balta1701-A

Just from a business perspective, I think it's maddening that the Bears so completely fail to take advantage of the market for their product. That's one of the few franchises in the league that could easily fill a Jerry Jones style mega palace.

IT's looking more and more likely like the Saints are going to have to use their franchise tag to make sure Brees doesn't test the market.

The real issue in terms of how many new WR do the Bears need is health. If the Bears were looking at having Knox back that's one thing, but with him likely being gone, it creates a real need for 2 people at the WR slot...And then, Bennett has this habit of not being healthy either, which makes room for even more additions there.

Technically, Davis is still a free agent, so they don't have him currently.

So would the goal for him be to put him at DE?

If you're drafting Hill, it makes a ton of sense to move down to do it, esp. if you can grab an extra 3rd rounder or so in the process.

But with both of those positions..."The bigger needs" have been at least partially addressed in free agency in that "Dream scenario". You spend substantial money on those positions, and suddenly you can't tell me that they're enormous needs afterwards.

Honestly, that "Dream scenario" still leaves the Bears in a position where an extra LB and an extra DE would make a big difference. CB too.

Even if the reports right now say there's a decent chance of Knox being 100% by July, you have to have some plan for what you do if he's not. Dude's wearing a damn back brace right now. Small setback, small delay in athleticism recovery, and then there goes the WR corps if you don't.

Don't forget...Carimi basically didn't play for them this year. So the "Prior to Cutler going down" numbers were for the Webb/Williams/Garza/Louis/Omifail/Spencer lineup.

I keep adding that caveat when I talk about the Tackle position, but even if they really like Webb and intend to start him this year, they absolutely need help at that position. Both to push Webb and, more importantly, to remove Omiyale. Omiyale is literally stealing money. The Bears were in a position last year where their backup tackle was so bad that it looked like a good option to them to move their starting RG to RT and put in their backup Guard as a starter instead of playing their backup tackle. That's inexcusable. If they really want to give Webb a chance, then maybe a guy like McNeil (sp?) from the Chargers would make a ton of sense, because he could be gotten for a discount and the bears wouldn't necessarily need him to be ready to play on day 1, so he could start off the season on the recovery path and then be ready if needed. Or, alternatively, a guy who might n ot be ready to play a full season but could be effective in a few games or a half season...like Clifton.

Don't forget that Jackson also sat out nearly an entire season with a contract dispute, otherwise he'd almost certainly be 4/4.

To the Chicago Bears, yes, Vincent Jackson is worth $12.

But then the question is, would that look good if the Bears have the same O-line. Or have only a 2nd round pick on the D-Line.

If Williams is moving back to LT, then Webb is moving to the bench, because Gabe Carimi is not going to the bench unless he's hurt again.

Even still, the Bears absolutely need someone who can step in at the tackle spot, at least to cover the position in the case of injury. Omiyale cannot be that person. A 1-2 year experienced veteran might be an acceptable option, especially if you're not expecting him to play all 16 games.

He did say that he was a bit overweight (230ish) while playing last year.

Would definitely be nice to get that done so as to probably save a couple million on the cap hit.

Lovie is on the Get a WR train.

If you watched the Saints during the playoffs (the announcers pointed this out a lot), they have a very solid O line, but their tackles were constantly getting help from a TE or RB. It wasn't a full double team, but on almost every play, the top pass rusher got a chip from a RB or TE. Almost every time. Didn't disrupt the route the guy was running all that much, but was a huge help to the LT by breaking the pass rusher's momentum and screwing up his ability to make the outside move.

Frank Omiyale disagrees. I think Mike Martz could block better than him.

That starts next year, 2013, and how it is counted is different from how the cap hit is counted.

I believe it's just a first actually now, isn't it? Anyway, if he were the only WR on the market I'd give up a first and a big contract for him. I don't think he's the best WR on the market.

If the Bears are in the range of $25-$30 million, I can't see how they would really go after a top flight ($10 million) WR and a second tier (maybe $5-6 million) WR without sacrificing Forte.

Signed by the Chiefs (which could suggest they're thinking of franchising Bowe and letting their CB hit the market).