Riley Reiff Signed

[TheWorldBreaker]

Appears to be incentive laden contract worth up to 12.5.

[HurricaneBear]

I don't know how hes been the past few seasons but it seems like this is a decent move. Isn't he a RT? Between the offseason demotion of Jenkins, Schofield signing and now this, I think the writing is on the wall for Teven.

[Z Bear]

Sweet, this pretty much cements Schoefield is going to play OG. You now have a decent two deep across the board.

[wab]

Reiff was hurt last season, but he's been pretty solid outside of a couple of up and down seasons in Minny.

This aint good for Teven though.

[HurricaneBear]

So the line is looking like - Borom Whitehair Patrick Schofield Reiff?

For all of you who watch line play more closely than I do, is this an upgrade from last season and if so how much? From my uneducated eyes it seems like a good step forward? Maybe approaching average?

[TheWorldBreaker]

I don't know how hes been the past few seasons but it seems like this is a decent move. Isn't he a RT? Between the offseason demotion of Jenkins, Schofield signing and now this, I think the writing is on the wall for Teven.

I believe he’s mostly been a left tackle in his career but was a right tackle for the Bengals last year.

Given the question marks and youth I think he could probably play on either side for the Bears.

[Arkansasbear]

Reiff was hurt last season, but he's been pretty solid outside of a couple of up and down seasons in Minny.

This aint good for Teven though.

He played 12 games for Cincy last year and game up 4 sacks and 24 pressures.

He's still got enough to be a decent starter and I think he played some LT last week.

I'm thrilled with the 2 recent signings I just don't understand why we didn't get it done before our last round of practices.

I'd love these 2 new guys to be able hold down the fort for a while but ultimately have Jones and someone else ultimately be starting in their place before the season's end. (Granted I'd love the young to win it at the start, but I'm trying to keep it real).

[Arkansasbear]

So the line is looking like - Borom Whitehair Patrick Schofield Reiff?

For all of you who watch line play more closely than I do, is this an upgrade from last season and if so how much? From my uneducated eyes it seems like a good step forward? Maybe approaching average?

I was thinking Rieff played LT????

[wab]

He has been a LT for 8 out of his 10 seasons. So I'm wondering if they like Borom on the right more than the left and Reiff is keeping the seat warm for Braxton.

Reiff/Whitehair/Patrick/Schofield/Borom (depending on what shape he's in) maybe?

[wab]

Reiff was hurt last season, but he's been pretty solid outside of a couple of up and down seasons in Minny.

This aint good for Teven though.

He played 12 games for Cincy last year and game up 4 sacks and 24 pressures.

He's still got enough to be a decent starter and I think he played some LT last week.

I'm thrilled with the 2 recent signings I just don't understand why we didn't get it done before our last round of practices.

I'd love these 2 new guys to be able hold down the fort for a while but ultimately have Jones and someone else ultimately be starting in their place before the season's end. (Granted I'd love the young to win it at the start, but I'm trying to keep it real).

Hmm... you are right. I thought he only played a couple before hurting his knee but I guess not.

[Grizzled]

Did not see this coming. I like it. I think it’s going to be Reiff-Whitehair-Patrick-Schofield-Borom for the OL. Peters did pretty well at LT last year but I think Reiff is better. Patrick should be better than Mustipher. Schofield is at least equal to Daniels, especially in this scheme for which he has experience. Hopefully Borom (or (Jenkins if he wins the job) has learned from last year and holds down the position adequately.

[Z Bear]

LT - Reiff and Braxton Jones
LG - Whitehair and Kramer
OC - Patrick and Mustipher
RG - Schoefield and Eiselen
RT - Jenkins and Borom

I am just glad that it puts Mustipher on the bench. Dude might be smart enough our there but he does not have the physical traits to be good in the NFL. That would of been exposed once they started hitting.

[dplank]

Well, this is interesting. I have never been a Reiff fan, but admittedly that comes from seeing him suck for the Vikings and maybe he's a better player now.

I will have to admit that I was wrong to freak out so hard on the OL situation and many folks said that this is exactly what Poles would do - kudos to you all.

That said, everyone who began taking a stance recently of "stop asking for vets we need to see our young guys perform", were also wrong on that take. Poles is now putting vets in place to raise the floor that was dangerously low with a bunch of late round rookies. If the rookies can beat them out, great! But if they aren't ready, as this implies, then we aren't going to sacrifice Fields health just to get some rookies playing time for evaluation purposes.

[The Marshall Plan]

Wasn't this guy part of the crew that almost got Joe Burrow killed?

Look, it isn't signing or drafting 10 guys for the OL that matters. You need the RIGHT people.

OK fine, yes Poles is supposed to try and continuously improve the team. The OL sucked last year. Everybody knew it.

Nothing was done in FA. Poles drafted like 5 guys, I don't know, and so now we get this.

I hope it works. But cast offs and low round draft picks are how we got to this problem in the first place.

So right now we're basically hoping that Poles is a better evaluator of talent than Pace.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

I think he’s going to sign these guys on 1 yr contracts and if they perform - great, if they suck -
we use the draft to improve.

Looking at his plan when he arrived “we’re going to build through the draft”. One of the first responses he gave. This was in the face of an old roster with a dearth of talent and minimal cap space.

Last season we had many gaping holes. Probably the worst - the secondary. Closely followed by the O-line. So in the draft he picked Brisker and Gordon - immediately adding huge talent to the secondary. The secondary is pretty much fixed ‘talent wise’.
Next year, his focus will probably be adding more talent to the O-line, unless the incumbents really take off.

[wab]

LT - Reiff and Braxton Jones
LG - Whitehair and Kramer
OC - Patrick and Mustipher
RG - Schoefield and Eiselen
RT - Jenkins and Borom

I am just glad that it puts Mustipher on the bench. Dude might be smart enough our there but he does not have the physical traits to be good in the NFL. That would of been exposed once they started hitting.

I think it's more like:
LT - Reiff/Jones
LG - Whitehair/Carter
C - Patrick/Mustipher/Kramer
RG - Schofield/Taylor
RT - Jenkins/Borom (or Borom/Jenkins)

[o-pus #40 in B major]

Welcome aboard, Riley Reiff.

Thanks for your work on behalf of all OLBs, Mr. Poles.

(Offensive Line Believer = hardcore branch of the Church of the Pigskin)

[Mikefive]

Well, this is interesting. I have never been a Reiff fan, but admittedly that comes from seeing him suck for the Vikings and maybe he's a better player now.

I will have to admit that I was wrong to freak out so hard on the OL situation and many folks said that this is exactly what Poles would do - kudos to you all.

That said, everyone who began taking a stance recently of "stop asking for vets we need to see our young guys perform", were also wrong on that take. Poles is now putting vets in place to raise the floor that was dangerously low with a bunch of late round rookies. If the rookies can beat them out, great! But if they aren't ready, as this implies, then we aren't going to sacrifice Fields health just to get some rookies playing time for evaluation purposes.

I pretty well agree with everything here, although I don't think it's wrong to call it like it is when a position group is bad. I don't think we should fool ourselves either and think our OL has gone from bad to good. Signing street guys the day camp starts isn't generally a magic answer.

[wab]

Eh, the line is arguably better now on the day camp starts than it was yesterday before camp started. As long as it's better I don't really care what day it happens on. Also..."better" doesn't mean "fixed".

I'll be interested to see who is cut to make room for Schofield and Reiff though. My guess is Moore and Coleman.

[dplank]

Wasn't this guy part of the crew that almost got Joe Burrow killed?

Look, it isn't signing or drafting 10 guys for the OL that matters. You need the RIGHT people.

OK fine, yes Poles is supposed to try and continuously improve the team. The OL sucked last year. Everybody knew it.

Nothing was done in FA. Poles drafted like 5 guys, I don't know, and so now we get this.

I hope it works. But cast offs and low round draft picks are how we got to this problem in the first place.

So right now we're basically hoping that Poles is a better evaluator of talent than Pace.

The way I see it TMP is this...we had a gaping hole at RG, and Poles clearly isn't sold on either Borom or Jenkins at T. The only viable backup at T is a 5th round rookie. Mustipher was pegged to freaking start at RG, with the only viable backups being 6th and 7th round rookies. It was a disaster waiting to happen despite some folks odd confidence in late round, unproven rookies. IIRC the logic was - if Poles saw them and hasn't added anyone, then we must believe Poles knows what he's doing and therefore these rookies are good players. LMAO. Now that he's added two guys, must we now believe that these rookies AREN'T good players? hahaha

Anyhow, I digress. What Poles has done here is raised a dangerously low performance floor. Schofield and Reiff aren't world beaters by any stretch, but they are competent players that can stabilize what we are doing. All while creating competition and still allowing for these rookies to go out in camp and take a job vs handing it to them and praying Fields survives. This Reiff move is a major shot across the bow for both Borom and Jenkins - I'll be hugely disappointed if Jenkins sucks and is the next Gabe Carimi as Rich said but that may very well be the case, we will find out soon. At 12M, you have to think Reiff is going to start at one of those two tackle spots.

[G08]

Man I am curious AF to see who the top 5 guys will be to start camp/end camp.

[dplank]

Man I am curious AF to see who the top 5 guys will be to start camp/end camp.

Your training camp observation notes just got more interesting G08 - don't let us down!

[wab]

I'll be interested to see who is cut to make room for Schofield and Reiff though. My guess is Moore and Coleman.

[Arkansasbear]

I'll be interested to see who is cut to make room for Schofield and Reiff though. My guess is Moore and Coleman.

I was expecting it to have had Davenport, Simmons or Coleman joining Wright rather than Green. I think it's just a matter of time before the guys I listed go to the wood chipper. I guess they feel better about the depth at DB vs the OL. So we thin out the bottom of the roster of DBs to add an additional OL guy to hopefully rev up the competition at that spot.

[crueltyabc]

PFF thinks Reiff is a better run blocker than pass blocker and Schofield is a better pass blocker than run blocker.

Nobody available in July is going to be perfect so maybe putting together a complimentary group is the best we can hope for our of the veterans?

I'm still hopeful that Jenkins kicks ass in camp. I really liked him coming out as a plug-and-play right tackle. His back obv had different ideas but I'm holding on to my priors for now.

[Moriarty]

I will have to admit that I was wrong to freak out so hard on the OL situation and many folks said that this is exactly what Poles would do - kudos to you all.

That said, everyone who began taking a stance recently of "stop asking for vets we need to see our young guys perform", were also wrong on that take. Poles is now putting vets in place to raise the floor that was dangerously low with a bunch of late round rookies. If the rookies can beat them out, great! But if they aren't ready, as this implies, then we aren't going to sacrifice Fields health just to get some rookies playing time for evaluation purposes.

The first part is iffy. I only recall a couple people (myself included) saying they expected a competent to quality addition between now and Opening Day. (I was anticipating 1 unexciting but at least better than Mustipher G signing)
The second part is exactly right.

A tiny handful of us have been saying "The OL is a mess. It got very limited attention and it was arguably (and IMO was) the most important personnel issue to address in 2022.
And we got bombarded with "He knows what he's doing." "I think it looks just fine." "You have to trust him." "What do you mean didn't address it - he signed 4 Day 3 rookies (3 from small programs, and 2 changing positions) and 2 vaguely tolerable veteran backups. " "You don't know it's going to be bad, nobody knows." And "he can't possibly sign even 1 more competent veteran stopgap, because he has to have young hungry players to buy in to the new system."


And then, at the last second, Poles goes out and signs and 32yo career starter who will probably win the starting RG job and a 34yo career starter for well over 10M who will unquestionably start at one of the T positions.


Total vindication for everyone who's been saying "The line's a mess in the short term and this isn't giving Fields the support he needs to have a chance."

[Grizzled]

Schofield (6’6”, 300 lb) and Reiff (6’5” and 310 lb) are the physical types Poles wants. Their signing will give the young guys more time to develop and hopefully see JF more u Ishtar this year.

[IE]

Boo!! I consider this Poles' worst and least-confident move to-date. Poles' approach was refreshing up until this - but this move is as stale and crusty as as the worst of football platitudes and knee-jerk fan whines.

I guess "spend it because you got it" is the way I'll look at this, and hope this long-time-disappointment is just a last-minute luxury hedge & Rieff gets the $10MM worth of splinters he's worth.

Excuse me while my phone blows up with mocking texts from Lions fans...

[dplank]

Wait, I thought since Poles is a GM and we aren't, that we are supposed to believe every move he's made is the right one? And our new coaching staff/scheme is supposed to make players that we used to think suck, actually pretty good now?

I've never been a Reiff fan, BUT - if Jenkins or Borom can't beat him out, then that says a whole lot. I see little downside to this move, only upside. It's basically what I've been asking for for months now (plus Schofield move), so I'm super super happy about both signings. We have actual NFL level competition now, not a tallest midget deal. Our best case scenario is the young guys we have are actually better than these guys, but we have a nice fall back if not.

[BreadNCircuses]

Anyhow, I digress. What Poles has done here is raised a dangerously low performance floor. Schofield and Reiff aren't world beaters by any stretch, but they are competent players that can stabilize what we are doing. All while creating competition and still allowing for these rookies to go out in camp and take a job vs handing it to them and praying Fields survives. This Reiff move is a major shot across the bow for both Borom and Jenkins - I'll be hugely disappointed if Jenkins sucks and is the next Gabe Carimi as Rich said but that may very well be the case, we will find out soon. At 12M, you have to think Reiff is going to start at one of those two tackle spots.

I think this is essentially the right read. Schofield and Reiff aren't elite, but they are competent low-to-mid end starters. If the young bucks out play them, great, alternately, if they hold onto the spots for the year, hopefully that keeps Fields a bit more upright than he was likely to have been before these signings. Either way, enhanced competition going into camp, and nobody is guaranteed a job.