Indianapolis trades up to the #9 selection by giving Chicago the 15, 82, and 117 picks.
That seems to be some weird mock, not a real story.
You’re right. I misread my source. Apologies.
If that happened for real, this Bears fan would be thrilled.
Edit: Actually no, that’s a terrible return to move back that many spots. It’ll take a 2nd rounder plus a couple additional picks at minimum.
I’d be stunned if the Bears trade back pre-draft. They have to know who’ll actually be available at #9 before they can consider trading the pick, and picks 4-8 are far too hard to predict. (And that’s if Washington and New England both take QBs, which is likely but not 100% certain.)
I’ve seen a lot of articles that have headlines about trades that are written in a way to seem like news, only to find out, after I’ve clicked on the article, that it’s just speculation.
Me too. Just had the following: Bills trade for Pro Bowl WR! Click on it, and its some dipshit’s speculation that the Bills could trade for Brandon Aiyuk.
Frustrating, for sure.
It’s “scramble to justify your job” season for football writers.
I mean, there’s the UFL too, but it’s the UFL.
Speaking of the UFL:
Yesterday, in a Week 2 game, Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates kicked a 62 yard field goal…which was his second-longest FG of the season, as he’d hit a 64-yarder last week.
No doubt. A few weeks back, a guy I follow posted articles on all three of these topics within a few a hours:
- The Bears should keep Justin Fields and trade down.
- The Bears should be a lock to draft Caleb Williams.
- The Bears should trade the #1 pick to Washington and draft Jayden Daniels.
Same guy. Three completely non-reconcilable views.
As we get closer to draft day, I think my favorite storyline is finding out which of the Vikings, Broncos, and/or Raiders are stupid enough to give a king’s ransom to trade up and draft what will be the 4th QB drafted. The Vikings traded up to get two first round picks, the Raiders are the Raiders, and the Broncos are desperate and dumb. Finding out which of these teams the Cardinals or Chargers are going to fleece will be a fun little storyline. Personally, I think the Vikings would be better served by drafting 2 QBs at #11 and #23 (Penix and Nix) rather than trading up to try and land McCarthy, but hey, their NFC North rivals, so the more stupid the better.
I’m like 90% convinced that Harbaugh doesn’t believe even a little bit that McCarthy can play in the NFL. All his hyperbole is solely to goose his value so the Chargers can hoodwink a team like the Vikings.
I haven’t seen anything at all from him to think he can perform at a high level in the NFL. He wasn’t even an especially effective game manager on that loaded team. His only real asset is that he’s young and still growing unlike pretty much every one of the other third tier talents. If push came to shove I’d prefer JJ over Penix, Nix or Rattler simply because the red flags on those other guys are so damning.
The McCarthy hype is not just coming from Harbaugh, and I too don’t understand it. At best, McCarthy is a game manager. Maybe he can develop, but theres little to no tape of him putting the team on his back and carrying them. He’s a great 3rd round backup QB though.
But it only takes one GM to overpay for average.
Well if he had one good drive in the Senior Bowl, maybe the Giants will pay a king’s ransom to trade up and draft him. :pukes:
Imagine if he also has one or two nice pre-season throws; then he’ll get a cool, if wholly inaccurate, nickname from the NY media too.
Maybe JJ “Dyn-o-mite” McCarthy.
I don’t get it either. He’s ranked number 4 in this class but I like Nix and Penix better than him.
Ha!
In fairness, my memory is that the New York media jumped on the Danny Dimes bandwagon in week 3 of his rookie year, when he led the Giants to an 18-point come-from-behind victory. That was the biggest comeback win the Giants had had in 49 years.
Admit it: you just like people who have an X in their last name.
I love that most NFL teams have adjusted to modern day football, including the use of analytics, more going for it on 4th down, and the devaluation of the RB position. Even college players, especially the very good ones, are refusing to do all the testing/combine/stuff teams have used in favor of relying on analytics and data from gametape. Great progress, and the teams reluctant to adjust are finding themselves falling behind.
But, for reasons that are beyond me (outside of the obvious hubris of GMs and HCs), so many teams are still fucking idiots when it comes to the draft. They continue to over-estimate their abilities, refuse to find the efficiencies in the market, and constantly overpay to get “their guy” rather than recognizing they are nowhere as good as they think they are at foreseeing the future, and instead being flexible and getting more bites of the apple.
I’m kinda happy about it, because the Packers have traditionally been BPA, value drafters, and generally dont give up value to chase guys (they will this year, I fear). So the more teams that chase the Carson Wentzs, Trey Lances, and Clelin Farrells, the better.
More reading if you’re interested:
Draft Week
We’re almost there. This week is Draft Week, we’re about 4 days away from the big event in Detroit. I’ll probably start a new thread for the draft proper on Wednesday (unless someone beats me to it) but I figured we could take a minute to assess where we’re at here on April 22nd. It’s been both an interesting run up and, in some ways, an underwhelming one.
So where are we and what has changed.
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The Bears are taking Caleb Williams. This wasn’t in a ton of doubt at the start of the process, but it’s as close to certain as can be in this day and age. They dumped Fields for nothing and at no point in the process have they been seriously tied to any of the other prospects. They haven’t even added a veteran to keep a seat warm and to plausibly given them an option to trade back. So they’re taking Caleb and he’s starting week one.
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The Vikings hold the 11th pick and the 23rd pick. They sent the Texans their 2024 and 2025 2nd round picks (which honestly still feels cheap) to add the capital. They also signed Sam Darnold. Everyone and their brother assume that this is positioning them to go up and get JJ McCarthy at 4 or 5. But I actually think they might be aiming higher. Grabbing Darnold (and the vague suggestion that he’s a Geno Smith-esque reclamation project) opens the door for a surprise here, but at this point it has to be considered likely that they leave the first round with a QB.
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The Commanders were once practically married to Jayden Daniels at 2. Like the Bears, they cleared the decks when they sent last year’s starter Howell to Seattle. I think it’s still nigh on certain they are drafting a QB, but the drama just this week following their unconventional prospect meeting has opened the door to an alternative. Is there a chance they pick Maye, making for back-to-back Tarheels under center? Ultimately Daniels is the one feeling butthurt, but it’s the Commies with the decision. So unless his whinging is its own red flag, the pick is still probably the same.
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The Patriots too parted ways with their 2023 starter in Mac Jones. This makes them likely to pick Maye at 3 assuming he’s available, but they at least have a veteran starting option in the building. They’ve been super tight lipped, and we don’t really know what their preferences are. Any rookie QB is walking into an atrocious situation there. That either means Maye is likely to sit or it suggests they may look to trade back and work on the supporting cast first. This might be our first surprise of the night.
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The draftnick consensus (if there is one) seems to have the QBs ranked something like this: Williams > Maye >> Daniels >> McCarthy > Nix >> Penix. This is a bit different from where we entered the process and people seem to think both the Commies and Vikings are bucking the wisdom of the crowd a little if their rumored matches are true. Penix might find himself with a long wait. Also, if Daniels or McCarthy don’t get picked where they are being mocked, they could slide a lot.
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The WRs seem to have settled into a pretty solid 1-2-3 with MHJ, Nabers and Odunze. The early noise around Nabers leapfrogging MHJ seems to have quieted down. The only question seems to be how many QBs come off the board before the run on WRs.
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There are probably 2 scenarios that play out for the top 7 picks. QB chalk or QB shock.
a. QB chalk: 1. Williams, 2. Daniels, 3. Maye, 4 MHJ, 5. McCarthy (trade), 6. Nabers, 7. Alt
b. QB shock: 1. Williams, 2. Maye, 3. MHJ, 4. Nabers, 5. Odunze, 6. Daniels, 7. Alt
Whatever happens in between, I think the 1st and 7th picks are nearly ironclad. -
The first defensive player will probably come off the board no higher than 8. The Falcons and Bears both need pass rush, but this is a historically shaky Edge and DT class. The Bears could go with Odunze or Bowers, but the Falcons seem certain to pick a defender.
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Trade Candidates
a. Patriots - Probably a slight longshot but I think they might take a package.
b. Cardinals - I think they want to stay and take MHJ, but if the McCarthy buzz is real…
c. Chargers - Definitely my favorite target for the predicted Vikings trade up.
d. Giants - Might trade up for a QB, trading back seems unlikely.
e. Falcons - A trade back candidate if a QB slips.
f. Bears - Maybe the highest likelihood for a trade back of the top 10.
g. Vikings - Obviously.
h. Broncos - They are resource poor, but maybe desperate. Could trade up or back.
i. Raiders - If Daniels slips even a little you have to think so.
j. Rams - They need to replace Donald’s production if they want to compete.
k. Bills - They need to put something around Allen, they could go either direction here.
l. 49ers - Aiyuk is on the block, maybe they package something up here.
m. Chiefs - They have so many holes to fill. They need stars and depth, so either way makes sense. -
This first round might be more than 50% QBs, WRs and OTs.
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We might not see an RB until Round 3.