I’m looking forward to spending my Easter afternoon with my grandmother. We’ll have ham, mac-and-cheese, rolls, and cheesecake. We usually watch baseball together, but I’m not-so-secretly hoping she has no interest in watching a Tyler Chatwood start and will allow me to watch the NBA playoffs.
Here is to your Easter Sunday is an enjoyable one.
The Bears are in the Easter spirit:
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The Bears sent a wrecking crew to the Pro Bowl this year, so I don’t want to be the guy whining about snubs. But if I wanted to be that guy, I’d state a case for Eddie Goldman because he was one of the biggest snubs on the Pro Bowl circuit. Goldman started all 16 games for the first time in his career and picked up 3 sacks (most since getting 4.5 as a rookie), five tackles-for-loss (most since his rookie season), and even picked up a safety. Don’t overlook Goldman’s presence in the middle of the defensive line as someone who takes on multiple blockers, which allows guys like Akiem Hicks, Bilal Nichols, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jonathan Bullard to eat at the line of scrimmage. Someone has to do the dirty work, but those guys don’t often get the glory. However, a second straight season like the one he had last year will surely put Goldman on the map.
Fun fact: Goldman was Pro Football Focus’ 12th highest-graded interior defender in 2019 and earned a 89.2 grade that put him on the cusp of the elites on the site’s grading scale. This particular position group is loaded (the Lions have three of the top 13 highest-graded guys here) so it’s understandable how Goldman can’t get lost in the shuffle.
And if having elite players at the top of the depth chart wasn’t enough, Nichols and Robertson-Harris both graded out as “above average” on PFF’s grading scale, with Bullard earning an “average” grade. Having five players who grade out as “average” or better to rotate in and out of the lineup makes that Bears defensive line that much tougher for offensive lines to defend. Fresh legs for guys with active motors can wear down offensive lines who don’t rotate in and out of the game.
Goldman got his extension last summer, Cody Whitehair is among those who spotrac speculates will get one soon enough. We’re not sure what position Whitehair will play this coming season. He earned a Pro Bowl spot as a center in 2018, but swapping gigs with left guard James Daniels isn’t illogical by any stretch because it moves each player back to their natural position. In fact, it’s a worthwhile idea if the powers that be at Halas Hall are convinced that move is best for the long-term health of the offensive line.
But no matter where Whitehair lines up in 2019, he figures to be rewarded handsomely and paid big money over the next few years.
Draft Week kicks off for us on Monday and I’m pumped about it. You should be, too. The Bears are about to add another wave of talent to a 12-win division champion that has real Super Bowl aspirations. So while the Bears aren’t positioned to pick in the top-10, there is plenty of intrigue surrounding a team that doesn’t have a ton of major holes, but also needs to keep adding depth players who have upside in order to avoid a drop-off in play.
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JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago takes a look at another running back who has certainly piqued the Bears’ interest:
The Bears have shown a ton of interest in Florida Atlantic running back Devin Singletary. And the good news is that Singletary showed the team he is fully recovered from a hamstring injury that caused problems at his pro day. There is a general feeling the Bears will take a running back when they go on the clock with pick No. 87 on Friday. It’s possible that Singletary could be there for the Bears when it’s their turn to choose, but the team could ultimately choose to kick the can down the road to Round 4 and take a running back there. It’s not as if there is any shortage of them.
No matter who the Bears draft, their 2019 schedule is going to be a tough one. But that’s good because challenges are to be met head-on and attacked with full fury. No one who has anything worthwhile earned it by taking an easy path. So keep that in mind when you see that Marc Sessler of NFL.com views the Packers and Vikings schedules as “forgiving” in 2019. Green Bay’s schedule is loaded with home games early in the season, but they close with four of their last six on the road. Then again, six of their last seven games are against teams that missed the playoffs last season – with the one exception being the Bears. Minnesota needs to get off to a hot start if that team wants to make noise. The Vikings have a seven -game stretch during the middle of the season where they play four 2018 playoff teams (Bears, Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys). That doesn’t seem like much fun, especially since three of those matchups against teams that qualified for the postseason in 2018 will be played on the road.
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