The IFL has completed its two biggest events during the off-season, the Rookie Draft and the Veteran Auction. With that said, how did each team manage use these events to better their rosters. We (Nils and I collaborating again) developed three categories in which a team could fall into:

• Improved – The GM has acquired talent this off-season, building upon where the team left off in 2016. To earn this rating, the team improved their weekly scoring potential by an estimated 16+ ppg.
• Sustained – The GM has acquired talent this off-season, but the acquisitions aren’t projected to make a dramatic change to their roster from the end of last season. To earn this rating, the team may have increased their weekly scoring potential by an estimated 8 ppg or less.
• Declined – The GM has gone backwards this off-season. Whether it was intentional or accidental, they are heading into 2017 with much less potential than they had at the end of 2016. To earn this rating, the team may have decreased their  weekly scoring potential by an estimated 16+ PPG.

This article will review the Chicago Bears.

Chicago Bears – Nic. 8-8 Record, 4923.40 Points.

To start, here’s a quick glance at how the roster was compiled last season and what the roster currently looks like:

[Administrative Note – Financial  numbers were difficult to create to coincide with week 16 of the 2016 season as some players were already cut. Here is a solid attempt at providing a comparison of salary, per position, from the end of last year to this season.]

A few observations include:

• Emphasis on WRs increased in 2017 (went from 5 to 13).
• Salary costs stayed relatively the same with the one exception of WRs. WR cost changed dramatically.
• All other positions stayed relatively the same.

Let’s examine the player additions, retains, and losses from last season. [Note – Charts below do not include MIN/CHI trade on July 19th. The below, as with each other article, was based on rosters set on July 5th.]

Offensive Assessment:  Improved. Dnic did a lot of shuffling this off-season. His QB’s might be as sad as Barry’s. Lamar Miller, Delanie Walker, Spencer Ware and Mark Ingram were replaced in the lineup by Jordan Howard, 4Net, Keenan Allen and Golden Tate. They join the only mainstay from last year in TY Hilton. I do think Nic had a stronger offense prior to the Miller trade, but I think he needs a lot to go right for it to help his team this year. Kenneth Dixon could be a wild card if he comes back from suspension and takes the job outright from West and Wooodhead. I think it’s a long shot! Garcon, Cobb and Ginn are really solid depth. And there’s upside with Perriman and Mike Williams. In my opinion, Nic increased his PPG just enough to put him in the improved category. I’m not saying this is his ceiling, nor is it his floor, this is just based on my expectations.

Defensive Assessment: Sustained. This boggles my mind. Nic went into the auction with a decent amount of cash and very few holes on defense. He should have come out with a complete team. While I do like what he did on offense, he screwed himself on defense! His LBs are nice, but are top heavy. If Preston Brown loses his job, Nic has Wagner, Jatavis, Kirksey and a bunch of prayers. Adams is a solid pickup at Safety, but he’s not a huge upgrade over Tavon Wilson. Nic have very little depth behind his top-two. Sendejo is an average depth piece. Nic also let Kawan Short go to Luke as he opted to give Pierre Garcon $6.66M to be his third-player off the bench.

 

Overall Assessment: Improved (SLIGHTLY). Nic had a bomb off-season up until the auction. Since then, he has been chopping his own dick off. Luke said to me early in the offseason, “Man, I really like what Nic has done, I think he’s a true contender this year.” I replied with, “I don’t trust Nic to not fuck this up.” Well, the ball is in your court Nic, you had the chance to set yourself lightyears ahead of your division and you failed. Your team is extra fragile on defense and at QB, your starting five on offense is solid and you have great depth, but that’s only a quarter of your weekly scoring output. If you lose a LB, it could kill your season. After the bar you set for yourself in the eyes of this league at the beginning of this offseason, you have started to go backwards,. If you don’t right the ship and take this division, it will be a huge disappointment. Nic reminds me of someone….ah yes, Nic is the hare in the Tortoise and the Hare story. He runs off ahead of the pack, he then sees a bum (Dallas Brian) in the street and agrees to take on his $11m pile of shit (Matt Forte). Forte weighs a ton and slows him down. Then decides to stop at the burrito truck for a $6.66M chorizo burrito (Pierre Garcon) and spends the next 45 minutes shitting his brains out in the porta potty while the Tortoise passes him. What they didn’t tell you is there’s a snail and a sloth in this story as well, and they’re all neck and neck because the hare made some bad decisions.