Free agency preview on offense

In this episode, the focus is on the offensive side of the football and the Bears' plans for free agency. They have the most cap space in the NFL and are expected to be smart with their investments. The first question is whether the Bears will bring back running back David Montgomery, considering the deep class of running backs in free agency. The Bears could potentially get Montgomery at a good price, but if another team offers him a big contract, he may choose to leave. Other players being discussed for resigning or extending are offensive tackle Riley Reiff, wide receivers Cluedo Harry, Brian Pringle, and Dante Pettis, and long snapper Patrick Scales. The Bears may also consider extending tight end Cole Komet and wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who had solid seasons. The offensive line is seen as the Bears' biggest need, and there is a comparison between Braxton Jones and Orlando Brown Jr., the left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs. Brown is projected to Alright, we are back for episode number two. This is going to be kind of going over just free agency on the offensive side of the football because I'm just going to make this two parts offense and defense because there's so much to go over just if you go by position. So, the start, Bears have approximately as of recording, which is the 29th of January, $98 million in cap space. Most in the NFL and it's not even close. So, they could do so much. I don't see Ryan Poles going crazy. He even said in his opening press conference when he got hired, he's not one of those he goes mixed, spends all the money on the first day. He's going to kind of, and rightfully so, smartly invest in free agency. Free agency is kind of, could be a pool's gold. They're free agents for a reason, so you kind of have to be careful on who you spend the money on. So, I don't see Ryan Poles going crazy and I think that's going to drive some people insane if the Bears don't do anything on that first day of free agency. So, I'm going to start kind of dividing this in half with just the Bears internally, resigning or extending players. To start with resigning, I think the first question that comes up, do the Bears bring back David Montgomery? If so, for how long and at what price? This free agency class I'll get into a little bit later for running backs is deep and there's a lot of good running backs that are going to get paid and I don't know about these players getting paid because their body's just taking beatings, especially running backs. Just to name a few of these running backs, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, Miles Sanders, Tony Pollard. There's, the list can go on and on and on of decent, good quality running backs that can be had. With that being said, too, that also helps the Bears because with it being so deep, they could probably get David Montgomery at a, I would say a good price in terms of, you don't have to, I mean, the one fear is that one running back could sign what I'll call the Christian Kirk contract, which is below average. It blows the market out of the water and all of a sudden everyone's like, hey, I want that deal. So, spot track, I'll be citing spot track and PFF, pro football focus, a lot in this. I know some people with pro football focus cringe when they hear that. I'm just, some of the stuff I was able to find just statistic wise and I just use it as a point of reference. I don't use it as like the holy bible. I'm just using it as a point of reference throughout this, but spot track does a great job in terms of, that's where I got cap space. They do a great job with just terms of monitoring, these sort of things, but they had a spot track calculated value for David Montgomery at three years, $21 million and the average salary being $7.2 million. I would be okay with that. I mean, if that's what the Bears are able to agree on with David Montgomery, I would do that right away. I would do that day one. That's something I would be okay with, but if someone throws a bunch of money at him and he can go get that money, go get it, David. Go get that money. Also, I think, too, he's so highly regarded as a player among his teammates in the locker room with what happened this past season, the Bears trading Roquan and Robert Quinn. You got to keep some of that locker room together. If you just start letting players walk out the door a lot, you might lose the team and you don't want to be doing that. Go on to the next player, Riley Reif, offensive tackle. I think in terms of just purely depth, he's a great piece to have. He can play right tackle, left tackle. He played right tackle mainly this past season. I do think, though, I look at him more as a backup. I don't know if I want him starting again at right tackle. I mean, I'll get into it later, but Larry Boer made it either. It's a need that the Bears need to upgrade in a big way. If you can bring him back on a one-year deal similar to what you had him on this season, I would do it. Going out of wide receivers, Cluedo Harry, Brian Pringle, and Dante Pettis, I mean, their inability to stay healthy probably cost them the ability to re-sign them back. I mean, Cluedo Harry was hurt. Brian Pringle was hurt. I believe Dante Pettis at certain points this season was hurt as well. It was just like a revolving door of receivers at certain points of the season where Justin Fields couldn't develop any sort of on-field chemistry with these receivers just because they were just in and out all the time. The other player that's kind of a position that doesn't get shown a lot of love but is going to get shown some love here is the long snapper, Patrick Scales. For his pretty much career, the last couple years, it's basically been one-year deals around a million bucks. It's one of those where if there's a standout in the draft that could be taken late or undrafted free agent, you could be doing it that way and get a fraction of the price. Now, I know I'm talking here with the Bears having $98 million in cap space. We're talking, I don't want to say pennies, but we're not talking a whole lot of money. But hey, if you can get a good long snapper on a better deal, then more power to them. The Bears are really being just over a million dollars in terms of the league. They're right around the top 10 in terms of long snappers with Patrick Scales. I don't think if there's a deal done for Patrick Scales, I don't think it's done until after the draft if teams are able to fill that position specifically. If they can fill it later in the draft at a cheaper price, they're going to do it. Moving on to extend candidates, really the two people that a lot of people have been talking about and they're going to talk about is Cole Komet and Darnell Mooney. First up, Cole Komet, because I think if we're going to pick between the two of them, it's probably going to be Cole Komet. He had a great season. After a slow start, when his offense took off, he took off with it. Free agent next year, just like Darnell Mooney. As of now, his cap hit is, according to the spot track, 2.4 million, which ranks among tight ends in the league, ranks 27th with the top being George Kittle at 18 million. You could get a deal done that would put him in the top 20 or even top 15, around 7 million to 8. If they push it to 8, you'd be okay with it. Once you start climbing up that ladder of going into the top 10 and whatnot, it's a steep climb. It's one of those things, you start looking at some of those players and you go, is Cole Komet better than him? Is he better than him? Then it got to the point where it was T.J. Hawkinson and you kind of stop. You go, hang on a second, who's better there? T.J. Hawkinson was, I think, number 10 at just over 9 million, if I recall. I don't have it in front of me here. I think that's where you'd be okay with that. With Darnell Mooney, again, free agent next year. Cap hit, with him being a late-round pick, was just over a million bucks. In terms of rankings of a cap hit, it's 109th. Obviously, there's so many receivers. It's going to look like that. I see his ceiling, I hope I'm wrong, his ceiling is more of a wide receiver 2. I think some of that also depends on how he comes back from injury. I believe he had an ankle injury at the end of the season. That could be very touchy, especially ankles with wide receivers, cutting, accelerating, things of that nature. You could, with that being said, potentially maybe get him on a more team-friendly deal. We'll see. I also could see Mooney just saying, I want to better myself and see what I can get, which, again, players that want to get paid, I got nothing against them. You got to get that money. Going into free agency, I'm going to just go by positions. I'm going to start along the offensive line because I think, obviously, I think every Bears fan would agree, that is their biggest need. You got to build up front. I know a lot of people talk about wide receivers, but me personally, it starts and ends up front. If you can't protect the quarterback, it doesn't matter what receivers you have out there. If the quarterback is always on his back, it doesn't matter. We're going to start at left tackle. Before I say this first player's name, I'm going to do a little blind player comparison here. You can follow along. Player A, it's just two players, obviously. Player A had 12 penalties, allowed seven sacks, hits allowed four, total pressures allowed 40, and pro football focus had him ranked among all tackles along the offensive line, left and right 20th. Player B, penalties, six. Sacks allowed four, hits allowed seven, total pressures allowed 47, and pro football focus had him ranked among all tackles 17th. Player A's rank is 20th, and the other one was 17th. Player A is Braxton Jones. Player B, and the person we're going to talk about first, Orlando Brown Jr., the left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs. Braxton Jones, his cap in the hit this past season was just over three quarters of a million bucks. Orlando Brown, on the franchise tag, I believe, if you printed it under the franchise tag, was $16.6 million. Now, spot track has this calculated market value if you were to become a free agent and say the Kansas City Chiefs do not bring him back. He becomes unrestricted. It shows a market value of a five-year, $112 million, $112 million of the average salary of $22.4 million. Now, to me, that seems like a lot of money for a left tackle that is 17th among all left tackles, and you have a guy in your roster. It almost seems like they're almost, I mean, I understand it. I don't want to say identical because they're not, but that just seems like a lot of money for a guy that has been in the league longer than what Braxton Jones has been. It's his first year started as a rookie. He's going to get better. You hope he's going to get better. The thing is, too, is if you go back and watch the video, that playoff game where Patrick Mahomes got hurt, hurt his ankle, who's the guy that got beat? The pass rusher that comes around the corner, who allowed it to happen? Orlando Brown Jr. I would have a hard time spending that kind of money on a left tackle that allowed that sort of thing to happen. I just couldn't do it. There's also talk about, could you get him to move over to right tackle? Usually, when you move him over to right tackle, the money is not as much because left tackle is seen as more of a premium position. I don't think Orlando Brown would go for that. I think if he can get that left tackle money, he's going to get that left tackle money. Personally, I don't know if I could do it. I don't know if I could sign him to that kind of money. I was watching that game against the Jaguars. I was looking at the top of the screen and I was just watching pass rusher after pass rusher go around him. It seemed like he was going around him like a turnstile. It was ridiculous. I was like, okay, I can't come to terms with paying him that kind of money. I think it would be very interesting because Ryan Pohl is coming from Kansas City. What does he think of him? If he does not look into him or doesn't look to sign him, I think that will tell you a lot of what Ryan Pohl thought of him to begin with. There's not that many other left tackles that are going to be free agents, which is good for Orlando because they can just drive the price up. It's obviously a premium position. The other left tackles that are going to be free agents are not someone that I would just stick with Braxton Jones, to be honest with you, or you go into the draft. If the Bears obviously were looking to trade down, you'd take a left tackle there and then obviously have the best man win. That's really it for left tackle because I think that's the only main player to talk about is Orlando Brown Jr. Again, I personally think just buyer beware with Orlando Brown. Moving on to guard, Tevin Jenkins, I know he got hurt and missed part of the season. He ranked among top five among guards. Talk about a great position move for Tevin Jenkins going over to right guard and just absolutely just mauling. Great job by the coaching staff to do that sort of thing. I'm sure Tevin wasn't thrilled about it because again, tackles are paid more than guards. It was a great call on their part. Again, I understand that so you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt. It appears like Cody Whitehair and Tevin Jenkins might be the most sure thing along this line. If there's maybe someone in the draft, again, I think if you're looking at draft, you're probably looking more at the left guard for Cody Whitehair potentially. Also too, another thing to keep in mind is there's always players cut that become available that you didn't think would become available that could be seen as upgrades so that also could factor into it as well. That's really about it with guard. I think that might be the more sure thing is guard. I think Cody Whitehair and Tevin Jenkins might be the most sure thing along this whole entire offensive line. Moving over to center and I think every Bears fan would agree, maybe their biggest need. I mean, Sam Mustafer is going to be a free agent. I believe it's a restricted free agent but he might as well be unrestricted. I mean, I won't shed a tear watching him walk out the door. One player I looked at that is probably one, according to PFF, was the third best center, Ethan Posick. I believe that's how you pronounce his last name. If not, I apologize. Coming off an injury, he had a great year. Again, ranked third best center according to Pro Football Focus. Spot track calculated market value for him is four years, $28.8 million with an average salary of $7.2 million. Ryan Poles, do it. Do it now. Go sign that guy right now and then let Lucas Patrick, who has one more year left, be the backup. That's something I do day one. Just plain and simple. I do it, again, do it now. Do it right now. That's really the main guy that's going to be a free agent. I mean, it betters your offensive line right now. That's really the main position for center. Going over to right tackle, I would say this is probably the second biggest need. I mean, you could put guard, not guard, center, and right tackle one, two. You can put whatever position you like but I think these are probably the top two positions that need to be addressed because Larry Borum was not it. Even Riley Reif wasn't that much better. Again, I think Riley Reif is more of the backup, the guy that can play left and right tackle if one of the other two gets hurt. It's not telling you when it's starting. The first player to talk a lot as a free agent is Michael McGinchy, the right tackle for the San Francisco 49ers. I mean, he fits perfectly with the run scheme that the Bears are running with the outside zone. Ranks 34th among all right tackles, all tackles, pardon me, all tackles according to Pro Football Focus. Again, Larry Borum and Riley Reif are 53rd, 54th, I believe, they're in the 50s. He's going to be 29 years old. Spot track calculated market value has him at four years, $43 million with the average salary being 10.7. He's just been, just a model of consistency as you look at his numbers on Pro Football Focus. He's always, it's the same usually year in, year out. Maybe go up, might go down but it's usually pretty consistent. Just again, just makes your team better day one. It has to be done in terms of just getting upgrades for this offensive line. Just some of the blocking numbers to go through. Ten penalties, sacks allowed, six, hits allowed, three, and then total pressures allowed, 27. The other right tackle that's going to be available, this is just more of an interesting one, is Caleb McGarry, the right tackle for the Atlanta Falcons. He's going to be turning 29 years old as well. The Atlanta Falcons declined his fifth year option going into the season. He could still get tagged. He graded out as one of the top run blockers, just purely if you, according to Pro Football Focus, top run blocker at 91.6. The only person better is Trent Williams, the left tackle for the 49ers who is considered one of, if not the best left tackle in the NFL. Spattrack calculated market value for him was four years, $70.9 million with the average salary being $17.7 million a season. Among all tackles, he ranked fourth at 86.6. If you use, as a point of reference for Michael McGlinchey, he had a rating of 71.5. But again, with Michael McGlinchey, he ranked, that's his number, usually ranked in the low 70s every season. Now, with Caleb McGarry, yes, he ranked 86.6. His run blocking, again, 91.6. Pass blocking, 66.9. If you use that against Michael McGlinchey, you're looking at a pass blocking of 65.5. So, you're not looking at much of a difference. Obviously, the run blocking is a big spike. So, blocking numbers, just penalties, five. Sacks allowed six, hits allowed three, and total pressures allowed 19. Again, Atlanta had one of the biggest, one of the biggest running games in the NFL. They were just pounding the rock this season, it seems like. And, I mean, and if you just look at, he totally spiked this season. I don't know if motivation after getting declined for the fifth year option, he just, like I said, he just really spiked. So, if I had to pick between the two, between Michael McGlinchey and Caleb McGarry, I would pick McGlinchey. The consistency is there, it's been there year in and year out. Give me the sure thing. Give me the guy that you know what you're going to get compared to the guy that has shown you one year of production. And, again, it's all about protecting Justin Fields and giving him the tools to succeed. And even, like obviously, myself and just probably every Bears fan, the majority I guess, you want to see this kid succeed, you want to see him succeed. But, if it does not work out, at least, at the very least, you have an upgraded offensive line because you can't keep going the way we're going in terms of just, you know, bandaging it together and just hoping it works. It's not sustainable, it just isn't. So, that's it for right tackle. Going on to running backs and holy cow, like I said earlier, there's just a lot, a lot out there. I, personally, I'm under the group of not putting a whole lot of money into running backs. Now, like I said, I would be okay with David Montgomery because the quality of back and not just the back, but also the person and what he brings to the locker room. There's, like I said, there's just, this class is so deep. And I'm just going to be going over the top three just as free agency is concerned in terms of running backs. There's three within the top 15. Josh Jacobs, number one. Tony Pollard, number three. And Saquon Barkley, number 15, according to Pro Football Focus, just as overall grade. Number one, I'm going to start with Josh Jacobs. He gets his fifth year option decline and just goes off. He has pretty much had career highs in many categories here. He was second in the league in carries. He was just the bell cow at 339 carries. Number one, you could probably guess, was Derrick Henry. Led the league in rushing just over 1,600 yards. Rushing touchdowns at 12. Yards per attempt, 4.9. Had three fumbles. Missed, forced missed tackles. All the stuff is coming from Pro Football Focus, all the stats I'm reciting from. Yards after contact per attempt, meaning when after contact on the yards is, again, 3.4. Explosive runs. Explosive runs counting as over 10 yards, 41. Receiving side, you can just see just from the receiving side, he's more of a purely a running back. He had 61 targets receiving. He had 53 receptions, 400 yards, no touchdowns, and three drops. It shows in just the player grades from Pro Football Focus, the overall grade of 91.6, that being number one. Rushing at 91.9 and receiving 64.8. I don't see the Raiders franchise tagging him because I think they have more issues. I think their issues are on the defensive side of football. Also, if the Raiders are interested in the Tom Brady sweepstakes, you're not going to spend that money on a running back. You're going to spend it on Tom Brady. That's the whole, the Tom Brady thing I'm going to talk about a little bit later here. He'll be 25 years old. Again, this running back class, the depth and the age, they're young. You can bring these guys back. You can sign them two to three-year deals and be okay with it. I just see him more as a runner, though. His limitations in the passing game and just from stuff I've read in pass protection. If you're bringing him into the game, you're kind of telegraphing to the defense what you're looking to do. You're not going to bring him in on passing down. With that, we're going to move on to Tony Pollard. Again, he had, I think he's better than Ezekiel Elliott. Ezekiel Elliott looks like a running back that just got paid and he's just happy. He's like, I got paid. I'm good now. It shows. I think if Dallas Cowboys tag him, I don't know. I couldn't find the numbers if running backs got tagged, what the cap number would be, what they would get paid. If he gets tagged, that's a lot of money for the Dallas Cowboys to have tied up in running backs. That's just a lot. Again, I'm not the biggest believer in paying big money out to running backs. I'd rather put it along my O-line, my defensive line. That's where I'd rather have it, personally, or even pay a big-time wide receiver. Again, that's my own personal opinion. That injury in the playoffs, I hope for a great recovery for him, did not help his value either. You hate to see that from a player, to see him get hurt like that. His stats is, just to go to what kind of a back he is, I already said I think he's better than Ezekiel Elliott. 193 carries, he got just over 1,000 yards, nine rushing touchdowns, 5.2 yards per attempt, which is, if you compare that to Josh Jacobs, he had 4.9. I also think you could say that's more impressive for Josh Jacobs. He had more carries, and he had almost the same amount of yards per attempt. Zero fumbles, four smith tackles of 41, yards after contact per attempt, 3.82. Explosive runs, again, explosive runs are categories of runs of 10 yards or more of 31. He's, what, 10 less than Josh Jacobs. But the carries are down, so that's, I mean, if you gave him maybe 100 more carries, what would that number look like? He's also more of the receiving back, too. He had 50 targets with 39 targets, no, pardon me, 50 targets with 39 receptions, receiving yards of 371 with three receiving touchdowns and one drop. Player grades, according to Pro Football Focus, of 89.5. Rushing is 88.9, receiving being 75.7. Spot track has his market value at three years, $27.1 million, the average salary being $9 million. That's just a little bit more than David Montgomery, which, again, I think that's really good. Again, it's just a calculated value. It's not what it's going to turn out to be, but if you just go off of that alone, that makes, that's really good for the Bears to be able to bring back David Montgomery. He's going to turn 26, Tony Pollard is, coming into the 2023 season. And onto the other, the last running back here, again, there's so many. I mean, you could do a whole podcast episode just on running backs alone, the amount of good quality running backs that are in there. I'm just going off of three here. The third one being Saquon Barkley. He returned to form this season. He had a fantastic year. That's another thing with the Giants. Do you tag them or do you re-sign them? What do you do? They have, you have to make a decision between him and Daniel Jones. It was my pick. I picked Saquon. I think, especially in the playoffs, you saw the limitability of Daniel Jones. But anyway, we're going on, staying on Saquon Barkley here. Season stats, 295 carries, just over 1,300 yards, 10 touchdowns rushing, yards per attempt, 4.4 with one fumble. Course missed tackles of 40. Yards after contact per attempt, 2.78. Explosive runs, 32. Receiving targets. Now, this is where, I think, with Saquon, you can see the numbers with receptions. He had the lowest grade here. He had 73 targets receiving with 57 receptions, just over 300 receiving yards at 338. Zero touchdowns receiving and six drops. Pro Football Focus, the grades, his overall grade was 77.3 with receiving, not receiving, rushing at 81.1 and receiving at 55.1. Spot track had the calculated market value at four years, $49 million with the average salary being 12. I would have a hard, again, Saquon Barkley is a great running back, a really good running back. That receiving, those receiving numbers would make me hesitate in terms of signing him to that kind of money. Again, I understand that spot track is not what these players are going to get, but I'm just kind of using it as a guide here. I would have a hard time with that. I think with those three players, you go back to Dave Montgomery, I think this is really good for the Bears. I think you can get him a team-friendly deal. The number I said earlier for him, I would do that, right? I would do that. I think that would be a fine deal for both Dave Montgomery and the Bears at three years, $21 million of an average salary. Three years, $21 million with the average salary being seven mil. I would do that. Moving on to our receivers now. This class of free agents for our receivers, there's no other way around it. It's terrible. It's just not very good. The 2024 receiving class now, that's a different story. Again, a lot can happen between now and then. Some of these receivers could get extended, but this just looks a lot better. If you just look at 2024, I'll get back to this upcoming one, but if you just look at 2024, some of the names, Tyler Boyd, T. Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr., Calvin Ridley, Marquise Brown, also known as Hollywood Brown, and Mike Evans, that's just to name a few for 2024. For this class in 2023, if I'm the Bears, a lot of these receivers, I'm looking at a one-year deal, maybe two, and nothing more. A couple of these receivers, Juju Smith-Schuster, Jarvis Landry, D.J. Chark, Nelson Aguilar, Nicole Hardman, Jacoby Myers, Julio Jones, none of those receivers just blow the doors off where you go, go get that guy. I feel like the Bears are going to be better off going with this free agency class, looking in the draft to draft another receiver, probably in the second round. I know there's receivers in the first round. I just think in the first round, I think the Bears have more needs to address or better players to fit needs along the offensive, or specifically where they are defensive line, compared to getting a wide receiver. That's where I would go personally. Again, not to go over all the receivers, because I just don't think it's that great of a class for free agency. Again, one, two-year deal tops, and then you just move on, maybe find something in the draft for that receiver. Going on to tight ends, some of the tight ends here, Dalton Schultz, Evan Ingram, Mike Kuczynski, Mike Kuczynski being tight end from Miami Dolphins, Evan Ingram, he had a great, decent year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It does help when you have Doug Peterson and your quarterback is Trevor Warrens. Dalton Schultz has probably had the best overall grade of the three that I just named, of Evan Ingram and Mike Kuczynski, at pro football focus grade of 68.3. As referenced, Cole Komet's grade was 67.6, so that's kind of a, you can kind of go to one of those things where how much money are you willing to throw in there? I kind of, it could be, and also this draft seems deep at tight end. From what I've read, there's a lot of good tight ends in this draft, so the Bears could draft another one, maybe in the third round, fourth round. Also, I kind of have this as a little dark horse here. I was scrolling down looking at the other free agents. Robert Tunyon, the tight end for the Packers, he's going to be a free agent, and the Packers, there's no other way around it. They're going to have to make cuts. They're going to have to cut players. They're going to have to restructure contracts. People are going to have to take pay cuts just to make it work if Rodgers, again, if Rodgers decides to come back. But if he does, they're going to have to make cuts. They're going to have to walk out the door, and Robert Tunyon could be one of them, and that could be, I think he would pair very well. A good deal with Cole Clement. I think that would be a great one-two punch to have at tight end. Quarterbacks. Holy cow. This could be an absolute circus between free agency and trade. You start with the GOAT, Tom Brady. Does he retire? Does he come back? If he comes back, where is he going? Because Tampa Bay, they're in cap hell right there with New Orleans Saints. They're arm and arm in cap hell. I think the two teams, obviously the Raiders are connected to that. The 49ers, I think you tell, regardless of what happens this season with the 49ers, with Brock Purdy, and also that Brock Purdy, and if he becomes, say he takes this team to the Super Bowl, and say the 49ers win the Super Bowl, what do you do with Trey Lance now? You have to trade him, right? There's no way you could turn around and tell the team, hey, I know we just won the Super Bowl. Again, I'm playing purely hypothetical here. There's no way you could turn around and go, hey, we're going to put Trey Lance back at the starter. There's no way you can do it. You'll lose the locker room. The players will go, what? What are you doing? This guy just won us the Super Bowl. Obviously, the 49ers defense played a role, obviously, in other players, but there's just no way you can do that. Without that being said, I think Tom Brady and the 49ers would just be, you put Tom Brady with Kyle Shanahan and that defense that they have right now, they become the perennial Super Bowl favorite for next year. It would just be ridiculous. I know he's not a free agent, but where does Derek Carr land? Because some of these, him and others, I won't say others, but more mainly Derek Carr, I think is going to dictate where some of these other quarterbacks fall. So once Tom Brady decides if he's going to come back or not. Where Derek Carr gets traded to, which I was looking, his contract for this coming season, the 2023-2024 season, becomes guaranteed on February 15th. So that's why I wouldn't be surprised next week, I would say, before the Super Bowl, maybe a couple days after the Super Bowl, because the Super Bowl is February 12th, and the contract becomes guaranteed on the 15th. I wouldn't be surprised between now and then, this trade gets done. I also think the Raiders benching him, pretty much, I want to say pretty much they did, for the last couple games of the season, I can't remember how many games they pretty much had him for, you don't do that unless you have a team that's interested. A team that you have in mind, or you've been talking to teams that are interested in trading for him. Because it would make no sense, you pretty much called it a season and sat him. Even Jared Stenum showed promise, but even Jared Stenum, he's a free agent too. What are you doing? You have to have a plan somehow, you gotta have a plan to do something. These other quarterbacks though, Lamar Jackson, what does Baltimore do? What do they do? Do they tag them? I understand there's two different types of tags. There's one type of tag where it's exclusively between the Ravens and the player, and the other tag where it gives permission to the player to go seek out trades. Because Lamar Jackson does not have an agent, he represents himself, I believe his mother is helping in that, but what do the Ravens do? Because from my understanding is that Lamar Jackson wants, it's a Sean Watson contract essentially, he wants a fully guaranteed deal. Now do I blame him? No. Especially the way he plays in terms of running and taking the hits that he takes, I don't blame him one bit for wanting that type of money. But if I'm Baltimore, I don't know if I could do it. I looked at, out of curiosity, I looked at the Sean Watson contract and holy cow, the cap number for him from here to the end of that contract for the Sean Watson is just north of, I believe it's $53 million as a cap hit, and the yearly money he makes is $46 million a season, that's fully guaranteed. There's no wiggle room there. It's fully guaranteed. So that's going to be interesting what happens there, because again, that's going to dictate what other quarterbacks do in a free agency. And I think there's some of these quarterbacks, or I have one, I called, he's going to get what I call Mike Glennon type money. I know as a Bears fan, I see Mike Glennon, I just shake my head. Thanks Ryan Pace. Anyway, so some of these other quarterbacks are available. Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Jimmy Garoppolo, Teddy Bridgewater, Daniel Jones, Case Keenum, Tyler Haneke, and Garner Minshew. Jimmy Garoppolo, that's probably obviously all the ones I just listed is probably the best of them all. That'd be interesting. I think he's another guy that could go to the Raiders with familiarity with Josh McDaniels. That could be interesting. But also with that being said, if you can go get Tom Brady, why go look at Jimmy Garoppolo? I think of all the quarterbacks, again, just to list them off, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Jimmy Garoppolo, Teddy Bridgewater, Daniel Jones, Case Keenum, Tyler Haneke, and Garner Minshew. I'm going to focus on Daniel Jones, because I think of all of them, they could get some, I would call Mike Glennon money. It will be him. He had a great year. I think it's more, I think it's a credit to Brian Dayball and the head coach. He made him look better than he's ever looked. The question is, does he stay with the Giants, or does he get tagged? Again, I don't know the price of these franchise tags for quarterbacks. I'm sure it's not cheap, especially specifically quarterbacks. Also, if you let him go, who are you going to go get? Unless Brian Dayball has a quarterback that he likes, because I don't believe they're picking high, they're in the playoffs, so they're in the 20s. Who are you going to go get? Are you interested in Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Jimmy G, Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum, Tyler Haneke, Garner Minshew? That's the other question, is who are you going to go get? I just think that's going to be a circus. Another thing, too, is Arizona with Tyler Murray. He might not be back until the middle of the year. I have a feeling he's going to take his sweet time coming back. Now, do I blame him? No, because if he gets hurt again, it could be a problem with him coming back from Asia. That's going to be interesting to watch. I think from Arizona, I look at someone like Garner Minshew, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold on a one-year deal, Teddy Bridgewater. Those are all one-year deals. I think someone, though, is going to pay Daniel Jones, give him a multi-year deal. If I'm the Giants and someone does that, I just say, thanks, but no thanks. Wish you the best. That's how I would look at it, personally. That's it for quarterbacks. That's really the summary for just about every of the positions on offense. To summarize here, I said early, and I'll say it again, the Bears need to prioritize the offensive line because Justin Fields can't take that type of beating again next season. He just can't. The biggest need being right tackle and center. Again, you could put that 1A, 1B, however you want because I think those are the top two needs. Look at the running back market to see if you can get David Montgomery at the deal that I was talking about. If the price is right, great. If he gets big money, again, you just say, David Montgomery, thank you, congratulations, wish you the best, and handshakes all around, really. Buyer beware on Orlando Brown Jr. I don't know if I could give him that type of money for some of the stuff I've been watching. I just think it's not very good. Wide receivers, again, one-year deals, maybe two, three. I would get someone like Jarvis Landry, a vet, a pro, a pros pro that can just show these receivers the way. I know Allen Robinson did that for Adarno Mooney. He could do that maybe for Bayless Jones. Bayless Jones for the crap that us Bears fans were giving him with the punt returns. He did show some flashes toward the end of the year, I think, too, with Bayless Jones. If he can become an above-average kick returner, as the floor, I'd be okay with that. Would I love him to contribute on offense? Yes, absolutely, I would. But as the floor, I'd be okay with that. Some people might balk at that idea, and then I turn around and say, Devin Hester was taken in the third round, and how did that turn out? Devin Hester should have been a first out Hall of Famer. The fact that he wasn't is a crime, and I hope he gets in this time around. But the point being is that there is value in getting someone that can flip the field on special teams as a kick returner. I don't know if he'll do the punt returns or not. We'll see, but that's what I feel about that. And then, if I'm Ryan Poles, go get Robert Michael Glinchy and Ethan Posick. And then, if you can get Robert Tunney a good value, do it. And then, look into extending Cole Clement and Darnell Mooney as kind of that core for Justin Fields. You have Justin Fields, Cole Clement, and Darnell Mooney. And I hope Chase Claypool in this offseason can help as well and start forming an identity on offense. It started taking shape a little bit. Justin Fields, as fantastic of a runner as he is, he is absolutely amazing to watch run the ball. It's just not sustainable over time. So, he needs to improve as a passer as well, as Ryan Poles said at the end of the season. So, that's how I feel about that. So, that's the end of this episode. Part 2, I'm going to make two parts of this because I think you can't put offense and defense together because you can separate the two. Part 2 will be just on defense and the knees and by positions and what the Bears could be looking at on the defensive side of the ball. Alright, that is it ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening.