The Carter Conundrum, Fields Back at Work, New Tank on Our Radar, Who’s Going to the Draft? And Other Bears Bullets

We’re in store for another gorgeous day in Chicago. Enjoy it while you can. I’ve seen some forecasts that could include snow as early as Monday. What a reminder that if you don’t like the weather in Chicago all you have to do is wait a few days and it’ll change.

  • Folks are really just out here saying stuff ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft:
  • One-for-one player comps are hard enough. But to do a cross-sport comp with the greatest shooter of all-time just blows my mind. I like Bryce Young a ton. And if the Bears didn’t have Justin Fields, I’d probably have spent the offseason pounding the table for Chicago to take him with the first overall pick. But to put a Stephen Curry-Joe Burrow hybrid comp on him is flat-out absurd. Is it that hard for someone to break down his game without being ridiculous?
  • Times like now these me thinking about how the stretch between the end of the NFL Scouting Combine and the start of the NFL Draft is too darn long. We’ve got two weeks until we have a first-round pick to discuss as the newest member of the Chicago Bears. And at this point, that is two weeks too many. Let’s get this process sped up. Please don’t make me get Rob Manfred and Theo Epstein on the case.
  • These 17 players are confirmed to attend the NFL Draft. Call it a hunch if you’d like, but I’d bet on the Bears picking someone from the list in Round 1.
  • If you’ve ever wondered why the Ryan Pace era didn’t last longer, this tweet sums it up:
  • There is an awful lotta buzz surrounding the Bears and Georgia DT Jalen Carter (who is among the players who will attend Day 1 of the NFL Draft). Over at Da Bears Blog, Andrew Dannehy weighs the risk-reward factors in the Bears drafting Carter. There is no doubting Carter’s skills or fit in Chicago on my end. That dude can play (when he wants). But I keep asking myself if GM Ryan Poles wants to roll the dice like this with his first-ever first-round draft pick as Bears GM. Maybe I’m too risk-averse. Or perhaps I wouldn’t want to put my neck on the line like that this early in my career as general manager. But Poles could see it differently and be willing to take that risk. It would be bold. And I’d be following obsessively as I’d be curious to see how it plays out.
  • One feeling I can’t escape: Poles has done enough good things this offseason to where he has created a buffer to take a risk and draft Carter. Not just in terms of adding players in volume, but also when it comes to name-brand value. The Bears drafting Carter and having him as their big offseason splash would look different from a public relations perspective than taking him after trading for D.J. Moore, adding a bunch of draft capital, signing high-profile free agents such as T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds to big money deals. I know the PR aspect isn’t top of mind for most, but it is part of the calculus in the grand scheme of things. Hence, I won’t ignore it.
  • If the Bears want to use a late Day 3 pick on a player with a great football name, then they should look at Tank Bigsby:
  • It’s not as if Chicago’s football team needs a running back. Khalil Herbert and D’Onta Foreman at the top of the depth chart have me feeling comfortable. Travis Homer in a reserve role where he is a blocker pass-catcher, and special teams ace probably suits him well. Trestan Ebner didn’t stand out as a rookie, so maybe that is where the Bears bring in some competition to challenge him. There aren’t a ton of guaranteed roster spots on this still-rebuilding squad. So perhaps that is a spot to keep an eye on beyond the obvious camp competitions if the Bears bring in more RB help.
  • Things you love seeing in the offseason — this:
  • Admittedly, I was overly optimistic about Velus Jones Jr.’s rookie season. But the rising second-year player is still hanging around Justin Fields enough to make me think we’ll see more to his game in 2023. Jones has traits I think can produce explosive plays for this offense. Perhaps not being a focal point and instead being a secondary or tertiary option behind D.J. Moore, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, and Cole Kmet will help Jones find a niche. It is easy to write off Jones as a bust. And yet, I won’t do that because I still believe there is a useful player wearing No. 12 in Chicago.
  • Let the record show Jones made some splash plays down the stretch last season. This catch from Christmas Eve was superb:
  • As was this rushing touchdown from Week 18. That game really was the best of both worlds. We got touchdowns from players we were penciling in as future contributors (Jones, Kmet) and saw the Bears take a loss that helped land them the No. 1 overall pick (which has subsequently been dealt). It was a win-win kind of day in my book.
  • Ryan Calloway (Lansing State Journal) writes about the persistence of new Bears punter Ryan Anderson, who announced his own signing with the team earlier in the week. To go from Division II wide receiver at Saginaw Valley to an all-conference punter at Rutgers, and ultimately chasing an NFL dream takes some real guts. I’m still sure that Trenton Gill has nothing to worry about when it comes to his job security. However, I’ll still be curious to see how things play out for Anderson. Not that training camp needs any additional pizzazz, but maybe we’ll see an impromptu summertime punter competition.
  • Sorry, it sounds like Diar DeRozan is unavailable for tonight’s Bulls game against the Heat in Miami.
  • Here is everything else you need to know about the Bulls’ big game tonight:
  • ‘Twas quite a night to honor The Captain in his final game with the Blackhawks:
  • There was so much good stuff at BN Blackhawks Twitter and on Tab’s Twitter account last night. I’d recommend you follow both as Chicago’s hockey team enters a pivotal offseason.
  • I dunno what is going on with Javy, but he seems awfully broken:
  • written by

    Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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