Bearstalk

Smith expressed confidence that Terrence Metcalf, Josh Beekman or John St. Clair will fill the void at left guard after the Bears declined to re-sign veteran Ruben Brown. “One of them will step up in that role and give us the type of play we need,” Smith said. At receiver, Smith praised offseason acquisition Brandon Lloyd and revealed that Mark Bradley will participate in the first training camp practice after recovering from offseason knee surgery. “Brandon Lloyd has made as much progress and has looked as [good] as any of our players we’ve had in offseason work,” Smith said. “I’m anxious to see him take it to this next phase of getting ready for the seaso…

The newest Bear, running back Kevin Jones, showed up sporting arms bigger than former Bears backfield standout Thomas Jones. Kevin Jones said he is ready to play now coming off ACL surgery, but the Bears are likely to start him on the physically unable to perform list. … http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...,0,636028.story Thomas Jones had tree trunks for arms-

No, seriously. Rotoworld: So...I guess we'll be running between the tackles, then.

http://maddenlist.com/2008/07/23/3232-chicago-bears/ Devin Hester is going to dominate and our defense is sick nasty. We are a top 10 team in madden easily.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4887 nice work JA

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_...l?urn=nfl,95401 Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008 9:31 am EDT Brett Favre might want to invest in his own cell phone By MJD It's not as poetically idiotic as Chris Henry getting arrested while wearing his own jersey, but this one's in the same neighborhood. Remember those tampering charges that the Packers filed against the Vikings? And remember how I thought it would be difficult for the Packers to prove that Favre had made inappropriate contact with the Vikings? Well, that assumed that Brett Favre wasn't using a Packers-issued cell phone to make those calls to the Vikings. As it turns out, Favre may have done…

Hester didn't show up to TC today. (neither did Tillman, Kreutz, Dvoracek, and another player, but that's for another thread at another time). Thoughts??

a Coin Toss. Ah well, at least internet whiner fans can't claim it wasn't an open competition this season. Let the fun begin!

HESTER NEEDS TO REPORT BY AUGUST 5 Posted by Mike Florio on July 23, 2008, 5:46 p.m. One of the (rare) moments during which we gained some actual credibility in league circles came in 2005, when we explained that Eagles running back Brian Westbrook risked losing his ability to become an unrestricted free agent if he didn’t report to training camp by a specific date in August of that year. By all indications, Westbrook’s agent didn’t know. And Westbrook eventually showed up. Though the Collective Bargaining Agreement has been revised since Westbrook’s holdout, the provision in question still applies, and Bears receiver Devin Hester is the first guy who coul…

I was listening to Doug Buffone and Hub Arkush on 670 the Score tonight. They brought up a good point. Why hasn't Mike Hass gotten a look, still? He catches anything that's thrown to him. Now, i'm not saying he'd be a great WR. But, i think he could be a solid WR given the chance to prove himself. For a team that needs all the weapons on offense. Hass is only 25 years old. Enough is enough, give the guy a damn look!

I posted this to equate to the Hester situation. It may belong in the Hester thread. Both are 3rd year players that have way outdone their rookie deals. Maybe JA and Parker will look at that as a reference. Hester should make no less than Colston, but not a lot more - IMO.

http://youtube.com/user/sportsfansnetwork Nice catches by Bennett, he'll be starting by mid-season

We had a thread months ago speculating on the value of trading Hester. In light of him threatening to hold out for the season, and knowing we have several other players with excellent return ability, not nearly as much as Hester, but still could be effective return men, would you consider now trading Hester? Is it conceivable that we could get a #1 for him? Would a team give up that much to get the #1 return man in the NFL and the potential to be a top flight WR? If I thought he would be a season long holdout, I would say yes, trade him for a #1 or maybe a #2 & #4. I am just not convinced this holdout will last very long. Although it may hold bac…

Think there would be any interest? I am surprised he was released. Other than Chambers who they picked up in a trade last year, their WR corps is kind of thin.

I've made the statement here that we could win or lose 10 games this season and it wouldn't surprise me. So I'm probably being a bit of a negative "chicken little" myself. But really, with QB play that sucked donkey balls last year, we had a season in which... We swept the Packers, a playoff team and almost a Superbowl team. We played the Superbowl winner to a 5 point loss in December. We lost twice to the Vikings by an average of 5 points. We finished the season with 2 wins in our last two games. We also managed to lose to the damn Lions twice which we know isn't likely to happen again any time soon. Since then, we've improved the offensi…

I was just browsing though the colunmists blogs for the papers and caught that Williams hurt his back and walked off under his own power. Not good.

Will he finally stay healthy for a change?

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....-camp-da-1.html Bears camp: Day 2 Bears fans, welcome to our running blog from Bears training camp. The posts are from Tribune reporters Vaughn McClure and David Haugh. Let's go ... 3:45 p.m. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, sitting at the ESPN 1000 radio both here, said Devin Hester will be rewarded and that the team understands his value. Angelo also said rookie tackle Chris Williams will be "fine" after Williams left practice today with back stiffness. "Nothing to be overly alarmed about," Angelo said of of the team's first-round pick. 1:58 p.m. You can imagine the reaction after Rex Grossman just fumble…

First I'll reiterate what Crackerdog has said: Training camp's awesome because you're able to get so close to the players, practice, etc. Got autographs from Gould, McGowan, Rashied Davis, Zack Bowman, Kevin Payne, AND even Jerry Angelo. JA was off by himself on a mountain bike. I said, "great off-season . . . are we going to get Hester taken care of? He said, "We hope so." He signed my football: "Go Bears! Jerry Angelo." Then I reared back, punched him in the nose & screamed, "That's for drafting Benson you bastard!!!" (Ok, I made that last part up. But it's strange that a guy so many have wanted to murder seemed friendly and laid back. He's actually …

This to me is a bigger concern, more important to the Bears success this year, than David Hester trying to strike it rich. I will be looking more at this and the development of the offense as a result than David "I am mad and I want my money now" Hester. Bears' season on the line