balta1701-A

The rule for prognosticators is to assume stasis. Everything stays the same until proven otherwise. Of course, if NFL commentators were judged on their predictions, they'd all be out of a job.

(Hence why I made the generic TC thread. We're going to get 3 "player x looks great" articles per day that someone wants to post).

Bad first day in pads for Brian Price. Also the Commish will be in attendance tomorrow.

If the guy is only a situational pass rusher long term then that's probably a little bit of a failing yeah. Starting there as a rookie on a deep team with Peppers on the other end? I can live with that for a year. Would be disappointing to get the guy and have him not immediately make an impact as a situational rusher, and would be disappointing for him not to be able to play every down at some point.

Brian Price positive fluff piece.

Long ESPN blog about mostly stuff we've already heard, but here's a bunch of from-the-camp details.

Here's a good place to stick the daily "Generic training camp article on player x". Link Here's today's, on Brandon Hardin.

That's all? Who's taking his TD's?

With Blackmon I'm sure they're pushing to get some additional guarantees if he winds up having another substance abuse th ing.

Think of it this way. Do we think of last year's Eli Manning season as a surprise season or not? It was head and shoulders above any season he's had before, but he's always been a talented guy and has had success before. Cutler can pull the same trick this year.

Some of the reason why these guys stay unsigned is that the orgs want to push them to sign more team-friendly deals. The Bears seemingly prefer to get them signed, and if it costs them a little more then that's something they're willing to do.

Link

Worth adding to the thread.

Link

1. Marshall 2. Releasing Frank Omiyale 3. Hopefully will be drafting Shea McClellin.

He could stomp on an O-Lineman's arm.

One thing about that TE slot...it's so much more important when you have a legit passing game around it. The TE, outside of New England, is that position which piles up the yards over the middle when the offense wants to drop back and throw the ball to the WR but the WR is being covered up, leaving the middle of the field open.

Signs with Jags.

Is there someone on the roster who fills that role? Didn't the Bears lose their ST Ace last year? Was that Graham or is memory faulty here? If my memory works, Graham is that CB sized guy, 200 lbs, kind of guy you could replace on ST with a WR.

2 roster spots cleared.

I would expect them to keep Thomas on the team even if he's beaten out for a WR spot to be one of the special teams aces. Hell, they could legitimately carry 7 guys who can play the WR position, if you count the fact that 3 of them are special teamers Marshall Jeffrey Bennett Hester Weems Thomas Wild Card?

As usual let's also note...this is the sort of skill that can be worked on in an offseason. The team had...no offseason last year.

Over that time period, the Packers have averaged 29.37 points per game in the regular season as a whole.

The only thing to remember is that there are already plenty of people out there who eitehr want to run him down or catch him running down someone else on his team, whether it's Marshall or the Offensive Line or the Coaching Staff or the Ownership, so he has to only go so far, even if there's something he feels strongly about. Manning last year of course made big news when he called himself an "elite quarterback" or something like that. His team spent half the year getting asked about it, until he sorta went out and had an elite season and won another Super Bowl. So if he talks big and backs it up, great. If he goes after someone, the press will be thrilled to keep blowing that up until it becomes a serious team problem. That's where skilled media coaching comes in. Making sure a guy knows what the limits ought to be before he gets on the air.

Assuming he has a good media coach this is a great idea to help with outreach/"improving his image" or whatever.