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They added the personnel to play more of an attacking Defense. I think that's what McD wants to do, but I'm still skeptical. I'm tired of rushing 4 straight upfield while we play soft zone 10+ yards off & watching good QBs carve us up with ease like they're playing in a 7-on-7 tournament.

Any word on how Hairston looked? I can't find a peep about him.

I live in the Chicago area & have been to many games. Soldier Field is nothing special after they added all the modernization stuff. It had old-school charm before, now it just looks like an alien spacecraft landed on top of the old stadium. It's much more congested to get in/out of than the Ralph, and there isn't much parking that doesn't require a shuttle. Everything inside is more expensive than Buffalo, parking for preseason will probably be $100. It's worth checking out, but I find the ease & convenience of getting in/out of Bills games a breath of fresh air compared to the hassles of Soldier Field. I was offered tickets for the game from a season ticket holder at face value, $200. 4 tickets plus parking & food would be around $1000 for a preseason game. Unless somebody offers for free, I'll probably pass. I was at the Bills/Bears game there in '23 and it was at least 30% Bills fans. I didn't receive a single heckle from anybody, which I did not expect. I've seen some crazy abuse of opposing fans over the years. I once saw a guy wearing a Santa suit at an Xmas eve game get the living crap beat out of him by 4-5 guys for yelling "Go Packers"... and they weren't even playing the Packers that day. I am gonna try to attend one of the Bills/Bears joint practices. Never had a reason to attend a Bears practice before, but that'd be cool.

Keon's top speed of 19.23mph in the WR drills is great, but that's long speed. In football, acceleration is much more important than long speed or top speed, his disappointing 40 time shows a lack of initial acceleration. For a WR to get open quickly, he needs acceleration & suddenness, and that area has proven to be the weakest part of Keon's game. He does a lot of other things well, but if he can't improve on his initial acceleration, he'll continue to struggle getting open.

It has to be one of the Safeties- either Bishop or Forrest. The elephant in the room is Hamlin. We all know he's slow & terrible in coverage, maybe the worst coverage in the league. And we all also know that there's a really good chance that McD will still continue to start him, because he "knows the system"...

Is Von Miller's Pass Rush Summit still a thing? Landon Jackson would greatly benefit from getting an invite.

Chiefs have had our number, but it hasn't been domination. If we played Cincy with McD's 2024 version of our Defense, Burrow would have 500 yards & 5 TDs, on 85% completions. I know the Bengals D stinks, but it's not really feasible to rely on the offense to match 50 points. McD says Defensive changes are coming, and I pray it actually happens. It was more than just a talent upgrade needed.

When Cleveland camp opens, there's going to be a hoard of microphones around Shedeur every day while Flacco & Dillon Gabriel get moderate attention. It's gonna be a sh!tshow.

Oliver is one of only 2 DTs on our roster with significant NFL experience, and he's a damn good player (most of the time). No chance he's traded.

The NFL will surely create some version of the Bat Phone for next year. Some kind of secure line to each player that only the GMs phones can access.

I'm an advocate of starting them young so they can learn tackling/blocking technique & how to absorb contact properly long before they'll ever face guys who actually hit hard. Having coached multiple seasons of every grade of football up until HS, there really aren't many injuries at the youth levels. When they're 6/7/8 yrs old they really can't move fast enough to hurt each other, they can barely keep their heads up with the weight of the helmet, all you see are maybe wrist or ankle injuries. It isn't really until 7th/8th grade when you get the early puberty kids who can be dangerous. Even then, most youth orgs have weight limits for playing anywhere other than OL/DL. If a kid doesn't start playing tackle until HS, he's at a big disadvantage compared to the kids who've been playing for years. HS coaching at the freshman level is a joke in the majority of HS programs. It's usually 2-3 coaches with limited experience for 40-50 kids, there's no way kids can properly learn tackling & taking hits in a couple weeks before games start. I've seen lots of kids quit after freshman year because they weren't ready for the level contact or started playing scared- due to the limited coaching they received. If you go into HS with that experience already, you'll be ready for success.

I was not happy when Beane traded both 2nd rounders to move up. But then when you realize we would've taken Landon Jackson with one of those 2nd rounders anyway, it worked out perfectly.

Sad-faced Eli posing with the Chargers jersey on TV was utterly hilarious. I bet if the Browns had drafted Shedeur early in the 1st round, he'd have looked just as sad holding up the jersey. After sitting undrafted for 2 days, no doubt he was happy as hell to hold up that Browns jersey.

Our Defense got utterly abused in 5 games last year (Ravens x2, Chiefs AFCCG, Rams, Lions), and got "pretty much" abused in another 4 games (Texan, at Jets, Miami at home, & Pats at home). That's half our season that our Defense was nearly useless. Teams could complete any short/intermediate they wanted on us, and we sat back let them. Thank god we didn't play Cincy, Burrow would've had 500 yards & 5 TDs. It took a historic Offense to overcome the D & make it as far as they did. This offseason had to be like this. Defense was always going to be the major priority. I'm excited for all the Defensive additions & can't wait to see this year's iteration, and forget about last year's.

Both of my sons started playing tackle football when they were in 1st grade, six years old. That was 10+ years ago, but at that time there were several 1st grade teams in the local in-house league alone. Numbers started to decline soon after that and nowadays they don't even offer tackle until 4th grade. I spent 10 years coaching 2nd grade thru 8th grade, and it was amazing to watch the kids bond & grow. No sport brings a team together like football. My oldest stopped playing after freshman year to focus on baseball. My youngest is a rising senior varsity QB & going through the college recruiting process. It's been a great journey, no concussions or major injuries.