Again, Fields is not Sam Darnold. And nothing about how he's both playing and projecting as a progressing QB right now is suggesting a bottom third QB. You are putting too much stock in quick glace surface only stats that aren't telling nearly the whole story involved. Justin Fields is making all the throws you want a guy to be able to make and then some in what technically amounts to his year 2. The bigger struggle the Bears have right now has nothing to do with QB play, and everything to to do with the o-line's inability to consistently give him more time/opportunity to spread his talent wings. That also isn't something that gets fixed by switching out to the smaller, slower, and less athletic guy. If Fields starts seeing the same protection and clean pockets as Lamar and Hurts get in 2024 he's gonna start doing a similar level of offensive damage. Book that. It is also a better probability bet imo of *that* happening right now, for a team/fanbase that again wants to stop rebuilding and start winning already, then with this always reaching assumption that the next "can't miss" hype machine baby actually ends up finally being the next Andrew Luck level producer. Which of course circles back around to my again saying: If they keep Fields it's a good bet they are taking one of those tackles with a top 10 pick.
There is a reason why TE is quite literally the least paid position in NFL (aside from ST): https://overthecap.com/franchise-transition-and-rfa-tenders . It's not a WR, and it is not an OL. It's a hybrid, and you basically you get the worst of both. Not as good at separation as a top rated WR and not as good at blocking as OL. On top of it, we have Conklin and Ruckert already and our OL is the worst in the League. Last year Kincaid and Mayer went end 1st/early 2nd, and both were also highly rated and even had more yards in jr year than Boyers. Not as highly as Bowers, but still. When you are lacking premium positions and are decent at TE like we are, a TE is not the right pick at #10. Maybe in different circumstances, but absolutely not now. I actually want to see what Conk and Ruckert (3d round pick 2 years ago, who slipped and could have been 2nd) can do with a decent OL and a QB. We need to focus on OL - we are not getting two OT studs in free agency, I can assure you of that. Between top 3 OT, possible trade down, or if a top 5 WR somehow slips, I just don't see a scenario where Bowers should be our pick.
Agree with a lot of it, but another thing to consider is the salary. 2024 is the last cheap year for Fields. 22 mil next year, and if he is good, a huge contract in 2025. They can trade Fields for a 2nd and basically reset financial clock by picking a QB. It's not an easy decision though, I agree, it's not as easy as moving on from Zach or Sam.
If Brock Bowers is available at #10 and the Jets pass, I'll be buying a new television the next day. Not just because I'm a UGA fan. I know he's a little undersized for the mold of the traditional TE, and I know the PFF book on his blocking is that he's good, not great. I think a little Bowers context is important. First, any draft expert rating Bowers' blocking value as a TE in a three-point stance on the end of the line, good friggin' luck with that. Pick any random series in any random game and I'll bet you'll see him line up at three difference positions on the field. At least two. Watch the full game and you'll see him lined up a half dozen or more different ways - in tight, two-point, three-point, split wide, in the slot, in the backfield, in motion. That was the 2020-2022 Todd Monken offense - spread athletic talent around in as many ways as possible to keep the D guessing and make them defend the whole field. Mike Bobo ran the same offense this year, but you could tell he needed some time to figure out what he had for talent. The 2022 Georgia-Oregon is a solid Bowers game to watch for his value off the ball. He only had only two catches, but UGA was averaging something like 8-yards a play in the first half. Always had a hat on someone, and Oregon was so keyed into where Bowers was and what he was doing that half a dozen UGA JAGs were able to rip off yards in huge chunks. Kendall Milton owes half his rushing yards to Bowers blocking on the second level. Ladd McConkey owes half his college career to Bowers double-teams. Granted, the story of 2022 was defense. And, UGA had the luxury of moving Bowers all around because they also had a 5-star mammoth in Darnell Washington. My point is - even without the ball, Brock Bowers adds value to everyone else on the field. Second, as much as I hate to cite "intangibles," the kid has a competitive will like few players you'll ever see. Ever read how he ended up at UGA? There's a cool story about it somewhere out there on the interweb. He wasn't really on anyone's radar until near the end. He had like one offer and then lost what should have been his showcase season to COVID. After that, he kept getting into trouble for breaking CA's strict lockdown rules that wouldn't allow him on any field to train. His recruiting video is mostly just him running his training routine in the local sand dunes. The fucking guy was persistent. He's also said to be one of those "last guy off the practice field" dudes. But the two best examples of Brock Bowers' intangibles are the 2022 semifinal vs. Ohio State and the 2023 game vs Auburn. One of the greatest individual efforts I've ever seen was Bowers' stretching for the first down in the fourth quarter against OSU. If they don't pick that up, Georgia loses that game. Dude defied gravity to make the line. Against Auburn this year, UGA was just plain flat. That kid owned the fourth quarter and made two incredible catches to pull out the win. I could go on but that's enough for now. Bowers at #10.
You also have the fact that Caleb is such a hyped up commodity at this point that there is definitely off-field value to be had in that for a franchise that Fields isn't offering atm/imo. Or basically from a strictly on-field consideration decision I like keeping Fields. On the off-field consideration side I totally get their owner deciding to go in the other direction though.
Yeah, but translating this to NFL to the point where you would select a non premium position, where you are already decent at, that high over premium positions in the area where you are weak and just failed the whole season largely because of it, is mind boggling and is just not how you build a team. I hope that new TV will be a good one.
I posted it before but Bowers isn’t a tightend and he’s not like Kyle Pitts. He’s a big receiver that can run just as fast. Dude is going to eat in the slot if a team uses him correctly. He’d be a dream in the Shanahan tree offense.
We got Al Toon and Garrett Wilson with the 10th pick. So, which WR will it be this time? Odunze, Nabers, or Coleman?
Really? Hmmm…. Admittedly, I don’t watch much college ball at all…but I did watch the championship game last night, and specifically paid attention to Penix and Odenze just because I’ve heard those names as prospects. I thought Penix was awful. His mechanics suck all kinds of balls….throws flat footed, off his back feet…it felt like every throw was a sidearm push 2 yards downfield…and when he did throw deep, his accuracy was shit. I didn’t see anything from him last night that convinced me he is an NFL QB. Nothing. I saw the graphic that he led the leagues in deep throws over 20 air yards and was shocked to see that because the guy I saw last night was awful deep…missed so many wide open guys, including Odunze. He must have gotten all those deep throws against total shit competition, because last night against good competition he was shit. I wouldn’t draft him at all before the 4th or 5th round, let alone in the first. Especially us. Maybe he’s got raw talent, though I didn’t get the feel of raw athleticism jumping off the screen either, but maybe to sit for a couple of years on a team that has developed QBs in the past I could see, but us? No fucking way. I see him as a worse version of Justin Fields, and I’m not a Fields fan at all. I just don’t think he’s an NFL quality QB. Not even close. I wasn’t overly impressed with Odunze either, as he had a couple of drops as well, but hard to tell…he was wide open a few times, but the replays didn’t show much other than they just let him run past them and blew coverages on those plays…wasn’t like I saw a ton of crazy moves. Again…only one game so I get that I don’t really have a good basis, but I do put stock in wanting to see a player perform when the pressure is on. You have to ball out in your biggest game. Neither of those guys looked particularly impressive to me…though the receiver showed up better than the QB. Funny how I’m not a scout, I only watched one game, but sometimes these scouts overthink it, or think they can fix a player. Most of the times they can’t. I watched Vernon Gholston go 0-the game in his championship game for Ohio State all those years ago and I felt the same….wanted no part of a player who was such a non-factor in his biggest game. And sure enough, he was what he showed then…absolutely nothing. I could see drafting Odunze, I want no part of Penix. But hey, if he goes top ten and lets another guy drop to us, I love it!
If possible I would trade down 3 to 5 slots and grab Coleman the WR from FSU who is projected in the 15 to 20 range.
