Eric Edholm explains why Bears fell out of top 10 in his NFL power rankings (Hour 2)
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Why did Eric Edholm drop the Bears out of the top 10 in his power rankings?
I think our guys have done a great job identifying who those guys are. You know, we look at the personal character, the football character, the makeup and all that. And that checks the boxes. And then, you know, fortunately, we're able to get some guys in for top 30s, get to know them a little bit better. The combine is a huge part of that process as well. And like I alluded to before, we sometimes we send coaches out to meet with guys individually as well. So I think we do a pretty good job, but it always starts with the tape, in my opinion. I think that's always the number one thing that we should do.
That has been Johnson speaking after the draft. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And we now go to our hotline. That is where we find Eric Edholm. He is the lead draft writer for NFL.com. And he has just posted his latest post-draft NFL power rankings. He also joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. Eric, thanks for coming on.
I also have mock drafts for the next seven years up to... No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I can't do that. I'm not one of those people. It's a complex. It is the draft industrial complex. We would be completely understanding if that was the case.
I wouldn't put it past you, actually.
The people demand answers now. I don't know that I can give them, but I'll do my best. It is funny how that works because we're just getting through with the draft. I've already seen some draft estimations for next year with these mocks. And I'm like, can we just take a break? Can we pause? But I realize the content machine requires you to continue to put things inside of it. And that's probably how you came up with your latest edition of Power Rankings right after the draft. Got to tell people what I think now. Tell us why the Bears are at 11 as opposed to higher or lower. Yeah, I mean, it's obviously there's a lot of gray area there between probably the top tier, you know, at the bottom tier, there's that middle group that you could argue is maybe 20 teams big right now.
And obviously the Bears' success last year, you know, sort of put them on a different plateau and raised the bar, so to speak. And, you know, I think it's been a semi-productive offseason. You know, obviously when teams have success and you're never sure how aggressive they're going to be or what positions they're going to target. But, you know, All in all, I think they had a good draft. It's a competitive division. I think the Packers are going to bounce back. We'll see about the Vikings. Certainly, it's going to be interesting to see whether it shakes out similarly to what we expect now or what we thought going into last year because Detroit was obviously kind of the favorite at that point. It's a lot of guesswork.
It's a lot of coloring outside the lines, I guess. I'll be sure to correct it once we get into the actual game season.
Well, now, we always appreciate you coming on, Eric. You're a friend of the show. You're a friend of the score. And you've also seen... We know what you've done regarding the Bears when it came to where they were post-playoffs. You know, the season ended in the power rankings, which you had. Then where they were after free agency. And I believe they've fallen every single time since. Now, it's not like a massive fall. I think it was one or two spots each time. But to be at 11th, I think it just goes to show... I'm sure you're understanding not only the rest of the league changing around them, but just how many ways those steps can really affect a team's outlook for the season.
Yeah, I mean, right. It's a multi-tiered process. I don't want to make it seem like I'm working on the nuclear codes or anything like that, but you have to weigh in all the players who were injured last year who are now coming back, especially quarterbacks, and that was a big storyline last year, obviously, with with some of the top guys getting hurt and such. And that may be more in the AFC than the NFC, but it still applies. And so you also have to factor in all the net losses and gains in the offseason and how much you can realistically expect from a rookie class year one.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Why did Eric Edholm drop the Bears out of the top 10 in his power rankings?
0:02–7:15
2
What factors influence NFL power rankings post-draft?
7:15–9:51
3
How has the Bears' offseason affected their power ranking?
9:51–18:32
4
What challenges does the Bears' defense face heading into the new season?
18:32–41:07
Speakers
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