Could Roquan Smith be next in a line-up of brilliant central defenders? Will the team try to re-sign James Daniels? Despite all the O-line talk, isn’t the wide receiver the biggest need? – Orange County Register

Now that Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus are on hand and filling their staffing, they can turn their attention to player personnel. Among this week’s questions in Brad Biggs’ Bears letter bag are where Roquan Smith will play in a 4-3 and what the attacking line and wide receptive groups will look like.

With the Bears going 4-3, does this mean Roquan Smith will join the team of Bears-dominated MLBs including Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher? – Harold H.

That’s a tough question to answer before knowing what other options the Bears will have. Smith, Danny Trevathan and Caleb Johnson were the only domestic defenders under contract to have played last season. It would be surprising if Trevathan doesn’t debut before the $500,000 roster bonus is due on March 18. The Bears have to add some players in the position before we get a better idea. on how they will deploy staff.

My initial prediction – and this is purely my opinion – was that the Bears could play Smith as a weak full-back in a 4-3 formation. That’s where the Indianapolis Colts used their best midfielder, Darius Leonard, in Matt Eberflus’ defence. Smith and Leonard have similar skill sets.

Smith’s speed and mobility are dynamic on the second level. He has breakthroughs in the short area to get close to the ball and he is a very good saver in space. He’s flexible enough to open his hips and run with the receiver on a ramp and can broadcast coverage in the head-to-head area. Playing with him on the weak side gives him more freedom to run after the ball, especially in pursuits from behind where he can run and hit. And stacking him there will allow him to take more plays in coverage like Lance Briggs and Derrick Brooks did in their prime.

The weak point in a 4-3 is usually where the defenders play the main role. The central midfielder is a key defender who must be able to play with lack of contact, play downhill and play violently consistently. Smith can do it, but the Bears can find someone making much less money to do it. That could be a situation where the Bears play with a 4-3, which is very similar to a 3-4, and Smith could be in the middle of that arrangement and then move to the weak side in the side packs.

It will be interesting to see what the Bears do here, but they might be able to find a midfielder in the second wave of free agents.

I think most would agree that the general manager should have control over the roster and selection of the head coach. In a situation like the current one for the Bears, since the new head coach is hiring his first batch of assistants, does he consult the GM and/or get his consent first? when choosing assistants or not or is this an example of when the head coach exercises total control? Are we assuming that Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus are both in the new assistant coach picks? – Bob R.

In general, head coaches have full control over their coaching staff. And the Bears have often done that, so we can imagine that’s the case with Eberflus. However, I still imagine that he had many conversations with the Pole about which assistant would be a good fit. A new head coach wouldn’t want to make a move against what his GM wants. In contrast, a GM would not want to force an assistant for a head coach. I imagine Eberflus feels comfortable going after the candidates he wants, but he could knock the Polish name out.

Will the Bears let James Daniels walk? It seems like too much to pay both Cody Whitehair and Daniels big dollars while Ryan Poles also doesn’t seem interested in doing so. Or did they keep Daniels and move Whitehair away? – @ redhatduck1

For starters, I haven’t seen anything Poles said that would lead you to believe that he’s not “passionate” about Daniels or Whitehair. Those are your words, not mine. Poles has indicated that he believes in building a squad from the inside out, starting from the front line and hinting that he wants to get the exact line right, but I don’t believe he’s solved the role. role of specific managers.

As for Daniels, he’s an unrestricted free agent, so it’s not really a case of Bear letting him walk or not. Freelance is a two-way street, so Daniels has a choice in this regard unless the team puts a franchise or conversion tag on him. That is unlikely to happen. Whitehair is expected to earn $8.1 million next season and has a contract until 2024. The 29-year-old is a model of endurance, playing just three games in six seasons. Moving from Whitehair creates a hole, and with the Bears likely looking at other moves on the road, I suspect they want to create an additional spot that needs to be filled.

If Daniels shows up on the open market, he gets a big payday. At 24, he’ll be the youngest veteran available, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he matches or exceeds Whitehair’s $10.25 million average annual salary. Some scoffed as I took that to Twitter during my three-day stay at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., but the guard market these days doesn’t come cheap. Whitehair was one of 11 bodyguards with an average annual salary of $10 million or more last season, according to overthecap.com. The other eight defenders cost $7 million or more. My point is that finding a free agent market upgrade to the interior of the attack line, even in the center, would be an expensive proposition and one the Bears are most likely to weigh. remind.

It will probably take some time for the new office and coaching staff to assess the players the Bears have on contract and then look at the landscape in free agency as well as what is possible in the first two days. of the draft. The bears got their picks in Rounds 2 and 3.

What is the realistic expectation of what the receiving corps will look like given the limited space needed to fill so many other holes? Except for Darnell Mooney, of course. – @watsshakinbakin

That is a great question. The large pool of recipients about to expire is not too deep. Davante Adams is the best by far, but the Green Bay Packers can secure him with a franchise card. Then you’re looking at Allen Robinson, Chris Godwin (who was torn by ACL and MCL in December), Mike Williams, Will Fuller, Jamison Crowder, JuJu Smith-Schuster, TY Hilton, and Christian Kirk. Williams is interesting to me. He’s in good shape 6 feet 4, weighs 218 pounds and is having a season where he’s caught 76 1,146-foot passes with 9 touches. He’s considered one of the hottest targets in freelance agency and has indicated he wants to stay with the Los Angeles Chargers.

What is realistic for the Bears? I imagine they would have to sign an important free agent deal – or at least give a shot – and then bring in a draft option or maybe a younger player on the market that They think they’re on the rise. I don’t know if the Bears can get the position they want in a year, but there’s no doubt the room will look dramatically different in 2022 with Mooney presumably taking the place. will only be on the field.

If the Bengalis draft Penei Sewell instead of Ja’Marr Chase, they may not be in the Super Bowl. I’m not suggesting that the Bears are just the general audience for the Super Bowl, but isn’t that their area of ​​greatest need right now? This team needs players. – @mike__chi Chicago

It’s an interesting question and I agree you can make a strong case for the greatest need of wide receivers. The Bears have plenty of places on the roster to fill this season. They need attacking midfielders, full-backs, full-backs, defensive midfielders and at least one safety. That’s just the starting point.

I asked GM Ryan Poles about the Bengals change, and he had an interesting answer talking about their decision to pick Chase with a fifth pick. He had an incredible rookie season with 81 touches at 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns, while Sewell finished the trip to the Detroit Lions with a seventh pick.

The topic came up when I first asked Poles if he believed the Bears needed to surround Justin Fields with talent for better skill placement to have a real barometer of where his growth is. or not, and it incorporates a discussion of the Bengali move.

“I would agree with that,” Poles said. “About setting that line – I think that’s first and foremost – and then giving him the talent to work with. Without a lot of draft capital, not a lot of money, you will have to implement some strategy to get it done.

“So when I mentioned Bengalis, they took a different approach. I criticized it, but at the same time, it works pretty well, doesn’t it? I think (the point) is the midfield support. If that means giving him a weapon or giving him a pawn, I’m an O line guy, so I believe it all starts there. But I won’t be blind to the fact that if we don’t have the right player (in one position), then maybe we have to go in a different direction. ”

So if Poland were in the Bengal position, would he go with Sewell instead of Chase?

“I could have started earlier,” Poles said. “The great thing is that we can learn from these teams to say there are more ways to do it than just doing what I was told. Study only. And it will excite teams like the Bears that if we do everything right, we can take those steps and become a championship-caliber team. ”

I agree that Bears need players – and that’s plural. They also need to upgrade their attack line, and there’s no reason they can’t complete both missions this season, or at least start the process.

I continue to see Matt Eberflus bringing in most of his defensive staff from Indianapolis used as a positive compared to Matt Nagy bringing in no assistant from Kansas City. Can you please clarify that Andy Reid does not allow his assistant to take on staff if one gets the head coach job? And Indy arranges 3-4 and doesn’t try to retain any of the Eberflus employees? – @newtimkbeckman

Eberflus brought in four assistants from Indianapolis, including Alan Williams, who has coached the Colts cornerbacks and will be the Bears’ defensive coordinator. I would view this as a positive that the new head coach has a number of assistants that he knows and trusts, especially when Eberflus says he will not call up the defence. The Colts have done a great job developing young talent over the past four seasons. When Frank Reich became head coach in 2018 and Eberflus was in the coordinator position, the Colts didn’t have a single building block on the defensive.

It’s unusual and it may be rare for a coach to leave a team as an assistant to bring in so many coaches. Eberflus was fortunately chosen by the Colts to replace him with an outside candidate. Usually, teams won’t let any assistants go with a new head coach or at most one coach. The Colts could have blocked the position coaches (Dave Borgonzi, James Rowe and David Overstreet II) from leaving but chose to have them all ready with the idea that new coordinator Gus Bradley would be able to perform any any personnel changes he wants.

I don’t believe Bradley would use a 3-4 scheme. He’s famous for running 4-3 and the Colts will likely stick with that. Their decision not to get promoted from inside to replace Eberflus certainly benefits the Bears as he is able to fill most of his defensive staff with coaches he understands very well and know the nuances of the diagram.