Bears
Chicago was busy in free agency, as they added players like Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Drew Dalman, Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo to shore up the trenches on both sides of the ball. Bears GM Ryan Poles explained how their draft strategy has changed based on the players they added in free agency.
“You’re looking at it multiple ways,” Poles said, via Nicolas Moreano. “One, it’s like short-term, long-term thinking. Two, it’s, you know, there’s certain positions, like the premium ones, where it’s not guaranteed you’re going to be in a spot to get one of those players. So, if we end up with a surplus, then let’s just figure it out after that and compete and the best guy wins. If someone, a young guy, has to wait, then he has to wait or other things could happen, where the guys that are currently in those spots get opportunities for other teams, so there is a lot of different options that could pop up.”
Bears
The Bears have had another strong offseason on paper, as they hired OC Ben Johnson and made other solid moves to put QB Caleb Williams in the best situation to succeed. Chicago LB Tremaine Edmunds said the vibe around the building is to win now because of the moves they’ve made.
“The message is we want to win, and we want to win now. Saying that is what we needed to hear. Because that’s our mindset,” Edmunds said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “We want this to happen right now. We’re not waiting for anything. Let’s get this thing, let’s hit the ground running, and that’s what the message is. That’s what we’ve received as players.”
Edmunds feels they’ve done a great job with the new additions, starting at the top with Johnson.
“We know where we’re trying to get to as a program and I think we’re going in the right direction, bringing the right people in, and that starts up top with the coaching staff.”
Giants
The Giants are set to go forward with Russell Wilson as their starting quarterback. Brian Daboll thinks Wilson gives them a good decision-maker who can still make explosive plays.
“He makes good decisions with the football,” Daboll said, via Dan Salomone of the team’s site. “He’s athletic. He’s a little bit older, so maybe not as athletic as ’13, ’14, but certainly has ability to use his legs, extend plays, great explosive plays, phenomenal deep ball thrower. Has created a bunch of explosive plays and scoring points for his team and does a good job making good decisions with the football the games that he’s played.”
Daboll points out how Wilson allows them to take advantage of their speed at receiver with Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton.
“I would say we have some fast guys on the perimeter and we have some big, young tight ends that can get down the seam,” Daboll said. “Where that goes from here, we’ve got to get together and put together something that’s good for everybody. Look forward to seeing Malik (Nabers) in his second year. Glad we got (wide receiver Darius) Slay (Slayton) back. Keep working with the other guys.”
Daboll added that the playbook will be “ever-changing” as they adjust to Wilson.
“I’m always a big believer in you try to run things at the quarterback and (what) your guys do well,” Daboll said. “So, I’m not like, hey, here is this playbook, learn the playbook. I think the playbook has to be ever-changing and have to do things, whether it’s Russ, Jameis, I’ve watched all their tape. It’s been a long process. With the college guys as well. And you just try to figure out what you think they do really well so that you can have good conversations with them and say, hey, tell me about what you like, and then see if it correlates with what you saw on tape. If they tell you something, well, I like this. I watched this many plays and I haven’t seen you run this play one time, so where we going with this? So, they develop in that regard.”
The post NFC Notes: Ryan Poles, Tremaine Edmunds, Russell Wilson, Bears, Giants appeared first on NFLTradeRumors.co.