CJ Stroud looks absolutely amazing and on a team that I would say is on par with our roster at best.
Poles said all along he needed to be blown away to stick at #1 and take a QB last year. By the time the combine rolled around he all but announced to the world the pick was for sale. I understand Fields showed flashes towards the end of last year and that played into that decision.
Fast forward to now and Stroud is blowing everyone away.
I think it’s fair to question what our staff missed on Stroud to be out on him immediately and whether or not we should be worried about them making the next decision on who our QB is.
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.
No one knows what a QB is going to look like until you put them on the field and have them start against an nfl defense. That goes for Busts and Booms alike.
Let’s say we put CJ stroud in the same QB class as JF. I’m not saying CJ goes last, but I could still see him going after Wilson, Lance and Lawerence and possibly fields.
Also, The Texans have a decent supporting cast and just got a highly respected new coach who seems to know what he is doing.
If we take a QB in the draft they will have a much better to play on than the one last year or this year.
He was considered the #2 QB and like #4/5/6 overall prospect. The Bears traded down from #1 to #9 and picked up the potentially top pick this year, 2 additional 2nd rounders, and DJ Moore.
The reality is the Bears wouldn’t have taken him even if they kept #1.
Some scouts had Stroud #1 and some had him #2. The majority preferred Young but it wasn’t an overwhelming consensus.
The reality is that some GMs would have drafted Stroud #1 overall, some would have drafted Young #1, and some would have kept Fields and traded the pick like Poles did.
I’m hindsight, Poles should have drafted Stroud. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that. He made the wrong decision.
The worst possible thing he could do at this point is double down on Fields AGAIN and pass on another potential franchise QB.
I’m fine with how it worked out but what if Lovie didn’t win week 17?
We would have had #2 and it’s quite possible that Houston would have taken Bryce
Mahomes was considered QB #3 and like the 10-15th overall prospect.
Well he also went to Andy Reid so situation plays a big role in a qb’s success. Also did you think he would be THIS good back then?
I didn’t think Stroud or Mahomes would be good. But I’m not being paid to be GM. It doesn’t matter how many people didn’t realize it, it’s Poles job to make the right decision.
CJ Stroud is exactly the archetype of QB Poles and Getsy apparently want and they missed on it. You shouldn’t get a 2nd chance to miss again
I don’t. For his faults, I think that was one situation that Poles handled perfectly at the time.
He improved the O Line, brought in a legit #1 receiver to give Fields weapons and improve protection (granted injuries on the o-line killed that for a good portion if the season and there is still work to do, but we’ve seen the improvement recently as guys are getting healthy).
Then got that future first, which gave him a Fields insurance policy in a draft that most analysts agreed at the time is a better QB prospect draft overall. Looking at the context at the time it was an extremely sound move by him.
Should every team in the NFL get blame for passing on Brady?
I mean hindsight is undefeated. I’m ok with what we did last year, we built up a much better offense and gave Fields one more year. Now when we draft a QB next year he will be in a much better position to succeed; this team has real talent on offense.
We got an amazing haul from the Carolina trade; and given that Young looks awful we may even get more nice stuff next year (IIRC we have their second next year)
Stroud went #2. Every team didn’t pass on him several times.
I don’t think it’s outlandish to ask why the team who had the #1 picked passed on the dude who went #2 and is balling out.
Poles said he would have to be “Blown Away” to move off of Fields. We all heard him say it, right? Well, Stroud is now having the greatest rookie year for a QB in history. Not the last 10 years. Not the last 25 years. ALL TIME.
It IS fair to ask why Poles was not blown away – and to question either what the scouts missed or the process of selecting talent. To NOT do so would be stupid.
This is the sanest response on here. Poles was not selected as GM due to a body of past work. He was picked because he was going to do things differently, which pretty clearly in Chicago means finding the QB that none of your predecessors have been able to find.
Not at all saying it’s his “fault,” but it is absolutely fair to question what type of work they did that made them say “yeah, Stroud isn’t our guy.”
It’s because picking a QB isn’t an exact science. Why weren’t scouts and GMs blown away on Mahomes, Allen, Lamar, or Herbert? We’ve seen time and time again that it is very difficult to project how a QB will turn out. Even one of the best GMs in the league, John Lynch, had a huge miss in evaluating a QB prospect, Trey Lance. But if you watched Stroud’s college tape and heard what scouts and analysts were saying, it’s easy to see how you wouldn’t be blown away with him as a prospect. A lot of times his elite WRs at Ohio St would get wide open and he had a difficult time dealing with pressure and off-script plays. Basically, he was labeled a system-dependent QB.
I’m fine with not picking a QB, however I think the biggest miss last draft was not picking Jalen Carter.
We talk so much about this sub about setting QBs up for failure, last year people went on endlessly about how Fields had no protection and no weapons. So what did we do with our first? We got a right tackle, a proven great wr, and a few other picks. Now people are saying we should’ve gotten the QB? Drake Maye or whoever we get will be in a much better situation than stroud would’ve been this year here
It could be different people
I would have still appreciated a competent center during the last free agency period.
No but I do blame him for not taking Carter
So you dont like Darnell Wright?
No I do…just completely different ceilings.
One looks like he can be a really good player. The other looks like he can be a HoF player. Obviously, playing for the eagles helps…a lot lol. But the guys that we took in place of Carter look like they aren’t really as good as we probably would’ve hoped for. At that same time…Wright seems like a great player but the gap for guys like Dawand Jones, Matthew Bergeron and Cody Mauch - all linemen drafted within reach you can say - would have been not as drastic of a downgrade.
It’s the little things like make a roster. You passed on Carter and he looks amazing. You can make a case he’s the second best player in the draft behind CJ. Not a shot at Wright…just an understanding that their judgement of this player was wrong.
Did you want Stroud when we were still at 1?
No. Next question
This upcoming QB class, at the time, was supposed to be way better than last years. The thought was give Fields an OL and WR and if there isn’t substantial progress, we will have enough draft capital to trade up in the 2024 class to get one of those guys.
Unfortunately those QBs aren’t looking as surefire as they were a few months ago, but we also likely won’t have to use any capital to move up since the Panthers still suck.
Unfortunately those QBs aren’t looking as surefire as they were a few months ago
Caleb Williams has shown signs of being merely human, but Drake Maye’s draft stock has gone up this season.
I’m not writing them off by any means (obviously), but I don’t think either really turned into a Manning/Luck surefire prospect together
Drake Maye loses to Virginia… stock sky rockets!!
Idk. Stroud was my favourite player coming out, but even I didn’t expect him to be good. I don’t fault them for what they did, it worked our well for us. And stroud did say publicly he didn’t want to come to chicago [to take fields’ job].
Houston tried to trade up to 1 to get Young themselves.
Why didn’t we do it?
20/20 hindsight, I would rather have Patrick Mahomes than Mitch Trubisky.
20/20 hindsight. The Jaguars would rather have Aiden Hutchinson than Trayvon Walker.The Jags one is not hindsight
And is it not reasonable to ask whether or not you trust the process and people that came to those conclusions?
It was a good process. Dont know how you think it wasn’t. We got DJ Moore and another top 5 pick in a supposedly better qb draft class.
Any process that involves passing on a rookie QB that’s on pace to have the best rookie season in NFL history stands to be questioned. I am not saying it was obvious he was going to be this good. I am saying they sure as shit be asking themselves what they missed in scouting him.
He isn’t setting those records here with no DJ, no Darnell Wright and with Getsy calling plays. You should be a scout since you knew he was going yo be a superstar!
What good does it do to harp on it? Move on.
You know what would be the WR room right now if we didn’t do the DJ trade. Darnell, Cole and EQ.
Then you would be bitching Poles needed to get a WR and OL! CJ is getting killed back there!