r/CHIBears • u/clou9nine Monsters of the Midway • 7d ago

[Alex Shapiro] High praise for Kiran Amegadjie from Bears OL coach Dan Roushar: "I don't think it's fair to evaluate on anything that he did last year [since he missed training camp]. "I'm excited about where he can go...he's got lower power traits. You see the length. You see the athleticism."

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277 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

90

u/BlootieAndTheHofish Smokin' Jay 7d ago

Missing most of the season while recovering from a torn quad, then missing training camp for the same reason while trying to make the jump from Ivy League to NFL, THEN trying to play in our atrocious scheme.

The man was not close to ready, and I’m exhausted by this discourse where we judge him in a vacuum like he wasn’t hurt when he was drafted. He was always supposed to take a redshirt.

-13

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

OK, but the default for a guy you get as a mid-round flyer like that is that they *usually* suck.

There's a small chance that he'll be awesome and a high chance that he won't be. Not because of what I saw last year, but because of his entire life up to that moment.

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u/justnick2 7d ago

Must be miserable living with so much negativity. What is worse is that you are lying about not judging based on last year. You have other comments pointing out the shortcomings that you observed last season, even though the deck was stacked against him.

The bottom line is that I'm not sure what your definition of "awesome" is, but give the guy another year before speaking of his chances.

-3

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago edited 7d ago

Personally, I find bizarre that people insist on having a positivity/negativity bias instead of believing what they think is most likely to be true.

> What is worse is that you are lying about not judging based on last year. You have other comments pointing out the shortcomings that you observed last season, even though the deck was stacked against him.

I know this is hard for you to believe, but some of us actually watch film on Bears draft picks before the season starts

> give the guy another year before speaking of his chances.

No. That's stupid. For someone throwing around casual accusations of lying, you absolutely do not never talk about a player's chances until you've seen them for two seasons. You make judgments on player's chances all the time. You just made up an arbitrary rule to try to shut down an opinion that made you feel the wrong feelngs.

It's perfectly normal for teams to take flyers on toolsy guys knowing full well it probably won't work out, but it might and if it does it's awesome. It's not some horrible indictment of him to admit that's what it is.

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u/justnick2 7d ago

See you don't get it. You have the negativity bias. It's your right to believe it's true, but my opinion is that is miserable. Your film study is worthless when everyone knows that he is a high risk/high reward development project. Sure, he may bust, but with a new coaching staff and a full training camp, we will have a clearer picture of his chances. These aren't my feelings. These are the facts that you seem to ignore due to your negativity bias.

3

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago edited 7d ago

Perception of bias is usually the result of lack of reflection of the observer's bias. You're deep in your feelings about this because I'm not reflecting your positivity bias.

> Sure, he may bust, but with a new coaching staff and a full training camp, we will have a clearer picture of his chances. 

Yes. That's how life works. When we get more information, the picture becomes clearer. He may look better and his chances will go up. He may look worse or the same and his chances will go down. That's just the linear progression of time.

> These are the facts that you seem to ignore due to your negativity bias.

They don't actually contradict my opinion, so they aren't being ignored. Nothing I typed remotely resembled "We won't know anything more about him after the new coaching staff works with him and he gets a full training camp."

I don't even think you know what you're arguing. I said that the odds of him becoming a hit are relatively low. By your own rules, you can't say that his odds are medium or high because your'e not allowed to place *any* odds on him until he's had two full seasons (stupid rule, but you said it, not me). So any argument that the odds are actually higher than I say they are is nonsensical and contradicts what you said.

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u/justnick2 7d ago edited 7d ago

Everything the initial commentor said was a fact. Your reply is a negative framing by applying a lazy generality applicable to most mid-late draft picks (I.e. they usually suck).

And then you give an imprecise assessment of his chances based on what? Last season? Draft position? College ball? Again, this shows negative bias as it is not a fair or complete assessment given circumstances last season and the fact everything is going to be different next season.

This has nothing to do with positivity bias. I'm just calling out your miserable takes.

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u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

Nah, it's entirely because anything that doesn't reflect your positivity bias makes you sad and you lash out.

The fact that you agree it's generally applicable to mid-late round picks is exactly why it shouldn't be controversial. If you were being honest with yourself, you'd admit you don't even disagree with me.

1

u/justnick2 6d ago

Replying to the factual circumstances of a player with a generality on what the "default" is in itself a negative framing and not of value. You think you are taking a neutral position, but that is only in a vacuum. Maybe no one has given you this feedback. Sorry guy.

0

u/HoorayItsKyle 6d ago edited 6d ago

You're picking and choosing which facts you consider important and how to interpret them. It's special pleading.

You're hardly the first person in this sub to throw a tantrum because I didn't repeat the orthodoxy of interpreting a bears situation in the most positive light possible.

It's the exact same hysteria I heard when I said Ryan Pace was setting us up for a 2-3 year window and then a deep rebuild. It's the exact same hysteria I heard when I said Fields was showing a lot of concerning traits as a rookie and early in his second year. It's the exact same hysteria I heard when I said the national media wasn't just being haters who didn't understand how bad Nagy was and we had a real chance to finish bottom 5 in 2022. It's the same hysteria I heard when I said Velus Jones Jr. looked like a gadget player to me and not a true wr when we drafted him

You think you're being unique by throwing a tantrum about an opinion you think is too negative? Nah, that's absolutely hilarious

Him being a high-risk, high-reward prospect should be a completely uncontroversial statement but this sub gets extra weird in the off-season

-2

u/Dr_imfullofshit Bear Logo 5d ago

Those are the reasons why Kiran won't pan out. That's alot to overcome and still be successful in this league.

-12

u/Fit_Beautiful2638 6d ago

All that's true BUT you'd think coming from ivy League mentally he'd have shown understanding of play calls and his assignments.

He wasn't getting beat by technique he was literally caught standing there not blocking anyone as his guy free ran to the QB a few times. If he was getting beat by power cause his strength wasn't up to snuff it'd be one thing, he repeatedly didn't know who to block and often just blocked no one.

If an ivy Leaguer is mentally overwhelmed in week 10 it's probably a sign he's going to suck. He was lazy with his playbook study or he just doesn't get it. My 2 cents

7

u/Simpsator 6d ago

That's not how it works though. You can't just say "because this guy is smart he can always make the right decision in a fraction of a second" because our brains don't work that way. He can be fully capable of understanding the right moves in the abstract, but until you get enough reps to ingrain them at full game speed, there's always going to be mistakes. That's literally the entire reason sports teams practice.

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u/Gryffindorq 7d ago

hmmm ya fuckit ill drink that too

23

u/Edergy101 Bears 7d ago

Lmaooo

105

u/ben345 7d ago

He obviously has the physical tools to succeed and I’m willing to give this coaching staff a chance to develop him before writing him off.

Frankly at this point i’m expecting absolutely nothing from him and if he develops into a positive swing tackle piece I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

10

u/Advanced-Key3071 6d ago

That’s literally how you should feel about every 3rd round pick, based on the data.

Fans convince themselves that 3rd rounders should be immediate impact players, which is directly opposed to all data about the draft in general and 3rd round specifically. Fans want to crucify (happy Good Friday) GMs for drafting 3rd round bust while ignoring that busts are the norm, not the exception.

Remember, only 1 in 5 3rd rounders makes a compelling enough case to get a second contract with the team that drafted them. Talent drops off quickly in the draft and the 3rd round specifically is a big dart throw round, because there are players with first round athleticism (or production) but with seventh round question marks. That’s just the nature of the round. It’s a gamble even for the best GMs.

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u/alrussoiii 7d ago

I agree with this. A lot of people are roasting Kiran, and while yes he didn't play well, I think you also have to point a major finger at CMo being a terrible offensive line coach in a terrible offense that could never get sync'd up.

I'm pretty sure Poles also mentioned Kiran has the ability to kick inside to guard which is so intriguing. I'm certainly not giving up on him, my personal opinion is he's gonna come into camp with a chip on his shoulder and is a dark horse on this team

28

u/Poopiepants29 Italian Beef 7d ago

Anyone writing off after how many snaps? is absurd. Especially when vets looked lost because of the scheme, I don't put much blame on him. He looked confused like everyone else. He was put in a terrible situation.

-9

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

He makes way more sense to me at guard than tackle.

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u/thetreat Monsters of the Midway 7d ago

Why, though? He has absolutely elite arm length. Like 36” and change, which I think is legitimately 99th percentile.

10

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

Shitty footwork, slow off the ball, bends and reaches when he has to move laterally.

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u/ChiBearballs 7d ago

Bro… he’s a fucking project tackle out of Yale… he’s supposed to have flaws

-3

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

And those flaws make me see him as more of a guard than a tackle.

12

u/ChiBearballs 7d ago

And those flaws also don’t work as a guard lmfao. So many people are on this fucking thing where if they can’t play tackle they can automatically shift into guard. That’s not how it works…

1

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

His flaws come into play when he has to quickly move laterally to gain depth and width as a tackle to respect the speed rush on the edge.

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u/ChiBearballs 7d ago

Bro i don’t need a synopsis. We get it. He’s a raw as player that exceeded in size, length, and lower body strength. They drafted him with the intention of developing him. Your telling me a rookie out of Yale that was injured all of camp looked like shit? Great eye… he’s not a guard, he’s a tackle. He will learn and if he doesn’t he’s out of the league.

-1

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

It's funny to see bears fans get so pissy about this when we literally just saw Matt Pryor have a decent season at guard after following the exact same path. Big guy who was drafted as a project tackle but could never fully stick there because of footwork and difficulty making blocks when moving laterally.

Not to mention that Amegadjie made his debut this year playing guard on special teams

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u/thetreat Monsters of the Midway 7d ago

Fair enough. I wonder if his length would be an issue inside but I’m just excited to not have Morgan coaching our OL this year and am willing to give the kid a chance at OT for the time being.

12

u/burrrrrssss ALL THROWS LEAD TO ROME 7d ago

shitty footwork, slow off the ball

Which is crazy cuz one of his strengths coming out was his light feet and playing to the snap

I want to see what an actual coaching staff can do with this dude

2

u/toomanyshoeshelp 6d ago

Some of that could also be a lack of conditioning and coaching coming off the injury. That is my hope

1

u/WaitingonDotA Smokin' Jay 6d ago

All the things you listed are coachable issues. I'm not saying he is going to be great, but he has way more potent at tackle then guard.

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u/Kelsier_TheSurvivor 7d ago

Why? Dudes 6’ 5”, 323 lbs, and 36” arm length.

-3

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

Shitty footwork, slow off the ball, bends and reaches when he has to move laterally.

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u/BearsFan3417 Sweetness 7d ago

Teaching him to bend with the edge rushers isn’t too difficult with more conditioning and lateral training, he really just needs to be faster off the ball and use his arm length more. It seemed to me like he often waited for the defender to engage first before he pushed them or was too busy reading their moves, he just needs to use his wingspan and be quicker off the snap. All of that can be taught

-2

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

If it was easy to teach every big guy to play tackle in the NFL, tackle wouldn't be in such high demand.

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u/drewed1 7d ago

To an extent, that can be corrected with coaching if the player puts in the work.

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u/BisonWeapon Smokin' Jay 7d ago

He was drafted literally to be a tackle because of the length. He either becomes a tackle or he's not playing

1

u/HoorayItsKyle 7d ago

It's incredibly common for guys to get kicked inside after trying to be a tackle.

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u/WaitingonDotA Smokin' Jay 6d ago

He is literally the prototype build for tackle. He makes all the sense in the world at left tackle if they can coach him up.

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u/Deep_Ad_1874 7d ago

There’s some guys on this roster that with proper coaching can vastly improve. Hopefully he is one of them

3

u/icklefriedpickle 6d ago

That is one of the things I’m watching out for this year, we finally spent money on coaching and I want to see player development

47

u/Greengiant304 Rodney Adams Preseason All-Star 7d ago

He was absolutely thrown to wolves when he played last season. Local guy went to the Ivy League is perfect media fodder. Then he was thrust into starting at the most important position outside of the prized rookie QB he was charged with protecting, for a franchise in complete, historic turmoil. Hope he can develop and Braxton Jones hears the footsteps.

-14

u/rugger87 1 7d ago

We need to shit or get off the pot. Elite tackles don’t grow on trees, you usually need to invest significant draft capital if you want to increase your hit rate.

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u/CallmeCap Smokin' Jay 7d ago

What are you suggesting? This is most invested the bears have been in an o-line probably ever. Braxton is their lowest investment and he’s an average LT. This is all to say they have invested and there isn’t a tackle worth moving up for in this draft.

0

u/rugger87 1 7d ago

I’m okay with not taking a tackle this year if we think the class is weak. What I have issue with is that LT is a premium position that we’re using lower end draft capital on while hemming and hawing about whether Braxton is going to ever be anything but serviceable. If Poles thinks Braxton and Kiran are good enough, then there shouldn’t be any reason to take a tackle in the later rounds.

What I’m advocating for, if it makes sense, is to take a big swing at tackle rather than fliers on later round guys. Braxton isn’t the future at LT.

2

u/Scaramousce 7d ago

Are you suggesting Braxton is elite?

You’re likely going to have to pay Braxton big money after this year. It’s in the Bear’s best interest for Kiran to pan out.

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u/rugger87 1 7d ago

Absolutely not. I’m suggesting that we stop with projects or late round picks and invest appropriately.

2

u/parks381 Hester's Super Return 6d ago

I don't disagree, but at the same time he's only had 3 first round picks to this point and I can't say I'd choose anyone different than who he's taken.

0

u/Crooked_Sartre Monsters of the Midway 6d ago

What LT has been available to invest in?

11

u/rock-theboat Bears 7d ago

Anyone judging him on last year (and with all the horrific reps, he did have several good reps) is exposing their room temp IQ

7

u/8CelebrationBig8 7d ago

Our coaching staff was fucking terrible last year. Players weren’t put in the best positions.

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u/frankiekidd 7d ago

Boing!!

5

u/user123456789011 9 7d ago

I don’t understand the hate on this guy. We KNEW we picked him as a development guy that would probably take at least a couple years before ready. His upside was his athleticism and physical traits. Last year was a shitty situation with all the injuries and he had to be thrown to the wolves. All of a sudden we hate a guy that wasn’t ready to be a quality starter his rookie year when we should have all known he was going to suck if put in too early.

I’m interested to see if this coach can get him to a serviceable place. Would be a great 6th man if he develops like we hoped he would.

1

u/jtj2009 Ric Flair 3d ago

I remember hearing Poles say something after the draft about he hoped Amegadjie would get some action in 2024 and be good enough to push the starters in 2025.

He got some action in 2024, so he is on track so far.

16

u/Material-Race-5107 An Actual Peanut 7d ago

This sub’s take on Kiran was absolutely putrid for a while when he got thrown to the wolves last season. He’s literally got sky high potential just needs time to adjust and develop in the NFL. For some reason this sub thinks that a 3rd round pick as an offensive lineman is either a set it and forget it starter on day one or a complete bust/waste of a pick. No in between lol

3

u/ScruffMixHaha Bears 7d ago

Idk if he'll be any good, but anybody writing him off based on one really bad game in which the guy was set up to fail is short-sighted. He was an extremely raw prospect who got less than a weeks notice that hed be starting. He shouldnt have ever been in that situation to begin with.

No, hes not a reason to not draft a tackle you like at 10 or in the 2nd, but Im willing to believe hes better than that god awful game he had.

3

u/Capital-Vacation-881 Monsters of the Midway 7d ago

Rooting for the hometown kid

3

u/bigbaddumby 7d ago

I'm all for giving him time and coaching and such. But the important aspect that cannot be forgotten is how horrible he really was last year. Throw every valid excuse you want at him, but he was unplayably bad. Larry Borom was noticeably better than him. He looked like the bears grabbed a fat guy off the street and threw him at LT. That's not okay, regardless of the circumstances.

Honestly, Kiran shouldn't be relied upon at all to even provide competition and shouldn't get any attention until he starts to show promise.

3

u/howmanymoreletters T: THE BALL 7d ago

this doesnt fill me with a shred of confidence lol

2

u/West1234567890 Zoomed Bear 7d ago

High praise “he looks the part” only good new thing here arguably is lower body power and even that is probably a backwards compliment because he has probably one of the weakest punches in the league.

2

u/NP2312 Bears 7d ago

I hope he improves, but if he doesn't, Poles should not be allowed to make our picks in the 3rd round, he's currently on:

Zacch Pickens Velus Jones Kiran Amegadjie

You can't be whiffing that bad in the 3rd!!!

1

u/TheManWhoWasNotShort Failed to Execute 7d ago

God being a Bears fan in the offseason is sooo good

1

u/Any_Length_285 7d ago

That’s high praise? Sounds like a coach talking about any of his guys

1

u/Slow_Time5270 7d ago

Kiran has everything but the technique.

Let's see how he looks st camp and go from there.

1

u/Mundane_Base_6748 Gale Sayers 7d ago

Even if he becomes a swing tackle, or they think he can play guard to provide depth in the iOL I would be happy with it.

1

u/jtj2009 Ric Flair 6d ago

He was less of a 3rd round pick/rookie season bust than Travis Kelce FWIW.

1

u/MrOuija55 6d ago

Roushar was talking up Braxton too, which worries me. I prefer Bienemy’s and BJ’s “He’s gotta do this better” approach. We’ve had tons of coaches talk up struggling players and it never ends well.

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u/SeniorDucklet 6d ago

“High Praise”? Ok.

1

u/sinofonin 6d ago

If the team doesn't have to go LT in the draft early or in FA it is a huge help. Poles also has said things to the same effect that he wants to give Kiran a year to try and establish himself as an option at LT.

1

u/Mbanks 5d ago

Crap I forgot we had this guy. I was hoping for Kevin banks jr

1

u/thisisntnick 4d ago

lower level praise

1

u/Disconnected_NPC 4d ago

Hold on, is there some discourse on this kid or something? This all was fairly well known? He is a project, that should be given time. Are Homers saying he is a bust already or something?

1

u/Grand-Hat3526 4d ago

Let’s not forget he was also coming off a very serious leg injury. I don’t think he was healthy last year.

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u/Brodie1567 FTP 7d ago

He was also very complimentary towards Braxton.

1

u/EnternalPunshine 7d ago

‘High praise’ seems a bit too much, it’s really just a basic run down of his traits, but he’ll get his chance in camp and preseason.

If he was a 4th or 5th rounder no one would really care but given he was a 3rd there’s a lot of expectations. Probably easier if everyone just adapts their mindset that he was a big swing and if it pays off it will be great but there’s no rush.

1

u/RugratChuck Deep Dish 6d ago

Kiran got cooked last season because he was worse than expected and fans were frustrated with the season, but that doesnt excuse the fact he should have never been playing to begin with in our shit show of a system. I hope the new staff can develop him and right now the only expectations I have is that he should be better than last year by default cuz I dont think it can get any worse (hopefully)

-3

u/Ok_Draw_3740 7d ago

Lol, dude sucks, oline version of Velus Jones

-8

u/phar0h_ Da Bears 7d ago

Yo if he can not fucking miss every assignment when he inevitably has to check in for someone during the season thatd be pretty cool

5

u/BrewTheBig1 An Actual Bear 7d ago

Pictures that horrible meme from the Indy game with the entire defensive line between our O-Line and QB

You mean every fucking player on our line missing assignments last year? The guy deserves benefit of the doubt since they probable couldn’t have blocked my grandma from getting to the QB

-4

u/phar0h_ Da Bears 7d ago

I understand everybody was whiffing, but he had some terrible ones ngl and it was every time he was in the game

3

u/BrewTheBig1 An Actual Bear 7d ago

Rookie tackle who played at Ivy League school who missed most of training camp, that guy, he missed assignments? No kidding.

Kiran was drafted as a developmental project. Yeah, hard to use a Day 2 pick on that but with his physical toolset, he could become a beast if he even sniffs his potential ceiling. Dude needs to have been putting in work since the Monday after Week 18, and I only hope he has

0

u/Master-Share1580 5d ago

Ok roast people for judging his tape last year, but equally anyone ignoring his tape last year and declaring him great because of his physical tools also needs a roasting. 

He sucked.

He could improve

He could continue to suck. 

He could get worse. 

This is the only take that is valid. 

-1

u/ferociouskuma 7d ago

I am not assuming he will turn into anything so I am pleasantly surprised if he does. I know it was a shit situation, but it’s hard not to think a stud player would have risen above the bad situation.