NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 289. Fix Your Franchise: Chicago Bears

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

0:00 - Intro 6:45 - How we got here 19:25 - Coach candidates 44:00 - Roster overview 51:00 - Free agency overview 1:03:50 - 3-round mock

Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we are fixing the Chicago Bears. Matt Eberflus is out. The search for a new coach is on. We're going to tell you all about the coaching staff that we would love to set up in Chicago, plus get into some free agency targets and, of course, a Chicago mock draft

to get back onto their winning ways in Chicago. 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. It is once again a Fix Your Franchise episode coming towards the end of the series. Obviously, we're getting a lot closer to when we're going to get into early prospect rankings

for the 2025 NFL Draft. I promise you guys it's coming. But we got a couple of heavy hitters that we got to do to finish out the series, including one today. It's the Chicago Bears. Come on, Ryan. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to do it, man.

I thought last year we did the Fixing the Bears episode. I thought we did a great job. Obviously, they're picking number one overall. They get themselves Caleb Williams. It was fixed. Come on. This is supposed to be it. The trades, the acquisitions, the team is there. They had everything set up and well,

they stink. So we're here once again to fix the Chicago Bears. If you're new to the series, what's up? Glad that you're hanging out with us. What we'll do on this series is we'll talk about everything. We'll talk about how an organization got to the place that they're in. We'll talk about the draft strategy. We'll talk about a free agency strategy.

We'll talk about head coaches and offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators that they need to hire, the vibes of the team, the key pieces, who they can cut on the roster, the assessment of the roster overall, all that good stuff. And we're going to have a lot of fun getting to do it here with the Chicago Bears, where I guarantee we're not going to be doing it next year

because they're going to listen to the show. Connor, how are you doing, my friend? I'm good, man. You know, when you go through these fix-your-franchises, it feels like teams fall into buckets, right? And some teams are just in nuclear wasteland. Other teams you go through and you're like, dang, they're like pretty close. I feel like the Raiders is one of those where we were looking around.

We're like, this isn't as bad as you would think, considering how they've played. The Jets and the Bears fall into the very simple bucket of the coaching is a disaster, an absolute disaster. And the glass half full view of that is there's talent on rosters like these that is underachieving and underperforming. The glass half empty side of it is, you know, it's hard to evaluate things when a team lacks preparation, lacks in-game management, lacks any sort of identity and that can make the exercise much more difficult so the bears definitely fall into that odd bracket of man if they get it right at coach which is easier said than done it feels like this is a franchise that could take the strides next year that we thought they would take this year you ever have you ever done the hypothetical question or maybe maybe this was actually asked on a no notes episode that we've done in years past where it's like the, which one would you rather have just an absolute ace in? General manager, head coach, quarterback.

Like, and that's the, like, it's the ultimate question. It's like, which one means more? Yeah, we did do this. The longer we do this, I can't remember exactly what my answer was at the time. The longer we do this, the more I gravitate towards Coach being my answer. Absolutely. Look at the Steelers.

Case in point. 100% look at the Steelers. Dude, we're talking about the Steelers on the PFF recap show earlier today. And we're talking about like, not just Cam Hayward and TJ Watt, but we're talking about like Keanu Benton and Nick Herbig and Peyton Wilson

and Alex Highsmith. And like these dudes, like they just get it. They draft the right players and the coaches put them in fantastic positions to succeed. I feel as though, bringing this back to the Chicago Bears, Ryan Polister, general manager, I don't think it's total BS that Kevin Warren, who's the president of football operations with the Chicago Bears,

they have a press conference on Monday, and he says, like, I think that Ryan is hardworking. I think that he is brilliant. I think that he is doing everything he can to put a winner in Chicago. And Connor, I actually agree. Like, this is not a situation where I think, yeah, we got to get Poles the hell out of here. I think that Poles has done a nice job trying to marry up what Eberflus wanted and just overall getting talent into this organization. But at the end of the day, we wanted to wait to do the

Chicago Bears fixture franchise because one, we wanted to see a little bit more of, like, where they were going to finish in the draft order. I know they could potentially finish a lot higher than what we're going to do here on the mock draft. But I also wanted to see, like, what's Ibraflux's situation going to be like? Because it feels like he's the issue. And I didn't want to just talk about head coach with him still being there.

But now we can confirm. He's out. Ryan Poles is heading up the search. That's where we're at. But just going back to kind of what you were saying, head coach matters so much for this team. And we're obviously going to talk about free agency additions. We're going to give you a blueprint of what to do in the offseason,

who to target, what the roster is like, the draft, the mock draft we're going to do at the end of the episode. But to me, a lot of what we're going to talk about here is getting it right at head coach. That's how I feel about where the Chicago Bears are right now. That's it. I mean, it's and of course, you and I sit here. We do these exercises.

They usually take about 90 minutes. It's always deeper than that. We'll find free agents that make sense. I know Bears fans want to talk about the offensive line. We'll go through a three round mock draft like that. Yes, there are always roster improvements, but where this thing starts right now is finding the right coach. And my honest transition to that is the right guy for Caleb Williams, because Caleb Williams has all the talent in the world. And we've seen that talent on display at times this year, but we've also seen a team that

lacks preparation and consistency in multiple phases of the game, not just the quarterback in the past game. And obviously that has to be priority number one because he is the franchise. You know, I was a little surprised when Kevin Warren got up there during the press conference and said, yeah, Ryan Poles and the NFL Stock Exchange duo will be heading up the head coaching search. Or the consultants. I was very honored.

I was very honored, very clearly, big fan of the pod, addict Kevin Warren. So we appreciate you listening to the pod there, my friend. Kevin Warren, addicted to sex. Confirmed. He can't be doing that. Addicted to sex. Confirmed. He can't be doing that. Man, talk about that being clipped out and just career over. He can't be doing that.

He can't set us up like that. No, but I think we got to dig into head coach here. It's a big conversation. we always start from the top down the bears are an organization that wants to win badly i mean this is you know kevin warren got up there and he said this is the most attractive job in the 2025 cycle and the reasons that he gave for that were of course you have caleb williams you have a franchise caliber quarterback already on the roster so you already have the biggest piece of the puzzle already there, you believe. Two, we talked about the fan base.

Chicago Bears fans, diehards, man. I mean, even from the Fixing Your Franchise episode that we had last year, going through all the mock draft exercises, getting to talk with and getting to know a lot of Bears fans throughout the last season, man, you guys are passionate. You are. You want a winner. You want a winner. And we want to try to help give you a vision of kind of what that could look like. But, you know, I think

that Kevin Warren is right there and believes that that's the case. And Ryan Pohl certainly wants that to be the case. And you need a head coach that's going to be able to deliver for you. And no matter how you slice it, Matty Bertheluso is not that guy. Four and eight this season. They went three and 14 last season, including losing their last 10 games. When you end the season on a 10 game losing streak, that's almost a guaranteed you're out of here as a head coach. But they were able to stomach it because it got them Caleb Williams. It kept them in the driver's seat of the number one overall pick and you know I looked at this last season you know I I should have gone back and I I should have re-listened to the to

the fixture franchise that we did last year because I don't want to sound too hindsight-ish I I was I was skeptical about Mattie reflux even keeping his job last year. Yeah. That's the consensus view, right? Surprise. And it's like, yeah, the roster's not great. Like, yeah, you don't have a quarterback. I understand, but 10 losses in a row? Like, we've talked about that before on this podcast. You're setting up a losing culture, man.

Like, that's not what you want. And ultimately, they fire him when they do here in the season, which I believe is the first time the Bears have ever fired a head coach in the middle of the season. They do it because the end of the game against Detroit on Thanksgiving Day was mismanaged so poorly that the players were basically like, not as bullshit in the locker room. That Ibraflus got up and he talked about, you know, from reports, it was like, oh, Ibraflus had this, you know, message of, you know,

stay in the course and, you know, stay, you know, continuing to play together and all this kind of stuff. And apparently, like, it was almost a mutiny in the locker room. Like, they were like, no, we're not, we're actually not hearing that anymore. Because we drove down the field. We got into field goal range. Caleb took a sack. You sat on your timeout. You burned we drove down the field. We got into field goal range. Caleb took a sack. You sat on your timeout.

You burned 32 seconds off the clock. And now we don't have a chance to win the football game. Oops. Now we thought we were going to overtime no matter what. Overtime was like worst case scenario. Nope. Worst case scenario was you fumbling the entire 30 seconds away and the game being over. It can't be like that.

And Connor, I'm going to be honest with you. Just break down a little further. I actually didn't hate the logic that Matt Evenflus had at the end of the game being over. It can't be like that. And Connor, I'm going to be honest with you. Just to break down a little further, I actually didn't hate the logic that Matt Evenflus had at the end of the game. Okay, you want to keep the middle of the field open. You want to be able to complete a pass to get a timeout because you lost too many yards on the sack. You want to be able to throw the ball anywhere.

And even if they land inbounds, be able to call a timeout, get the field goal unit out there. The problem is, very clearly, nobody was on the same page about that. This was not prepared. This was not rehearsed. The wide receivers didn't know what they were doing.

Caleb didn't know what he was doing. The offensive line didn't know what he was doing. And then, boop, all right, there's the game over. When you got to 25, 24, Caleb got sacked with 31 seconds, 32, 31 seconds on the clock. When you realized how much turmoil that you were in at 24 seconds, timeout. You called the timeout, and he didn't do it.

And I think the players were very fed up with thinking that they were being led by the wrong man. And that's why Ibraflus gets fired when he does. But, dude, 14, I mean, the numbers are ugly. 14-32 overall record for Iberflues. 3-13 in the NFC North. Sorry, sorry, 2-13 in the NFC North. 5-19 in one score games.

5-19. You can't even luck yourself into a couple more wins close to 500 in one score games? 3-19 on the road. Can't win outside of Chicago. I'll go into the timeline a little bit more for Ibraflues, but man, I can understand why this past week looking at the records was the straw that broke the camel's back,

especially if the locker room was really sort of revolting in the way that it sounded like it was. Yeah. I mean, listen, it's it's something we haven't seen in this sport. It feels like quite often to that level, they probably feel failed. And it goes back to the original point of the lack of preparation to not have the offense on the same page in that situation. And as the head coach of the team, you are going to take the blame for that a hundred out of a hundred times. And I think that it really kind of put the right bow on that era for, for Ibra Floos,

if we're being honest, like this isn't that ending was shocking because that feels hard to have that happen in NFL game, but for it to be the Bears and for it to be his team in that situation, I mean, Bears fans are watching this. They've just seen way too many shortcomings throughout this era in exactly preparation, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, too, because this was an organization that I think the big selling point in the offseason was, well, when you looked basically from the point they acquired

Monta Sweat in 2023, this defense had a total identity change in the second half of last year. They were really, really good. So then you bring in Shane Waldron from Seattle, you draft Caleb Williams, you get Keenan Allen, you draft Roma Dunza, you think the offensive line is going to gel together, you paid DeAndre Swift. You're looking around and saying, OK, we've made the personnel improvements. We need an offense. We got a new offensive coordinator. And I already showed you the reason I'm here. I'm speaking as Matt Eberflus was because of what I could do on the defensive side of

the ball. And that unit looked awesome down the stretch of the previous year. And then it kind of proved coming into this year that that wasn't the right line of thinking, because now you have a young quarterback that's in turmoil within the organization. It is an attractive job, and we're going to get into that right now, which is very, very beneficial. But it feels like in a way the Bears kind of wasted this year where let's be real. When you have a rookie quarterback, you get that ticket of progress right like the commanders and the broncos with their rookie quarterbacks they already kind of blew past their projection and expectations but if the commanders this year won five or six games you'd be like hey they're building something with jayden daniels if the broncos won five or

six games it's like it's year one for bow and yes yes, Bo and Jay Daniels played a lot of college football. And part of the selling point with them as prospects was that they were supposed to be pro ready. But they're still rookies in the NFL where in this situation, the Bears have so much talent on both sides of the ball that they didn't need Caleb Williams to be the offensive rookie of the year or superstar. But they just needed to be a competent football team with that talent. And even if Luce has to take the dive for their consistent shortcomings and the word I keep coming back to is just underachieving. No, no, there's no doubt about it. Especially. Yeah. On the offensive side of the football,

I think that the defensive side of things has looked fine throughout his tenure. Sometimes even great, honestly. Yes. I'm not for sure. You know, we'll get to we'll get to their, their defensive makeup. And honestly, it's not really that. Yes, I'm not for sure. You know, we'll get to their defensive makeup. And honestly, it's not really that hard to make the Bears a contender. I'm not going to lie. It's not. No, this is in theory a good team. I think the biggest thing in the Bears' way is this is a really good division.

Yeah, no, absolutely. Like powerhouse division. Right, and that obviously makes it more of an uphill climb, so that's not good. But you're not so far out of the fight with all of that. You could put your name in the basket for a team that could be part of what makes this a really good division. Now, does it mean you're going to win division titles?

I don't know how quickly you're going to be able to do that, but you can certainly look a lot more competent. You can look a lot better even next year. You know, when I look at Ibraflus, it's hard to criticize too much of him being brought in because he had a lot of success with the Indianapolis Colts. And the reasons why they brought him in, Ryan Pohl cited all of the right things, right? When we think about why Ibraflus was fired and some of the characteristics that we're going to talk about

in hiring a head coach who we think makes sense for this team, you know, a leader of an organization, somebody who understands structure and discipline that we're going to talk about in hiring a head coach who we think makes sense for this team. You know, a leader of an organization, somebody who understands structure and discipline and how things are done and is a great judge of character, a good talent evaluator, like all of these things. You have to be so many of these things to be a head coach. But the most important thing, and as I've learned, you've got to be a great CEO.

You know, there are a lot of really great coaches around the NFL who weren't play callers beforehand. Jim Harbaugh, before he got his job with the San Francisco 49ers. No, actually, before he got the job with, I believe it was with Stanford. He wasn't an offensive coordinator. He was a position coach. His brother, John, before he got the head coaching job with the Baltimore Ravens, he wasn't an offensive coordinator. He was a position coach. Mike Tomlin, he was a one-year defensive coordinator before he got the head coaching job with the Baltimore Ravens, he wasn't a defense coordinator. He was a position coach.

Mike Tomlin, he was a one-year defense coordinator before he got the Pittsburgh Steelers job. But for all intents and purposes, he was a defensive backs coach for the Buccaneers for four years and then basically just got the Pittsburgh Steelers job. Dan Campbell, tight ends coach, goes into being one of the best coaches in the NFL. And the reason why is because these guys are incredible coaches,

incredible CEOs, leaders. That's what you need. And I think that when we get into the head coach conversation of some of the guys that we're about to hire, that we want to hire, that's the number one characteristic. We all get caught up in, and I'm guilty of this too. Oh, who's the next hotshot defensive coordinator? Who's great at calling plays? I'm going to be be honest with you I don't give a damn about that give me a guy

who's a leader Bruce Arians with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bruce wouldn't call in plays the Bucs hired Bruce Arians not just well this is a little tricky because the Bucs did hire Bruce Arians to be head coach under the impression that he was going to call plays. And then he sort of was like, nah, I'm going to have Byron left, which called plays. Cause I think he's going to be a great offensive coordinator. Now, obviously that didn't really work out too well, but the reason why it still worked out the way that they did, the reason why you're able to lure Tom Brady down to Tampa Bay is because you have a leader. It's because you have a leader, a CEO and head coach. That's the most important trait. So we're going to talk about

some guys who obviously are up and coming, maybe have their names on the head coaching carousel because of what they've done as play callers. But I don't want people to just focus solely on, is this guy a good play caller? He should be a head coach. It's a totally different beast. And Matt Eberflus is one of many examples that just because you are a good coordinator does not make you a good head coach. It is different criteria to be that way.

And going back to sort of how I was about to set this up what polls said about Eberflus when they hired him experience passion high character attention to detail judge of character like these are things that you actually hire a head coach for and it didn't feel like he was that specifically with offense coordinator I think Luke Getzey and Shane Waldron were massive nails in the coffin for this guy because they ended up being terrible hires for him. And even when Justin Fields was the quarterback, you heard rumblings of him. Even Justin Fields said a couple of times,

like, I don't know, maybe it's coaching. You know, DJ Moore. DJ Moore checked himself out of the game against the Arizona Cardinals. I know some people want to be like, no, he hurt his ankle. I think he hurt his ankle. I think he also was just like, man, screw this.

I'm out. I'm sitting out this play. I'm going over to the bench. He's fed up. Keenan Allen said that before. Other players have said that before. Just feels like there was a lot of dysfunction in that coaching staff and why the number one thing this entire off season,

this entire episode that we're about to do, to me, is focused around getting head coach right and getting the CEO leader in that seat, not just a great play caller, although we'll examine plenty. But, Donner, that's my thoughts before we sort of dive into those candidates there. I think it's phenomenal, with the caveat that I think DJ Moore might have left because he thought he went out of bounds. But the world will never know. There's like five working conspiracy theories on that whole situation. Man, does it not look good when you just watch it back over and over again?

But the bottom line is, oh, he went out of bounds. I never came back. Never came back and never came back and i want to be clear like i i'm a little critical of that obviously because i don't like to see it happen but given what we know about chicago behind the scenes right you can understand the frustration so i find them to be the most interesting of all the teams needing a head coach because i go back to what you just said that they need an organizational leader which those are not easy to find that's gonna you're gonna you if your team is looking for a head coach you are gonna hear that beaten into your head

so much you are gonna hear the words ceo organizational leader, next Dan Campbell from every national reporter, person, analyst. Get used to it right now. They're hard to find, but you're going to hear that. But also, Trevor, the guy that I know not as much about in that side of things, but do know he is a incredible play caller or incredible play creator is Ben Johnson. And every time we do this series, we get on here and go, I don't think this is the job Ben Johnson's going to leave for, because Ben Johnson for the last two years has chosen to go back to Detroit. It was really a last second kind of thing with Washington.

I think Washington thought they had him, but when it comes down to it for the bears, if not this job, what job? I mean, seriously, you got a number one talent, number one overall pick under center with talent. You have enough weapons. You have resources to make your offensive line better, but it also goes back to your argument. And I'm not saying Ben Johnson can't lead. We simply don't know. We don't hear him build as that. We hear him as the next hot shot play caller for a head coach. Now, the positives that come with that is one, this is a job that maybe he actually will take to now you are stapling in the form of, you know, what the Rams have, what the Vikings have, your offensive mind and play caller and quarterback developer stapled to that position.

You don't have to worry about him getting hired away. There's consistency. I think there is something to when the offensive principles come from the head coach and trickle down to the staff rather than just the, you know, the defensive guy that gets the job and is like, I'm going to hire my offensive coordinator and I'm never going to go over there. Like I'm never going to go over to that room. That's their room. So I think that's where our combo starts though. Like if this isn't the job for ben johnson i think i'm just about done talking about ben johnson i agree i agree and and you know it's it's weird to say because he's he's only 38 right he's still young ben johnson is so you never want

to say like oh well this is this is his last chance but i do agree with you i don't think it's it's totally hyperbolic for Kevin Warren to say this is the most attractive job of any of the job openings in 2025 I would agree with you you have Caleb Williams in hand you have a lot of nice offensive pieces not perfect you have a general manager who is very willing to do what it takes to put a winner there and very clearly as time goes on the bears are more and more desperate to i won't even say become champions like i'm just saying like become relevant right become a playoff contender in their division become playoff contenders to make football in chicago mean something again to be a you know a a playoff destination where you have to go on the road

and play in chicago on wildcard weekend or something like that that's really step one that's what you're looking to get back to and I think the organization gets more and more uh desperate might be the wrong word hungry passionate to achieve that with a fan base that is ready to explode if the Bears actually get to that point and so in that case you have basically all the resources that you would want to build this job the way that you want to. So when it comes to Ben Johnson, I don't really have a staff in mind that he would build out.

He spent a lot of time with the Miami Dolphins as a tight ends coach and an assistant coach. He started in 2012, and so he's been in the league for 12 years. He's been in the league since he was 26, even though he's only 38 years old. He's been in the league for 12 years he's been in the league since he was 26 even though he's only uh 38 years old he's been in the league for over a decade but you know he becomes the past game coordinator for the lions in 2021 he's been their offensive coordinator since 2022 and i agree with you man if it's not now when because i think if you look at if you look at situations where ben johnson would become the head coach

there's not really many realistic spots that are less of a dumpster fire owner wise i should say than what the chicago bears have bears fans i don't know if you're gonna push back on me on that but i i'm maybe i maybe i don't know enough about the ownership lore. But again, I feel like they want to win. I feel like they want to put a winner there. So the owner wanting to win is, I think, a big deal. Having a GM of Ryan Pohl's, I think, hunger level, again, to succeed,

I think is really important. And having the quarterback, I think, is there. Over the next two years, I mean, we've already talked about this year's quarterback class ain't like there are a ton of saviors in this year's quarterback class in the draft next year doesn't look much better you know I'm sure guys will emerge and we'll obviously talk about that next year for summer scouting but if it's not now you're almost like waiting two more years for Ben Johnson to take a coach job so I think this would be it. If they want Ben Johnson, I think that this is the job that he actually goes for.

So I do agree with you, but I do have two other coaching scenarios that I think are, yeah, we're not putting all our eggs in the Ben Johnson basket, even if this feels like the one. So please. Okay. So I have two,

one I think is realistic that I think would be a great scenario for this team. The second one is the ultimate pipe dream. This is the ultimate, if you could sign up for this, I'm buying Bears merch. Like, I'm buying a Caleb Williams jersey. We're going to have success. This is going to be incredible. But obviously, a tougher percent chance for that to happen. The first one, the more. This is going to be incredible. But obviously a tougher

percent chance for that to happen. The first one, the more realistic one, Mike Vrabel. We brought up Mike Vrabel for a lot of different teams. Vrabel built a winner in Tennessee. And here's what I love about Mike Vrabel. Even when he probably shouldn't have. When his team was underdogs, when his team wasn't favored, when his team was underdogs, when his team wasn't favored, when his team was outmatched when it came to talent, the Tennessee Titans won because he is a damn good coach and he is a leader and he has done it before. He did it with the Titans.

And obviously that situation didn't end well with, I don't know if it was necessarily beef with him and John Robinson or him beef with the ownership or whatever happened. But he ends up leaving Tennessee. And I was pretty shocked by that. If he wants to get back in the NFL, which I think he's going to want to get back in the NFL. This is the situation where Mike Vrabel can help you establish the culture. I also feel like he's a football guy like Ryan Poles is.

And I think there could be some good chemistry there between building the team and coaching the team between the two of them. Mike Vrabel, more of a defensive guy, right? So he can handle a lot of the defensive stuff. I don't know who he would get to be for defensive coordinator. But here is my offensive coordinator for Mike Vrabel. You ready for it? Brian Hartline, currently the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for Ohio State University. I think Ryan Day is done at Ohio State I and with

yeah and if Ryan Day is done then that coaching staff is up for grabs and unless the Buckeyes hire Brian Hartline to be their head coach which maybe they do because Brian I mean what Brian Hartline has done with wide receivers alone at Ohio State over the last couple of years that he has been the wide receivers coach. Phenomenal track record there alone. Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, like just so many. But Marvin Harrison Jr., just so many phenomenal wide receivers that have come through there and played very, very well. He doesn't call plays.

Ryan Day calls plays. But he is very much a part of that play calling process right you can lure him from a great college spot to the nfl the ohio state connection is obviously there with mike vrabel playing at ohio state and brian hartline coaching at ohio state i cannot remember if their paths have crossed before but but to me, that is the somewhat realistic dream. You get an absolute leader and a program builder in Mike Frabel, and you get an up-and-coming, really talented offensive mind in Brian Hartline, who I have not heard a bad word about, about how he handles players and gets the most out of talent

and what he could be as a play caller. So that, to me, is scenario one. What do you think? It's really good. I like it a lot. It's very unique we haven't heard heartline uh mentioned as a ever as an nfl coach probably because one is ties to the university two that they obviously from being wide receivers coach to an elevated role in co-offensive coordinator you know there he's somebody that they've prioritized over the years. He's very good at his job in that situation.

And now things are looking a little, you know, shaky at the university for the first time in a long time. You can't lose to Michigan that many times where maybe there will be change. I liked your drop-in, though, that maybe he's also the next coach of Ohio State. Like, I don't think – I think there's a non-zero chance that that's on the table as well. Right. But it's, he's absolutely qualified for that. Just when you look at the track record

over the last eight years at Ohio State, what he's been able to do, and the fact that I think the respect he would garner, specifically not only to a wide receiver room, but an offense. And I think there is something with that level of understanding of the wide receiver position, how that affects you coaching an entire offense, a young quarterback, getting the timing down, getting the rhythm down, building the pass game, building play action, building balance in the run, teaching guys how to block, which is an

all-time necessity at the NFL level right now. When you look at wide receivers that are able to contribute as blockers in the run game and how that opens up your inside and outside running game. So I think I really like it. Vrabel would be, Vrabel is going to be a slam dunk for whoever gets him. I do think the golden question that you started to answer is, what does his staff look like in this era? Because Vrabel was a guy that everybody likes to do the old, well, the last time he was coach, he had Todd Downing and Keith Carter, and that offensive staff was bad.

What people forget is Vrabel had Matt LaFleur, who got hired by the Packers, and then he had Arthur Smith, who got hired by the Falcons. Vrabel had some top flight offensive coordinators and everybody coached everybody they got poached and eventually like it's you're gonna run out of chairs it's it's tough to keep refilling that and as much as everybody including this show likes to get their Arthur Smith jokes so Huff like he's looking like a good hire for the Steelers right now Arthur Smith is a good offensive coordinator nobody's ever doubted that he struggled as a head coach so I like like this idea a lot. And I think it's a little bit more innovative than the old, well, I'm just going to bring, you know, somebody that I already know or somebody

that's already called plays at the NFL level. I like taking a chance and giving a little more upside and a higher. So before we get to sort of my, my pipe dream scenario, that is not impossible, but it would be tough to get to. And if do again i think this is the absolute dream for the chicago bears we should mention cliff kingsbury interviewed for this offensive coordinator position last year they ended up taking shane waldron over cliff kingsbury kingsbury goes to the washington commanders he's had a lot of success with jayden daniels i don't know if Kingsbury would come over and be the head coach for the Chicago Bears, but I got to think that if there's a place where he would, it would be in the spot that Caleb Williams is. Right. So that's good. Yeah.

I think that that would I think that if he's going to go anywhere, it would be Chicago. So, again, they interviewed him for offensive coordinator. They didn't pick him last year. So would they interview him for head coach now? I don't think so. I don't think so either. I guess we'll see. Can I get a takeoff? Yeah, please, please.

I'm a little surprised how eager, and I'm not saying you, I think you're just raising the point that Cliff will probably get interviews this offseason. I'm a little surprised how eager people are. And when I say people, it's really like the national media, that's their job. They're,

they're saying this because people think Cliff's going to get interviews and he probably will. Cliff is just be total epitome to me of somebody like, let's let him be a good offensive coordinator. We don't need to go back into the bag of, well, he had another good, he had a good year as an offensive coordinator,

returned to the league, back to being a head coach. He wasn't a good head coach. And there was a lot of reasons why. And he wasn't really a great college head coach. So I don't know why we need to do this again. And honestly, Cliff, to me, personality-wise, strikes me as a guy that should just be, not should be. I never want to tell someone how to be. I think he is at his best when he's just worrying about calling plays

as an offensive coordinator. I don't know if he loved the, all the weight that comes with being a head coach at an NFL level college different. I think it's a different, you know, style. I don't know. I just, it's a dangerous trap people fall themselves into with constantly trying to get more out of guys that maybe they're just good at what they're currently doing. I'd hire Joe Brady before I hired Cliff King. Yeah, let's see. It's different.

Yeah, 100%. I would agree. I feel like Brady, I feel like Joe Brady, who I was going to bring up at some point, I wonder if he's waiting for the Bengals job to open up so he can go back with Burrow. That would be an electric factory. So he could get reunited with Burrow.

The problem with that combo, and now I know I'm getting all over the place, so I'll keep this really quick, is with the Bengals, the offense is awesome. Isn't that Zach Taylor's job? No, but that's the thing. And we just did the Fixing the Bengals episode, and both of us came to the conclusion that we don't think Taylor's going to get fired.

No. Lou Anarumo. Lou Anarumo's probably going to get fired. And honestly, when we're talking about Mike Vrabel, if Mike Vrabel gets – Lou Anarumo is his defensive coordinator. All for it. All for that. A staff of Mike Vrabel at head coach um brian

hartline is offensive coordinator and luan arumo is defense coordinator sign me the hell up lose a really good coach he doesn't have the pieces right now no he does not you can't you can't just get rid of like dj reader and jesse bates and be like all right yeah just keep doing it and then all doesn't work and then all the injuries that they've had as well, I feel like has been tough for that team. So, yeah. So back to the Bears. Right, right, back to the Bears. Pete Carroll is somebody that we've talked about

that we've brought up before. If Pete's interested in coaching at all whatsoever, Pete knows how to set up an organization, be a leader. So like Pete Carroll would have to be near the top of the list. But this is it. Are you ready for my pipe dream scenario? Yeah, let's dream big, Chicago. It don't get bigger than this, so I hope you're ready.

Kyle Shanahan. Oh, God, he did it. Kyle Shanahan, the San Francisco 49ers are a massive disappointment this season. Now, a lot of that is outside of Kyle Shanahan's control. There've been a lot of injuries that have happened with the 49ers. It's just been, it's been a tough season in a lot of different ways.

Now, they have also underachieved, I think, independent of those injuries. I feel like the team could have been better, and they are just not. And when you look at Kyle Shanahan, he signed a contract extension in 2023, which takes him through 2027. I am just wondering, is there fatigue?

Now, I wouldn't think that this is extremely possible as long as John Lynch is still the general manager because it doesn't feel like they would break up that band. It doesn't feel like unless Kyle Shanahan himself says, I would like to move on. I would like to go coach somewhere else. I've sort of, you know, I had my run with the 49ers. It feels like it's not going to happen here. I would like to move on. And if that happens, and they probably wouldn't fire him.

They would probably make the Bears trade for him. So you're talking about losing one of your second round picks probably and more. You're not, I mean, Ryan Polis is not going to give up his first round pick. So that's not going to happen. But I think there, I think there is a world that could exist where Kyle Shanahan might be done with the 49ers. And if he, if, if, if that door is even cracked open, if you can barely see sunlight in between the door and the door frame, if I'm Ryan Poles, I am Jackie Chan drop-kicking the door wide open. And I am making the call. You have to. And we're having conversations because here's the staff.

We already did this when we fixed the Colts. Bob Salah's D.'s DC you're running it back and you go get Clint Kubiak from the New Orleans Saints so your staff is Kyle Shanahan Robert Sala Clint Kubiak that's the dream for Chicago I mean that staff is excuse my French kids in the car on their way to school because our listeners play it out loud. Fucking sick. I mean.

You warned him that time. I gave them a lot of runway. A lot of runway. Clint Kubiak, and I'm so glad you brought it up because it feels like he'll probably be somewhere else. Just, you know, everything going on with the Saints. He's trying to make chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what. He's got Marquez Valdez scantling going off right now.

Kubiak can really call plays, so much so that he might not even have to go with a Shanahan. He might get the keys somewhere else as a play caller. But anyway. 100%. But if he doesn't, even making a lateral move, he'd go, oh, yeah, I'd coach under Kyle. Because you're going to win. Go get to coach Caleb Williams.

And you're going to be a head coach in two years. Someone's going to hire you because you're going to win. You'll be talked about like Ben Johnson if you go in that situation, if you're Clint Kubiak. So absolutely, you better believe that he would go there. So this is an interesting one to me because, well, number one, this Shanahan situation almost feels Andy Reed ish in a way where it's right.

Like we did a lot of good. We did a lot of really good things here. Yep. We know you're a good coach. It's just time with Reed. They didn't, they didn't renew his contract. They let it expire.

I was reading about this just to make sure I had everything right. There was three, three teams had planes waiting in Philadelphia for him when his contract expired. That's when, you know, like that's unbelievable. And that's the thing is Shanahan would immediately be number one

on every single head coach opening spot there is. He'd be so desired that he would create, he'd potentially create an opening that doesn't exist. Like there would be teams behind the scenes going, if we fired our coach, would Kyle come here to his agent? But again, Chicago can compete with some of those teams even, given the situation that they have. Yeah, they have a good roster.

They have Caleb Williams. So, yeah. And just to clarify, like you said, you're dreaming big. Yep. It's a really interesting conversation. Now, Kyle hired John Lynch as the GM, right? That's how it always works with the Shanahan structure.

Like the GM is hired by them. Yes. So that's an interesting dynamic. That would be a higher that like, and it feels like polls might already be losing some power within that organization. The power really flips when you have a Shanahan in there. Yep.

In terms of the roster. Yep. So. So that's my dream big scenario. My more realistic one is Mike Vrabel, Brian Hartline, and I like the idea of Lou Anarumo if he gets fired. Because it's a lot of guys with experience. Obviously, Hartline would be first time in the NFL,

but it's a lot of nfl experience certainly on the defense side of the football and at the head coach spot and then yeah setting up the shanahan tree in chicago is my uh is my is my total dream that if if i'm the bears i am i'm sniffing around i'm seeing like hey what's uh what's the temperature on this you guys interested if you're not okay well and also we'll leave you alone okay okay you gotta trade for him though just to be clear you would you would because the niners niners man's out there pulling their hair out you're getting compensation back yeah you would uh i would assume i don't think because what did john gruden go for uh when the bucks traded for him actually he did go for two. I thought so. I'm going to

confirm, but off the top of my head, I always remember it as two ones. It would be hard for me. Yep. 2022 and 2023 first round picks 2002 and 2004 second round picks and eight million in cash. Yeah, you're walking in

with that duffel bag, like a drug deal. Yeah. Dropping that down. So this is for John Gruden. This is for John Gruden. You got the goods. Yeah.

He's on the helicopter. It reminds me of the money ball scene where he's just like, yeah, this, this, this, this pick and just a bunch of cash. I'm like,

what is the cash? Cash. Okay. So in order to trade for Kyle Shanahan, then you would probably have to give up your first round pick this year and your first round pick next year, at least. At least. Probably worth it. Probably worth it.

The fact that you have Caleb Williams, probably worth it. Going to be honest. So, yeah, that's my thoughts on Coach. Any other thoughts on Coach before we get to the roster? I would like more Coach trades in the NFL. Yeah, that'd be cool. Personally. It adds a layer of chaos that I am a fan of.

All right, same. Like, do you remember, what was it like as a kid when the Bucs traded for John Gruden? What was your thoughts? I was, I mean, that was 2000 and two, one, two. Yeah. That would have been, that would have been 2002. So I would have been 11. I don't really remember it. I remember the process as an 11 year old. Yeah. Like I remember the Bucks being good. I remember my dad telling me that like, they were really good. And then it was like,

I don't, I don't have specific moments. It was just like all of a sudden, yeah, John Gruden was the head coach. And then like they won the Superbowl and it was crazy. Yeah. So I was like,

I don't, I don't remember a lot outside of that being 11, but yeah, if that would have happened, if, if this actually happens today. And I, again,

like I, I actually do think that it would make sense for the Bears to go after this. It would be – we say that the NFL is the greatest reality TV show. Boy, would it ever be if something like this happened. Right. It would be amazing. There you go, Chicago Bear fans. I wanted to make sure that I gave you – I wanted to make sure that we explored three options.

The Ben Johnsonson option a realistic nice scenario that i think is possible for them and then the absolute dream that's what i wanted to do there let's get into the roster shall we shit let's yes so as we've hinted at throughout this show bears roster actually pretty good i think that's what goes into it being as frustrating as it is that they are sitting here 4-8 and the reason why you fire Matt Eberthluss. We always do with Fix Your Franchise episodes, we talk about key pieces on the offensive and defensive side of the football. Now, I will remind people, key piece does not mean

these are all the good players that they have. Key pieces are these are the building blocks for the future, we think, within the organization. For the offensive side of the ball, I have as key pieces Caleb Williams, DJ Moore, Romo Dunze, and Darnell Wright. Those are my four. Yeah, that sounds right. Okay. All right.

I didn't know if you were going to keep, you know, maybe another offensive lineman in there, maybe Keenan Allen. I think Keenan Allen's probably not the best case. I wouldn't think that you would say Cole Komet, but like those are the other guys on the roster. So those are the four pillar players I think you're building around, in my opinion. You had it, just to reconfirm, obviously Caleb Williams,

Roma Dunze, Darnell Wright, and Cole Komet, did you say? DJ Moore. DJ Moore, of course, DJ Moore.nell, right. And Cole commit, did you say DJ more DJ more? Of course, DJ more. Yeah. You know, it's a weird one because I feel like he their offensive line is under a lot of fire. I feel like Braxton Jones isn't like considering where they took him. Right, right.

Braxton Jones is, dare I say, been a success story. I mean, I would love to know Bears fans' thoughts on that. Like, I know their line as a unit has not played well. But they got good individuals. It does feel that way. I know Darnell Wright's been playing better lately. Braxton Jones, they took in the fifth round. Right.

And he's turned into a capable starter at left tackle. That is not easy. I think Braxton Jones is going to get beat a couple of times. Right. But I think you live with that. I genuinely think he is a starting caliber offensive tackle at the NFL level. I really do. Darnell Wright.

Yeah. He's just not like a plus plus. No, no. But he's a starting caliber player for you. Yes, absolutely. As we talk about offensive line upgrades like through free agency in the draft i'm operating like i got braxton jones and darnell right and if something blows me away exactly okay but i'm cool rolling with both those guys especially if you're gonna

upgrade the dudes on the interior because here's that well that's the problem with this team it is but like coleman shelton still like okay. He's been better lately. I still think that's a business. He'd be my ideal backup interior offensive lineman. Fair. But he starts for them, and he gets exposed at times. I would love to turn center into a strength for this team. I agree completely with you.

Matt Pryor, I think you can upgrade over, certainly. Right. And then Tevin Jenkins, Ivin jenkins can be good he's just hurt every season i feel like i'm just done banking on he's hurt every year and he's a free agent this upcoming so keenan allen coleman shelton tevin jenkins matt prior larry borum jackborn, Darrell Taylor, all of those guys are free agents this upcoming offseason. And it's like, are you really going to – Don't forget Mercedes Lewis, the big dog. Of course, yeah, with all due respect, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm not signing Kevin Jenkins to another contract. No, no, no. He's just too hurt. He's too hurt. And I wish I didn't have to say that, but I'm probably not bringing him back. Of the guys, and we'll get into free agency in a second, but of those offensive linemen that I'm going to bring back,

Coleman Shelton's the one. I'll let Matt Pryor and Tevin Jenkins walk. And you can also cut Ryan Bates and save $4 million, and I don't think Ryan Bates has been serviceable for you. Larry Borum, you can let him walk too because you got Kieran Amagaji, who you drafted last year in the third round. Right.

So, and I think Amagaji can even start a guard for you at one of the guard spots. I would hope he could develop into that. Well, that's the hope. The hope while you're also getting more players in the door and you create, you know, maybe one of the three interior spots is a wide open competition going into the summer.

Defense. Defense. Defense. Defense side of things. We'll get into what we would do with free agents and all that. Defense. The key pieces I have on the defense side of the ball. Again, this doesn't mean this is all the good players. These are the key pieces that you're building around. Montez Sweat.

Jalen Johnson. kyler gordon jaquan brisker those are my four tough to argue against that it sort of comes down to if you want to add more like would you consider austin booker a core piece no not yet although i think that he can be good for you. I think that Austin Booker can certainly be a starting edge player for you. And then I think the other one is Tremaine Edmonds. Who just hasn't been what I think they hoped for. He's athletic. Oh, yeah. But they paid a lot of money for TJ Edwards and Tremaine Edmonds.

Yeah. A lot of money. And I just feel Edwards and Tremaine Evans. Yeah. A lot of money. And I just feel like they overpaid for them. Yeah, $50 million guaranteed for a linebacker is pretty rare. Yeah, it's hard to not look at it like that. I like Kevin Byard too, but Kevin Byard is 31. Yeah. So he's sort of in the same situation, in my opinion, as Keenan Allen,

where good players, good veteran players, I'm not necessarily calling them core players, but not like I'm trying to get them out the door as fast as possible either. But that's my assessment. Jervin Dexter, I think, is developing very nicely. When they had Andrew Billings, I think that he was good, but he was more of a pass rusher. I still think that they need more beef in the middle,

and they need to be better up front when it comes to run defense although they got zach pickens in there as well demarcus walker i think is okay as an edge but you can certainly get some more juice in there you're hoping that austin booker is the player to be able to do that i mentioned tj edwards and tremaine evans those are sort of your linebackers there i like jack sanborn as lb3 on this team so i would bring him back in free agency um ideally when it's fully healthy, you got Kyler Gordon, you got Jalen Johnson, you got Tyreek Stevenson, you got Jaquan Brisker, and you got Kevin Byard. Boom. That's nice. I know a lot of people have some emotional feelings

about Tyreek Stevenson and how up and down he's been and certainly the Hail Mary play, but I'm going to be honest with you. I liked Tyreek Stevenson when he was coming out of Miami. I still like him now. I still think he can be a serviceable CB2 for you and a starting CB2 at the NFL level. So I'm not ready to usher him out of the door either. So thoughts thoughts there. I think the secondary is very talented and

definitely something you could lean on with this roster. So I agree with you as I would love to get another pass rusher like pure pass rusher, but pure pass rusher, but I don't have glaring concerns with the back end of this defense. So I listed off the free agents that they have upcoming. Keenan Allen, Coleman Shelton, Tevin Jenkins, Matt Pryor, Larry Borum,

Jack Sanborn, Darrell Taylor, all those guys are free agents for 2025. They have the ability to move on from Ryan Bates and save themselves $4 million. They could also move on from backup tight end Gerald Everett, save $5.5 million. I think you could do both of those things and you're saving about $9.9.5 million. That would be on top of a projected effective cap space right now, which remember, effective cap space includes getting to a 53-man roster and signing your upcoming rookie class. $61.9 million to spend in free agency. That is the sixth most in the NFL. And if you cut Ryan Bates and Gerald Everett, you're adding another nine to that.

So essentially, we're talking about about $70, $71 million for the Bears to spend this free agency period. Connor, how do you want the Bears to spend this free agency period. Connor, how do you want to set this up with free agency? You want to just start talking targets? You want to talk some team needs? How do you want to do it? Let's get into a mix of both, right? I mean, the beauty of the Bears is they have a lot of flexibility right now

to spend again, and their needs aren't, they don't overwhelm you. To me, it goes back to, now we brought up how, you know, Coleman Shelton's going to be a free agent and I don't think he's played great, but I also don't think he's a bad player and that becomes a need. Maybe you find a way to bring him back, but you also are going to look to draft a center.

So you have the flexibility to be upgrading at the position position but you're also setting a floor at the position yes yeah like there is housekeeping work to do here which i think a lot of people that's an that's an attack strategy of free agency that often gets lost right people think about free agency and they think oh how do we get the t higgins you know how do we get the top tier players that are hitting free agency at Garrett Bowles or Ronnie Stanley or whatever? A lot of times NFL teams operate free agency to raise their floor. Yes. And then it allows them to draft in a manner that raises their ceiling. That is a healthy way to approach the offseason so I do like

bringing back Coleman Shelton because it keeps the floor higher for this team especially if you are not bringing Tevin Jenkins back because of injury history you're not bringing Larry Boren back you are not bringing Matt Pryor back because you think you could upgrade there you're hoping that Kieran Amagaji is able to man one of those guard spots for you. So maybe you could pencil him in there. And then you have two other spots at center or at guard, or maybe both that you can upgrade in free agency or the draft and have Coleman Shelton be your swing interior offensive lineman

like you were talking about before. I think that's the ideal scenario that you could set up there. Yes, I think that's, ideal scenario that you could set up there. Yes. I think that's, it just feels like a safe decision in an area that you can't take a lot of risk because these guys are in front of Caleb Williams. So we both thinking the same thing. First name. Go for it.

Trey Smith. I know. And we've done that one before specifically for the giants, but the bears have money to blow. They do. And I would love to see them make a run at a top-flight talent at guard like Trey Smith. He is the type of player that they need. He is absolutely the type of player that they need.

My hierarchy for guards that they would go after, Trey Smith is priority number one, and I would do whatever needs to be done to go get a guard that can set the tone for you. Be able to play guard on the interior. Number two is Kevin Zeitler. I know he's getting older, but dude's literally playing at a high level. Dude's literally having an all-pro season right now with Detroit.

I mean, maybe he'll stick with Detroit. In fact, things are going so well in Detroit, I have a hard time thinking that he's going to leave, but if he does, I think you think about him. I think then it's sort of a tie between two players. Aaron Banks from the- Banks was going to be my next one, but he plays left guard. So you're still like, you could get both of these guys.

So you could get both of them. Kieran Amagashi playing a little center. Nah, he could be a backup guard for you. He could be a backup offensive lineman for you. He could play tackle. He could play guard. He could play whatever you need. And then who's the other one?

Oh, your boy, Mekhi Becton. Oh, wow. Who's playing well at guard now, right? So look, if you go get Becton and Trey Smith, beef. I mean, your line is massive. And they've had problems. The interior run blocking has been a bit of an issue.

And that is totally flipping it on its head. Yeah. I love it. It's a good idea. So those are the two. That's what I like to do. I'll also throw Ryan Kelly's name out there. Venom Center.

He'd be great for Caleb. I mean. He'd be great for Caleb. I mean, he would be great for Caleb. There's no doubt about it. He feels like a guy that he'll... I don't think you'd go get all three. You'd probably have to settle for two. But if I had my priority, I'd go get Trey Smith and Ryan Kelly. And then you're playing Amagaji at the other guard spot.

Well, and then we're going to go into the oh my gosh, you hit the other guards. Well, and then we're going to go into the draft and have real flexibility at interior offensive line. Right, right, right. So that's what I would do. I'm with you.

I'd extend the free agency money from 61.9 million to 70 by cutting Bates and Everett. So now you've, you've got offensive line needs. You have to obviously have to hit. I'd be go getting two veterans in Trey Smith and Ryan Kelly. You're I'm bringing back Coleman Shelton. So he could be a flexible player for you as a center and then you got karen amagashi as well so he could start at one of the guard spots unless you're drafting

another guy in front of them too to just really help out the offensive line but if we're doing that i think some other position the other position is basically like a run stuff we brought a put afford multiple times so i know people are thinking that we're we're sort of like a run stuffer. We brought a Puna Ford multiple times. So I know people are thinking that we're sort of like a broken record with that. We're Puna Ford merchants. I mean, we are. The whole podcast goes basically every time. We built the entire plane out of Puna Ford every time. Yeah, 1,000%.

The yacht's name is just Puna Ford. Mike Pinnell is the other defensive tackle that I thought about as a run stuffer. But there's just not a lot of great run stuffers. No, it's become a lost art in this league that are, that are, they're hitting free agency. I mean, BJ Hill maybe, but like right. Javon Kinlaw, not run stuffer. No, Kinlaw's had a awful year against the run. Right? I mean, Greg Gainsman hurt Jerry Tillery. No limbo. Joseph's old Kevin Givens no Derek Nottie maybe I guess but is he a big impact run defender for you

I don't know I know it might be another might be another area you're drafting right right that's that's what it's Bobby Brown we've talked about him Bobby Brown's been good against the run so so maybe you know

he's another option there as well but Marlon Davidson, no. Marlon Tui-Pelotu, no. Oh, Roy Lopez, actually. I saw Roy on the list again. No, we're doing that. No, we're doing that. We're doing it.

We're doing it. Trey Smith, Ryan Kelly, Roy Lopez. Okay. Those are the three. We're bringing back Cole Michelle. We're bringing back Zach, Jack Sanborn. I'll bring back Darrell Taylor as a specialized pass rusher. I'll do it. Don't dare me to do it.

I'll do it. I swear. I'll do it. I'm trying not to repeat too many players we've done with other teams. Cause like I could throw Calais Campbell on any front and it's going to help. Yeah. I,

but I don't think they need that kind of deep interior defensive lineman. Calais Campbell on any front and it's going to help. Yeah, I. But I don't think they need that kind of deep interior defensive lineman. They have young players to do that. Right, right, right, right. I actually saw Campbell, but I didn't think about him for the Bears, to be honest with you. All right, so this is a big draft team, although. If they let Keenan Allen go. Do they add a third wide receiver in free agency you tell me i'm talking like here's the depth options i would go after knowing that your targets are

going to be funneled through dj moore and roma dunzey if i was looking for a third receiver josh palmer would be somebody i would be interested in because he could win vertically down the field okay every time i watch the chargers interested in because he can win vertically down the field. Every time I watch the Chargers, Josh Palmer is like open down the field and it's like, ah, Herbert just missed him. Like, damn it. Two games ago when he had like two drops.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's fair. That's fair. He's also had some bad moments, but Palmer knows how to win down the field. And a little bit of an older option, Demarcus Robinson with the Rams. I mean, D-Rod would be a fantastic wide two for three yeah that's what he's been you know the rams gator great brother

if you want a small so this option at face value sounds good but i actually would rather leave the slot open for more in a dunes a elijah moore's a free agent He's a smaller possession player. I don't really like his fit in this offense. Yeah. Don't love it. Mr. I catch a touchdown every single week. Nick Westbrook Akine right now. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable.

Don't hate that. I'm serious. He's raising the price of the brick, though. Good for him at 28 years old. I know. Him and Josh Palmer are actually the two, and Demarcus Robinson. Those are the three wide receiver threes I really like for this team. The only one I would go with over bringing back Keenan Allen is Demarcus Robinson.

Yeah. So I just want to get younger. So it kind of depends on, it kind of depends on their price. If Keenan is vibing with Caleb, like if they have a really good connection together, I'd bring Keenan back. But if it's like,

okay, Keenan hates Caleb because he thinks he's cheeks, then yeah, you move on and you get a new wide receiver in there and you try to start over. So that's my thoughts there. Fair enough. Alright, so we're bringing at least either Kenan Allen or Demarcus Robinson in at wide receiver.

We've signed Trey Smith, Ryan Kelly, brought back the three guys that I mentioned on the Bears roster. Kieran Amagaji could play one of those guard spots. We've gotten rid of Gerald Everett and Ryan Bates. So, in my opinion, going into the draft, the team needs would still be interior offensive line.

A top-tier defensive tackle if you can get one. Like a two-gapper? Yeah, and a really good player in that regard. Another tight end, because I think they could definitely use an improvement at tight end too, especially if you're moving on from Gerald Everett. Yeah. Going to be honest here,

running backs also decently high on my list here. I wanted to say it. They got 9 million guys, and I don't like any of them. No, I don't either. I think Roshan's okay. He's fine as a, like your, uh, you know, change of pace wasn't the word I was looking for, but like,

spell your workhorse running back. I agree. I agree. And I don't think DeAndre Swift's a workhorse back. I don't think he's a, I don't think he's a number one running back. His, his, when you look at his, I know people are going to say like, well, the offensive line hasn't been great since he's been in Chicago, but neither has he, he's had low yards after contact averages and low missed tackles forced per attempt averages. Those are the two individual

marks that we kind of look at for running backs to say, Hey, what are you doing beyond what your blocking scheme is doing? And he just isn't, has not been creative on his own. Um, he's not been able to overcome some things against the offensive line when even in opportunities where he's been able to. So I don't think he's going anywhere because I think if you were to cut him, you're basically only saving like 500 K. I was going to say the contract next year is terrible. Yeah, the contract is bad, but I think the year after you can get out, you can get out of it. So running back, I think is on there. And then I also think that safety needs to be on there too. I mentioned, I love Kevin Bayard and Jaquan Brisker. Brisker still has not played due to concussion. And when you

play safety, guess what you got to do? You got to hit. And so I'm really worried about Jaquan Brisker. I hope that he just kind of takes this year off and that he is good to go next year, but it's scary when you miss this much time due to a concussion. So I'm a little bit worried about that. They don't really have anybody waiting in the wings. They have Jonathan Owens, but I'd like to look at safeties once we get into the draft, as well as obviously the Kevin Byard situation with him being a vet, but 31 years old.

So those are my team needs going into the mock draft, which they have two second round picks, by the way, because of the Bryce Young trade. God, you love to see that. Ready to do it? Ready to fire this bad boy? I am ready to rock and roll. Let's do it. Let's do it. Hold on. Got to share my screen.

Got to share the screen. Got to share the screen. I'm sharing. I'm sharing. I am sharing the screen. There it is. There's the beautiful PFF Mock Draft Simulator. By the way, you can go to pff.com, get yourself a PFF Plus subscription to have the fully unlocked Mock Draft Simulator

just like we have right here. You can do all seven rounds of a Mock Draft with any team or all teams. Almost got 300 prospects now in the big board and it is only going to grow as time goes on. Chicago Bears, 4-8, currently picking number 11 overall. Connor, is only going to grow as time goes on chicago bears four and eight currently picking number 11 overall connor i'm gonna be honest with you i'm gonna keep it a buck i think they're gonna pick higher than this now how high is a decent

question because they're four and eight they have a very high strength of schedule so they're 4-8. They have a very high strength of schedule. So they're not beating anybody when it comes to tiebreakers. If you knock one more win off of them, like if you were to go to 3, like let's say that they were 3-9, they would be picking 8th. I feel like Chicago's going to pick 8th or 9th when it's all said and done. What do you think?

I think that's a fair estimate. I think so too. But for this exercise, I mean, do you want to move it up or do you want to keep it the way it is? I think we keep it. Okay. Cause I feel like we haven't done that for anyone else.

And that's fair. We open a can of worms amongst the addicts. That's fair. Don't worry. Bears fans. We'll still draft very well. We open a can of worms amongst the addicts. That's fair. Don't worry, Bears fans. We'll still draft very well. We'll totally rig the system. So seven running backs go in front of you. Speaking of starting the draft.

Okay. So Travis Hunter goes number one overall. Mason Grand is also off the board. Will Johnson off the board. Tetserone McMillan off the board. Joe Merrill going five. Abdul Carter going six. Cam Ward going seven. Will Campbell eight. Mal malachi starks nine nick scorton going 10 so i think to make this a little bit

more realistic because i'm going to update the rankings to sort of reflect how i think probably the nfl believes that these guys are going to get drafted you can sub mill row here for shidur sanders like take mill row off the board if you want to and just plug shidur sanders in that spot i think we're getting two quarterbacks going in the top 10. I really do. I think Cam Ward and Shadur Sanders are going in the top 10. I don't think any other quarterback goes in the first round. I completely agree.

So, that puts the Bears on the board at number 11. Ashton Gentry still on the board. Mm-hmm. Kelvin Banks Jr. Potential upgrade at the left tackle spot. With guard flexibility. Guard flexibility. Jalen Walker is here to give himself a little extra juice at the edge rush spot.

Obviously, all the tight ends are here. You got Wyatt Milam. You got Ariante Ursary. Oh, I already know who I'm taking. Who are you taking? Wait, Mason Graham didn't go? Yeah, yeah, Mason Graham's right here. Oh, I didn't see him at two there.

I'm like, what? Yeah, he went to the Raiders. Okay, cool. Was that who you were going to take? Society saved. Was that who you were going to take? Yeah, when I didn't see him, I overlooked him when we were talking about Milrow at five. I never even saw him there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's long gone long gone so what do we think i didn't don't love how the board broke if i'm being completely honest here i should have really moved up to eight no i'm just kidding I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Scroll all the way back up again. To, okay, who we got on the board? I'm very intrigued. But, man, I might just take Banks and kind of figure out the rest later. There was part of me that was like,

I'm going to play Jalen Walker as an edge. Sure. But, man, if our five offensive linemen are still starting Braxton and Darnell Wright at the tackles, but we're going to play Trey Smith, Ryan Kelly, and Kelvin Banks, Banks can play left guard. And you got Kieran Amagaji and Coleman Shelton. That's a lot of flexibility for if any of those guys go down as well.

And I know you brought up signing Becton as well, but I think we landed on Kelly and Trey Smith. Yeah, yeah. I'm only talking about signing two of them. Like those are just sort of, you know, I mean, if you can't get Ryan Kelly, maybe you sign Becton, but I would like to go get Ryan Kelly and Trey Smith. And if you look, and if they don't get, if they can't get Trey Smith,

Trey Smith goes somewhere else. If people are like, you brought up Trey Smith a million times. All right, Becton, go get Becton and Ryan Kelly. Right. Those are your two. I'm fascinated what a Bears fan would want here. I'm leaning Banks. It stinks that Starks went

because he would have been a lot of fun for this team. I don't think they... I don't disagree with you. But I know what you're saying. That's probably not the play for them anyway. Right. With a top 11 pick. I'm going to be honest.

I'm at either Ashton Gentry or Calvin Banks Jr. I just can't take a running back at 11 for the Bears. It's fine, but like Gentry is... I think Gentry's unreal. He is. He's awesome. So he matters so much to this offense if you could plug in Ashton Gentry in here. If they can run block.

Huh? If they can run block next year. We just signed Trey Smith and Ryan Kelly. What do you mean? That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. Jenty's going to be standing back there just absolutely straight up. It's the greatest thing in college football, the stance.

I think Bears fans that are an hour and 10 minutes into listening to this will throw up on their monitors if we take a running back at 11. Good. Clean it up. We're taking him. No, I'm just kidding on their monitors if we take a running back at 11. Good, clean it up. We're taking him. No, I'm just kidding. We can go Calvin Banks Jr. if you want. A lot of flexibility there.

And I think that, you know, no matter what happens at free agency as well, you know, whether it's, you do end up getting Ryan Kelly, you get Trey Smith, you get Mekhi Becton, you know, some combination of those guys. Calvin Banks Jr. obviously gives you an upgrade no matter what. So to me, I think this is sort of like a flexible outlook type of a pick here

right around the top 10. That does make sense in my opinion. I think that he has played well enough this year. I think he's shown a lot of growth. So Kelvin Banks Jr., really athletic offensive tackle, somebody who he's still working on the power profile game, but that's not to say that he can't develop it. I really think that he can.

He's just getting his technique down. This is his second year as a starter, I believe. Sounds right. As a full-time starter for Texas, he's still really young. I think he's going to be one of the younger prospects when he comes out. So it'll really be between him and Will Campbell, for who I think is going to be the first offensive tackle off the board. And getting him at number 11 here makes a lot of sense.

So we can go Calvin Banks Jr. here at 11. I think that's going to be a common one for how the mock draft breaks for chicago bears fans so all right so uh one of of chicago's two picks here in the second round they pick at 37 and then they pick again at 43 uh obviously uh chador sanders being off the board at this point, so we're not picking him. Oh. What? Dude, this would be so sick. I think Walter Nolan's probably going in the first round. I mean, he's probably going to test very well.

He's probably going to test extremely well for a dude who's 6'3", 305 pounds, an interior defensive lineman, 91.5 run defense grade. I mean, this is the dream. I mean, there's nothing stopping us right now but ourselves. So I'm going to pick Walter Nolan here because it's phenomenal and I can do what I want. But if he's not here, Omar Norman Lott, I also really like to get juice on the inside. Yeah. I do really like that.

Man, there's just so many edge rushers. There really are. There's just so many good edge rushers right around this spot. Yeah. Mike Green's still on the board. I think he's a first rounder. I mean. Man, we could double up here.

We get Walter Nolan and then we're picking at 43. Damn. We go edge rusher. So then you're, you're going to, how are you? You're going to play. Yeah. You rotate your edges anyway. So sweat's still going to play, but well, Nolan can play up and down the line of scrimmage. That's the thing too. That's the difference on this pick is Nolan can, Nolan can, which is why I think you'll probably be a first rounder. Yeah. That was kind of the thought with Darius Taylor last year. People were like, well, he's played inside.

He's played outside. Darius Taylor. Darius Robinson. Sorry. Okay. I was like, I was like, buddy, I know I've done this a long time. No, no, no, no. I don't know who that is.

And we brought up how Darrell Taylor is on the Bears right now. Yeah, right, right, right, right. All over the place. Okay. All right, let's go with Walter Nolan. Yep. Which sets us up with a pretty interesting scenario here for them at 43. There's great edge rushers available.

I mean, Kyle Kennard's still here. JT Tuimaloa's here. Even if you want to believe that Zach Sawyer's going to be off the board, which I don't think it's a guarantee that he's off the board. No, I don't think it's a guarantee. Ash and Gelati, who you and I like a lot in this class. Oh, man. Dylan Sampson has had just an insane year.

Dylan Sampson's sick. He's had an insane year. Oh, Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson's sick. We'll talk about him. We'll do running backs before you know it, so we'll get in there because we haven't talked about him on this show very much. I don't love picking a running back in the second round when you wanted to win 11. Sicko.

All right, it's fair. It's fair. It's fair. No, it's fair. That's fair. Now's the time to do it. That's fair. That's fair.

That's fair. Look, I gotta own it. You know, that's on me. That's on me. Um, I, I would pick him at 43. Yeah, this is when you do it. This is like the Brees Hall, Kenneth Walker range. Dude, Dylan, I can't wait to get to running backs

when we talk about running backs because I watched Dylan Sampson like two weeks ago. He's so much like Tyrone Tracy in the best ways. I mean, he is just- I mean, he just, he sets you up to make you miss. He's got such great athleticism, such great short area explosiveness, fantastic ability to make you miss in open space.

69 missed tackles for us. It's 11th in the FBS. We're taking Sampson. Yeah, he's good. All right, we're taking Dillon Sampson. He's a very good player. All right, 43 overall. We're taking Dillon Sampson.

And then we got one pick in the third round, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, we got one pick in the third round, 75. Let's see. Who's still on the board? Jonah Savanaia, the offensive lineman from Arizona. Maxwell Harrison, the cornerback. I don't hate cornerback here.

From Kentucky. Latham Ransom, the Ohio State. I don't hate cornerback here. From Kentucky. Latham Ransom, the Ohio State safety. Oh, man. Nah, I think tight end. Harold Fannin Jr., Eli Stowers. As your tight end, too, behind Kemet. What's our safety options here? We do have Latham Ransom.

Unfortunately, Xavier Watts went two picks before, so our boy is on the board. I'm not opposed to Ransom here. I don't hate Ransom. Ransom's had a great year. How did he play against Michigan? 69.5 overall grade. All right.

Did his job. He did do his job. Yep. Nick Emanuari as well. Man, Nick's had some stinkers. But he's also just so illegal. Because he's a weird player. He is, man.

I think he's more of a linebacker. He is. Hand up. Hand up. Two hands up. Hands up. I think he's a linebacker. Yeah.

He's that, like, you could do safety things with him going downhill. But I guess when you say that, it feels like you're talking about a linebacker. You're just talking about a linebacker. Do you want him to just come downhill, or do you want him to retreat? Right. Which one?

I think he's more of a linebacker. Quandarius Robinson is very interesting. The edge rusher from Alabama. Look at these pass rush grades, dude. Crazy. Elite pass rush grades. Super high pass rush win percentage. 23.5 pass rush win rate.

What's his listed weight? He's more of a slender build. That's why I asked. He's 6'5", 240. He's a little bit more of a slender build. He's sort of like Austin Booker. Right. Who is a true stand-up kind of guy. You know, if you're bringing back Darrell Taylor,

you probably don't need to make this a defensive end pick. But if you don't bring back Darrell Taylor, then I actually like Quan Darius Robinson here. I also like Jonas Sanker. I just watched him. Physical dude. Physical safety. He's going to be immobile at the Senior Bowl. Really excited to watch him

play. I need to see more of Sanker. He's somebody to be immobile at the Senior Bowl. Really excited to watch him play. I need to see Morris Sanker. He's somebody who I like. I do like. Ezra Thomas from Florida State, I also like. He's been having a decent year. He's got good length, good size, 6'2", almost 200 pounds. I don't know.

What position are we thinking here? I mean, safety is the easy play. We could also take another tight end. I don't think you're nuts in that regard. I like the tight end play. Yeah, let's take a tight end. I like Stowers or Fannin Jr. I'd probably lean Stowers here.

Yeah. Harold Fannin Jr. has the better grades, but he is, I mean, he's force-fed a lot. I don't want to take anything away from him. He's kind of a receiver in that offense. Oh, 100%. So it's like you call a tight end. I mean, he can block too. I just don't think he moves super fluid.

I really don't. Whereas like Stowers, I think, is an NFL athlete. I would lean Stowers. Okay. I have the right to change my mind when we do tight end rankings, but that's where my early gut is, the more I've watched of this class. All right. So that means that that would give us Kelvin Banks Jr., Walter Nolan, Dylan Sampson,

and then if we pick Eli Stowers here. I kind of like it. I'm doing it. Doing it. Let it rip. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. What's the grade?

Let's see. Let's see. Oh, they kill us every time. Let's see what hatin' ass PFF Tyler Sikama. Mike McCarthy in the PFF basement. Just for Dylan Sampson, the good football player. Cause PFF hates running back.

If that Dylan Sampson pick Dylan Sampson's ranked 51 on the big board. And we picked him at 43. That's barely a reach there. And he's better than Deandre Swift. They're acting like we took Taekwon Thornton. Right, right. They're acting like we took Taequann Thornton. Right, right. They're acting like we took Cole Strange at 29.

Patriot strays are just out of control. They're acting like we took Lucas Van Ness at 11. I don't even remember where Lucas Van Ness... Where did Lucas Van Ness... No, he was way later than that. Where did Lucas Van Ness... No, not way later than that. Lucas Van Ness went like 12th or 11th.

Did he? Yes. Was that right off the bat? Were my instincts correct? I think your instincts were correct, and you doubted your own draft instincts. Van Ness went like 12th or 11th. Did he? Yeah. Right off the bat. Were my instincts correct? I think your instincts were correct and you doubted your own draft instincts. I'll tell you right now, since I have the power of Google. It wouldn't be the first time that happened.

Lucas Van Ness went 13th. Bam. See? See? We knew. We knew. All right. There we go, folks. Chicago Bears.

We absolutely fixed it. Matt Iberflues is out of here. It's looking good. Kyle Shanahan's your coach. Kyle Shanahan's the coach. Bob Sala's the DC. Clint Kubiak's the offensive coordinator. In all seriousness, no.

We actually like the roster. We like where this is at. I think that Caleb is still a phenomenal football player. We barely talked about Caleb Williams, I feel like, because it's just obvious that he's just a fantastic football player. And it's just a matter of getting him a stable coach and somebody to listen to and somebody to allow him to progress. And we tried to fit the roster for that to be possible.

We're changed a lot on the offensive line, a Braxton Jones and, and, and Darnell Wright still starting on the outside, but then we're bringing in Trey Smith or Mackay Beckton, Ryan Kelly at center. We're drafting Kelvin Banks, Jr.

In the first round defense, we're sticking with Austin Booker developing on the opposite side of Montez Sweat. We've got Darrell Taylor as well, Gervin Dexter, Andrew Billings. Now we're also throwing in Walter Nolan into that mix. That's pretty great in my opinion. Dylan Sampson's going to be a starting running back of this team because he's going to be more dynamic. Eli Stowers is going to be tight end too. We're bringing back some sort of wide receiver, either Keenan Allen or Demarcus Robinson there.

And we're hoping that Jaquan Brisker gets back from his concussions that he suffered this year to set up a really nice secondary going into 2025. Connor, I'm not going to lie, man. I'd be stoked about this if I was a Bears fan. I don't mean to toot our own horn, but this would get me excited, man. This was a fun exercise. And I don't think Kevin Warren is just blowing smoke by saying that this is a

very alluring job because of the flexibility that you have to build it into a really good contender on paper. And then it's for the right head coach to make it a contender in real life. We would love to hear what bands bears fans thought about this. You guys are so passionate. It was so much fun going back and forth with you guys last year when we were going through this exercise with Fix Your Franchise. We would love to get to do so again. Let us

know what you thought of Matt Eberflus, why it didn't work out, whether you think he should have been fired or not. Talk to us about your head coaching candidates, who you want to see as head coach for this team. Talk to us about the roster. If you think our assessment was good or bad, we would love to hear you. Let's talk about free agency targets. Let's talk about mock drafts.

We want to hear from you. Best way to do it, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. The comment section on this video is the best way to get into the conversation. That's where all the conversations are being had, and we'd love to read all of them and go back and forth with you guys. If you're audio only, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Carnesia Rogers on Instagram and Twitter. Connor, you got anything else before we get out of here? A ton of fun rebuilding this team because they have such a great slate of

whether it's the assets, you know, the, the draft capital, the cap space, the attractiveness because of the quarterback and the overall roster as well. So I will agree with you. I think this was, this was one of our better ones in terms of what they would be projected to do in the 2025 season. Oh, bear said coach Kyle Shanahan. I can't wait for it. Fix Your Franchise is not done.

We got a handful more episodes before we get into early prospect rankings for positions in a couple of weeks. We're actually going to start with wide receiver and then probably go from there. Maybe quarterback is after that, but that's going to come in a couple of weeks. But we do want to get through a couple more Fix Your Franchises. So a couple of those more obvious teams.

I'll leave it. I'll be good at teasing the episode and leave it to suspense. I won't tell you who's coming next. But, you know, it is one of those teams that you guys have suggested quite a bit. But we do have some flexibility as well. So let us know which team you want us to fix over the next week and a half here. I'm Trevor Sikkim. That is Connor Rogers.

Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. See you guys later this week. Bye.