Chicago Bears

First, we can't always talk about the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. Last year we had a really talented QB on a rookie contract, working a new system, with a ton of new coaches. We grabbed a bunch of new guys, and we were hoping to see big uptick in quality. DJ Moore should have been much more impactful than he has been this year.

I fully believe it doesn't matter who is at QB if they haven't already been a starter for 5+ years. Our coaching is the problem. CJ could be on our team, and he'd be doing shit, because we have a bad coaching staff and bad play calling. We don't know how to develop a QB. We just take rookies or back-up QB's with little experience, and we throw them in the deep end like they are a 10 year vet with playoff experience.

Fields and Bagent should be on 2 looks then check down. Not 5 looks with minor OL protection. The only QBs who can survive in our system are vets that don't need to be babied, and will fight back against a coach making a stupid call.

No way you can be upset with getting DJ Moore and have another top 5 pick out of that trade. Its easy to say this in hindsight. You think Getsy would be doing Stroud any favors?

We turned that trade into a starting RT, CB and DJ Moore with incredible flexibility to control this year's draft as well. If you think our rosters would be at the same level if we didn't take that trade then you're just flat out wrong. We had the least talented team overall last season, we needed to gather as much talent as possible.

This season we have improved but still lacking elite talent but because of the trade we are in a great position to acquire as much as possible without overpaying vets and selling our future by trading up. I don't know how Fields will do the rest of the season, I hope he succeeds and Carolina tank so we can again get a huge haul for the number 1 pick and still have the ability to draft either pick 2 or 3 to pick up MHJ and the best player available with our own pick.

Having a franchise RT, a superstar receiver in Moore, a choice at Williams/Maye and potentially franchise LT/WR

Is worth more than stroud

No because he would have looked awful on the Bears I’m sure

Should Poles and company get blame for passing on Stroud, knowing what we know now? Absolutely not. At the time of the decision (ignoring hindsight), it was a pretty good move that was applauded by most.

To include hindsight and ask “Why didn’t they draft Stroud instead?” needs to be coupled with the hindsight of what he does with all of the pieces he received from trading down. What if we draft Maye and he turns out better than Stroud? What if we add in a starting DT or some other starting piece with Carolina’s second next year? Then we’re looking at: Stroud vs. Moore, Maye, Wright, Stevenson, Scott, starter.

20/20 hindsight -- I would much rather have Stroud instead of the DJ Moore package and it's not even close. Give me a franchise QB and figure out the rest of the line and WRs after that.

20/20 hindsight is Stroud w/ the Texans, not the Bears. Stroud made it very clear he had no desire to go to Chicago. Stroud idolizes Justin Fields; Fields is a big reason why he went to Ohio State. He would have had no trust in an organization that his mind ruined Fields. And some of that pre-draft chatter about him being difficult to coach is kinda accurate--if he doesn't trust you. Stroud and Chicago would not have been a good fit.

The question to ask is whether or not what Poles did was "good process". The decision that was made was sound at the time (and still is). Does Stroud look like a franchise QB through 10 weeks? Yes. Was there any certainty this would be the case during draft season? No. The bears and panthers were the teams that passed on him, but so did every other team with a QB question that evaluated him and didnt trade up to #1 to get him. If other teams were evaluating him as a can't miss franchise QB, they would have paid the price to go get him.

At the end of the day, Poles decided to commit to JF1 for another year after showing flashes in 22, got a great return for the pick (that may yield even more dividends in a few months if a trade back occurs), and there's not a lot of value in looking back. Sometimes players outperform projections

Who is he throwing to with no DJ?