balta1701-A

There ought to be an upgrade available with this money if the Bears want it.

The Bears have been needing a long term replacement for Urlacher for a while. If you can start him off in the system at the corner and get good performance out of that, and then have him able to move to the Middle if Urls gets hurt, that is a move to make the team better.

If that's a lot for a lower tier starting center...then the Bears ought to have found a middle-tier starting center somewhere. Or signed a guard so that they can move one of their current guards to C. Something. They don't have the horses right now.

Considering that Forte isn't very good against the goal line, a short yardage back who is actually effective would have made a big difference last year. The FO was addressing a need here. Now the coaching staff just has to actually use the guys that way.

The Bears have offered Kreutz $4 million, Kreutz wants $4.5 million. $500k difference.

Roach was resigned.

And both of them are talented enough to be stars if they're coached well and work hard.

The worry still is...none of that depth matters if the QB is on his back.

I read 2 years, $5 mil.

No. I think the Bears have moderately upgraded their whole defensive front, with some potential for one of these guys to bust out as a large upgrade.

If Tice thinks Kreutz just won't have it any more, I can live with that. But that means another warm body is needed in the O-Line.

Every move the Bears have made is a small upgrade with a decent shot at being a large upgrade. Now that trend just needs to continue on the O-Line.

Link

This would now make for a significantly upgaded Defense.

Sometimes guys can pick it up after a down year, even late in their careers. Reality right now is...the Bears don't obviously have the C spot filled. This is a problem. If there's another solution, every fan would be happy to hear it.

He's making about $10 mil a year but only about $25 mil of his contract is guaranteed. In 3 years they can cut or restructure him if he looks that bad.

The player is not Steve Smith.

Would you prefer someone who is good but doesn't care or someone who isn't good but works hard?

Link

Fits our system = willing to actually work at getting better.

Middle of the pack last year in yards per punt but #5 in the league in terms of net yardage gained by punt. Longest return against him last year was only 19 yards, best for any punter in the league. Probably means that Jax had a good coverage squad, but that he also gets some extra elevation on kicks to help them, without sacrificing yardage.

IS there any chance that Webb could be moved to guard behind Garza?

If Olsen were subtracted and somehow a WR upgrade was brought in, wouldn't that be a substantial upgrade?

I think his biggest issue is injuries. When he's healthy he's still a threat. His numbers have been going down obviously, but yeah, their team quality has been going down just as rapidly since his peak.