balta1701-A

Someone has to say it. Bears offensive needs right now: #1: improvement by Jay Cutler #2: other positions listed above. (The excuses no longer count.)

During that year though, his performance on the field was poor and he finished the season hurt. If he was waiting for a reason to keep Urlacher on the field, he didn't get it.

If there are D-Linemen available who had top 15 grades, the Bears will have a lot of trade offers.

If Emery is to be believed, doing so would require rescinding the franchise tag on Melton.

At this point, the Bears D looks, on paper, like it has probably upgraded over last year, given the ages of everyone involved. A bit more depth up front seems needed, but the LB corps appears stronger.

Couldn't help but think about that insider/scout article from last year which talked about agents using "connections" with Kiper to make sure their signees were rated higher.

Ashkum is right above, safeties drop like flies around the league, not just on the Bears. They'll hold a 6 pack or so of them out of training camp even if they all stay healthy somehow.

Plus our new OLB can hook him up.

Yes, Bush's money still mostly counts against the cap even if he's cut. I think there's a small savings, of like less than a million dollars, if you let him go. There's no reason to cut him for money, the only reason to cut him is if you have a cheaply drafted player who would outperform him.

If Kromer decides he thinks Webb or Carimi aren't going to be useful pieces, and would rather fill the roster spot with a different body, that's his call. I'll take his decision at this point, he's got plenty of credibilty to spare on building an O-line.

IF they could get a Lattimore in like the 5th or 6th and were confident in him being moderately healthy, then I think the right move becomes eating the cap hit on Bush to clear the roster spot. That'd be a decent pair of moves.

He can certainly be replaced in the draft, but the question should be whether the Bears are in a position where they want to invest 1/3 of their draft in the LB spot, including their first 2 picks or so (since they need starters). That's the question if they don't re-up with 'lacher.

Link

Well, now that's officially 2 starting LB positions the Bears need to fill before the end of this offseason.

Frankly, if he knows Kromer's system well, that may be a good enough reason to bring him in, even if his performance last year wasn't up to par.

Turner's cap hit for 2013 was $8 million. Cutting him saves $5.5 of that. I don't see numbers for Jackson yet, but it's a 3 year deal which likely lets them spread some of the hit out, and I can't imagine he'd take more than a $5 million hit to bring in.

I think if they resign both of them, that is a really good sign they have no confidence in Carimi.

Here's a guess...he has a 1 year offer from the Bears and is trying to see if some team will give him a guaranteed second year offer to bring back to Chicago?

Ok, so that's basically what I was seeing. When I compared what the Saints do to what the Bears tried to do, it was night and day. Webb was on an island constantly, whereas Bushrod never seemed to be alone with no help.

I think the Bears are also somewhat uncertain about what his value around the league would be, so they're probably not going to mind him asking around. Thanks to endorsements, he has to know it's worth a lot of money for him to play another year in Chicago next year.

Can you specifically see how many times the Saints use a chip from a running back, WR, or Tight End on the guy on the outside of the defensive line? When I paid attention to that in the Saints/49ers playoff game, it seemed like every play.

He played like what, training camp, before going down with the injury? Yeah, it takes time to recover, but if the Bears bring 2 more guards in as free agents, and then especially if they draft one, then someone is going to be the odd person out, and as of right now, that would be Carimi, as he was the worst of the linemen in question last year. If they have confidence in him and that his problem was strictly the injury last year, they won't bring in 2+ extra guards, because he and Webb will make up the right side of that line next year.

What kind of cap damage does it take to dump Carimi?

They still need to have cap space available for the draft.

I'd be stunned if he signed anywhere any time soon. If I were him, I'd wait until I knew better that I'd be ready to play this season.