Orlando Brown to Bengals

[UOK]

[crueltyabc]

Umm Jermaine Eluemunor come on down?

[wab]

I’d take Jonah Williams off their hands then.

[The Cooler King]

Some reports saying this had to do a lot with him wanting to play LT. I don't know if Bears werent in on any price or didn't want to give him LT and move Jones.

Either way it's hard to think they weren't a buyer at that price.

Good spot for Brown to land though.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Wow, that's a lot less than expected.

His replacement Jawaan Taylor got a four-year, $80 million deal ($20m a year) that includes $60 million guaranteed from Kansas City.

Brown only gets a 4 year deal for $64m ($16m a year)?

Did he just seriously overplay his hand and pass up a better deal from the Chiefs last year?

[dplank]

16M? Brutal. Should’ve done it, that’s 4M under what most of us thought he might get.

[IotaNet]

Poles must have believed (like some analysts) that Brown was not a fit here. I saw some reporting that said Poles never had him in play.

[The Marshall Plan]

Progressive Insurance Guy: Hey there. Watcha doin'.

Poles: Looking over the list of available free agents. Gotta build a team.

Progressive Insurance Guy: Your spreadsheet is sorted by lowest salary to highest, but you actually have the most cap space of any team and that's after you got DJ Moore.

Poles: Well you know what they say a penny saved is a penny earned.

Progressive Insurance Guy: But......you can't "save" salary cap space.

[The Marshall Plan]

We may have just achieved a General Manager level circular reference like in Excel.

Ryan Poles was part of a group that brought Orlando Brown to Kansas City.

Orlando Brown plays great. Makes a bunch of Pro Bowls.

Ryan Poles becomes General Manager of the Chicago Bears.

Orlando Brown becomes a free agent.

Nah, we don't need Orlando Brown.

[karhu]

Wow, that's a lot less than expected.

His replacement Jawaan Taylor got a four-year, $80 million deal ($20m a year) that includes $60 million guaranteed from Kansas City.

Brown only gets a 4 year deal for $64m ($16m a year)?

Did he just seriously overplay his hand and pass up a better deal from the Chiefs last year?

He sure as shit did. Turned down six years at $23 million per last season.

[karhu]

We ought to remember that Poles still knows plenty of people in KC, including Veach. And Veach had his reasons for being completely, absolutely done with Brown. That's on top of Brown refusing, as far as we know, to play the position we need him to.

[dave99]

Bears scheme calls for athletic lineman.
Brown might be a fit in Cincy, and he may have been in KC, but not here.
We all should be getting used to this by now. Poles is not a trout, he does not bite at shiny objects.
And he is a value investor, he will not pay one dollar more than how he assesses the value to the team.
Now we can agree or disagree with that assessment, but Poles is never going to let the market dictate that number.

[BigDaddy]

Bears scheme calls for athletic lineman.
Brown might be a fit in Cincy, and he may have been in KC, but not here.
We all should be getting used to this by now. Poles is not a trout, he does not bite at shiny objects.
And he is a value investor, he will not pay one dollar more than how he assesses the value to the team.
Now we can agree or disagree with that assessment, but Poles is never going to let the market dictate that number.

Well, his assessments better be spot on because he is walking away from a lot of talent that other teams are grabbing. Jerry Angelo was a "value investor" too....... Just sayin

[Arkansasbear]

Bears scheme calls for athletic lineman.
Brown might be a fit in Cincy, and he may have been in KC, but not here.
We all should be getting used to this by now. Poles is not a trout, he does not bite at shiny objects.
And he is a value investor, he will not pay one dollar more than how he assesses the value to the team.
Now we can agree or disagree with that assessment, but Poles is never going to let the market dictate that number.

That was going to be my point.

[BigDaddy]

Bears scheme calls for athletic lineman.
Brown might be a fit in Cincy, and he may have been in KC, but not here.
We all should be getting used to this by now. Poles is not a trout, he does not bite at shiny objects.
And he is a value investor, he will not pay one dollar more than how he assesses the value to the team.
Now we can agree or disagree with that assessment, but Poles is never going to let the market dictate that number.

Well, his assessments better be spot on because he is walking away from a lot of talent that other teams are grabbing. Jerry Angelo was a "value investor" too and so was George Halas....... Just sayin

[The Kaiser]

We ought to remember that Poles still knows plenty of people in KC, including Veach. And Veach had his reasons for being completely, absolutely done with Brown. That's on top of Brown refusing, as far as we know, to play the position we need him to.

These backchannel insights into Orlando Brown feel very significant. I can't help but feel we may have doged a bullet here.

Also, I feel like there is going to be some surprising talent which shakes loose between the end of the draft and the start of training camps and I do believe Poles is positioning himself to capitalize on those opportunities.

[Grizzled]

Of course he signed with a team which has been in or close to the SB for the past 2 years and is a pre-season favorite to reach it again. That's okay, the Bears are building to it.

[dplank]

Of course he signed with a team which has been in or close to the SB for the past 2 years and is a pre-season favorite to reach it again. That's okay, the Bears are building to it.

Yea I can see them calling out the starting lineup at the opening of the Super Bowl now:

Starting at DE - DeMarcus Walker
Starting at DT - “10M of available cap space”
starting at DT - “Another 10M of cap space”
And so on

Stacks of money can’t run, pass, block or tackle.

[HurricaneBear]

While I'm not super upset over missing on Brown, especially if they add a guard or center in the second or a 1st round tackle, I would like to point out. The Bengals are a very good team. They have alot of upcoming big time contracts. They signed Brown and will be moving their current LT to another position. As someone who said just acquire talent and let the positions be figured out in OTAs/Camp, well that's exactly what the Bengals are doing.

I also would like to point out Brown said he wanted to play for a winning team and a winning QB. Poles may or may not have offered him anything - and it may not have mattered because Brown sounds like he wouldnt play for a team that finished with the worst record in football. Makes me wonder how many other top free agents just don't want to play for Chicago

[wiNDycityfan]

Bears scheme calls for athletic lineman.
Brown might be a fit in Cincy, and he may have been in KC, but not here.
We all should be getting used to this by now. Poles is not a trout, he does not bite at shiny objects.
And he is a value investor, he will not pay one dollar more than how he assesses the value to the team.
Now we can agree or disagree with that assessment, but Poles is never going to let the market dictate that number.

So what are “his” fits or options out there then? Because his moves - or lack thereof - make me feel his template may be too surgical. The market is the market, and he may never get to assemble “what he wants, when he wants it”.

I don’t think Brown’s new contract with Cincy is an albatross, so that’s not the issue. So then Brown is not a fit for our scheme. Fine. Who is then? Borom? Jenkins sliding over? Leatherwood? Nah man, we have added one player where we didn’t necessarily need one, which may require our best lineman (with injury history) to switch to a position he has already struggled at.

Thus far we have Braxton, Whitehair, Patrick, Davis and Jenkins. Dogshit.

[wab]

Makes me wonder how many other top free agents just don't want to play for Chicago

While I imagine there's some of that...it's more likely that Poles simply didn't have an interest in a lot of free agents. And the one's he was interested in, it was going to be at his price and not a penny more.

All anyone has to do is listen to what Poles has said: He's going to build through the draft and be selective in FA. Poles has done exactly what he's said he'd do since he was hired. He did it last year and he's doing it this year. He'll probably do it next year too.

It's not exactly fun to witness as a fan sometimes, but I don't understand why so many people are shocked/upset/surprised at what is happening.

[dplank]

Makes me wonder how many other top free agents just don't want to play for Chicago

While I imagine there's some of that...it's more likely that Poles simply didn't have an interest in a lot of free agents. And the one's he was interested in, it was going to be at his price and not a penny more.

All anyone has to do is listen to what Poles has said: He's going to build through the draft and be selective in FA. Poles has done exactly what he's said he'd do since he was hired. He did it last year and he's doing it this year. He'll probably do it next year too.

It's not exactly fun to witness as a fan sometimes, but I don't understand why so many people are shocked/upset/surprised at what is happening.

How do you explain paying Edmunds 18M per year then? That flies in the face of this post IMO. We could have had a 4x pro bowl LT for 2M less than an off the ball LB.

[Otis Day]

Fans want who they want. Fans believe their team should sign all the stud FAs out there.

No one knows if Poles offered Brown anything. If not, it is probably because he knows some things. If he did offer, it was a first and final offer.

It happens sometimes, that athletes want to go somewhere and win immediately. That is not happening here. The Bears are a yr or 2 away.

The fast approaching Fields' second contract is looming too. Poles is setting the team up to take that hit and he needs to keep the team fairly young.

I like that fact that he isn't spending foolishly.

[wab]

While I imagine there's some of that...it's more likely that Poles simply didn't have an interest in a lot of free agents. And the one's he was interested in, it was going to be at his price and not a penny more.

All anyone has to do is listen to what Poles has said: He's going to build through the draft and be selective in FA. Poles has done exactly what he's said he'd do since he was hired. He did it last year and he's doing it this year. He'll probably do it next year too.

It's not exactly fun to witness as a fan sometimes, but I don't understand why so many people are shocked/upset/surprised at what is happening.

How do you explain paying Edmunds 18M per year then? That flies in the face of this post IMO. We could have had a 4x pro bowl LT for 2M less than an off the ball LB.

Because the team only had one linebacker under contract so they kinda needed LBs.

Because he drafted a LT already and clearly had no interest in Brown?

And because he decided that the off the ball linebacker who fits the defense like a glove was more valuable to the team than an OT who doesn’t fit?

I don’t understand why these things are so difficult to accept?

[wiNDycityfan]

How do you explain paying Edmunds 18M per year then? That flies in the face of this post IMO. We could have had a 4x pro bowl LT for 2M less than an off the ball LB.

Because the team only had one linebacker under contract so they kinda needed LBs.

Because he drafted a LT already and clearly had no interest in Brown?

And because he decided that the off the ball linebacker who fits the defense like a glove was more valuable to the team than an OT who doesn’t fit?

I don’t understand why these things are so difficult to accept?

I think the perception is that the issue is not binary, either/or so to speak. We needed both, even with an already drafted LT. That being said, it was probably a matter of Braxton being already here and Brown wanting to play LT. We may never know.

[dplank]

Replace the player name with the $$ dude. You just claimed that Poles isn’t going to overpay people and build through the draft. Then he goes out and pays 18M for an off the ball LB, something you’ve said many times isn’t a value position when arguing that he was right to let Roquan go. There’s double speak all over the place here. It’s ok to criticize Poles sometimes, he’s not going to be right all the time, no one is

Replace Brown with McGary if you want, he went for 7M less than Edmunds. And ask the same question that you seem to want to dodge for some reason.

[The Kaiser]

How do you explain paying Edmunds 18M per year then? That flies in the face of this post IMO. We could have had a 4x pro bowl LT for 2M less than an off the ball LB.

Because the team only had one linebacker under contract so they kinda needed LBs.

Because he drafted a LT already and clearly had no interest in Brown?

And because he decided that the off the ball linebacker who fits the defense like a glove was more valuable to the team than an OT who doesn’t fit?

I don’t understand why these things are so difficult to accept?

And because said LB was the best FA available at his position, is only 25 years old and also because he believes he can fill is RT position with a quality draft choice.

[wab]

Replace the player name with the $$ dude. You just claimed that Poles isn’t going to overpay people and build through the draft. Then he goes out and pays 18M for an off the ball LB, something you’ve said many times isn’t a value position when arguing that he was right to let Roquan go. There’s double speak all over the place here. It’s ok to criticize Poles sometimes, he’s not going to be right all the time, no one is

Replace Brown with McGary if you want, he went for 7M less than Edmunds. And ask the same question that you seem to want to dodge for some reason.

Lol. What question am I dodging? You LIKED the Edmunds signing. You CALLED for it. Talk about double speak.

You are cool with what Poles does until he doesn’t do exactly what you want him to do. It’s weird.

And for the record, I dislike the Edwards signing. I dislike letting Monty go for a reasonable amount. I dislike that he’s seemingly pinning his hopes at RT on Jenkins/Borom/Rookie.

But, and I don’t know how many times I have to say this, I Understand It.

[malk]

While I imagine there's some of that...it's more likely that Poles simply didn't have an interest in a lot of free agents. And the one's he was interested in, it was going to be at his price and not a penny more.

All anyone has to do is listen to what Poles has said: He's going to build through the draft and be selective in FA. Poles has done exactly what he's said he'd do since he was hired. He did it last year and he's doing it this year. He'll probably do it next year too.

It's not exactly fun to witness as a fan sometimes, but I don't understand why so many people are shocked/upset/surprised at what is happening.

How do you explain paying Edmunds 18M per year then? That flies in the face of this post IMO. We could have had a 4x pro bowl LT for 2M less than an off the ball LB.

I think the answer here is that the Edmunds contract was a mistake in itself rather than it being that we should have signed Brown, but I'm in the minority there I think!

Admittedly some of the 2nd tier, or 1b rather than 1a, free agents made me raise an eyebrow when we seemingly weren't interested.

Ultimately though, we've got some of our own players still to lock up and we haven't finished making signings yet so it's all good.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Yea I can see them calling out the starting lineup at the opening of the Super Bowl now:

Starting at DE - DeMarcus Walker
Starting at DT - “10M of available cap space”
starting at DT - “Another 10M of cap space”
And so on

Stacks of money can’t run, pass, block or tackle.

Yet they're playing in the Super Bowl? Wow, Poles must have knocked it out of the park on all the players he did sign!