all right let's talk about the Chicago Bears obviously pre-season is behind us regular season right around the corner to that end the Bears are looking to get off to a hot start and they've made a sneaky good kind of under the radar move that should help them do just that exciting news out of Chicago I'm Nick and this is Saturday morning [Music] inspection all right so this Bears team obviously a lot of Buzz lot of energy lot of momentum expecting a lot of big things of Chicago Bears the season but in order to do that they need to get off to a hot start because it's a tough schedule down the stretch and to that end the Bears have recently made a really good addition that's kind of slid under the radar to address a potential weakness due to some injuries let's pull up this report then we'll talk about it more on the other side this is courtesy of sporting news in a move related to Zack Pickins groin injury down for the start of the regular season pul signed defensive lineman Sam Roberts on Wednesday snagging him away from the New England Patriots whom Roberts had been with in the preseason new news of the Bears signing Roberts was provided by ESPN Adam schfer former Patriots defensive lineman Sam Roberts is signing to the Bears practice squad with the intention of being called up for week one per Source shaer said Roberts turned heads during the Patriots final preseason game when he made eight tackles against the Washington commanders Roberts a sixr pick in the 2022 NFL draft joined Chicago having played in 12 games for the Patriots with one start again it's not a massive headline grabbing move but you play a team week won like the Tennessee Titans that want to run the football you need some support upfront defensive lineman the injury to Pickins was a concern the Bears made a smart move here by addressing it I think it's a great decision here by Ryan PS and Company M I'm curious what your thoughts are on this but first Bears fans in the comment section below now is your last chance to be on the record 100% before the regular season give us your prediction for the Bears 2024 regular season final record 9 and8 12 and5 17-0 0 and 17 whatever it is give your prediction for the Bears 2024 campaign and put it in the comment section below but M what are your thoughts on this latest news out of the Chicago Bears yeah Nick this is a really interesting move for the Bears and I'm excited to see how it goes going forward because Pickins and Roberts are relatively similar players stylistically both are stronger pass rushers than they were run Defenders that fits the the mold there both are relatively same size picking at 64300 Sam Roberts at 65 300 so sco taller there but overall very similar and you look at pickings grades last season a 44 run defense grade not great 62.9 pass rush grade also decent but you can tell he's a better pass rusher than he is a run Defender look at Roberts 39 on the run defense department not great 60 in the pass rush Department it's same similar better pass rusher than he is run Defender now where am I getting with all this if you look at at what they were able to do in the preseason you see a lot of growth out of one guy and not a lot out of the other guy we pull up this graphic you see Pickins across the board 50s throughout everything 57 overall 58 run defense 56 pass rush where Sam Roberts had a pretty good preseason 79 overall a 69 run defense grade and 74.3 pass rushing grade this is a guy who's made a lot of leaps this preseason he's looking really good and both of these guys have played a similar amount of snaps during the preseason as well around 70 to 80 per player so I think overall this is a good signing for the Bears Roberts who knows could potentially turn out to be even better than Pickins will be but nonetheless he is a suitable replacement for a guy and Pickins a young player that was going to get some reps on this defense yeah there's a couple things to unpack with this move first of all it's a clear indication even though it's obvious that the Bears are in basically win now mode they think they're in a they have a chance here to make a serious run this season not just to the playoffs but maybe a deep playoff run normally this time of the year when when uh teams make their moves in terms of who they add to the practice squad and things like that there's really two buckets teams fall into there's teams adding developmental prospects for the practice squad guys they say you know not good enough for a roster spot maybe not you know good enough for special teams we're crowded that position but we want to keep him on the practice squad because we think he has potential maybe year under development he'll get better that was like the Bears a couple years years ago right when they're going through a massive rebuild what the contending teams do is they add players they expect to have impacts to the practice squad they'll add veterans guys who have been around the block guys who have played a lot of football to the practice squad with the sole idea of elevating them for a key regular season matchup early in the season or potentially later in the season and the signing of Sam Roberts I think is a perfect example of that and here's another thing to unpack here I love signing former New England Patriots defensive lineman I think these guys are some of the smartest defensive lineman in the National Football League because that bill bich draw Mayo scheme whatever you think of it is incredibly complex it requires to be versatile it requires you to play as a team you have to put your ego completely aside it's all about assignment football people that grow up and learn that system they go on to be really good quality team players I look at an outside linebacker Edge guy like Kyle vanoi I think is a great example of that you see a lot of examples you look at Vince wol Fork Patriots to Texans way back in the day right good team players fundamental guys all about working with the coaching staff and their teammates as part of a group team uh effort to stop the opposing offense and I think that's exactly what they're going to get in Roberts and again this isn't a guy who's going to come in and have to start and play 60 snaps you're talking about 15 to 30 snaps against the Tennessee Titans can you get some pocket push can you know your assignments can you line up in a couple different key areas to allow Matt abrau and his defense to execute at a high level I think bringing in a smart versatile guy like Roberts as he's proving with the Patriots system and I think you bring up a great Point too that this is the guy on the upswing this has a chance to be a really good kind of under the the radar Edition here by Ryan P from the Chicago Bears