Tag: Tyson Bagent

Bears players reportedly wanted Caleb Williams benched before Shane Waldron’s firing

This is the stupidest day in Bears history, a record that will subsequently be broken by every subsequent day in Bears history.

In vintage Chicago Bears fashion, they deployed a half-measure to solve their recent lifeless woes when they fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday. It’s almost certainly a ploy for head coach Matt Eberflus to try and keep his job as his coaching seat gets hotter by the week because he needed a person to scapegoat. Nonetheless, the Bears haven’t scored a touchdown in two weeks, so someone simply had to go.

The more interesting part of this development is how it concerns the struggling Caleb Williams.

The rookie No. 1 overall pick is now completing roughly just 60 percent of his passes and is averaging a paltry 6.1 yards per pass attempt. His Bears offensive line isn’t blocking well for him, and even when it does, Williams isn’t seeing the field well or putting many passes on target.

Still, it would be silly to bench the franchise’s only hope for the future amid all this chaos … right? Because, you know, as usual, it’s not all his fault.

Well, not according to some anonymous Bears players. Per a report from Marc Silverman of ESPN 1000 in Chicago, some unnamed Bears veterans apparently wanted Williams benched for backup Tyson Bagent before they fired Waldron.

Oh boy. It keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?

The Bears are a dysfunctional mess all around. In other news, the grass is green. Also, everyone pays taxes and eventually dies.

Tyson Bagent had the funniest reaction to Caleb Williams announcing his signing bonus on Hard Knocks

You’d quake and shake too if you heard that number out loud.

Caleb Williams was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Just by signing his name, he made over $25 million.

Tyson Bagent, his backup at quarterback for the Chicago Bears, went undrafted in 2023 out of Shepherd University. Per Spotrac, he got a $25,000 bonus when he signed a three-year deal.

So, uh, yeah. If I were Bagent, I too would — jokingly, of course — react to Williams announcing his bonus to the team by shaking and quaking. It’s all in good fun, and it’s a great clip from the upcoming Bears edition of Hard Knocks.

Check it out below and have a laugh:

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Saints understand the challenge of defending Desmond Ridder’s mobility

The Saints defense has struggled limiting quarterback runs. Can they break that trend against Desmond Ridder?

The New Orleans Saints have had struggles defending quarterbacks from scrambling this year. Dennis Allen identified Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback, as a threat with his legs multiple times in his Monday press conference. New Orleans isn’t ignorant of their struggles, Allen pointed that out those too.

Last game, New Orleans used a spy against Joshua Dobbs occasionally in case he took off to run, which was more effective in the second half (allowing 4 rushing yards) than in the first half (40). One would expect there to be a similar plan in place for Ridder. The only question is will it work.

Ridder hasn’t been overly effective with his legs this year, but neither had Trevor Lawerence or Tyson Bagent prior to facing the Saints. Both players had their most rushing yards of the season against New Orleans. Ridder rushed for a season-high 39 yards versus the Green Bay Packers. If Dennis Allen’s comments are any indication, the Saints should have a good plan prepared for Ridder’s legs.

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The New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s slowest pass rush in 2023

Your eyes aren’t fooling you. The New Orleans Saints have the NFL’s slowest pass rush, taking more time to get to the quarterback than any other team:

If you’ve been watching the New Orleans Saints defense this year and found yourself muttering or shouting some variant of “That’s too much time!” when the opposing quarterback drops back to pass, you aren’t crazy. Research from Doug Analytics found that the Saints have posted the NFL’s slowed pass rush unit through the first 10 weeks of the season.

And that checks out when you look at other stats. The Saints are tied for the fifth-fewest sacks (18) going into their Week 11 bye. Their Pro Football Reference pressure rate is 19.4%, ninth-worst around the league. That’s a slight improvement over last year’s 17.5% pressure rate, which was fourth-lowest, but the big difference is that the Saints aren’t finishing pressures with sacks. They had 48 sacks a year ago. They would need to average 4.3 sacks per game through these last seven weeks to match that total.

The problem is a lack of speed along the defensive front. Cameron Jordan is still being asked to be their leading rusher off the edge when his body just doesn’t have that extra gear anymore. He’s never been known for his speed off the snap, so Jordan’s game should age well as a run defender and power rusher, but the Saints must compensate for that by getting faster at other spots. Carl Granderson has some speed element to his game and Bryan Bresee can move quickly along the interior, but those are just two of the eight players in the rotation most weeks.

Whiffing on so many early-round draft picks hurts. The Saints swung and missed on first-round defensive ends like Marcus Davenport and Payton Turner and their rookie second-round pick Isaiah Foskey has had few snaps to show what he can do. They badly need one of those guys to step up and add some athleticism to the mix. Jason Pierre-Paul could improve the group but he isn’t helping them get younger.

Interestingly, the next-slowest pass rush in this graph comes from the Washington Commanders. It’s a comprehensive look at teams from Weeks 1 through 10, so that includes edge rushers Montez Sweat and Chase Young, both of whom were dealt at the NFL trade deadline. There was an uproar from Saints fans about not acquiring one of them, but it sure looks like they wouldn’t have cured the specific problem ailing the Saints defense.

A lacking athleticism up front is the issue. The Saints are slow to get after the quarterback, slow to put hands on him, and slow to keep up with him when he rolls out of the pocket looking to throw downfield. We saw them get gashed consistently by Joshua Dobbs and Tyson Bagent in recent weeks after C.J. Stroud did it a few weeks earlier. Any quarterback who can use their legs can challenge them.

Dennis Allen is a believer in the idea that the secondary and pass rush must work in tandem. He’s built this defense so that the quarterback is forced to hold onto the ball long enough for the rush to get home. But even a secondary full of All-Pro corners will get beaten if they’re all asked to cover for four, five, or six seconds. The Saints can’t afford to stop investing resources in the pass rush unit. Hopefully one of those draft picks hits soon.

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Ranking the Week 10 rookie quarterback performances

Ranking the Week 10 performances of the 6 rookie QBs who saw action

Another week down, another week to evaluate the performances of the multiple rookie starting quarterbacks in the league. We once again saw a mixed bag from all the rookies, but also saw some flashes from some newcomers.

Let’s take a look at each rookie and rank their Week 8 performances from best to worst:

A QB duel between the 1st overall pick and an undrafted D-II player is on the menu for Thursday Night Football

Bryce Young and Tyson Bagent put their very different paths to the NFL against one another on Thursday Night Football

It has to be one of the most bizarre matchups we have seen all year in prime time on Thursday Night Football as the 1-7 Carolina Panthers set to face off against the 2-7 Chicago Bears.

There are plenty of stakes at play under the surface, including potentially the number one overall draft pick in 2024. Speaking of number one overall draft picks, Bryce Young will face off against the team that traded the rights to draft him away and their own rookie quarterback, who happens to be an undrafted player out of Shepherd University, Tyson Bagent.

Both players have shown plenty of promise in their first season but have also shown some rookie faults. Both Young and Bagent matched each other last week with multiple costly interceptions in losing efforts. This week, it may come down to who turns over the ball over less, and it creates quite the story to have a legitimate question as to who will play better.

Both players don’t have a ton of help around them, but it’s hard to think of anyone in the league who has less to work with than Bryce Young. It will be up to both of these quarterbacks to lift the talent around them up and add another win to fan the flames of hopes for their down-in-the-dumps franchises.

4 key matchups for Panthers vs. Bears in Week 10

Panthers OLB DJ Johnson may have quite an opportunity ahead of him in tonight’s showdown with the Bears.

After an uplifting victory in Week 8, the Carolina Panthers fell back down to Earth upon a brutal loss to the Indianapolis Colts this past Sunday. So, how can they get back in the win column against the Chicago Bears tonight?

Here are four key matchups that could put the Panthers on top of this Thursday night clash:

Bears to start Tyson Bagent in place of injured Justin Fields vs. Panthers

The Panthers will be seeing Tyson Bagent, not Justin Fields, under center for the Bears on Thursday night.

Thursday night’s primetime showcase will be down a storyline.

In the final injury report ahead of their Week 10 matchup against the Carolina Panthers, the Chicago Bears have listed quarterback Justin Fields as doubtful due to his thumb injury. Per ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter, that status will force yet another outing from rookie Tyson Bagent—who is expected to make his fourth start of the campaign.

Bagent was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Bears out of Shepherd University this past spring. Chicago has gone 1-2 in the 23-year-old’s trio of starts, where he’s completed 66.7 percent of his throws for 614 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions.

Fields, who dislocated his thumb in Week 6, has amassed 1,201 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions along with 420 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in 2023. Head coach Matt Eberflus told reporters on Wednesday that his usual starting quarterback has not been medically cleared to play.

Prior to being taken by the Bears with the 11th overall pick in 2021, Fields was passed up by the passer-needy Panthers at the eighth overall spot. Carolina, instead, opted for cornerback Jaycee Horn—who will also not be in uniform for Thursday.

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Ranking the Week 9 rookie quarterback performances

Ranking the Week 9 rookie quarterback performances, from C.J. Stroud’s greatness to Bryce Young’s bad day

Another week down, another week to evaluate the performances of the multiple rookie starting quarterbacks in the league. We once again saw a mixed bag from all the rookies, but also saw some flashes from some newcomers.

Let’s take a look at each rookie and rank their Week 8 performances from best to worst:

5 defensive takeaways power the Saints to a win vs. Bears

Five defensive takeaways powered the New Orleans Saints to a win over the Chicago Bears. Dennis Allen’s team is now 5-4:

It wasn’t pretty, but it’s a win. The New Orleans Saints took care of business against the Chicago Bears on Sunday in a performance powered by five takeaways — helping to make up for a number of big plays allowed by that same Saints defense.

But New Orleans did enough on offense and special teams to overcome those miscues, taking advantage of the extra possessions to win 24-17. Dennis Allen’s team is 5-4 for the first time in his five-year career as a head coach. But that success is largely due to the defensive backs he personally scouted, drafted, and developed. Let’s recap each turnover and its impact on the game: