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Senior Bowl Notes From Day 3

| February 2nd, 2024

Final Senior Bowl practices just wrapped up for both the National & American Team. I spent the day watching DBs and Wide Receivers, and here’s what I saw:

National Team Practice

Did Not Practice: Florida WR Ricky Pearsall, Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell, Michigan WR Roman Wilson

Very Good: Notre Dame CB Cam Hart, Western Kentucky WR Malachi Corley, Rutgers CB Max Melton, Oregon State SAF Kitan Oladapo, Oregon SAF Evan Williams, USC WR Brenden Rice, Ohio State Safety Josh Proctor

Redeemed Himself: Washington State CB Chau Smith-Wade

I Wanted More: WR Devontez Walker, Penn State CB Kalen King, Oregon CB Khyree Jackson, Rice WR Luke McCaffrey, UCF WR Javon Baker

Notes: This isn’t a Copy/Paste list from yesterday — on the American squad, the cream has simply risen to the top. Cam Hart had another strong day, Max Melton took advantage of the extra reps, Kitan Oladapo flashed athleticism all day, and Brenden Rice separated with his feet on a day where he needed to do exactly that.

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Senior Bowl Notes From Day Two

| February 1st, 2024

Once again, Senior Bowl practices just wrapped up for both the National & American Team only hours ago. I spent the day watching DBs and Wide Receivers, and here’s what I saw:

National Team Practice

Dominant: Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell

Good: Florida WR Ricky Pearsall, North Carolina WR Devontez Walker, Michigan WR Roman Wilson, Western Kentucky WR Malachi Corley, Notre Dame CB Cam Hart, Rutgers CB Max Melton, Oregon State SAF Kitan Oladapo, Oregon SAF Evan Williams, UCF WR Javon Baker

I Wanted More: Penn State CB Kalen King, Oregon CB Khyree Jackson, Rice WR Luke McCaffrey

Notes: Quinyon continues to stand out, no two ways about it… Pearsall looks like a fun option in the 3rd or 4th round — he’s big enough to handle a jam, fast enough to separate after initial contact, and competitive at the catch point… Roman Wilson stayed fast.. Tez Walker looked much faster today than yesterday but he couldn’t seem to catch the ball. He did the hard part, but I’d love to see him finish tomorrow…

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Highlights from Day One at Senior Bowl

| January 30th, 2024

Senior Bowl practices just wrapped up for both the National & American Team only hours ago — I spent the day watching DBs and Wide Receivers, and here’s what I saw:

Bear With Me on these columns — time is short in Mobile, Alabama, so I’m stuffing as much as I can into this article. Organization will ebb and flow.

You need to hear about this Corner from Toledo

Quinyon Mitchell is a corner I haven’t personally had an easy time getting film on, but his play in Mobile stood out to the point that he was probably the best player on the field across both practices. He has beautiful, efficient footwork, physical during his route stem, and natural when tracking his man down the field. Made plays in both man and zone coverage. He’s assuredly out of the Bears’ league, but he’s fun nevertheless.

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It Was Always Going to Be the Chiefs

| January 29th, 2024

Not much from me today, as I’m rushing to finish as much Senior Bowl prep as possible. More on that starting tomorrow.

But my biggest takeaway from yesterday’s games? The NFL is still a Quarterback league, and it’s becoming nearly impossible for anyone to shine brighter than the league’s best Quarterback when playing under the brightest lights.

Kudos to Purdy — I thought he played a very nice game yesterday, especially after a tough first half — but the young man has his work cut out for him in Las Vegas. Can the NFL’s modern ‘SuperTeam’ fell the game’s biggest giant? We’ll find out in two weeks.

But in watching the Chiefs, one other observation jumps out at me — the Chiefs’ Cornerbacks, namely L’Jarius Sneed, Trent McDuffie, and Jaylen Watson — have played great football over the last few weeks, providing Kansas City’s defense with a punch that many units in the NFL can’t even attempt. After all, could frustrate an offense  more than what we saw in Baltimore today? Todd Monken called pass play after pass play, but Odell Beckham Jr, Rashod Bateman, and Zay Flowers couldn’t separate against Kansas City’s corners, leading to tight throws that got batted away, sacks, and turnovers.

Baltimore’s frustration felt oddly familiar to me — it looked like Detroit’s frustration in their games against the Bears. And after all, how did the Bears fluster a Lions offense that seemingly no one else in the league could stop? The answer, I think, lies in Chicago’s corners. By investing in quality pass defenders, the Bears were able to turn their opponents’ rhythm throws into middle-percentage gambles that couldn’t be counted on when marching down the field.

When combined with Eberflus’ bend-don’t-break attitude, the stout run defense of Andrew Billings, and the pass-rush presence that Montez Sweat provided, I think Chicago’s corners became a force-multiplier that hasn’t been discussed enough — Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, and Kyler Gordon all gave WRs minimal room to breathe, minimizing layups and forcing offenses to play perfectly over long drives if they wanted to score. This clearly affected a pair of playoff offenses, namely Detroit and Cleveland, and throughout the Chiefs’ big win yesterday I found myself wondering if Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles might be onto something here.

I hope they are — frankly, I hope they continue investing in DB this year with a new Safety and maybe more depth at Corner. But, for now, it’s nothing if not a different perspective on the drivers of a modern defense.

Pass rush will always be king, but as Corner turns into a land of “Haves” and “Have-Nots” it seems as if Ryan Poles has found a way to get ahead of the NFL’s curve — with another likely add coming to Chicago’s Defensive Line in the 2024 offseason, I hope his approach bears further fruit next year. Regardless of who’s playing QB, a stingy corps of DBs will go a long way towards frustrating future opponents and finding wins where others can’t.

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The Draft Starts In Mobile!… Next Week

| January 22nd, 2024


With the NFL’s divisional round of the playoffs wrapped up, 28 out of 32 fanbases are free to pivot towards previewing the NFL Draft. And if you know anything about the Reese’s Senior Bowl… you know ‘The Draft Starts in Mobile, Alabama’.

I’m credited to cover the Reese’s Senior Bowl again this year, which means I’ll spend next week watching some of the 2024 NFL Draft Class’s best prospects as they showcase their skills in practice sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

The Senior Bowl rarely features players sure of their draft status (like last year’s Myles Murphy or this year’s Marvin Harrison Jr), but all kinds of talent will be present next week — last year we saw Darnell Wright, John Michael Schmitz, Keanu Benton, Jayden Reed, Michael Wilson, Tyrique Stevenson, JuJu Brents, and plenty of other soon-to-be high-rounders compete and win throughout the sessions, and I expect to see the same this year.

But if you read this blog consistently, you know that I couldn’t go to Mobile unprepared — I’ve been drinking down as much college film as I can stand to fit into my life over the last two weeks and, throughout this week, will do my best to get you caught up on names I’ve found to watch throughout draft season.

You probably know the big names — players like LSU WR Malik Nabers or Washington WR Rome Odunze need no introduction, but it’s players like:

  • Georgia Z/Slot WR Ladd McConkey
    • One of the nastiest route runners in an already loaded class
  • Texas A&M Z/Slot WR Ainias Smith
    • Heady route runner that blocks like he hates his opponent
  • South Carolina’s massive Z WR Xavier Legette
    • Massive, dynamic athlete with great hands
  • Auburn Free Safety Jaylin Simpson
    • Whose tape I’ve loved
  • Penn State CB Kalen King
    • His tape can be messy, but he’s got all the natural physicality of a Tyrique Stevenson-type plus more agility than most CBs his size
  • Rutgers CB Max Melton
    • Brother of Bo Melton, Max is long, physical, and fast. High-motor player

That may be under your radar right now. They’re the names to know, because they could very well be targets in the key Day 2 rounds (2nd & 3rd) that fuel a draft class’s success.

I’ll be focusing on skill position players this year — practices in Mobile are split, with DBs & WRs in one endzone and OL/DL in the other, so I won’t try to be everywhere at once. As I prep for my trip, I’ll post as many draft cut-ups as I can — if draft prep is starting for me, it might as well start for you too!

Here’s to a great 2024 draft season! Now back to the film room — I’ll see you soon.

Your Turn: What position are you most looking forward to drafting after Round 1?

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World’s Smallest Caleb Williams Breakdown

| January 17th, 2024

It’s draft season and Caleb Williams is on my mind — I’ll have a longer, more thorough breakdown out later this offseason, but today I wanted to highlight his play from within the pocket. Specifically, whenever I watch him I see the following:

  • Quick, natural release
  • Throws with consistent anticipation when targeting his first read (if open)
  • Patient within clean pockets, works through progressions naturally
  • Strong pocket footwork that creates problems for opposing EDGE rushers’ angles
  • Arm talent that can naturally push the ball down the field on command

Couple that with his tendency to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling, even when under duress, and you’ve got a very dangerous modern passer that looks like he’d fit right in on NFL Playoff Weekend after a bit of refinement in 2024.

One more I just found: the QB in Wisconsin has made plays like this famous over the last few weeks. Here’s the same throw under pressure made against one of the best defenses in college football.

Editor’s Note: My son has been sick with stomach flu over the last few days, so I appreciate your patience within website content. It’s draft season, so I’ll see what I can whip up as I prep to head out to the Senior Bowl in a few weeks.

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Grading Chicago’s Final Exam: Nobody Passed

| January 8th, 2024


If the Bears’ visit to Green Bay was intended to represent a benchmark for their 2023 season’s progress, they failed their final exam quite emphatically.

Chicago’s report cards are currently under review and will be returned to our students throughout the next week. Until then, let’s review yesterday’s season finale one last time.


The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly


The Good:

  • The Silver Lining… is that there is no Silver Lining. There’s no easy excuse for why Chicago lost — after all, the ball bounced the Bears’ way early and often:
    • Packers’ K Anders Carlson missed an early Field Goal
    • Green Bay’s rookies allowed the clock to run out on the 1st half before picking up extra points
    • Packers’ WR Bo Melton dropped a sizzling TD pass that hit him in the hands
    • A Packers’ DB dropped an end-zone INT as Chicago rallied
    • And then on 4th & 1 I thought the officials credited Chicago with a first down they may not have actually gotten.
  • Still, despite all of this, Chicago lost an emphatic 9-17 game. George McCaskey, Ryan Poles, and Kevin Warren are going to have to look this loss in the eye — they have no one to blame for it but the players in the locker room and the coaches that lead them. Do they think this plan would’ve worked if the team had more talent on it? Do they think this Quarterback gives them their best chance at success going forward? These questions felt easier to answer last week than they do now… and that’s likely for the better. If they can’t beat Green Bay, what’s the point?
  • Tyrique Stevenson, have a day. The Bears’ 2nd round pick felt like the only reason the game remained close during the first half of yesterday’s game — his pass deflection in the endzone robbed Green Bay of 7 points, then he stole another 3 points just before the first half ended. As if that wasn’t enough, he created the game’s only turnover as well by dislodging the ball from Jordan Love’s grasp in the mid-3rd quarter — He came to play.
    • On a day where Chicago’s DBs struggled to compete with Green Bay’s receivers, Stevenson stole downs back for the Bears throughout the game and I loved watching him do it. Hopefully the All-22 paints as rosy a picture of his performance as watching the game seemed to.

The Bad

  • Same song, different verse. Chicago opened the season with a game-plan in mind: stop the run with our front 4, play Cover 2 & Cover 3 behind them, and make opponents grind their way down the field. Early in the year, that’s exactly what opponents did.
    • Then, as the defense delivered one underperformance after another, the defense pivoted to running more Man Coverage defenses paired with blitzes up front — this worked, shutting down the offenses in the middle of the Bears’ schedule. As Chicago dominated lesser offenses, they rode this mix of Man Blitzes and Zone-Drop looks to becoming the NFL’s leader in Interceptions.
    • But then, for reasons I cannot explain, it is as if Matt Eberflus grew tired of the risk involved with his pressure packages and reverted back to his early-season game plans — after all, the media was so mean to him about Justin Jones dropping into coverage that one time, how could he possibly call plays like that again?
    • Thus, the door opened for Green Bay to exploit holes in soft zones with a quick-hitting pass game paired with a wide-hitting run game and, unsurprisingly, Matt LaFleur had no issues walking through that door. The vaunted Bears defense gave up 400+ yards, including a 6-minute backbreaker of a drive that closed the game, as Matt Eberflus’ best-laid plans unwound in front of his eyes.
  • Luke, I think it’s over. A Week 18 performance with less than 200 yards of offense feels like it should seal Getsy’s fate in Chicago. His tenure has been mired by poor communication across the offense, an inability to adjust to mid-game defensive changes, and a seemingly frayed relationship with the Bears’ signal caller… but at least we got a few nice opening game scripts.
  • Coffee is for closers only. Maybe I’m writing this out of frustration, maybe I have a point, honestly it’s hard to tell. But yesterday would’ve been a great day for Justin Fields to make a statement with his play in the 4th quarter. Instead, his two final drives resulted in a would-be interception and the final punt of the season.

The Ugly

  • The future seems far too uncertain. It’s easy for me, a writer, to write pretty words about the failings of Chicago’s head coach, but do George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and Ryan Poles see things that way? Surely they can’t be satisfied with verdicts against quality teams always seeming to break away from them, but with Eberflus’ recent string of victories I can’t help but wonder if the front office is willing to move on. It feels like the perfect time to make a change to me, but I’m not the one signing the org’s checks. We’ll see what Black Monday brings.
    • With a new Quarterback likely waiting in the wings and a reset coming at both defensive and offensive coordinator, this feels like the perfect time for the Bears to pick a new direction at HC — either Jim Harbaugh, Bobby Slowik, Ben Johnson, or whoever else you may have in mind would then have the opportunity to customize the team to their needs via Free Agency before drafting a Quarterback that, theoretically, would become the best QB in Chicago’s history given the environment Ryan Poles may craft for him using free agent money and draft capital. But is the front office willing to fire Eberflus ‘one year early’ rather than ‘one year late’? Only time will tell.

Postgame Podcast:

Nick and I recorded a podcast where we talked through the ups, the downs, the ins, and the outs of Chicago’s latest loss here:

Your Turn: How do you feel about yesterday’s game?

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Previewing Chicago’s Final Exam…

| January 4th, 2024


Why would the year end any other way?

At this point, all that’s left is to see how the chips fall.

Nick & I take you through the matchups, the stakes, the ins, and the outs of what promises to be a massive Bears season finale in Lambeau on the latest episode of Bear With Us — check it out below.

Your Turn: How are you feeling about this weekend’s game?

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