balta1701-A

He really doesn't need to "Say" anything, he could just outwork them and outplay them this offseason/training camp.

If the Bears had drafted an OT in the 2nd round and they wound up starting, would you be equally mad?

3 rookies made the initial roster, total.

In the 2012 pro bowl, there were more undrafted free agents than 3rd round picks. And that isn't an unusual situation.

Seriously, the last day that I care about whether or not a guy was an UDFA or not is the day after the draft. If the guy comes in to camp and actually plays well, he can earn himself playing time. In each of those cases, it's pretty likely that the team had someone in front of the UDFA Rookie who had to get out of the way first, before the UDFA could take over the role. It's not very likely this kid would come out of camp with the job, but I won't be mad if he earns it. The draft is over, so really, I don't care about whether or not he was drafted anywhere.

Really, you flat out can't say this if you actually know the NFL. UDFA's grab starting jobs every year. UDFA's make the pro bowl every year. That's why teams are often so aggressive in trying to sign a bunch of UDFA's...you wind up with a kid who you never expected to perform, or a kid who fell out of the draft because of some issue, stepping up, working really hard, being really motivated, studying and learning your offense, and coming in to the season better prepared than guys who have guaranteed contracts.

The Sad thing, IMO, is that if he'd been willing to sign an extension 2 years ago, he could have guaranteed himself at least $12 million at the time, and probably been 1 year away from the "forced renegotiation" point.

The Bears still extended Harris' contract after he suffered that major injury. He still got paid guaranteed money for several seasons, when if the Bears hadn't extended his deal, he'd have hit FA after 2007 and had virtually no one interested because it looked like he would never fully recover from that injury and was a near backup (which, honestly, was all true). He got a lot of money from the Bears based on what he did pre-injury. Had Angelo not extended him, he'd have gotten very little.

Biggs writes the "Signs pointing to Williams heading back to tackle" article.

lINK

Every QB goes through that at some point. Even guys behind great lines. The questions are the frequency and the results. If it happens rarely, the opposing team is forced to blitz to make it happen, and Cutler can get the ball in Marshall's direction before he's sacked, great. If he takes 9 sacks in a game, can't get rid of the ball, and ends up concussed, that's the opposite.

I knew someone was going to say this and we'd all love to think it's true that a starting job for an NFL team would be motivation enough, but we all know it isn't. That's why bulletin board material exists. That's why guys get performance bonuses in their contracts. That's why coaches are really important for players. That's why Gregg Williams and a number of players are suspended this year. Keeping a guy motivated every day isn't the easiest thing in the world, even for HOF caliber talents.

Makes sense that talking up the UDFA is a good way to make sure Webb stays motivated throughout the offseason.

Well, they did what I thought they'd do and passed on major O-Line upgrades in the draft and FA. Which means they really believe what they're saying about these guys. Which means...Tice and Smith's jobs are on the line...literally, on the performance of the line.

If they think both Idonijie and Wooten could play DT in a pinch, that could be a reason why they'd be willing to sacrifice "injury prevention depth" at that position going in to the season and apply that depth elsewhere. (presumably if you were facing having long term injuries out there, you'd make a move midseason to bring in someone to improve that situation, but in the event of a 1-2 game injury or even a 2nd half injury, having 2 guys who can shift over and give the occasional snap could be all they're looking for).

this just makes you "human".

At this point, I really get the impression the Bears are willing to let it ride into TC on the young guys they have in the middle of their line, which I assume means they're expecting a big "You can't take me off the field" performance from Paea. Idonijie probably is sitting as the "Everybody gets hurt backup DT" right now, honestly.

The question is...do the Bears have trouble in short yardage because of the blocking or because of the running back? My answer until proven otherwise is that Forte just isn't a good short yardage back. He's not a leaper, he's not a big body who can plow forwards, he's an explosive guy who is at his best if you put him in space, which doesn't happen when you put 9 defenders on the LOS and say "Get 2 yards". Which is, for example, the whole reason I liked the Barber signing last year, and he wound up with a touchdown in 5 of the first 7 games he played in, which was exactly what he was supposed to do.

The real problem is that when you're talking 6th rounder versus 4th rounder, you're talking about grading the difference between #110 and #180, which means that a subtle difference in evaluation can move guys around big time in slotting.

one of my reactions to this pick is "I wonder if this isn't the first step towards long term switching to a 3-4 system if Lovie departs".

Some would say that putting the ball on the ground, if you can convert 3rd and medium regularly, is the definition of going for the throat, because you're going to destroy the other team's defensive front.

Oh god not Haynesworth

If Colombo had managed to stay healthy in chicago that would have been a very good draft.

I don't know that I like the idea of Williams coming in to camp without having a clear position to work on... But I also don't like the idea of Webb having no competition for the starting job.