Re-reading some of the analysis from after the Patrick signing is hilarious. Poles’ savvy! Patrick’s nastiness! New attitude for the Bears!

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I wouldn't call a guy you spent $4M on, and that will probably be cut in the next few months, a prized free agent. Obviously, you can

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There are still plenty of defensive line free agents they could get to upgrade.

Dupree, Floyd, Ngakue, or Clark can all be had on short deals for D end. Maybe someone like Gaines or A'shawn for DT.

You can still get a serviceable DL on the cheap. None are going to be long term pieces.

Then, you draft dl/ol and you don't stop drafting dl/ol until the draft is over.

But the Bears won't be good next year like this, so part of me thinks, Poles is tanking 24.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Tanking may be a strong word for 23, but I think this was always the plan. It all changes if Fields is great.

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Your a bit over your skis here, plenty of places you can go to see what the OT needs to do in the outside run scheme, but it is much more likely that Poles knew the Brown was a guy who is not real dedicated to his craft who started out slow last year and is likely to not be very interested after signing a big contract.

Even an uniformed guy must remember how bad the team looked when all the vets that Pace signed would miss games and stop trying because they had nbo reason to give a crap, Poles was brought in to get rid of those guys and build vision of a team.

Maybe this will be easier for you, have heard you never sign a younger guy that Andy Reid does not think is worth keeping.

put Van Ness in that category as well. I put Wilson far above the other two

the problem I see with all those guy is that none had overly impressive sack numbers. I'd hate to spend a high one on a guy maxing out at 8 sacks in a season

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

They gave him veteran backup money and they were in cap hell, seems that Poles did as best he could to open up cap space.

Tremaine Edmunds is the first "prized FA possssion" of the Poles era.

Dont waste energy on hawaii. He is just a troll

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Why do you assume signing star OTs in their 20s is setting you up for cap hell? We're not talking about signing has-beens like Russell Wilson to 10 year contracts for 500M. We're talking about signing 2-3 OL or DL people to fit gaping holes on the roster. That's why teams clear cap space ahead of free agency - to sign good players.

People touted the Bears all season for having the most cap space because it set them up to sign major free agents. Players that are specifically young, good, and fill areas of need. Then for the rest of the holes you utilize your draft capital. Pole started off with a boom with the Moore trade and most probably impoved the LBs, but to not walk away with 1-2 difference-making linemen when you have the most cap space in the league is disappointing.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Yeah, Edmunds is his first big swing outside of the trade for Moore.

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I thought Brown was a difference maker. I was willing to pay him almost $10M more per year than he received. The rest of the NFL disagreed with me.

I'll wait to see what Poles does the rest of the way before judging this offseason. Poles was clear about wanting to maintain flexibility going forward. It was us who wanted him to shoot his load this offseason. Either way, it was unreasonable to expect Poles to fix 8 line spots in one offseason.

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But but I was told they were going to do what the Jags did last off-season.

They've done better without overpaying. Moore/Claypool >>>> Kirk/Jones

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I'd rather have DJ Moore and Jones or Kirk and the 32nd pick in this draft

I wouldn't want Jones, and Kirk's contract is double what Moore makes. Plus Poles traded out of the #1 spot for future draft capital.

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They can easily dump that Kirk contract next year. Point is, sometimes overpaying in Free Agency saves you from making a dumb/desperate trade down the road.

What’s the value of unused cap space to anybody but a management team that wants to kick the can?

“They can’t solve 8 line spots!” doesn’t paper over the fact they could’ve solved several but chose not to. We’ll see what he does in the draft but he doesn’t have the track record to suggest he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. The best thing he’s done so far is create the NFL’s worst roster in 2022.

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While that may be true at times, I think we can overvalue draft picks. Great organizations are going to miss on most of their selections. In most cases, it's best to go with a proven talent over the unknown.

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We literally fired Ryan Pace for not valuing draft picks

I think it had more to do with all of his picks mostly sucking than it did with him trading draft capital for proven players.

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I wanted Brown too. I also don't see anyone here demanding Poles fix eight spots this off-season. It is reasonable, however, to grab 1-2 elite/good linemen, just like he did with the backers. I'm not grading him right now, but it does appear he whiffed on a few difference making linemen.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Elevates him to 4-7 i think.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

The value is flexibility. It puts you in position to be a future player in free agency and the trade market where you can absorb a contract like Moore's.

I think his strategy has been effective. I don't think that can be objectively disputed. While he doesn't have an extensive record, I see no reason to doubt that he can get the job done at this time. Free agency isn't over, and we still have the draft.

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Effective at what?

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Tearing down the roster and putting the team in a position for future success.

Edit: He got a LT in the 5th round that not only played every game, but graded out better than the guy we all wanted to spend $100M on.

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That’s good value for Jones. He also drafted a guy I like in the secondary.

But he also drafted a 40yr old WR who catches the ball with his face and a back who can’t run, catch or block.

His first free agency accomplished nothing. His second has gone better, though he’s ignored his lines.

I agree he’s proven effective at fielding a terrible roster but he’s not shown he can turn that around yet. I don’t find it unfair to point that out.

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is the driving course Daytona?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

don't forget not relying on his instincts and keeping the guy who turned out to be his best offensive lineman

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Seems that some posters know more about the abilities of Orlando Brown than the rest of the NFL.

Mrs. Claw loves the world of true crime TV, in that world that call that type of person who has internet access and thinks they know more than the law enforcement an "internet sleuth", I guess we can call them "internet scouts" here?

The internet scouts must have seen that most teams felt Brown was a RT meaning the actual people that do it for a living felt he did not have the feet/athletic ability to play LT, but it really all comes down to Poles thinking he already has a LT who is on a rookie deal that is competent and that he can find a RT who fit the scheme and is capable via the draft who will also be on a rookie deal.

It is more likely that Poles knows Orlando Brown very well and did not think he would be very interested in coming into camp in shape and ready to play.