New mock draft from The Athletic has the Bears trading #1 pick

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has released a mock draft that shows the Bears trading down in the 2023 draft.

Many fans were happy when the #1 overall pick fell into the arms of the Chicago Bears. While the season was full of anguish, there was finally a stroke of luck when the Texans lost out on the #1 pick in the final week.

The reason for so much excitement with this pick is because of the trade potential. The Bears don’t need a QB or at least it would not be worth it to draft another QB especially at number one. Therefore the Bears could expedite their rebuild with a team desperate for a good QB like Bryce Young where said desperate team would give up plenty of draft capital to secure the QB.

Dane Brugler has taken a guess at what may take place in the draft showing that the Bears will trade down with the Colts to the number 4 pick. In fact he states the picks the Bears would receive from the Colts. Pick number 1 for picks 4, 35 and a 2024 first round pick. While is seems light in comparison to what many expect, Brugler makes a solid point on why that is:

“For Bears fans screaming that the return in this trade scenario (this pick, No. 35 and a future first) isn’t enough, there would be added value in trading back with the Colts, as opposed to the Raiders (No. 7 overall), Panthers (No. 9 overall) or another team. The opportunity to stay within striking distance of the two “elite” defensive prospects in this draft should give the Colts a hypothetical advantage if the Bears have multiple offers to consider.”

It is a tough position to be in for Bears GM Ryan Poles but if it’s played right everyone can come out of this happy. Interesting enough Brugler states in his article that Colts GM Chris Ballard was a scout with Chicago and is very familiar with Poles as they were members of the Chiefs front office for four years.

The “elite”defensive prospect Brugler has the Bears taking at no. 4 is Jalen Carter. Elite is a fitting word for Carter as he was incredibly dominant alongside Jordan Davis for his first national title. He continued his dominance again this past season adding a second national title to his resume. A scouting report was recently done on Jalen Carter which goes more in depth on who he is as a player. Carter would be a great fit and a pivotal starting point to rebuilding Chicago’s defensive line.

We don’t know what will take place in April. For all we know the combine will change evaluations and pro days will make others look better than they actually are. As for now it may help to limit the expectation that the Bears will hold the number one pick for ransom and collect every draft pick imaginable.

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Hiring of Kevin Warren another win for progressive Bears

Before the 2019 season, the Bears had a celebration for the 100th season of the NFL. It was fitting for the charter franchise of the league to throw a giant party. During the celebration George McCaskey announced the team would be wearing throwback jerseys modeled after ones the team wore in 1936. There was only one problem, those uniforms debuted during a period where the NFL was excluding Black players from playing the game.

Chicago sports historian Jack Silverstein wrote an incredibly researched piece examining what role, if any, George Halas played in this era of segregation. At a time when the Bears wanted to celebrate their past, they were being haunted by it. It was a humiliating moment for the franchise.

McCaskey took action doing something that people in power often talk about, but rarely do: actually listen to others. The Bears had a social justice committee of players work through the issue with McCaskey. The result was positive conversations where the Bears chairman did more listening than talking. Then the team produced a video with McCaskey explaining what was a dark time in team, family, and league history.

“This Sunday against the Vikings, our players will wear the 1936 classic jersey,” said McCaskey. “That was from a time when, unfortunately, African Americans were not included on the Bears or other NFL rosters. Integration of the NFL and the Bears was too long in coming. But we’re proud that this year’s Bears will be the first African Americans to wear this jersey.”

I don’t know if this was a catalyst for change in the Bears organization overall, but it sure seems like it. McCaskey is privileged and quirky. Two factors that allow us to take jabs at him, but it seems clear that since then, he’s been more open to looking at the experience of his players through a different lens. The Bears are better off because of it.

In the middle of the pandemic, where issues of social justice were becoming too big to ignore, McCaskey again sat down with players to learn from their experience. Former linebacker Sam Acho and McCaskey had numerous conversations about the subject and put out a video explaining how the Bears would again take action.

Since then, we’ve heard McCaskey talk about the influence of people like: Lamar Campbell and Tanesha Wade. I admit that I feared that this was the Bears using high ranking Black executives as shield for failure, but McCaskey elevated their profiles during the process that led to Ryan Poles’ hiring. For a franchise that often operated like a mom & pop store, the Bears started to look less insular.

Now three of the most powerful people inside Halas Hall are Black. Justin Fields has become a fan favorite and a symbol of hope. The football operation is run by Poles who’s been tasked with bringing the Bears back to glory. He’s armed with the most cap space in the league and the number one pick in the draft.

On Tuesday, the Bears introduced new President and CEO, Kevin Warren. When news of Warren’s interest leaked out, it seemed like a perfect pairing. The resume speaks for itself. He has NFL experience, including being the point-person on the building of US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Considering the Bears have their own parcel of land to build on, his experience will be invaluable. Coupled with the rights deal Warren brokered for the Big Ten, it’s hard to think of anyone who was more qualified to take over for Ted Phillips.

It’s quite the turnaround for McCaskey and the Bears. Three years ago they were embarrassing themselves on the public stage when it came to issues of race and inclusion. Now they’re one of the most progressive franchises in the entire league. That doesn’t happen without the powerful really examining their successes and failures. McCaskey deserves credit for that.

I don’t know if any of this is going to work, but I do know that the Bears have become easier to root for. They are acting like a company worth billions of dollars should — finding the best people no matter what. The change has been seismic. This isn’t your grandfather’s franchise anymore and that’s a win for us all.

You can hear Laurence Holmes talk Chicago sports Monday to Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on 670 The Score with Dan Bernstein.

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High school basketball: Tuesday’s scores

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

CATHOLIC LEAGUE – CROSSOVER

DePaul at Providence, 7:00

Loyola at Montini, 7:00

Mount Carmel at Providence-St. Mel, 7:00

St. Ignatius at St. Laurence, 7:00

St. Rita at De La Salle, 6:30

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC

Benet at St. Viator, 7:00

Marian Catholic at Carmel, 7:00

Notre Dame at Joliet Catholic, 7:00

St. Patrick at Nazareth, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Crystal Lake South, 7:00

Crystal Lake Central at Huntley, 7:00

Dundee-Crown at McHenry, 7:00

Jacobs at Hampshire, 7:00

Prairie Ridge at Cary-Grove, 7:00

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Coal City at Peotone, 6:45

Herscher at Reed-Custer, 6:45

Streator at Lisle, 6:45

Wilmington at Manteno, 7:00

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

North Shore at Morgan Park Academy, 4:30

INTERSTATE EIGHT

LaSalle-Peru at Plano, 7:00

Ottawa at Morris, 7:00

Rochelle at Kaneland, 7:00

Sandwich at Sycamore, 7:00

LAKE SHORE ATHLETIC

Horizon-McKinley at Roycemore, 5:30

LITTLE TEN

DePue at Newark, 7:00

Earlville at Leland, 5:30

Hinckley-Big Rock at Indian Creek, 6:45

LaMoille at Hiawatha, 5:30

Serena at Somonauk, 7:00

METRO PREP

Hinsdale Adventist at Islamic Foundation, 5:30

NOBLE LEAGUE – BLUE

Baker at Golder, 7:00

NOBLE LEAGUE – GOLD

Comer at Butler, 7:00

Noble Academy at Bulls Prep, 7:00

Rowe-Clark at Johnson, 7:00

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Alden-Hebron at Harvest Christian, 7:30

Christian Life at Schaumburg Christian, 7:30

Mooseheart at Our Lady Sacred Heart, 5:30

Westminster Christian at Mooseheart, 7:30

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grant at Round Lake, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED-SOUTH / CENTRAL

Brooks at Phillips, 5:00

Hyde Park at Curie, 5:00

Kenwood at Perspectives-Lead, 6:30

Lindblom at Morgan Park, 6:30

Longwood at Simeon, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-CENTRAL

Catalyst-Maria at Urban Prep-Englewood, 5:00

DuSable at Richards (Chgo), 5:00

Hubbard at Dunbar, 5:00

Kennedy at Bogan, 5:00

King at Englewood STEM, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-SOUTH

Agricultural Science at South Shore 5:00

Corliss at Fenger, 5:00

UC-Woodlawn at ACE Amandla, 5:00

Urban Prep-Bronzeville at Harlan, 5:00

Vocational at Dyett, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-CENTRAL

ACERO-Soto at Instituto Health, 5:00

Back of the Yards at Gage Park, 5:00

Hancock at ACERO-Garcia, 5:00

Kelly at Horizon-Southwest, 5:00

Solorio at Tilden, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-SOUTH

Bowen at Chicago Military, 5:00

Carver at EPIC, 5:00

Excel-Woodlawn at Air Force, 5:00

Julian at Goode, 6:30

Washington at Hirsch, 5:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – BLUE

Hillcrest at Lemont, 7:00

Oak Forest at Bremen, 6:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – RED

Argo at Eisenhower, 6:30

Shepard at Richards, 6:30

SOUTH SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Evergreen Park at Thornton Fr. North, 6:30

Thornton Fr. South at Oak Lawn, 6:30

Tinley Park at Reavis, 6:00

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – BLUE

Bolingbrook at Lincoln-Way East, 6:30

Sandburg at Lockport, 6:30

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – RED

Bradley-Bourbonnais at Stagg, 6:30

Lincoln-Way West at Andrew, 6:00

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Lincoln-Way Central at Homewood-Flossmoor, 6:0

TRI-COUNTY

Marquette at Lowpoint-Washburn, 7:30

UPSTATE EIGHT

Fenton at Elgin, 7:00

Glenbard East at Larkin, 7:00

South Elgin at Glenbard South, 7:00

Streamwood at East Aurora, 6:30

West Chicago at Bartlett, 7:00

WEST SUBURBAN – GOLD

Downers Grove South at Addison Trail, 7:30

Leyden at Proviso East, 6:00

Willowbrook at Hinsdale South, 7:30

WEST SUBURBAN – SILVER

Hinsdale Central at Glenbard West, 5:00

NON CONFERENCE

Aurora Central at Timothy Christian, 7:30

Beacon at Cristo Rey-St. Martin, 7:00

Brother Rice at Marist, 7:00

Buffalo Grove at Glenbrook South, 7:00

Dixon at Princeton, 7:00

Donovan at Momence, 6:30

Elmwood Park at Aurora Christian, 7:00

Farragut at New Trier, 6:30

Gardner-So. Wilmington at Iroquois West, 6:45

Intrinsic-Belmont at Northtown, 6:30

ITW-Speer vs. Steinmertz, 11:35

MCC Academy at CPSA, 5:00

Orangeville at Byron, 7:00

Ridgewood at St. Francis, 7:00

Roanoke-Benson at Quest (Peoria), 7:30

Southland at Grant Park, 7:00

St. Francis de Sales at Fenwick, 7:00

Watseka at St. Anne, 7:00

Westmont at IC Catholic, 7:30

Wheaton North at Downers Grove North, 7:30

Woodland at Tri-Point, 7:00

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New Bears president Kevin Warren plans to be ‘involved’ in GM Ryan Poles’ rebuild

The pressure just got turned up on Bears general manager Ryan Poles, and he’s fine with that.

As Poles enters a pivotal offseason in which he has the No. 1 pick and by far the most salary-cap space in the NFL, he also has a new boss with high standards. When the Bears hired new president Kevin Warren, they made clear Poles would report to him rather than chairman George McCaskey.

And Warren doesn’t sound like he’ll be calling any consultants to help him judge whether Poles has the Bears on course to win a Super Bowl.

“I’ll be involved,” Warren said. “Our offices are right next door to each other. I guarantee you we’re gonna be communicating every single day on it, but I’m not a micromanager. That’s not my style. But we’ll be there and work through it.

“The things I’ve seen where people have fallen short is because they’re not comfortable with each other and don’t trust that they can be real with each other. One thing about Ryan and I: We will be real with each other. That’s the best thing you can do.”

Warren referred to his time with the then-St. Louis Rams, who won Super Bowl XXXIV during his time as a vice president from 1997 through 2000. He recalled the debate going into the ’99 season on whether Kurt Warner should take over at quarterback and noted that coach Dick Vermeil settled it by relying on facts over feelings. He said it’ll be the same between him and Poles.

When Poles took the job nearly a year ago, he anticipated that president Ted Phillips might be stepping down soon and once the Bears found a replacement, they’d revert to this more conventional structure.

The Bears went 3-14 in Poles’ first season — worse than they expected even in a rebuild. Warren said he joined the Bears with winning championships as his top goal — ahead of stadium construction or increasing the franchise value — will be as eager as anyone to turn them around.

The Bears brought Poles into their president search and wanted him to sit down with finalists to see how well they could work together. He was confident that he and Warren saw things similarly.

“A lot of things that we’re saying, it’s the same,” Poles said. “It’s the same mentality. It’s the same process to get this organization to a place where we can sustain success over a period of time.”

As Warren acclimates, he plans to begin official business in April. Poles has plenty to do before that.

His most likely course with the top draft pick is to trade it for more picks, but he said he hasn’t heard much from around the league yet. He figures his phone will start buzzing next month when teams zero in on specific prospects.

He and his staff were halfway evaluating the upcoming free-agent class Tuesday. Once the Bears line up their top targets, likely by mid-February, Poles will lay out the plan for McCaskey and Warren to get their input.

If there’s ever a disagreement, Warren said it’s Poles’ call.

“He’s the expert,” he said.

Poles also is waiting to see if he must rearrange his staff as assistant general manager Ian Cunningham emerges as a general manager candidate around the league. He was a finalist for the Titans’ vacancy before they hired Ran Carthon on Tuesday.

“It’d be a big loss, but at the same time, I was prepared for this,” Poles said. “Did I think it was gonna be less than 12 months? No. But I’m not shocked at all.

“I have a plan for it and I feel good about it. I didn’t expect he would be here long. He’s a really, really good person, and then his ability to lead and really get an organization on track, I think it’s going to be excellent when he gets that opportunity.”

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NPR’s World Cafe explores Chicago’s music scene history

Chicago’s storied music history, from the home of the blues to a modern-day hip-hop launching pad, and everything in between, is headed for the national spotlight in a new edition of NPR’s World Caf? “Sense of Place” series, debuting on Jan. 18. (In Chicago, listeners can tune in to “Sense of Place: Chicago” online at worldcafe.org.)

Since 2011, the radio series (produced by the NPR affiliate WXPN out of Philadelphia) has set out to spotlight the music impact of cities across the world. Episodes include exclusive interviews, field recording and studio sessions with bit names and buzzy up-and-comers who have helped shape local music scenes.

“Chicago is a huge, major city but it has a very different flavor and vibe than New York or Los Angeles, and I think we were all interested in exploring that,” says World Caf? host Raina Douris. “Chicago has had this very strong underground punk and rock scene. It was a big part of blues and jazz, and house music. There’s all these deep roots in Chicago and it felt like we could go back 10 more times and still not get everything.”

Douris, contributing host (and Chicago native) Stephen Kallao, and a team of producers spent a week in the city last October gathering the soundbites and recorded performances that make up much of the 13-part series, which also features interviews pulled from WXPN’s archives.

Steve Albini guest stars on the Jan. 20 episode of NPR’s World Cafe “Sense of Place” series.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Each episode of the 13-part series centers on a specific music genre, from the Jan. 18 pop-music focus featuring an interview with Chicago (and a performance recorded last fall for the show), to the final episode on Feb. 3, which offers up the story of the birthplace of gospel music, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, and “quintessential Chicago albums” from “Sound Opinions” hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot.

“Chicago has had this very strong underground punk and rock scene. It was a big part of blues and jazz, and house music. There’s all these deep roots in Chicago and it felt like we could go back 10 more times and still not get everything.” — World Cafe host Raina Douris

In between will be episodes featuring ’90s mainstays Liz Phair (Jan. 19) and Billy Corgan (Jan. 24), the influential producer and engineer Steve Albini (Jan. 20) and his Electrical Audio studios, gospel legend Mavis Staples (Jan. 26), indie pioneers Wilco (Jan. 31), blues icon Buddy Guy (Feb. 2), Latinx quintet Dos Santos (Jan. 23), new artists Kaina and Dehd (Jan. 25), DIY muse Eli Schmitt and hip-hop maven Pinqy Ring (Jan. 27) and visits to the Chicago Music Exchange (Jan. 30) and Martin Atkins’ Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music (Jan. 20).

There was one thing that came up in all the interviews, says Douris, beyond the commonality of the location that ties all the artists together: it was a constant idea of giving back.

“Steve Albini is a great example. He stayed in Chicago, he stuck around and made this his place. He said many times in our piece, he’s a technician, he wants to help make records, and he’s there to give back to this community of musicians. That kept coming up over and over again with everybody that I talked to,” says Douris. “A lot of people said because it’s not L.A., because it’s not New York, the sense of cutthroat competition isn’t as strong [here] and it’s much more collaborative and the community is stronger.”

Rather than going after some of the more mainstream names in Chicago’s hip-hop scene, the “Sense of Place” team opted for Pinqy Ring, the indie artist behind works like “Little Hearts,” who was once a hip-hop cultural ambassador for the U.S. and a two-time recipient of Chicago’s Individual Artist Program grant.

Hip-hop artist Pinqy Ring is photographed in her Logan Square home studio in 2020. She talks about Chicago’s hip-hop scene on the Jan. 27 episode of “Sense of Place.”

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

“One of our objectives is to talk to people that maybe aren’t already on the mainstream radar in the same way, that can give us a little more insight into what working and living is like in Chicago,” says Douris who recorded the session while going on a walk with the rapper and teacher in Humboldt Park and visiting her alma mater, Lane Tech.

With Latin-fused psych rock band Dos Santos, Douris says she also discovered how influential Chicago’s diversity can be to developing a distinct sound.

“They’re a group of guys from all over; some were born and raised in Chicago, some in Central or South America. One of them who was raised in Panama said that it wasn’t until Chicago that he started playing Latin music. [The] diversity in the city has influenced a lot of the sounds,” says Douris.

But it was her chat with 20-year-old Eli Schmitt that really stuck with her, Douris says. The Radio DePaul host, creator of the “New Now” YouTube series and indie concert booker (who often holds shows in his own apartment) is propelling the local Gen Z DIY scene.

“Where I felt like I was the luckiest to be in the room was in Eli’s apartment; it really feels like the beginning of a scene,” recalls Douris. “He said to me, ‘You can have all these friends on Instagram but it’s not real unless you see each other in real life,’ and I thought it was so powerful. I love that he’s nurturing this in-person DIY indie rock scene in Chicago and carries the spirit on. You can feel the through lines of all that music history and that it’s still very much alive.”

NOTE: Chicago NPR fans can tune in to “Sense of Place: Chicago” online at worldcafe.org on the dates listed above.

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Bears podcast: Meet new boss Kevin Warren

Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash break down new president/CEO Kevin Warren’s introductory press conference and what it means for the Bears’ new stadium, ownership and the product on the field.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify and Stitcher.

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Chicago Cubs still sculpting their bullpen

The Cubs are still looking to bolster their bullpen and may look to an old friend to do so.

The Chicago Cubs have made numerous impact free-agent signings this offseason. They’ve added several bats and have greatly renovated their lineup. Now it seems the team’s final focus of this free agency period is their bullpen. 

It has been reported in recent days that the Cubs are showing interest in relief pitchers Andrew Chafin and Matt Moore. The bullpen still appears be a work in progress. On Tuesday evening, the Cubs reportedly added Julian Merryweather off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. 

The Cubs have claimed RHP Julian Merryweather off waivers from the Blue Jays.
To make room on the 40-man roster, RHP Manny Rodríguez has been designated for assignment.

Manny Rodriguez will be DFA’d by the Cubs in order to make for Merryweather. Rodriguez pitched in 34 games out of the bullpen for the Cubs over the last 2 seasons. The 26-year-old right-hander never secured solid footing with the Cubs and only managed a 4.88 ERA in his two seasons.

With the Cubs still looking to pin down a left-handed reliever, fans would definitely enjoy seeing the return of former fan favorite Andrew Chafin. Chafin pitched in 47 games with the Cubs across the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He donned an impressive 2.13 ERA during that time. Chafin spent last season with the Detroit Tigers where he managed a 2.83 ERA in 64 appearances.

Last season with the Rangers, LHRP Matt Moore shined in 63 appearances out of the pen. Moore finished the year with an impressive 1.95 ERA. Either of these relievers will likely cost the Cubs quite a bit. MLB Trade Rumors expect Chafin to secure roughly two years and $18 million. Matt Moore likely wouldn’t be too far off. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Cubs may DFA another bullpen arm or possibly a second baseman. 

The team has made plenty of additions this offseason. Acquiring one of these relievers would likely be the final notable move of the Cubs’ offseason. Pitchers and catchers report in less than a month. It will be interesting to see if Chafin or Moore is one of them. 

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‘We nailed it’: Easy to see what Bears CEO Kevin Warren envisions in Arlington Heights stadium

The new stadium the Bears imagine in Arlington Heights is still just a grand-yet-vague idea, and new team president Kevin Warren didn’t give any of the concrete details everyone has been waiting for since the organization bid on the property in 2021.

Warren will need some definitive answers, though, since this surely will be the biggest undertaking of his new job. And he expects to have them soon.

The top question anyone has about the new stadium is when it will open, and Warren said he’d be able to answer that in six months. By that time, he will have done a full review of where things stand and, presumably, the Bears finally will have closed on the land. They still hope to finish that process by the end of March.

Warren and chairman George McCaskey reiterated the team’s standing line — one it is contractually required to give publicly until it completes the purchase — that it is focused exclusively on developing the 326-acre site of Arlington Park horse track rather than considering any of proposed options to overhaul Soldier Field.

Warren has more than two decades of experience as an NFL executive and brings plenty to the table, but one of the most crucial lines on his resum? is that he was a key figure in the Vikings’ construction of U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016. That building, a 67,000-seat indoor facility with tons of natural light because of its glass panels, has long been admired within Halas Hall.

“When we finished the stadium, I had all these boxes of binders, and many people said, ‘You can get rid of those; you’ll never use those again,'” Warren said with a smile. “I’m glad I saved them.

“The biggest thing I learned was the fact that you need to plan before you start digging. What makes U.S. Bank Stadium so special [is] we spent almost a year planning. Planning is critical. That’s what I appreciate about the McCaskeys: they support the planning process.”

When McCaskey was pressed for his opinion on U.S. Bank Stadium and how it might inform his wish list for an Arlington Heights stadium, he said, “It was built on time and under budget.”

While Warren didn’t divulge his dreams for the new stadium, there’s no doubt he has some. A self-described “stadium nerd,” he was so intrigued by word that the Bears were trying to buy the property that he drove to Arlington Park last fall purely out of curiosity.

“You don’t get many times to have over 300 acres,” he said. “It is a very attractive, unique stadium site.”

He added, “I’m not letting my mind go through what it looks like too much. I’ve visualized it, yes, but I want to get into the documents, because the documents will dictate what’s feasible.”

There’s almost no shot of the stadium opening any sooner than the 2027 season, and even that would be an extreme best-case scenario. The Bears’ lease on Soldier Field runs through 2033, and while they’ve said they’ll honor its terms, that doesn’t preclude them from buying themselves out of it early.

While it has always been expected that the Bears would look at U.S. Bank Stadium as a model, that’s even more likely now that they hired a man who was “really proud” of how that building turned out when he was the Vikings’ COO and raved about every aspect of it when asked Tuesday.

“We nailed it,” he said emphatically. “By far.”

There’s little mystery, then, about what Warren will view as the gold standard if the Bears proceed in Arlington Heights.

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Chicago Bears NFL Draft scouting report: Georgia DT Jalen Carter

Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter 2023 NFL Draft scouting report

Jalen Carter has essentially secured himself in the top 10 not only with his dominant play but also being a major contributor to another Georgia football national championship. Taking over the spot of Jordan Davis is a tough task considering he is a freak athlete at his size. Carter filled that spot almost to perfection as he was just as disruptive and dominant like Davis was a year ago. Now declaring for the NFL Draft we will look into why scouts believe he is not only a top 10 pick but could very easily be top 5.

Jalen Carter played in 10 games this season as he missed a decent chunk during the season with an MCL injury. He played in 308 snaps where he recorded 25 total tackles. Carter had 25 total pressures on QB’s, including 17 hurries, 5 hits and 3 sacks on the year. The SEC always has a plethora of offensive lineman that get drafted year in year out but when Carter is out on the field he makes some of these lineman look like high schoolers.

Along with Carter’s two national championships with Georgia he was nominated and honored with different awards. He was an unanimous All-American for 2022, first team All-SEC for 2022, preseason All-America, preseason watch list for the Lott Trophy, Outland Trophy and Bronco Nagurski Trophy.

The Chicago Bears in the case of Jalen Carter could certainly use a player like him. The Bears defense in 2022 ranked 31st in rush yards. They ranked 32nd in rush TD’s. Also ranking 32nd was redzone touchdowns. And another 32nd out of 32 teams ranking was sacks. Although Carter won’t be primarily used for sacks truly any new talent on the defensive line will be a plus for Chicago. As was mentioned the Bears rushing defense was so very poor and a great way to stop the bleeding is to draft a monster from Georgia who stuffs run plays prior to the line of scrimmage.

Let’s get into the scouting report for Jalen Carter where we will look at strengths, weaknesses and if he will be a good fit for the Chicago Bears in 2023 NFL Draft.

Position: Defensive Tackle

Height/Weight: 6 foot 3, 310 pounds

Career Stats: 35 games played, 991 snaps, 71 total tackles, 72 total QB pressures, 50 total QB hurries, 13 QB hits and 9 total sacks.

Via NFL Draft Buzz:

Strengths:

Elite agility and quickness considering Carter’s size. Impressive first step catching blocker off guard.Great change of direction. Super quick twitch athlete leaving slow footed lineman behind.Has excellent lateral speed with ability to shadow half backs in the run game.Immense strength with his hands to control run lanes and shed blocks to fill gaps.Makes impressive bear hug tackles that stop plays from getting started wreaking havoc in the backfield.

Weaknesses:

Doesn’t always play with consistent pad level which leads to blockers getting into his chest.When double teamed can be taken out without an answer to it.His base isn’t well developed and can be taken out of the run game by bigger interior lineman.

How does Jalen Carter fit with the Chicago Bears?

The two snippets above are a glimpse of who Jalen Carter is. Defensive tackles are more and more important these days because they are asked to do so much more than just a handful of years ago. D-tackles need to be sideline to sideline players at times and not only have to eat up space inside but get through the double teams and be agile enough to cut through zone schemes. Jalen Carter has shown the ability to do all of these things at his monster size effectively and sometimes with complete dominance.

The Bears ranked last or next to it in basically every rushing ranking last season. Carter is the first step in rebuilding the Bears defensive line that is basically depleted of young pure talent. Will he be a team changer? Will the Bears become a dominant defensive line right away? No. But starting with Carter and building around him the Bears wouldn’t be far off from being a competent rush defense sooner rather than later.

Is Carter worth the number 1 overall pick. Unfortunately, no because defensive tackles aren’t viewed that highly especially if there is a dominant edge rusher in the draft which there always is. To me though when it comes to rebuilds guys like Jalen Carter are incredibly important. Solidifying the interior to stop teams from bludgeoning you on the ground is a very important step. Although viewed not as a first overall pick, if the Bears can move back to 3,4,5 or somewhere late in the top 10 and Carter is still there, absolutely they should take him.

Projected round:

CBS Mock Draft (No. 4 overall)

Dane Brugler’s The Athletic Mock (No. 4 overall)

Sports Illustrated mock draft (No. 4 overall)

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The early days

With roughly seven weeks to go until round one of the mayoral election, here’s what we know so far from the latest polls.

If the election were held today, the winner would be . . . Karen Lewis!

OK, I’ll get to that. But, first, a word or two about a recent “poll”

It was put out by Crain’s Chicago Business and the Daily Line, who explain that, despite headlines to the contrary, it’s a “survey” not a poll.

Not sure what the distinction is. And I’m sure there’s no truth to the rumors that it’s based on  Crain’s political columnist Greg Hinz standing on the corner of State and Randloph and calling out to passersby, “Hey, who ya’ votin’ for?” 

According to the survey/poll, Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson and Congressperson Jesús “Chuy” García are tied at the top without 25 percent of the vote.

Not surprisingly, that finding is enthusiastically championed by Johnson and García and disdainfully dismissed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Willie Wilson, Paul Vallas, Kam Buckner, Sophia King, Ja’Mal Green, and Roderick Sawyer. AKA—the other candidates in the race.

I’m with them—I don’t believe that poll/survey, either. Don’t take it personally, Crain’s—at the moment, I’m not believing any polls.

No, it’s pretty obvious that campaign strategists are using fake polls as propaganda to fire up their supporters and dispirit their opponents. 

It’s dirty politics masked as scientific research, and as usual the Republicans are a step ahead of the Democrats at this game. As we saw in the midterms when a series of phony Republican polls bamboozled the New York Times into sounding a warning about a Red Tide. Which turned out to be a red trickle.

The brouhaha over the mayoral poll/survey demonstrates the reality about mayoral elections that all candidates would agree on, so long as they’re speaking off the record.

Chicago politics is a little like making hit movies in Hollywood—no one knows nothing.

If we’ve learned anything from the last two mayoral elections, it’s all about the runoff, baby. If no one gets 50 percent or more from the first round on February 28, it comes down to a winner-takes-it-all showdown on April 4.

So this first round is basically a race to the runoff.

And outside a few diehards—like the people reading this column—the vast majority of Chicago voters are not yet paying attention.

Alas, the vast majority of Chicagoans will never be paying attention, if the trend of 35 percent voter turnout continues.

Having said all that, let me say this . . .

The idea of Johnson and García making the runoff caught me off guard.

As a lifelong lefty I’ve been conditioned to believe I’m so far to the left of ordinary Chicagoans that anyone I’d even consider voting for would undoubtedly lose. For me, a mayoral election is usually about deciding between the lesser of two evils—since Harold Washington, anyway. 

But at the head of this poll are two left-of-center candidates who owe their careers to Karen Lewis, the unabashedly radical former president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Is it possible that Chicago’s not so conservative after all?

Brandon Johnson worked for Karen Lewis—she hired him as a political organizer. And it was with CTU backing that he unseated Commissioner Richard Boykin as commissioner from a west and west suburban district in 2018.

He’s backed by CTU in the mayor’s race.

I have a feeling that García would have won CTU’s backing for mayor had he not dithered so much about whether he was going to run at all.

He only decided to jump in after lefties got tired of waiting for him to make up his mind and Johnson was already running.

Over the last few years, García has become a favorite of progressives outside of Chicago, by virtue of his ties to Senator Bernie Sanders. But let’s not forget that he owes his career to Karen Lewis. She plucked him from the scrap heap of Chicago politics and propped him up to run for mayor against Rahm Emanuel in 2015.

Lewis wanted to back Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle—but Preckwinkle opted not to run . . .

She tried to run herself. But she got sick.

So she surprised everybody by selecting García as the candidate. And then pretty much carried him to the runoff.

Back to the current race. It looks like Mayor Lightfoot’s internal polls show García is her biggest rival.

I say that because she launched an attack ad against him.

The ad rips García for taking campaign contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried—aka the Crypto Kid.

Bankman-Fried’s the 30-year-old wunderkind who convinced hundreds of fabulously wealthy people to throw millions and millions of dollars his way. He wound up allegedly spending money intended for one company, FTX, on another company, Alameda Research. Both companies went belly up, and he’s now facing federal corruption charges that could send him to prison.

So, yes, I suppose it’s fair game for Lightfoot to attack Garcia for taking donations from the Crypto Kid. On the other hand . . .

Lightfoot has her own connections to Bankman-Fried. Back in May, she was gushing over a promise by FTX to offer money and financial literacy training to low-income Chicagoans. 

Yes, she and her advisors thought it was a good idea to have a con man teach lessons of the marketplace to our citizens. Clearly, Elizabeth Holmes was unavailable for the job.

That program fell apart in the wake of FTX’s demise. If you want to know more about it, read this exposé by Manny Ramos or listen to our conversation on my podcast.

What’s worse—taking campaign contributions from Bankman-Fried or asking him to teach financial literacy to our citizens?

Eventually, dear voters, you get to decide.

The Latest from the Ben Joravsky Show

“Gas Stove Todd” & Kelly Garcia
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Rickey Hendon—Tell Me Something Good
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Mueze Bawany–A Teacher Grades The Mayor’s Excuse
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