like that scenario exists you guys can go over to pff.com you can do your own mock draft you know you can do it yourself so i think especially because you're moving all the way down to eight you are losing three first round, you are losing three first rounders. You are losing three first round picks. So we can't trade 2026 picks in this month. Doesn't matter.

But this is number eight, first round pick in 2025, first round pick in 2026. Yep. I even wonder, you're probably getting more than this too. I bet you get. Give me Kyle Pitts. Just kidding. So Atlanta will get an extra second or third round

pick depending on whether calvin ridley signs or does not sign with jacksonville okay that's important to remember here do we think that he does i think he leaves so then it would be a third round pick so let's trade them 74 we'll do three first round picks and a third round pick here because i don't make the mock draft that decides no fun anyways so uh let's fourth the cherry i don't care um all right so now we got eight nine we got eight nine here we are key again we We are keeping Justin Fields. Damn. Jaden Daniels made it here.

Who did Atlanta take? Okay. They took Caleb. All right. All right. Ooh, Arizona went wrong. Let's go. Giants get neighbors.

I always like looking at what actually happened. See, this sucks for the bears. Um, I don't know if it sucks. It's not great. I would take Brock Bowers as one of these picks, even though I already paid Cole Komet. I think you could use Brock differently. Yeah, normally Rome makes it here, but Rome. That's why I'm saying it sucks. Okay, so let's go. You want to go Brock Bowers? I think i would have to take him with one of these two picks just out of overall impact okay we'll go we'll go brock with the first one and then still dallas turner still taking dallas turner yeah yeah i think so too okay so dallas

now we have we have two third round picks now because the falcons pick though oh wow they're back to back look at that the The level of action comes together. All right. Poles is just dying to take Peyton Wilson. How many linebackers can he accumulate? We don't need that. Show me the wide receiver depth at this point. Bullard, I still love. Okay, yeah, I would go Bullard in this spot.

I think we should really think about Bullard. I don't know if Sir Devante is even going to declare. So we're still kind of like on the. Man, let's go. Let's see what we got. Wide receiver. I mean, I like all these guys. I like all of them.

I don't know if I DJ's DJ's just obviously your wide receiver one at that point. Yes, which is fine. I'd be okay with McMillan. McMillan. I like Roman Wilson. I like Jamari Thrash. Would you want Thrash here? I think I'd want Thrash and he could play Mooney's role.

Man, I might rather have Roman Wilson then then i think roman wilson's faster okay that'd be interesting so you'd rather go the speed element yes i want speed here okay so we got you know for those who are audio only listeners we got jl mcmL. McMillan. We got Johnny Wilson, Roman Wilson, Jemichael Suedivante, Jamari Thrash, Malachi Corley's here, which I think Corley's interesting, but we just drafted Brock Bowers.

Right. All my manufactured touchers are going to Brock Bowers and DJ Moore. I don't need to fit in another guy that needs screens and sweeps. Okay, let's go Roman Wilson. He's a really well-rounded player. He's got really great speed.

He's a deep speed player, but he's a hell of a blocker as well he's just an overall you you pick two really good offensive football players with roman wilson and brock bowers you got guys that are going to give it your all no question about it and then i think the other pick is probably safety bullard yeah unless there's oh wait we also could go back to our well of getting a center yeah we could go fra to our well of getting a center. Yeah, we could go Frazier. You want to go Van Praan on this one? Sure, we'll go, yeah, we'll switch it up.

Yep. Okay, so we'll go Van Praan here. So the first mock that we did, we kept Justin Fields and we drafted Marvin Harrison Jr., Dallas Turner, and Zach Frazier. I think all three of them are absolutely starters for you yep and then in this draft we traded down from number one we got three first round picks and a third round pick we got brock bowers dallas turner roman wilson cedric van praan but then remember you got two more first round picks in the next two seasons right now we will finally see

what it is like if we are moving on from justin fields let me throw something at you oh god another curveball yeah so you traded down to eight and you got the three extra first rounders yes would you take one of the future ones and package it with eight and go back up and get neighbors. Let's assume Marv's just, nobody will move out of the pick to take Arizona's like we're taking Marv. You're not coming into this pick piss off. But would you do that for neighbors?

I think I would. You'd probably have to trade up with the Cardinals because the car, Monty Austin Ford has, has we know he's not afraid to move up with the Cardinals because the car Monty Austin for it has has we know he's not afraid to move up and down so I don't know I think the Cardinals would just take Marv if he's there I don't think they'd even answer the phone oh I think you have to go to the Chargers or the Patriots then you can get Marv if you were able to go to the Patriots pick but they need a quarterback or Marv we don't have to spend too

much time on it it's just something I kind of wanted to put in the air that you could also do so then you have a first round pick next year because you're going to trade the 2026 one at that point yep I think you're going to try to try to and then you're going to get Malik neighbors and so it'll basically be that draft that we had there but it's Malik neighbors instead of Brock Bowers exactly and one less future first that would be very interesting bears fans tell us if that is actually plausible for you there's so many different routes the bears could go with drafts um but i think that's a that's a really good shout out as another option for them i think that's very interesting so now the most realistic one yeah moving on from justin fields let say, who do you want to trade for Justin Fields?

Atlanta in the second, with a second round pick. Wow. We're just, you know, we're just wheeling. We're very high flying. What's the Falcons?

What's the Falcons hashtag? Rise up, rise up. Dodge. Wow. How did I forget that one? All right. Zine ride.

Jet flying. Yeah. Hell yeah. Will and Dylan kiss Dylan. I got to find my shirt that literally says all of that. Does it really? at that one all right zine riding jet flying yeah hell yeah will and dylan kiss stealing i gotta find my shirt that literally says all of that does it really that's amazing i haven't worn in a while okay so we are trading justin fields for a second round pick to the atlanta falcons we're still on on the clock at number one sweet caleb sure okay we're gonna to go Caleb here. Nine. Brock Bauer is still here?

Dude, I moved Romo Dunze up because he's just good. And now you broke the mock draft simulator. And now he's just like, look at this. We got quarterback, quarterback, wide receiver, wide receiver, wide receiver. But look, it is not unrealistic to think the first six picks are going to be three wide receivers, three quarterbacks. So I wrote a mock draft for NBC Sports that is free that is free to read well if you're the original for once if you need more if you need yeah i know right if you need more mock draft fixings after you listen to every second of this you can go read it on nbcsports.com when i did the exercise trevor i went through the

simulator a couple different times and in my own picks and I made every pick, obviously, so I wasn't simulating them. There was a couple scenarios where I got the Jets at 10, and I was like, it's not likely, and I won't do this in the mock because people will think I'm willing it to existence or being a homer, that Olu or Alt, and it's not likely. One of the two could be there because of how hot everyone is on the wide receivers and quarterbacks. There's just, you know, Tennessee will take one of the two could be there because of how hot everyone is on the wide receivers and quarterbacks. There's just, you know, Tennessee will take one of the two.

At this point in time, in January, there are so many offensive needs for teams that are picking in the top 10 that when we go through mock draft exercises, until they fill this shit in free agency, we're just going gonna keep giving them wide receivers and quarterbacks or whatever it is yeah yeah i so i mean like it's not to do a mock right now it's not that far-fetched to see that so yeah uh we went caleb at one are we just keeping it the same we go in dallas there's no roman dunes a to tempt us yeah we'll probably take dallas because this is this is the mock draft where I'm like, I really think this could happen.

Yeah. I mean, you could take Bowers again, but I don't think you need to, especially now that you have the second round pick. All right, let's go Dallas Turner. All right, we're going Dallas Turner again. If people are listening to this and they don't like Dallas Turner as a prospect,

they hate this shit. We blew it. You can, look, if you don't like Dallas Turner as a prospect, they hate this shit. We blew it. You can, look, if you don't like Dallas Turner for whatever reason, you could put, I don't care, Latu Latu, put Jared Verse in there. It doesn't matter. Your edge one goes here. Correct. That's essentially what it is.

So now with the Fields pick, we are picking the second round from Atlanta's selection. Oh, here we go, baby. Okay. Yeah. Oh, here we go, baby. Okay. Yeah. Oh, okay. Joan Ellis. Tempting from, well, no, we don't need an edge.

No, we don't need edge. Wide receiver. We got A.D. Mitchell. We got Xavier Leggett. We got Xavier Worthy. I know who I'm taking. We got Jalen Polk. You're taking Jalen Polk.

100%. See, I'm not 100%. I'd take A.D. Mitchell. Size speed is intriguing with Caleb. I don't hate that idea. I'd pick A.D. Mitchell. A.D. Mitchell's also been a touchdown monster for them over the last three years, really.

Okay. All right. I'm going to go A.D. Mitchell. monster for them yep over the last three years really so okay all right i'm gonna go ad mitchell i'm gonna make the executive decision that's okay okay so we went ad mitchell there and then third round so this is their pick oh i think i have to take devandre sweat i don't know if he's gonna be at 75 damn that's why it doesn't feel he He might, though. Dude, Tavondre Sweat, Jervin Dexter, and if it's Chris Jones, be hilarious. Be hilarious. And he's so different. That's the thing there. What you're asking those guys to do. That's why I like that pick.

Well, you're asking Dexter to gap. You are. They also have Zach Pickens, too. Yeah, that's true. And they also have Zach Pickens too. So they have those two players. Okay. Let's see what else we have on the board. I still want my damn center. That's the problem here.

He's here? I would take Frazier. I think I like that strategy the most. Powers Johnson is gone, right? Yes, he's long gone. I think I like that strategy the most. Powers Johnson is gone, right? Yes, he's long gone. I think he... I would have entertained Christian Haynes from UConn going to center,

but he just got picked right before this. Okay, I'm okay with Frazier. Powers Johnson, he went 55 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's good. He's good. He's really good. Depending on if you think that Graham Barton or Troy Fowl now are center prospects. If you don't, Powers Johnson to me is center one.

Is the true center. Yes. Yes. Okay. So I think we go with your boy Frazier. I think so too. Okay. All right, let's wrap it up.

All right, so if we're moving on from Justin Fields, we're getting a second round pick for him. We got Caleb Williams, Dallas Turner, A.D. Mitchell, Zach Frazier. This is the highest PFF draft grade that we got of the three that we did. That's a straight A. And we said it was the most realistic approach. And that was the most realistic approach. I think we fixed the Bears.

I feel really good. I was a little nervous about this one because the hype has been extremely high. The demands have been everywhere. I go to sleep and I just have YouTube comments in my brain of fix the Bears, coward. You're just cold sweat. Like what if we don't do it right?

But I think we did. Well, I'll let the people decide that you guys let us know what you thought of this episode and how we did when it comes to fixing the bears. Let us know what you thought of our assessment of Matt Eberflug, Ryan Poults, Justin Fields, Luke Getze,

the offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, Dan Mullen, the free agency strategy. Would love to hear about that because fans are always very creative about how teams can spend their money. And, of course, the three, we went above and beyond. We gave you three Chicago Bears three-round mock drafts.

Let us know which one was your favorite and why, if that was the same strategy that you would go with. We would love to hear whatever feedback that you have on this episode. It's the best part of when we do these Fix Your Fr um the best way to do that of course youtube.com backslash at nfl stock exchange if you are audio only you get us up on x on instagram as well at tampa bay tray at connor j rogers uh we will be back next week with um probably would you say we'll see yeah we don't know who is the who is who is the person who said like yeah we might all be dead next week oh i was saying that we'll be back i just don't know what

we'll be back with no we might not be back at all we might be i was going way more morbid about it i do enjoy i don't know if you ever noticed this since you and i have both done other draft shows that uh eventually came to an end because all good things must end sometimes the comments are like please don't ever end this show like there's a built-in fear that'll just be gone uh whenever i see those i respond to people hey if y'all keep watching yeah acting and listening we'll keep making it man hell yeah this is a blast for us to do. We love this series.

We love you guys. We've had a ton of new subscribers over the last two weeks, really, since the beginning of draft season has really started to ramp up. So welcome to everybody who is new. We appreciate you joining. Get in on the comment section.

It's one of my favorite corners of the internet when it comes to a draft community. We do say this all the time, but maybe we do need to launch that Discord so people can kind of go back and forth and everything but for right now the place to do it is in the youtube comment sections we're reading and interacting with as much as we can because we enjoy it but like connor said hopefully we'll still be around you know next week but we don't exactly know what we're doing we might get back to one of the position rankings i think corner is up next for us. So maybe we'll do corner.

Probably have time to fix maybe one or two more teams before we get into shrine bowl, senior bowl. That's the thing. You and I are going to be traveling for it's coming. It's coming quick, man. So like seven weeks, dude,

it's going to be, it's going to be a lot where it, this, this process is going to be so much fun. I'm, I'm going to love giving you guys updates of the all-star events that we're going to. Of course, we'll have the combine as well, all that good stuff. It's going to be a blast.

But before all that, we will be with you next week. Let us know which team that you want us to fix next and what position group you maybe want to hear us talk about next. But until then, I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We'll see you all next week. Bye.