Interesting article, Bears sitting in a good spot

number51

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"9. Chicago Bears

Projected starters: DE Jonathan Bullard, NT Eddie Goldman, DE Akiem Hicks; OLB Pernell McPhee, OLB Leonard Floyd; ILB Jerrell Freeman, ILB Danny Trevathan

Other names to know: DE Mitch Unrein, DE Will Sutton; OLB Willie Young, OLB Lamarr Houston, OLB Sam Acho; ILB Christian Jones

Key stat: Five of Chicago’s front-seven players recorded 25 pressures or more in 2015.

There have been few such radical and rapid overhauls of a unit as the Bears have undergone in the last 12 months on defense, with every starter in this defensive front a new face since the end of the 2014 season. The Bears trusted in the ability of Willie Young and Lamarr Houston to play with their hand off the ground, and were rewarded with an array of productive pass-rushers, led by free-agent signing Pernell McPhee, who more than lived up to his contract. This year, the investment went into off-the-ball linebackers, where Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan offer an immediate upgrade. The top questions for the Bears to answer will be the depth on the defensive line and at linebacker—can the rotation match the quality of the starters?"

#9 is pretty generous, I hope he's right.

#15 seems low for the Cardinals.
 

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[h=2]Interesting article, Bears shitting in a good spot

fify[/h]
 

Burrberry

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Sounds about right. The front 7 is probably the only safe bet on the team right now.
 

BearsFan51

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Is it possible that only three new starters are going to have that great of an impact on the defense? Adding Hicks Trevathan and Freeman is going to boost the offense this much? I don't know I hope so.
 

BornAnAngryBearsFan

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Adding Hicks and Bullard will make it tough for opposing guards to even try to get to the second level. Especially considering one of those guards will have to help with Goldman, due to him lining up in the gap.
 

number51

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Is it possible that only three new starters are going to have that great of an impact on the defense? Adding Hicks Trevathan and Freeman is going to boost the offense this much? I don't know I hope so.

Those 2015 ILB's were a real shit show, it's not that Trevathan and Freeman are so amazing, they are just real NFL caliber players. Plus second season in the system.

Going into 2015 the Bears front 7 had a few guys coming back from injuries IIRC, Houston for sure. I don't think that's such an issue this season.

BTW the author has Leonard Floyd as a starter? I kind of doubt it, situational at best, unless I missed something.
 

bearsfootball516

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Those 2015 ILB's were a real shit show, it's not that Trevathan and Freeman are so amazing, they are just real NFL caliber players. Plus second season in the system.

Going into 2015 the Bears front 7 had a few guys coming back from injuries IIRC, Houston for sure. I don't think that's such an issue this season.

BTW the author has Leonard Floyd as a starter? I kind of doubt it, situational at best, unless I missed something.


Trevathan and Freeman are actually ranked pretty high in terms of NFL linebackers.
 

BornAnAngryBearsFan

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Yea, I saw that. There's no way that Larsen is the starter over Whitehair. Grasau is still a question mark, and I'm not sold on him at all at this point. However, I'm comfortable with Long and Massie. Not sure why they hate Leno so much. He's not a world beater at LT, but he gets the job done.
 

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I wouldn't be suprised if Floyd is dynamic rushing the passed, Houston and Young will kick down to the DE and we could have Parnell and Floyd at OLB. That would be 4 strong pass rushers on the field at once. The amount of blitzing package options would be staggering.
 

talkingdinosaurs

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Seriously, I don't know why writers around the league think Larsen is a starter or just needs to play on this team. He's just not very good. By PFF's own measures, dude was completely awful last year (37.2 rating out of 100). https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-offseason-to-do-list-for-the-arizona-cardinals/

I haven't seen Cody Whitehair play in the NFL yet or practice in pads, but if he's even a slightly decent player, there's no way Larsen starts. This line is not going to be great, but they're not going to be as horrible as 30th in the league.
 

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I wouldn't be suprised if Floyd is dynamic rushing the passed, Houston and Young will kick down to the DE and we could have Parnell and Floyd at OLB. That would be 4 strong pass rushers on the field at once. The amount of blitzing package options would be staggering.

I don't think you'll see 260lb Young inside. McPhee would go in there long before Young ever would.
 

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"9. Chicago Bears

Projected starters: DE Jonathan Bullard, NT Eddie Goldman, DE Akiem Hicks; OLB Pernell McPhee, OLB Leonard Floyd; ILB Jerrell Freeman, ILB Danny Trevathan

Other names to know: DE Mitch Unrein, DE Will Sutton; OLB Willie Young, OLB Lamarr Houston, OLB Sam Acho; ILB Christian Jones

Key stat: Five of Chicago’s front-seven players recorded 25 pressures or more in 2015.

There have been few such radical and rapid overhauls of a unit as the Bears have undergone in the last 12 months on defense, with every starter in this defensive front a new face since the end of the 2014 season. The Bears trusted in the ability of Willie Young and Lamarr Houston to play with their hand off the ground, and were rewarded with an array of productive pass-rushers, led by free-agent signing Pernell McPhee, who more than lived up to his contract. This year, the investment went into off-the-ball linebackers, where Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan offer an immediate upgrade. The top questions for the Bears to answer will be the depth on the defensive line and at linebacker—can the rotation match the quality of the starters?"

#9 is pretty generous, I hope he's right.

#15 seems low for the Cardinals.

I think they are missing a name of a player that did pretty good last year before he got injured.
 

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I think they are missing a name of a player that did pretty good last year before he got injured.

Who? Ego?

He had 3 tackles in 4 games. I wouldn't say that was pretty good. I really hope he shows up this year.

Interesting to note: Sutton had more tackles than Goldman (23/22). NT isn't particularly easy for a guy his size. Like to see him take a leap in his passrush this year. He had 20 collegiate interior sacks. Hopefully Goldman inspires.
 

CubsWin

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Interesting to note: Sutton had more tackles than Goldman (23/22). NT isn't particularly easy for a guy his size. Like to see him take a leap in his passrush this year. He had 20 collegiate interior sacks. Hopefully Goldman inspires.

It should also be noted that Goldman had 4.5 sacks to Sutton's zero sacks just to show a more complete picture. Yeah, it would be nice to see Sutton get a pass rush going. It seems like he should excel at that. (quick, disruptive traits)
 

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Weird that the article made no mention of Hakeem Nicks.

Fangio's defense was a sieve in the run game yet still managed to be respectable in points allowed. I figure at the very least, the money invested in the ILB positions should shore up the run defense.

The question with the front 7 is about the pass rush. Having Bullard and Hicks as your DEs isn't really all that great. The problem with Houston and Young is that they get their sacks during the regular course of the game...opposing offenses aren't gameplanning for them. Its like they are saying "If we give up a sack while maintaining our normal blocking scheme, that's fine, because the next down we'll just throw the ball to Tracy Porter's WR for a 15-yard gain."

The key, IMO, is Floyd. If he can force opposing offenses to account for him, then that would help out the secondary. If Floyd can put together a 10-15 sack season (not really unattainable for such a high pick), then the Bears defense has the chance to be an upper-tier defense. If not, I don't really see Young/Houston/McPhee keeping offensive coordinators awake at night.

Forgive me if I'm not in on some inside joke, but what is weird about the omission of a wide receiver in an article about defensive front 7s?
 

number51

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Forgive me if I'm not in on some inside joke, but what is weird about the omission of a wide receiver in an article about defensive front 7s?

You asswipe! No offense, good catch.

Rory meant Bears DE Akiem Hicks not the Giants WR Hakeem Nicks.
 

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