Now that the draft is over, whaddaya think?

Bears Whiskey Nut · Mon May 04, 2015 12:39 pm

More than any other major sport, defensive football is about scheme and technique. You can have average to above average players, but in the right scheme, with coaches that coach technique well, you can have a very productive unit. I think over the last couple of years, we have had average players, with an awful scheme, and poor technical coaching. We added some talent this year in free agency (McDonald, Jenkins, Rolle, McPhee) and in the Draft (Goldman). We also now have VERY good coaches, with a proven scheme. I guess I am a bit more optimistic with what we have going into this year. Are we going to win the NFC North? No. Are we going to be better than .500, I think so.

G08 · Tue May 05, 2015 9:10 am

wab wrote:The two biggest things I want to see are how Ego and Houston fit. And I suppose Sutton to a lesser extent.

I think Houston is going to do just fine in Ahmad Brooks' role. Ego, from what I've heard, has been getting reps at the 4 technique.

He's slimmed down and by all accounts has looked quicker at the point of attack at minicamp. Even at his heavier weight, he wasn't the best at taking on double teams at the nose. Should be a fine 5T, though.

G08 · Tue May 05, 2015 9:17 am

As to the pass rushers... wab hit the nail on the head a long time ago when he said our staff has to evaluate the talent that we currently have on the roster.

Allen is a huge question mark. Can he have a resurgent season? Absolutely.

Shea McClellin may finally be put in a role that got him drafted in the first round.

Christian Jones has potential.

Willie Young has potential, but is hurt.

Pernell McPhee's role just went up 2 fold in my mind.

IotaNet · Tue May 05, 2015 3:57 pm

G08 wrote:As to the pass rushers... wab hit the nail on the head a long time ago when he said our staff has to evaluate the talent that we currently have on the roster.

Allen is a huge question mark. Can he have a resurgent season? Absolutely.

Shea McClellin may finally be put in a role that got him drafted in the first round.

Christian Jones has potential.

Willie Young has potential, but is hurt.

Pernell McPhee's role just went up 2 fold in my mind.

Bingo.

A great deal if this off-season, pre-season and regular season will be about assessing who can do what in a 3-4 defense.

Apart from guys we've brought in from the outside (McPhee, foster, McDonald), we have no clue about how these players will work in Fangio's scheme. We can do some (semi)intelligent projections but we really don't know. I would submit that we need to know that before we even know what some of the remaining defensive drafting needs are.

That's one of the reasons I liked what Pace did in the draft. He stayed with BPA and now we'll sort the rest out on the field this Summer and Fall.

Bears Whiskey Nut · Tue May 05, 2015 4:39 pm

G08 wrote:As to the pass rushers... wab hit the nail on the head a long time ago when he said our staff has to evaluate the talent that we currently have on the roster.

Allen is a huge question mark. Can he have a resurgent season? Absolutely.

Shea McClellin may finally be put in a role that got him drafted in the first round.

Christian Jones has potential.

Willie Young has potential, but is hurt.

Pernell McPhee's role just went up 2 fold in my mind.

Yes, and I think there are A LOT of good pieces here for Fangio to pour over. The three players that I don't believe are going to find a place in this defense are; Sutton, Young and Allen. Sutton is a 3-tech in a 4-3. Both Allen and Young are DE's in a 4-3, and will not be able to drop into coverage like a 3-4 OLB will need to. We'll keep Allen and Young because we owe them a lot of money, but they will be pieces in 3rd down sub packages.

Shea may or may not work out. After three years, I'm not convinced that he has the speed and reaction time that he needs to be successful in the NFL.

I would really like to see Jones do well.

I heard that Bostic is having back problems. Anyone else hear that?

Tue May 05, 2015 7:29 pm

Young can actually be let go with little cap ramifications. Sucks considering he was our best defensive player last year. If it wasn't for the Achilles injury I actually think he'd transition pretty well.

Tue May 05, 2015 7:31 pm

I really want to see what happens with Houston. It's uncommon for a dude to come into the NFL as a 300lb DT and make a successful transition to a 265lb rush LB. consider me skeptical.

G08 · Tue May 05, 2015 10:58 pm

Bears Whiskey Nut wrote:
G08 wrote:As to the pass rushers... wab hit the nail on the head a long time ago when he said our staff has to evaluate the talent that we currently have on the roster.

Allen is a huge question mark. Can he have a resurgent season? Absolutely.

Shea McClellin may finally be put in a role that got him drafted in the first round.

Christian Jones has potential.

Willie Young has potential, but is hurt.

Pernell McPhee's role just went up 2 fold in my mind.
Yes, and I think there are A LOT of good pieces here for Fangio to pour over. The three players that I don't believe are going to find a place in this defense are; Sutton, Young and Allen. Sutton is a 3-tech in a 4-3. Both Allen and Young are DE's in a 4-3, and will not be able to drop into coverage like a 3-4 OLB will need to. We'll keep Allen and Young because we owe them a lot of money, but they will be pieces in 3rd down sub packages.

Shea may or may not work out. After three years, I'm not convinced that he has the speed and reaction time that he needs to be successful in the NFL.

I would really like to see Jones do well.

I heard that Bostic is having back problems. Anyone else hear that?

Yeah apparently he had a tweak and couldn't participate in minicamp. Kind of concerning if it's still lingering from last season...

Thu May 07, 2015 3:25 pm

Chicago Bears @ChicagoBears
#Bears picks' numbers: Kevin White (13), Eddie Goldman (76), Hroniss Grasu (55), Jeremy Langford (36), Adrian Amos (38), Tayo Fabuluje (73).

RING4CHI · Thu May 07, 2015 3:36 pm

With Doug Buffone having just passed away, I was hoping no one would wear #55, at least for this year.

Thu May 07, 2015 3:38 pm

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.

Bears Whiskey Nut · Fri May 08, 2015 12:04 am

Let's hope Grasu does it some justice from the starting C position this year.

Rusty Trombagent · Sun May 10, 2015 7:34 pm

since i havent seen this posted anywhere here yet:

Sun May 10, 2015 11:12 pm

Look like some badasses.

Mon May 11, 2015 9:15 am

Tayo is a big human being.

Bears Whiskey Nut · Mon May 11, 2015 10:54 am

I think its a great draft class. The best one we have had in a long time. I think there are 3-4 eventual starters in that group.

White
Goldman
Grasu
Langford

Mon May 11, 2015 11:00 am

Bears Whiskey Nut wrote:I think its a great draft class. The best one we have had in a long time. I think there are 3-4 eventual starters in that group.

White
Goldman
Grasu
Langford

Langford needs to put on some weight to become a full time back. At this point he reminds me a little of Felix Jones. He runs a little harder than Jones did though.

Also...I wouldn't count out Amos either.

Bears Whiskey Nut · Mon May 11, 2015 11:03 am

I thought about Amos. I am so jaded on our ability to develop safeties, I figured that it will just always be a turnstyle position for us. TRUST ME, I would love to see him be successful at the position. God knows we're due.

Mon May 11, 2015 11:07 am

Well...John Hoke is gone, so there may be a chance now. They also gave up a shit ton for him in a round about way. We got Amos and the Jets got Marshall and Zac Stacey (after the Jets traded our 7th rounder to the Rams for him).

So...yeah. I hope he pans out.

crueltyabc · Tue May 12, 2015 9:02 am

I was just watching his tape and the critics are right - Amos doesn't hit anybody. It's very odd to see a guy so big that is so fluid in coverage and such a weak hitter... even when he's coming downhill. I'm wondering if it's his mentality or if he had an injury last year that made him tentative. I guess we'll find out in TC because he's not bringing down TBU by dangling off him.

Tue May 12, 2015 9:08 am

crueltyabc wrote:I was just watching his tape and the critics are right - Amos doesn't hit anybody. It's very odd to see a guy so big that is so fluid in coverage and such a weak hitter... even when he's coming downhill. I'm wondering if it's his mentality or if he had an injury last year that made him tentative. I guess we'll find out in TC because he's not bringing down TBU by dangling off him.

I don't think Pace/staff was ignorant of this. They drafted him to hawk the ball, not smash into guys. I know that seems contrary to the Bears previous defensive problems, where the safeties were the 1st and only line of defense for stuffing the run game. Obviously that's totally sized up to the defensive line and linebackers being utterly useless. I'd rather our safeties not be great tacklers if it means quarterbacks hesitate to sky passes in their direction.

Tue May 12, 2015 9:14 am

Yeah. Hopefully people aren't running unmolested through the second level like they have been for the last 3 years.

Also...the 3-4 requires different safeties than the cover 2. With how open the middle of the filed is in the cover 2, you want hitters out there to make people afraid of going over the middle. That's why guys like Lynch and Mike Brown, and Archuletta (before he sucked) were so popular/successful. It's no coincidence that Barry Church in Dallas got a lot better when Marinelli took over...because he can hit first and cover never. Before he was they guy they always wanted to replace. Now he's a cornerstone.

Most other defenses require more coverage abilities out of their safeties.

G08 · Tue May 12, 2015 11:58 am

crueltyabc wrote:I was just watching his tape and the critics are right - Amos doesn't hit anybody. It's very odd to see a guy so big that is so fluid in coverage and such a weak hitter... even when he's coming downhill. I'm wondering if it's his mentality or if he had an injury last year that made him tentative. I guess we'll find out in TC because he's not bringing down TBU by dangling off him.

Hrm. In a few games I've watched of his I've seen him come up and stick some people.

Let me see if I can find some highlights or something.

Here, start at 0:30

[video][/video]

Tue May 12, 2015 12:18 pm

That hit against Purdue was ridiculous.

G08 · Tue May 12, 2015 12:21 pm

wab wrote:That hit against Purdue was ridiculous.

Literally jumped out of my chair. Talk about obliterating someone...

Hiphopopotamos · Tue May 12, 2015 1:58 pm

This is from Dane Brugler (regarding Amos):

WEAKNESSES: Sound and quality player, but doesn't make many big plays. Misses some open-field tackles. Does not wrap up when tackling and usually leads with a shoulder. May be too slow to be a full-time starter on the corner. Not real smooth and will lose a little in transition. Will have to learn to come up faster and wrap up better at the next level.

Those big hits in the highlight reel just reinforce what I bolded above - he's not afraid to make a big hit, he just doesn't wrap up when he does. My concern is that at the next level RB's and some WR's are going to bounce off of those shoulder hits and end up running into the EZ. Amos needs to learn to wrap up - even on those big hits.

He's going to be a fun player to watch in TC and exhibition.

G08 · Tue May 12, 2015 2:24 pm

Beautiful thing about tackling, the hard part is the want-to. The technique is easy.

This kid definitely does not mind coming up and sticking his nose in there.

crueltyabc · Tue May 12, 2015 5:17 pm

That's good to see because the draftbreakdown tape makes him look like a wimp because when he does what we're seeing here (runs up and crashes into a guy rather than tackling) there are too many players that stay upright post-collision and he has to grab shoelaces as they go by. He also gets caught up in the wash and ends up on the ground too much. I'm not saying he doesn't flash - I'm 100% rooting for him to be somebody - but watching this tape I see why teams were concerned.

Check this out at the :30 and the 3:00 minute marks
http://draftbreakdown.com/video/adrian- ... iana-2014/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check out the :44 second mark and see the other aspects - leadership and smarts but bad angles
http://draftbreakdown.com/video/adrian- ... tate-2014/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But you hafta love his coverage skills, and he's a huge man... surely he can learn to tackle...?

mmmc_35 · Wed May 13, 2015 6:23 am

You got to like the kid is willing to stick his nose in there and hit. Tackling can also be taught. However in today's NFL with almost no contact in practice it seems players rarely improve drastically.

Actually one could assert in today's NFL with developing talent is much less than it use to be.

ysleblanc · Wed May 13, 2015 9:13 am

Hiphopopotamos wrote:This is from Dane Brugler (regarding Amos):

WEAKNESSES: Sound and quality player, but doesn't make many big plays. Misses some open-field tackles. Does not wrap up when tackling and usually leads with a shoulder. May be too slow to be a full-time starter on the corner. Not real smooth and will lose a little in transition. Will have to learn to come up faster and wrap up better at the next level.
Those big hits in the highlight reel just reinforce what I bolded above - he's not afraid to make a big hit, he just doesn't wrap up when he does. My concern is that at the next level RB's and some WR's are going to bounce off of those shoulder hits and end up running into the EZ. Amos needs to learn to wrap up - even on those big hits.

He's going to be a fun player to watch in TC and exhibition.

Those are things you can work on and improve. He seems to have a really nice package of size, speed and ball skills. Has high upside for such a late pick much like the big T we drafted.