Grade the Bears signings so far

Bearly

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remydat said:
Grading system

A - Pro Bowl level player
B - Good starter
C - Average player
D - Below average player
F - Terrible player


Mike Davis C+ He is cheap but I think his upside is no better than being a good player but more likely IMO being an average player hence the C+ .That is still useful as you can't be stacked with good players everywhere but nothing to write home about.

Buster Skrine C- Think his upside is really just as an average player but also have the potential in my view to be a below average player. I gave him a C- rather than a D+ as I think he is a bit more likely to just be average than below average.

Cordarelle Patterson C Kickoff Return guys are an increasingly dying breed with all the rule changes but I gave him a C because I think he has the ability to be an average player on offense particularly if he gets more snaps as a RB as opposed to a WR.

Ted Larsen D Below average player that will always be a below average player.

Ha Ha Clinton Dix B- Good player who signed for a good price. Gave him a B- because there is a slight risk that he ends up just being average (don't think there is much risk in him being bad) and because it is a one year deal so if he is good then he likely walks next year as unlikely to give him big money and Jackson bigger money. So not a lot of long term value.
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When you go to the grocery store with $20, do you buy a couple fillets without sides to feed your family or the makings for a great stew and after dinner treat for the kids? How does the family grade those meals? Which fills those holes in their stomachs in a more satisfying manner?

I'm not going to argue this with you because I believe this post is intentionally controversial to create 10 pages of a Remy spiral.
 
Bearly

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jive said:
It's nice to finally be at a point where free agency is more for improving depth instead of filling holes.
Grading is based on contract and comparison to the player they are replacing.

Skrine: D He's certainly a drop off from Callahan at an ever increasingly important position. He didn't come that cheap either.
Davis: C+ Improvement over Mizzell and Cunningham, but he's still just a guy. A rookie could have filled his role for much cheaper.
Patterson: B+ Improves our bad kick return game, and the bottom of the RB and WR depth chart. Improvement over Bellamy and White.
Larsen: D Just a body. He couldn't stick the last time he was here, and he has more miles since then. I doubt he makes it past training camp.
Dix: A Could be an improvement over Amos, or could add different dimension. Very friendly contract.

Overall B-
The drop in ability from Larsen to Kush and Skrine to Callahan stop it from being a really good free agency. We improved in 4 areas: #3 RB, KR, #4 WR, and S. We got worse in 2 areas, backup guard and nickel back.
with 2 by Patterson
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Skrine got a good contract from the Jets in the same situation as Callahan is in now while Callahan is still sitting on his hands. Skrine was great in the Nickle but the Jets moved him outside. How do you think Callahan does on an island? Compounding Skrine's move ot the outside is his height which helped cause those penalties when covering larger WRs.

The idea is that he'll return to being a VG Nickle CB that can sub outside in a pinch, something I wouldn't want to see Callahan do either. I'm not familiar enough with Skrine to push this narrative but thought it may add some perspective. Add availability to the mix and it's not difficult to understand the signing. His situation was sort of like OLB vs DE lining up at the opposite spot in the wrong D.

For me, Larsen is not a downgrade from Kush for this O and Larsen can stay on the field. When your backups can't play when needed, you're fucked. Kush also sucks when not moving forward. Better fit for Fox than Nagy.
 
Rory Sparrow

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Bearly said:
When you go to the grocery store with $20, do you buy a couple fillets without sides to feed your family or the makings for a great stew and after dinner treat for the kids? How does the family grade those meals? Which fills those holes in their stomachs in a more satisfying manner?
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Poor analogy. Robbie Gould feeds his family with more than $20. He was just franchise tagged, bro.
 
Rory Sparrow

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I don't know what people expected Pace to do with limited cap space. He replaced Amos with Dix. He brought in a replacement for Jordan Howard. He replaced Callahan with Skrine. Larsen is a body. Patterson is an actual 'addition'. All of these are sensible moves, IMO. My criticism is that Pace didn't snap up Kareem Hunt right away, but that has already been discussed.

The only interesting thing to play out is if Callahan's new contract ends up being similar to Skrine's, then perhaps Pace could have waited on the market and tried to bring Callahan back...but that would have been a gamble.

I'm not sure what the point is in grading these guys before they've played, but overall I'd give Pace a B.
 
WindyCity

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Mike Davis: B+, great scheme fit.

Buster Skrine: C, they clearly wanted a veteran to play the slot at a set rate.

Cordarrelle Patterson: B+, another guy who adds wrinkles at a reasonable rate.

Ted Larsen: B, he is a solid backup with a ton of starts under his belt.

Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix: A, high upside talented player on a nothing contract.
 
WindyCity

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Giving Ted Larsen a D is just weird.

He has started at OG and C, has 86 career starts so for different teams have thought he was better than crap, and is making 1 million dollars.

I am not sure what is wrong with that as a backup OL men. Versatility, experience, and cheap.
 
Bearly

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I wonder of Larsen could do long snapping. No history there but played a lot of C in college.
 
remydat

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Bearly said:
When you go to the grocery store with $20, do you buy a couple fillets without sides to feed your family or the makings for a great stew and after dinner treat for the kids? How does the family grade those meals? Which fills those holes in their stomachs in a more satisfying manner?

I'm not going to argue this with you because I believe this post is intentionally controversial to create 10 pages of a Remy spiral.
Click to expand...

If I buy Spam, I don't pretend that Spam was a great get just because that is all I could afford. There is no need for controversy. You can simply grade players how you see fit.
 
Bearly

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No, you'd try to keep your family alive with caviar on food stamps.

You sell spam.
 
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Bear_Assed said:
i havent seen a lot of jets games, but most people ive heard on the radio, including joniak and thayer tonight seem to think Buster Skrine is one of the best nickel backs in the league and it was a huge signing for the bears. Then i come on here and virtually everyone thinks he's a bum. i guess we'll have to wait and see.
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There’s definitely a split between fans/media and NFL people in their opinion. We shall just have to wait and see as you say. I’d have graded it higher myself except for all those penalties.
 
msadows

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WindyCity said:
Giving Ted Larsen a D is just weird.

He has started at OG and C, has 86 career starts so for different teams have thought he was better than crap, and is making 1 million dollars.

I am not sure what is wrong with that as a backup OL men. Versatility, experience, and cheap.
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And he has familiarity with some of the players in this offensive line.

He's a perfect depth move.
 
remydat

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WindyCity said:
Giving Ted Larsen a D is just weird.

He has started at OG and C, has 86 career starts so for different teams have thought he was better than crap, and is making 1 million dollars.

I am not sure what is wrong with that as a backup OL men. Versatility, experience, and cheap.
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He is pretty bad at his job. If we just gave good grades to people that play poorly when they start then who are we giving bad grades too?
 
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Rory Sparrow said:
I don't know what people expected Pace to do with limited cap space. He replaced Amos with Dix. He brought in a replacement for Jordan Howard. He replaced Callahan with Skrine. Larsen is a body. Patterson is an actual 'addition'. All of these are sensible moves, IMO. My criticism is that Pace didn't snap up Kareem Hunt right away, but that has already been discussed.

The only interesting thing to play out is if Callahan's new contract ends up being similar to Skrine's, then perhaps Pace could have waited on the market and tried to bring Callahan back...but that would have been a gamble.

I'm not sure what the point is in grading these guys before they've played, but overall I'd give Pace a B.
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The only point in grading guys is it’s supposed to be fun. Why else participate here? Appreciate your well thought out reply.
 
msadows

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remydat said:
He is pretty bad at his job. If we just gave good grades to people that play poorly when they start then who are we giving bad grades too?
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If they played well they wouldn't be depth signings.
 
msadows

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But yea he is bad, hopefully he never has to play this season.
 
Rory Sparrow

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BaBaBlacksheep said:
The only point in grading guys is it’s supposed to be fun. Why else participate here? Appreciate your well thought out reply.
Click to expand...

I prefer a pass/fail grading system for this type of thing. Breaking it down to +/- letter grades is a bit of overkill, IMO.
 
remydat

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msadows said:
If they played well they wouldn't be depth signings.
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This is just silly to say. Plenty of guys play decently as depth.

Larsen tied for 7th in the NFL in pressure allowed. 4 sacks, 6 hits and 29 hurries. Those are abysmal for an inside Lineman. The only reason he wasn't first overall is because the guys ahead of him played more pass rush snaps than he did. If you calculate his pressure per snap and give him the same number of snaps as the guys ahead of him he would easily have lead the NFL in pressure allowed.

The reason he gets a D is because he is just expected to be depth. If he were expected to be a starter, the signing would be an F because the dude was shit last year.
 
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Rory Sparrow said:
I prefer a pass/fail grading system for this type of thing. Breaking it down to +/- letter grades is a bit of overkill, IMO.
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Exactly.

Same when people "grade" drafts. Your criteria for expectations should be completely different in first round picks and seventh round picks.

If your 7th round pick is only a solid ST contributor after a season...that is a solid B. If your 1st round pick is only a solid ST contributor after a season...that is a solid D.
 
Rory Sparrow

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remydat said:
The reason he gets a D is because he is just expected to be depth. If he were expected to be a starter, the signing would be an F because the dude was shit last year.
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That's kind of a backwards way to look at it. Its not like Pace can simply choose to sign whomever he wants...the two limiting factors are cap space and who is available. What other OLs were available for Pace to sign? What other available OLs could Pace have fit under the cap? If Larsen was the best available OL whom Pace could afford, then its a good signing regardless of 'starter expectations'.
 
Bearly

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