Rodgers is an asshole, but none of this is secret to the Jets or the Packers.
Couple additional Bears signings.
The first one is mostly relevant because it immediately followed David Montgomery signing with the Lions. The Montgomery deal is kind of funny, Lions fans are grieving because this means Jamaal Williams is leaving, Bears fans are grieving because Monty is leaving for a division rival. No one is happy.
Lions fans really should be thrilled. Monty is a huge upgrade over Williams and will potentially make Swift’s inability to stay on the field moot. Nice fit for that emerging offense. Tough for the Bears though. Travis Homer is not replacing Monty. Homer’s a classic 3rd down back, he’ll help with pass protection, he’ll catch a few balls out of the backfield and rarely tote it. He’ll also be a core special teamer. He’s been in the league for 4 seasons and has never rushed or received for more than 200 yards in a season, so it’d be weird to see him getting serious reps here. Still, he’s young and might find a niche. He’s cheap, but not league minimum cheap. Obviously, this positions Khalil Herbert as the full-time starter. It will be surprising now if the Bears don’t spend a day 3 pick on an RB, maybe two.
The PJ Walker signing is a legitimately important and exciting one. We know the odds of Fields starting every game and playing every snap is close to zero. We need a backup who can actually execute the offense and ideally a guy who can at least be a reasonable approximation of Fields play style. It’s easier to plug in a backup if the rest of the offense can mostly stay the same, and while Walker isn’t the dynamic guy that Fields is, he’s not a statue back there. Walker played fairly well this past season when called upon and he played with new Bears WR DJ Moore. Maybe that relationship will mean something, maybe not.
I had been wondering what we’d do at the backup QB position. Trevor Siemian is still under contract, but I think it’s pretty clear that he’s not a great fit in this offense. He’ll probably be released, but I suppose he could stick around as a 3rd QB. Maybe we keep him if for no other reason than to have a guy who can play preseason games. I’m quietly hoping Poles drafts a QB on day 3, I’ve said before that GMs should draft a QB every year, and I want to see my Bears do it. If Fields isn’t the guy, let’s have another young guy in the building who can be a lottery ticket. If Fields is the guy, let’s have a guy who can be a premium backup on a rookie contract.
Couple other notable signings that Bears fans were monitoring. Mike McGlinchey signed with Denver and Orlando Brown Jr signed with Cincinatti. A couple OTs that the Bears were linked with in the press. There’s been a lot of discussion about the Bears’ needs on the OL and Right Tackle is the most pressing of those needs. Personally, I’m happy the Bears let those guys go. They got way too much money for average production. Brown wants to be a LT, but he’s much better as a RT. He got LT money, so good for the Bears there. McGlinchey is a sound run blocker but can become a turnstile at times on passing down, that’s not what we need on the right side. We have a couple young guys who can do that already.
Good OLs rarely become available. This offseason is no different. The Bears are in a tough spot. They need to figure out the protection for Fields but they wouldn’t do themselves any favors by over-paying a subpar pass blocker. More and more it’s starting to look like Poles believes he can solve the OL issues on day 2 of the draft.
Yes, Travis Homer is a great blocker, and a serviceable RB when your primary guy needs rest. He also has had some fantastic plays on special teams, and as you said he is a decent receiver (he actually has more yards as a receiver than as a rusher). He’s a solid member of any team and I was disappointed to see him leave Seattle. He’s sort of a Swiss Army knife player, though not usually someone to create excitement outside of special teams.
Patriots sign Juju Smith-Schuster, fresh off of his Super Bowl win, a day after losing their #1 WR Jakobi Meyers to the Raiders. Interestingly, both guys got three-year deals around $33 million. They are similar in a lot of ways, but the speculation in NE press is that Juju was preferred because of his YAC ability.
Very likely. I’ve thought all along Monty was a goner, because Poles doesn’t see RB as a core position. (Of course, I thought that about LB, too, and then he signed Edmunds. 
) He’s a KC guy and they’ve won two Super Bowls with no one special at RB – I’m sure he thinks the Bears can succeed with Herbert and whomever they take in the 5th round.
Me, too.
The QB shuffle continues, as Washington (who just sent Taylor Heinicke to Atlanta), have signed Jacoby Brissett of Cleveland to a one-year deal. I guess the idea is to give Sam Howell some competition for the starter’s role.
I had read that if the Jets don’t get Rodgers, that Brissett was the best available QB on the market.
Not anymore. 
And, with Mike White having signed with the Dolphins, Zach Wilson (whom the Jets have essentially said, publicly, isn’t the answer) is the only quarterback the Jets currently have on their roster.
I came across something recently. Apparently there’s a rule in the NFL that the guaranteed portion of the contract has to be put in escrow up front, even if the money is paid out over the life of the contract. That’s another reason that owners don’t like the idea of a fully guaranteed contract: even a billionaire may not want to put $200 - $300 million dollars in a bank somewhere just to cover a contract that will pay out over many years. And it’s possible some owners aren’t liquid enough to even be able to afford to do so.
The Bears are signing free agent tight end Robert Tonyan, formerly of the Bears, to a one-year contract.
Tonyan had been a quarterback at Indiana State, then transitioned to tight end in the NFL. After three seasons as a practice squad and reserve player, he had a breakout year in 2020, with 52 catches and 11 touchdowns, becoming one of Rodgers’ favorite targets.
He tore an ACL halfway through 2021, and it took him partway through last season to start to round back into form. I’m sorry to see him leaving Green Bay; he’d been a very good player for the Packers. His departure (and that of Marcedes Lewis, who’s also a free agent) likely leaves Josiah Deguara as the Packers’ starter at TE (at least for now), but he’s had only 39 catches in three years with the team.
Errr, make that “formerly of the Packers” 
The Colts have signed QB Gardner Hinshew, but the ESPN story doesn’t list any details regarding length of contract or money.
I am still confident that they picking a QB in the draft, but this allows them to have that draft pick on the sideline for a season or two, as opposed to throwing him to the wolves.
I suppose they could trade down in the draft to pick up additional picks, but I think that would be a mistake.
Some more Bears action today. Things are starting to come into view a little bit.
Thoughts:
- Robert Tonyan kind of sucks, and I’m not expecting a bunch of Red Zone TDs without Rodgers throwing to him. I don’t quite get this move. We need a blocking TE to help protect Fields, especially if we’re not spending big at OT. Kmet is an OK blocker, but not great, Tonyan is a terrible blocker. Chase Allen is a practice squad guy who in theory should bulk up and block…but he has appeared in one career game.
- Looks like it’s gonna be RBBC in Chicago next year. Herbert is the lead back, Homer is the 3rd down guy, Foreman is the change of pace guy. I like the Foreman signing, when healthy he can be pretty effective, and he was cheap. I no longer think drafting a RB is likely unless it’s a 6th or 7th round flier.
- Andrew Billings is immediately our second best interior DL. Which isn’t ideal. I wouldn’t be shocked if we resigned Pennell for another warm body but we still need a lot of help here.
- Poles gave a presser and was asked about the plan at OL. The answer was not encouraging. He basically said he has no plan and “the best 5 guys would play”. Braxton Jones got a vote of confidence at LT. He’s seriously considering moving Whitehair back to Center which really, really makes me question Poles competence as a football person.
- Poles also said youth is super important. Seems likely that he will never sign a guy who is 30+ years old, which is an okay strategy for a rebuilding club. But at a certain point you need to make a team, not just a collection of dudes.
On one of my podcasts, the guys discussing the Bears moves so far captured year 2 of the Ryan Poles experience pretty well. Basically, they said he’s a guy that takes two steps forward and then takes one step back. This feels right.
- Trade Roquon for a 2nd round pick. Yay.
- Sign Edmunds and Edwards to huge contracts. Um…okay.
- Trade the 1st overall pick for DJ Moore and a handful of picks. Makes sense.
- Trade the 32nd pick for Chase Claypool. Doh!
- Sign a quality OL on day one of FA. Whew, finally.
- Find out he plays the same position as our only good player. Damn it.
- Sign away a tight end from the Packers. Nice.
- Find out it’s Tonyan and not Lewis. You dipshit.
So that’s how things are going in Chicago.
Seattle had the idea that they could find guys and convert them into the linemen they needed, regardless of past experience. And Russell Wilson spent a decade running for his life.
For all of Poles’ supposed focus on the trenches – not to mention his background as an OL – his acquisitions in his first two offseasons are so far underwhelming. It sounds like he backed away from McGlinchey and DreMont Jones over money, and while I admire his reluctance to overpay (and acknowledge those guys ain’t exactly Hall of Famers) what’s the point of accumulating cap space if you’re just going to pinch pennies and sign mediocrities?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Whitehair play center in 2018 when the Bears went 12-4? I know that was five years ago, but he couldn’t have sucked all that badly.
He did, and was selected for the Pro Bowl that year. According to Pro Football Reference, he was exclusively a center in 2016-2018, then played both at center and left guard in 2019 and 2020. They list him only as a left guard for 2021, and then an “offensive lineman” for 2022.
He’s now 32 (will be 33 before the start of the season), and five years removed from his Pro Bowl season. I don’t know to what extent age is reducing his abilities.
He was mediocre last year and I predict he’ll be waived. (The Bears will save almost $6 million in cap space by doing so). But if they need a center, he may not be the worst option.
He was drafted to play OG but preseason injuries forced him in at Center. 2016 he was really bad as a rookie and needed help with the line calls. He settled down in 2017 but regressed in 2018 in spite of the team’s record and the Pro Bowl nod. He was bad enough in 2018 that in 2019 training camp the team swapped Daniel’s from LG to C and Whitehair to his natural LG spot. They didn’t add a player to trigger the change, they just decided that neither guy was good enough playing out of position.
Whitehair was always useful run blocking, but at Center he was completely useless run blocking. He seems to struggle to transition from the snap to getting upfield. In part because he’s terrible at snapping the ball. We had SO MANY muffed snaps and shotgun snaps flying over Mitch’s head. Like 3-4 times every game with Whitehair at Center. Fields will be running more shotgun and pistol than Mitch ever did, so I expect to see the ball on the ground a lot.
Maybe as a more mature player he can fix it, but there’s a reason he’s lived at LG for last 4 seasons even though we started the worst Center in the league all last season.
I kind of forgot about that. Yeah, not great. I can’t imagine Poles keeps him and his $14 million salary.
Slow weekend, but a couple interesting moves.
Tunsil getting huge money to protect whomever the Texans decide to draft. But he may have no one notable to throw to.
Gonna be weird seeing Theilen in a different colored jersey.
The Bears will get to see CJGJ twice a year in the division. Should be interesting.