Bearstalk

Bears remain 'Plex-ible' at WR By Vaughn McClure | Tribune reporter May 18, 2009 Bears fan Tony Tudisco from Aurora put himself on the hot seat Sunday when he inquired how Jay Cutler would thrive "without any receivers to throw to." Bears general manager Jerry Angelo fired back. "Sounds like you're from Wisconsin," Angelo said sarcastically. The receiver question was sure to surface as spirited diehards gathered for the annual Bears Expo. But before the festivities began, Angelo discussed a possibility he previously had dismissed: Plaxico Burress. "As I said, we'll look at every option," Angelo said. "[His] situation is different because…

Bears | Ogunleye, Idonije unlikely to land new deals this season Comment (0) Mon, 18 May 2009 05:40:49 -0700 Vaughn McClure, of the Chicago Tribune, reports Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo sounded somewhat apprehensive when asked about the possibility of rewarding DL Adewale Ogunleye and DL Israel Idonije with new contracts this season. Both players are in contract years. "We did quite a bit last year if memory serves me right," Angelo said. "I think we were unprecedented in terms of all the people we did extensions with so, in part, that made fewer players come up. But those that do well, we'll definitely do what we've always done in the past. I'v…

The Lions signed DE Ryan Kees, an undrafted rookie, and released OL Junius Coston and WR Will Franklin. Will Franklin, WR, Missouri Franklin is an under-the-radar prospect, as he wasn't the main option in an offense that featured two of the nation's top tight ends in Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman and saw the emergence of speedy freshman Jeremy Maclin. Even though he wasn't a primary option, Franklin put up solid numbers throughout his four-year career, with 143 catches, 2,125 yards receiving, and 13 touchdowns. His best season was in 2006, when he caught 48 passes for 829 yards (17.3 yards per catch) and six touchdowns. Given that he wasn't in the limelight at…

Said Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo, “I feel good about the secondary, if we can stay healthy. I like the safeties. Craig Steltz should take a step this year. Kevin Payne got a lot of playing time last year. I even like the guy we took in the sixth round [Al Afalava]. We picked up Josh Bullocks, who has a good play history as well.”

With Cutler, will Bears dig long ball? Turner will have more freedom to open up playbook Dan Pompei | On the NFL May 19, 2009 The joke goes when Jay Cutler showed up at Halas Hall after his trade from Denver, nobody knew who he was. See, none of us in Chicago recognizes what a real quarterback looks like. The next issue is if anyone in Chicago will know what to do with one. Other than buy him a beer, of course. Bears coach Lovie Smith and offensive coordinator Ron Turner never have worked with a talent like Cutler, but they believe they know how to use him. Dan Pompei E-mail | Recent columns The first thing you need to know is ev…

Maybe? I would love the move........ http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/05/st...ion_pisa_t.html

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?id=4182092

Rod Hood In High Demand Posted by Mike Florio on May 20, 2009, 1:20 p.m. The Cardinals surprisingly released cornerback Rod Hood in the days after the draft. Hood’s base salary, coupled with his potential unwillingness to accept a reserve role, contributed to his ouster in Arizona. And he has since become a hot commodity. We’re told that he has received a contract offer from the Rams, and that he’ll next be visiting the Bears. Other teams in the mix include the Lions and Browns. The Bengals are out of the picture. Hood has a connection to Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo; they both previously were in Philly together.

After thinking about our team as a whole, it's essentially a giant question mark. It's really interesting because there are question marks at literally every position. We have such huge potential with this team, but they need to pull it together. How weird is it that the only really solidified positions are QB, P, K, and maybe RB. QB: Cutler, you know what you're going to get, but can he continue to get better with this group of receivers? RB: Will Forte continue to grow or will he regress in his sophomore year? Could he be our franchise guy for a long time? And who the hell is going to back him up? FB: Will McKie actually do anything? Will Gaines take ove…

More on Tinoisamoa at link as well... http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=5834

NFL Network showed video from MC and A lot of balls from Cutler was bouncing off everyones hands. I think I saw Forte have the most bounce off him.

The Sun-Times just posted some other notes from Bears OTAs. In the secondary, Woodny Turenne apparently looked good (you can see him doing drills in the rookie minicamp video, he's wearing #47) and Zack Bowman is back at corner. Apparently the move to FS was just a depth thing, like Idonije playing tackle since Harris and Harrison are out. The thing I found most interesting is this note about the offensive line: "Here is how the second team offensive line stacked up--LT Cody Balogh, LG Frank Omiyale, C Tyler Reed, RG Dan Buenning, RT Kevin Shaffer. Buenning worked in practice as a backup center for most of the second half of last season. Offensive coordinator …

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/05/be...for_left_g.html Peace

CB Bowman, Zackary 35 CB 6-1 193 Nebraska Burgess, Rudy 39 CB 5-10 186 Arizona State Graham, Corey 21 CB 6-0 193 New Hampshire Hamilton, Marcus 24 CB 5-11 188 Virginia McBride, Trumaine 26 CB 5-9 185 Ole Miss Moore, D.J. * 30 CB 5-8 192 Vanderbilt Turenne, Woodny * 47 CB 6-1 182 Louisville Tillman, Charles 33 CB 6-1 198 Louisiana-Lafayette Vasher, Nathan 31 CB 5-10 187 Texas FS/SS Afalava, Al * 46 S 5-11 213 Oregon State Bullocks, Josh 36 S 6-1 207 Nebraska Deleston, Dahna * 45 S 6-0 211 Connecticut Earl, Glenn 32 S 6-1 213 Notre Dame Mann…

Click Me It's nice to see bullet passes thrown to receivers in stride.

It is quite boring right now with all the expectations coming and the moves we have made, I just want to jump to August. But until then, who is the biggest suprize of 2009? Not a Cutler, or Briggs making the Pro Bowl again, but someone we dont expect to be one of the stars? Mine is Earl Bennett, nothing to lead me to believe why he would be, but we have a QB and there old friends and someone will emerge as a star, I am calling Earl the one.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/183949-...from-mediocrity Article I wrote on the transition from Orton to Cutler. Thoughts?

will not be suspended: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4207106 He is a freak being as tall and how fast he is.

I'm doing this to see just where everyone is at in terms how they view the Bears' WRs. I go back to the 60's and have actually saw Johnny Morris play but taking him out of the equation I'm hard pressed to find a guy who I could say is second to Morris. We have had tandems or individuals that have had great seasons but if you twist my arm here is where I would go with rankings after Morris: 1 Dennis McKinnon he was a smaller version of Hines Ward and would block just as good as he would catch the ball. 2. Dick Gordon he was one of the other players that came from the 1965 draft that netted Sayers and Butkus. His flamboyant lifestyle was his downfall but he did a…