You can’t tell me the Bears haven’t turned over a new leaf when the Jaguars announcing the release of wide receiver Zay Jones doesn’t immediately lead to my mentions being full of fans asking if he would be a fit in Chicago. It really is the dawn of a new day.
There are so many things that make the Caleb Williams pick different than any other quarterback selection the Bears have made in the past. But Chris Emma (Marquee) highlights my favorite one with this passage:
Coach Matt Eberflus is a firm believer in rookies playing in key roles, and the Bears believe no first-year player is equipped for this quite like Williams. Six quarterbacks were selected in the first dozen picks of this draft. There was a steep gap on the draft board at Halas Hall between Williams and the next quarterback.
The Bears have half-assed the Green Bay model at every turn. Mitchell Trubisky began his pro career sitting behind Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez on the quarterback depth chart after being drafted by Chicago in 2017. Justin Fields was stuck behind Andy Dalton in 2021. Heck, even Rex Grossman had to wait out Week 1 starter Kordell Stewart and later Chris Chandler. In Caleb Williams, the Bears have a rookie quarterback that is worthy of getting the keys to the castle right away. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Brian Baldinger’s breakdown of Caleb Williams’ game and optimism gives me all sorts of good feelings:
It truly feels like a new beginning for the Bears. But why stop at quarterback? Is this the year that Chicago’s football team gets som new jerseys? Helmet designs? Are they going to buck previous trends and head to HBO’s “Hard Knocks” show? Let’s keep pushing that envelope, friends.
The NFL keeps finding new ways to innovate the draft. This is such a cool video:
This segment with ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter on the Pat McAfee Show should be watched by everyone who cites betting odds and uses them to project things like player transactions:
I hope you see this story for what it is — a cautionary tale of how to read and comprehend numbers that are being put out by oddsmakers whose top priority is to create lines that spur people on both sides to wager. Please gamble responsibly.
Bears fans hope to look back on the 2024 NFL Draft as a transformational one. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. However, we don’t need to wait to declare this as a historic draft. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler points out that last Thursday’s draft marked the first time in history that 14 consecutive offensive players were taken. That they were selected at the top of the draft speaks volumes about where the strengths in this class were.
That more than 775,000 people attended the 2024 NFL Draft (h/t PFT) is impressive. But it doesn’t top the 5 million people who showed up for the Cubs World Series parade. At the time, it was the largest gathering of humans in US history.
In a story by The Athletic’s Max Olson full of anecdotes about the departures from the Colorado football program in Deion Sanders’ first year, former CU offensive lineman Jake Wiley tells a tale of how offensive linemen found out they were let go by the team when they were removed from the group chat by an OL coach. My nightmare is waking up one day and learning I have no friends by finding out I have been booted from all my group chats.
While I am not yet ready to dig into 2025 NFL Mock Drafts, it isn’t too early for me to dig into Best Ball mocks. I want to prove to the league that my runner-up finish in 2022 was no fluke, so yours truly is taking things a little more seriously this year:
You can check out more fantasy-centric stuff via our friends at 4for4.
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The Cubs (ahem … first-place Cubs) went from being no-hit to outright beating the Mets. Ron Santo’s Force Ghost was probably loving it from the great beyond:
Don’t let Jamal Murray posterizing LeBron James and hitting the game-winner to send the Lakers home distract you from the fact that the NBA created an in-season tournament for the sole purpose of inflating LeBron’s résumé.
The first installment of a new series from our friends at BN Blackhawks:
NEWSLETTER
