Post Draft Mock Offseason

remydat

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With Fields now in the fold, here is how I would approach the rest of the offseason.

1. Extend Arob - New deal 4 years 81m with 16m SB. Base salaries are 8m, 17m, 20m and 20m with first 2 years guaranteed so 41m guaranteed in total. Cap hit for 2021 is 12m saving us 5.8m in cap space. With Fields in the fold give him a reliable No 1 target thru the first 4 years of his contract as he is developing. ARob gets his 20m a year so he can shut up and more importantly 41m in first 2 years of the deal after which he can be could while saving 12m against 2023 cap or 16 million against 2024. Win win for everyone.

2.Cut Graham - I have no idea why he is still around. He is not part of the future with Fields and offers very little outside of the red zone. For those concerned about TE, I have a solution further below. 7m saved

3. Cut/Trade Hicks - He is on the last year of his deal and the money could be put to better use. We can also recoup a late round pick next year which Pace does well with. I am thinking a 5th-6th rounder or so. Hicks is still good when healthy but he hasn't been healthy the last few years and he has also been responsible for a lot of silly penalties. Nichols is also in his last year and I think we need to give him the keys in terms of letting him play Hicks role to see what we have in him. We also have some decent guys to play the other DE spot and Goldman returning at NT. 11.5m saved

4. Cut/Trade Miller - I don't think he is part of the future as too inconsistent and we have several slot options to replace him. I don't see him worth signing to a contract beyond this year so see if you can get a 5th-6th rounder for him. I think the future for the Bears is ARob, Mooney, Newsome, Kmet as the starters with my TE solution below operating in 2 TE sets. 1.5m saved.

These moves get you to about 31 million in cap space. Signing the draft class takes about 5 million so that leaves you 26m in cap space. Now here is where it gets fun.

5. Sign Eric Fisher - 3 years 30 million, 15m SB with base salaries of 3m, 7.5m, 7.5m. A bit of a gamble given the achilles injury but this is a signing that perhaps happens closer to August once we have better medicals. That would give us a line of Fisher, Whitehair, Mustipher Ifedi and Jenkins which would be much improved from last year IMO with guys like Borom, Bars, Simmons, waiting in the wings to provide depth. I have left out Daniels because of the following.

6. Trade Daniels to the Falcons for Hayden Hurst - The Falcons drafted Pitts and then did not pick up the 5th year option for Hurst. So his time with the Falcons is coming to an end. We are unlikely to resign Daniels as if Ifedi is worth 5m, Daniels can probably get 5-10m on the open market in 2022. We also still have Bars, Borom, Simmons, etc. as depth and quite frankly should be drafting OL every year so I think getting a move TE like Hurst to pair with Kmet and replace Graham is worth Daniels. I think long term the best OL is going to be Fisher, Whitehair, Mustipher, Borom and Jenkins.

7. Sign Bashaud Breeland - 3 years 18 million, 9m SB with base salaries of 2m, 3m and 4m - Veteran signing that can provide cover while the young CBs continue to develop.

The above still leaves about 15 million of cap space that can be used during the year or rolled over to the 2022 cap if not used.
 

Marley's Liberality

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I find it hard to believe that Daniels, a second round pick and reportedly the most NFL ready center in his draft year, is not a better center than Mustipher. I appreciate how things changed when Mustipher (and Bars) were added to the starting lineup but Daniels should be the superior player.

I think the OL will be a FA at LT, Whitehair, Daniels, Bars, Jenkins.
 

remydat

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I think that is sort of the wrong question. The question is whether you want to pay Daniels 5-10 million a year next year or not when you have so much young OL players already. I don't see Daniels being a significant enough upgrade to give him the kind of deal he can get in FA so might as well get something for him now IMO.
 

bullsrose

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this was good until you said "trade James Daniels"
also not many teams have the cap and/or motivation to just trade for akeim hicks at this point
 

ThatGuyRyan

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I find it hard to believe that Daniels, a second round pick and reportedly the most NFL ready center in his draft year, is not a better center than Mustipher. I appreciate how things changed when Mustipher (and Bars) were added to the starting lineup but Daniels should be the superior player.

I think the OL will be a FA at LT, Whitehair, Daniels, Bars, Jenkins.
Obviously he isn't. He didn't take off with the job. Sam did.
 

ThatGuyRyan

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Like it all except trading Daniels.
 

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so we draft a good lineman, and we're gonna let him go (Daniels)? dont see it
 

remydat

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this was good until you said "trade James Daniels"
also not many teams have the cap and/or motivation to just trade for akeim hicks at this point

Hence why I said cut/trade Hicks. If you can't get a pick for him then cut him.

As for Daniels, Bears fans overrate a bit too much. He still ended up with grades worse than Leno and Massie while playing an easier position and an easier schedule as he missed the tough part of our schedule due to injury. He simply is not as good as Bears fans imagine. He is a serviceable G/C that will become more expensive next year.
 

remydat

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so we draft a good lineman, and we're gonna let him go (Daniels)? dont see it

I wouldn't call trading for Hurst letting Daniels go. I think it is more the case that Hurst does with Graham can do but a whole lot cheaper this year. And if we end up getting Fisher then Daniels is simply not a significant upgrade over Mustipher or Ifedi. I wouldn't mine getting rid of Ifedi but he probably has less trade value and he costs about the same amount to trade than he does to keep.
 

rawdawg

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I still wouldn't re-sign ARob yet. The Bears have no reason to pay him 20M/year when the market this offseason hasn't dictated you need to pay him that much. And ARob has no reason to sign that deal without seeing if the post-Covid cap number will go up in 2022. Plus with Fields, I would gear the offense and weapons toward a more vertical passing attack. While Robinson can definitely get vertical, Fields excelled with speedy WRs who DBs can't stay with for 2.5-3 seconds. I also look at Houston with Watson last year. Watson was great already with Hopkins, but having a bunch of speedy guys running crossers and deep corners and outs led to a career best season for him. That's the kind of offense Fields had at Ohio St, and what I see as the best fit at this level. Not to mention, it's basically what Nagy ran with KC the last couple years, and what I think he would love to run in Chicago.

I don't mind the Hicks and Graham cuts, but they would have happened by now if they were in the cards. I'd love a Breeland signing. I'd even add a DE because of Edwards being out the first 2 weeks (and Tonga probably being inactive most games).

But that Daniels/Hurst trade is terrible, IMO. Daniels simply has way more value than Hurst. I'm not trading a starting OG for what would be a #2 TE here, who's also 4 years older. If Daniels shows he can improve and stay healthy, then it's a no brainer to pay him 5-10Mil at 24 years old. You're not even thinking about a long-term deal with Hurst. For all the stuff about needing 2 TEs for this offense, when the Bears were putting up 30ppg against bad defenses late in the year, Graham wasn't on the field 1/2 the time.
 

Anytime45

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AR is done with this team. His silence has been deafening since they drafted fields. If this was a year ago he would have been all over social media showing love.
 

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I would sooner trade Allen Robinson II than extend him. Either way, I am as done with him as a Bear as much as he is done with the Bears. Lets get back that 2022 first that was away for Justin Fields and get the cap flexibility to drop ten million on Eric Fisher for a one year deal.
 

Chicagosports89

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I find it hard to believe that Daniels, a second round pick and reportedly the most NFL ready center in his draft year, is not a better center than Mustipher. I appreciate how things changed when Mustipher (and Bars) were added to the starting lineup but Daniels should be the superior player.

I think the OL will be a FA at LT, Whitehair, Daniels, Bars, Jenkins.
From those facts it would be hard to believe, but then you'd watch the games and see Daniels has been awful at C and mustipher did a really good job calling out assignments and played well
 

Chicagosports89

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I still wouldn't re-sign ARob yet. The Bears have no reason to pay him 20M/year when the market this offseason hasn't dictated you need to pay him that much. And ARob has no reason to sign that deal without seeing if the post-Covid cap number will go up in 2022. Plus with Fields, I would gear the offense and weapons toward a more vertical passing attack. While Robinson can definitely get vertical, Fields excelled with speedy WRs who DBs can't stay with for 2.5-3 seconds. I also look at Houston with Watson last year. Watson was great already with Hopkins, but having a bunch of speedy guys running crossers and deep corners and outs led to a career best season for him. That's the kind of offense Fields had at Ohio St, and what I see as the best fit at this level. Not to mention, it's basically what Nagy ran with KC the last couple years, and what I think he would love to run in Chicago.

I don't mind the Hicks and Graham cuts, but they would have happened by now if they were in the cards. I'd love a Breeland signing. I'd even add a DE because of Edwards being out the first 2 weeks (and Tonga probably being inactive most games).

But that Daniels/Hurst trade is terrible, IMO. Daniels simply has way more value than Hurst. I'm not trading a starting OG for what would be a #2 TE here, who's also 4 years older. If Daniels shows he can improve and stay healthy, then it's a no brainer to pay him 5-10Mil at 24 years old. You're not even thinking about a long-term deal with Hurst. For all the stuff about needing 2 TEs for this offense, when the Bears were putting up 30ppg against bad defenses late in the year, Graham wasn't on the field 1/2 the time.
I agree about that salary for Robinson. I truly think that WR's could become devalued like rbs if we keep seeing drafts as loaded as these last couple. It could drive salaries down on receivers
 

Montucky

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money is a great motivator. show him the money and he'll love chicago again
Right, but then the Bears are committed to him through his early thirties. A lot of wide receivers fall around that time, you'll be buying his decline instead of his prime.
 

WindyCity

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Extend A Rob
Extend Nichols

I would personally look for a cheaper option at UTE, but I doubt they will

Hicks, I think they keep, but if they moved him and rolled the cap space into next season I would not be opposed.

I do not think we sign anyone of note. If they think Jenkins can play LT then let him do that, I wouldn't sink real money into a OT coming off a major injury.

There is more 2022 cap space. but it is far from a flush year.

2022 is the target.
 

rawdawg

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I agree about that salary for Robinson. I truly think that WR's could become devalued like rbs if we keep seeing drafts as loaded as these last couple. It could drive salaries down on receivers

This is a very good point. 18 WRs picked in the top 50 picks in the last 2 drafts combined. Plus, guys like DK, AJ Brown, and Terry McLaurin were picked outside of 50 two drafts ago and are already true #1. 2022 draft is probably a step back from the last 2 at the WR position, but there will still be plenty of talent in the first 3 rounds. And these guys are performing well early (see Justin Jefferson this past season) so I can definitely see a future where teams aren't going crazy for WRs on the FA market.
 

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I still wouldn't re-sign ARob yet. The Bears have no reason to pay him 20M/year when the market this offseason hasn't dictated you need to pay him that much. And ARob has no reason to sign that deal without seeing if the post-Covid cap number will go up in 2022. Plus with Fields, I would gear the offense and weapons toward a more vertical passing attack. While Robinson can definitely get vertical, Fields excelled with speedy WRs who DBs can't stay with for 2.5-3 seconds. I also look at Houston with Watson last year. Watson was great already with Hopkins, but having a bunch of speedy guys running crossers and deep corners and outs led to a career best season for him. That's the kind of offense Fields had at Ohio St, and what I see as the best fit at this level. Not to mention, it's basically what Nagy ran with KC the last couple years, and what I think he would love to run in Chicago.

I don't mind the Hicks and Graham cuts, but they would have happened by now if they were in the cards. I'd love a Breeland signing. I'd even add a DE because of Edwards being out the first 2 weeks (and Tonga probably being inactive most games).

But that Daniels/Hurst trade is terrible, IMO. Daniels simply has way more value than Hurst. I'm not trading a starting OG for what would be a #2 TE here, who's also 4 years older. If Daniels shows he can improve and stay healthy, then it's a no brainer to pay him 5-10Mil at 24 years old. You're not even thinking about a long-term deal with Hurst. For all the stuff about needing 2 TEs for this offense, when the Bears were putting up 30ppg against bad defenses late in the year, Graham wasn't on the field 1/2 the time.

what if the bears got a draft pick(s) back in the Daniels for hurst deal? I’m not sure @remydat meant it would be a straight up swap...maybe he did. I think if the bears got like a 3rd or 4th round pick back in the deal, it’d be worth considering
 

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