NEWSLETTER
Wednesdays are busy enough at Casa de Luis. But spending an hour+ looking for my glasses that I couldn’t find has thrown my day for a loop. At least I can see. Silver linings, folks!
- We’ll dive deeper into the news from The Athletic’s Ben Standig that Daron Payne is on the brink of getting the Franchise Tag from Washington later in the morning. As for my initial reaction, I’m thankful this NFL Draft class and group of free agents appears to be stacked at the position. We’ve known for a while that the defensive line market was going to go bonkers at some point. Taking Payne off the market doesn’t change that one bit. If anything, it probably drives more interest in other places. Even areas where the Bears might’ve thought they’d make a stealth signing. It’s a bummer Payne won’t make it to free agency, but it’s not as if there aren’t other options.
- More from tag watch via our friends at BN NFL:
- Al-Quadin Muhammad’s release was made officially official on Tuesday. Muhammad’s time in Chicago end after just one season in which he played 16 games (made 9 starts) and collected just one sack, one tackle-for-loss, and three quarterback hits. What a tremendously disappointing year for a player who had expectations to be better than what he showed based on his past performance in the same scheme back in Indy. The Muhammad free agency flop serves as a reminder that the Bears shouldn’t hitch their wagons to just anyone who happens to have ties to this regime. This isn’t to say those connections can’t be helpful, but it shouldn’t be a huge factor.
- But, hey, at least his cut clears nearly $4 million in salary cap savings.
- Picking my favorite Justin Fields play from 2022 wasn’t easy, but I was up for the challenge:
- Sure, the second one is more of a sentimental favorite than anything. But my gosh … what a throw!
- On the one hand, I love where Fields is on this list…
- … but on the other hand, it is quite clear Fields still has gains to make as a passer. And that is OK. No one in their right mind was expecting Fields to be a finished product in Year 2.
- Another day, another conversation whether the Bears should trade Fields and draft Bryce Young:
- What a content gold mine this has turned out to be for big-network talkers who didn’t pay as close of attention to the Bears as others did in 2022. It is a perfect storm of big-market team owning the first pick (Bears), a draft-eligible quarterback prospect (Bryce Young) from a high-profile college football program, and an incumbent (Fields) who was once in Young’s shoes as the next big thing. Don’t get me wrong. I understand why we’re having the discussion. After all, we’ve got time to kill around here, too. But there are better ways than to “embrace debate” on this topic for the next few months.
- Laurence Holmes hits bullseye in his latest at the Sun-Times:
- Jarrett Payton, who is a great ambassador for Bears football (even if it isn’t an operating title), joins us in being irked by Fields trade talks. Via NBC Sports Chicago:
“It annoys me. I’ll be honest with you. It really annoys me,” Jarrett Payton, son of Walter, said on Bernstein & Holmes on 670 The Score. “I’m a huge Justin Fields believer. This was before he came to Chicago. So I’ve been a fan and I’ve watched him since high school. He’s impressed me at every single level with what he’s been able to do.”
- If you haven’t survived watching the dudes in this montage, then it is understandable why you don’t get bears fans not jumping to deal Fields:
- This stings to read: Panthers senior assistant Jim Caldwell is done looking for NFL head-coaching jobs. Caldwell, who was a candidate for the Bears’ head coach opening last offseason, has been overlooked in so many different hiring windows. So I understand why he is taking a step back. But the guy deserved better. Full stop. (ESPN)
- Ooh, I bet the answers to this are delicious:
- For me, it would be Harold’s Chicken because a trip there would signify a team’s true interest.
- Patrick’s latest NFL offseason previews give us a look at our hated rivals in Wisconsin and a team in Pittsburgh that I’m mostly apathetic to (if we’re being completely honest).
- I’m just saying that if Eddie Jackson can have a strong bounce back after a few years of setbacks, then the same can happen with Cody Bellinger:
- The Blackhawks won in a shootout, but my headcanon is that they won on this Patrick Kane shot as time expired:
- There is a new basketball player in town who I hadn’t heard of until I read this from our friends at BN Bulls:
