The "2 WR screens in a row" Offseason Mock

[HearshotKDS]

This was fun to make, not what I think will happen but something I would enjoy if it did.

Ryan Poles, desperate to save his job and flummoxed on how to do it, takes the strongly worded advice from Warren and finds someone better to make most of the teams football decisions: he fires Matt Eberflus and replaces him with Jim Harbaugh.



Poles decides to kiss the ring and be a GM in mostly name, leaving Jim as the real driver in football decisions for the offseason.

Team cuts:
FS Eddie Jackson: $12.56 million saved
G/C Cody Whitehair: $9.15 million saved
P Trenton Gil: $0.96 saved

Cap space: $105.1M

Harbaugh wastes no time cutting the fat on some likeable but ultimately underperforming vets to improve the team. Oh and Gil's shitcanned too.

Extensions:
CB Jaylon Johnson: Five years, $95 million
K Cairo Santos: Two years, $9 million
LS Patrick Scales: One year, $1.65 million
WR Equanimeous St. Brown: One year, $1.65 million
CB Josh Blackwell (ERFA tender): One year, $915,000
TE Marcedes Lews: One year $2M

Cap Space: $75.39M

Harbaugh identifies key FAs on the Bears and decides Johnson is easier to extend than replace and that Santos has a few more years left in the tank, both fit into their multiyear plans while extending several of the positive performing journeymen to 1 year deals.

Free Agents:
Christian Wilkins - 4 years $79M

Miamis cap situation forces them to choose between extending their C or extending their 3T, McDaniel decides they are a shootout team and prioritizes keeping his O intact at the expense of their D. MIAs loss is CHIs gain as Bears sign a quality 3T to pair with Billings on the interior D line.

Geno Stone - 3 years $33M

Baltimore loves their young S but decides the price isnt worth the risk of what could be a 1 year flash in the pan from what was a backup S going into the year. Bears essentially use the money saved from cutting Jackson to grab the promising 24 year old.

Tyler Biadasz - 3 years $18M

Hoping to land Connor Williams or Andre James, unfortunately the Bears strikeout and are forced to choose between signing a budget C or trusting a rookie. They choose a budget C from DAL.

Halapoulivaati Vaitai - 1 year $2.8M

Much needed iOL depth to pair with Ja'Tyre Carter in the very likely scenario that Jenkins or Davis miss games.

Charles Harris - 1 year $2.5M

Hoping to sign Danielle Hunter, Poles unfortunately strikes out as the player decides he is not willing to go to a division rival in the twilight of his career. Awww fuck. The best plan B he can do on short notice is this guy.

Corey Bojorquez - 2 years $4M

Determined to replace Gil with anyone, Poles does indeed find anyone.

Shaq Quarterman - 1 year $1.5M
LB Depth who cares

Cap Space: $30M

Going into the draft, Harbaugh tells Poles he can win in the NFL with his QB from Michigan the QB from LSU, so Bears will be drafting McCarthy Daniels. Poles says "yes sir" and realizes you dont need the #1 overall pick to get McCarthy Daniels. So what do? Much like Luke Getsy trying to figure out what play to call after a WR screen, Poles decides to just do the same thing he did last year: trade down for future picks and a vet. Harbaugh forces him to wait until draft day to make his move:

The Chicago Bears trade the #1 overall pick in the 2024 draft to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for:

- The 11th overall pick
- the 43rd overall pick
- LVRs 2025 first round pick
- LVRs 2026 2nd round pick
- Defensive end Maxx Crosby

Cap Space: $11M

Desperate for a QB that isnt Jimmy Garoppolo and driven into a Caleb Williams inspired frenzy by pre draft media, the Raiders decideto do whatever it takes to secure the future of their franchise. The Bears get a pick they expect to get J.J. with, a ton of additional draft value, and a star DE to pair with Sweat and Wilkins in a trade that remarkably resembles what they did with CAR. When facing the media Poles remarks "its the only move I know".

The 5-12 Bears proceed to draft as follows

#7 - WR LSU MALIK NABERS
Replacing Mooney with much higher ceiling prospect, the Bears lose out on MHJ but grab a very exciting WR in Nabers who has chemistry with their targeted QB.

#11 - QB LSU JAYDEN DANIELS
Harbaugh wants his guy, with plans to sit behind Fields until "he's ready". Fields is told he is the starter as long as he shows growth and more importantly good decision making during games.

#42 - WR WESTERN KENTUCKY MALACHI CORLEY
Poles takes a loss on his 26 year old draft pick and decides this is the prospect he was hoping he got with VJJ.

#71 - S USC CALEN BULLOCK
A suprise drop on draft night, Poles feels the value even as depth with Bullock was too good to pass up for lesser prospects albeit at positions of bigger need.

#102 - RB OREGON BUCKY IRVING
Poles continues his trend of RB churning to pair his speedy explosiveness with Roschons power - facing the media Poles mentions "I aint payin a RB shit in this league, find more bodies on day 3".

#128 LB GEORGIA SMAEL MONDON JR
LB depth to sit behind Edwards, Edmunds, and Sandborn.

#133 S WASHINGTON STATE JADEN HICKS
Who fuckin cares at this point.


Depth Chart for 2024:
WR - Moore/ Nabers/Scott/Corley/St. Brown/VJJ
RB - Herbert/Johnson/Irving/Blasinggame
QB - Fields/Daniels - to start the season
TE - Kmet, Lewis
OTs - Current ones
iOL - Jenkins/Davis/Biadasz/Vaitai

DE - Sweat/Crosby/Depth
DT - Wilkins/Billings/depth
CB - Current ones
S - Brisker/ Stone/depth
LB - Current ones

Ladies and Gentlemen, my 2024 "I had the first and 7th overall pick and still didnt get the best player at any position" mock draft. Every thread seems to devolve into a Caleb vs. MHJ shitfest so here is something with neither player.

 

[jts1207]

Lmao

 

[DaaBears]

Here's the thing. I don't think McCarthy is an NFL quarterback.

But I appreciate all that work.

 

[HearshotKDS]

Here's the thing. I don't think McCarthy is an NFL quarterback.

But I appreciate all that work.

I dont know anything about him beyond the Harbaugh connection.

 

[Enasic]

JJ at #11 is barf. I wouldn’t even draft him in the 2nd round

 

[HearshotKDS]

JJ at #11 is barf. I wouldn’t even draft him in the 2nd round

Pretend its Jayden Daniels then I picked for the narrative not the player.

 

[jsu34]

Pretend its Jayden Daniels then I picked for the narrative not the player.

That's a better scenario.

 

[HearshotKDS]

That's a better scenario.

OK fine if you want something a bit more realistic but shit for story telling I will change it to reflect a QB that might actually go at 11.

 

[Nelly]

Crosby, the 11th overall pick and a 2nd this year, what figures to be a really good first round pick the next year and a 2nd the year following? Yes please. We'd have gone from one of the worst defensive lines in the league to start this season to maybe the best with Sweat/Billings/Wilkins/Crosby. Then you've got Nabers to add to Moore for Fields? And an NFL caliber center... dang.

 

[Enasic]

Crosby, the 11th overall pick and a 2nd this year, what figures to be a really good first round pick the next year and a 2nd the year following? Yes please. We'd have gone from one of the worst defensive lines in the league to start this season to maybe the best with Sweat/Billings/Wilkins/Crosby. Then you've got Nabers to add to Moore for Fields? And an NFL caliber center... dang.

All this. To nitpick though, I want more than an NFL caliber center. Don’t want to fuck around at that position and the OL in general. Would rather pass on Stone and use some of that money to pry Connor Williams away from Miami. Overpay a bit if you have to. Granted, they could tag him.

 

[Nelly]

All this. To nitpick though, I want more than an NFL caliber center. Don’t want to fuck around at that position and the OL in general. Would rather pass on Stone and use some of that money to pry Connor Williams away from Miami. Overpay a bit if you have to. Granted, they could tag him.

This is based on Miami having to prioritize Williams over Wilkins, so it's presumably one or the other.

While I agree it might take a guy like Crosy to make that deal work, it still seems like it would be too good to be true. That'd be an awful lot of cash to put into the D-line as well, between Crosby, Sweat and Wilkins, not to mention JJ and Edmunds already getting paiiid as well. But damn, that roster would be pretty sweet. Harbaugh at the helm of that team and you could easily have a division winner and superbowl contender on your hands.

 

[HearshotKDS]

This is based on Miami having to prioritize Williams over Wilkins, so it's presumably one or the other.

While I agree it might take a guy like Crosy to make that deal work, it still seems like it would be too good to be true. That'd be an awful lot of cash to put into the D-line as well, between Crosby, Sweat and Wilkins, not to mention JJ and Edmunds already getting paiiid as well. But damn, that roster would be pretty sweet. Harbaugh at the helm of that team and you could easily have a division winner and superbowl contender on your hands.

Thank you for reading the fuckin thing. Edit: also the cap works it would be really close to what I have posted in it, but Bears would almost certainly move on from Edmunds after 2024 because LB isnt a premium position to spend on.

 

[dennehy]

All this. To nitpick though, I want more than an NFL caliber center. Don’t want to fuck around at that position and the OL in general. Would rather pass on Stone and use some of that money to pry Connor Williams away from Miami. Overpay a bit if you have to. Granted, they could tag him.

Miami is $40m over the cap for 2024. They probably aren't going to tag Williams.

 

[Enasic]

This is based on Miami having to prioritize Williams over Wilkins, so it's presumably one or the other.

While I agree it might take a guy like Crosy to make that deal work, it still seems like it would be too good to be true. That'd be an awful lot of cash to put into the D-line as well, between Crosby, Sweat and Wilkins, not to mention JJ and Edmunds already getting paiiid as well. But damn, that roster would be pretty sweet. Harbaugh at the helm of that team and you could easily have a division winner and superbowl contender on your hands.

True. I still wouldn’t pursue stone that much. With that DL, a FS is the last of their concerns and stone wasn’t anything special prior to this year.

 

[JoJoBoxer]

Pretend its Jayden Daniels then I picked for the narrative not the player.

I like the already strong connection between Jayden Daniels and his "Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my "Nabers"?".

 

[HearshotKDS]

Miami is $40m over the cap for 2024. They probably aren't going to tag Williams.

They have over $120M of base salary they can snap their fingers and restructure if they want to create cap space out of thin air. The premise in the mock is they are willing to do that for one of either their 3T or their C but not both and Miami chooses C.

 

[Chicagosports89]

Pass on Connor Williams, he isn't really very good.

Also if Miami chooses him or Wilkins, it'll be wilkins

 

[HearshotKDS]

Pass on Connor Williams, he isn't really very good.

Also if Miami chooses him or Wilkins, it'll be wilkins

 

[Nelly]

Pass on Connor Williams, he isn't really very good.

PFF has him graded out at an 85.9, which is pretty elite territory. Prior years were 78.2 and 76.1, still very good.

 

[dennehy]

They have over $120M of base salary they can snap their fingers and restructure if they want to create cap space out of thin air. The premise in the mock is they are willing to do that for one of either their 3T or their C but not both and Miami chooses C.

They are going to struggle to push all that money and then have to sign Tua to a $50m+ AAV deal.

I personally don't think Williams is that great, and if they have to chose they will easily choose Wilkins.