Pixote

What about someone like Jared Gaither, SDC? My understanding is he played pretty good in place of McNeil last year when he went down.

The wait for this info is over, cap at about the same as last year, 120.6 Million http://blogs.nfl.com/2012/03/11/salary-cap...HP11_hot_topics

If between Washington & Chicago (Hear Washington would be our thorn), I know the Redskins seem to have deep pockets when it comes to FAs, but do you really think VJ would want to go to a team like Washington with the QB situation they have or prefer going to Chicago with Cutler as his QB? It would be to his advantage to go to the team that not only can offer him a big contract but also a QB that can give him a chance to excel and get to the SB.

When is the last time we had a WR who looked like a LB? I hope this guy is not on Steroids. He looks like a monster WR, just what we are looking for.

When Butkus was ending his career I was worried out defense would never be the same without him. Then Singletary came along and we had one of the top defenses in NFL History. Then when Samurai retired I though, oh shit, our defense is going to suck, who will replace him? Then Urlacher was drafted. I keep hearing our window of opportunity is closing, I just do not believe it. I do not care what the hell we have to pay VJ, if by doing so it helps take us to another level and a trip to the SB, then it is worth every penny. Sign VJ, then draft a top WR prospect to go along with him. That window will open wide and we will have some fun again in Chicago.

Royal would be interesting because he certainly had a great year with Cutler. He would not be a #1 but would be an excellent option for Cutler as they seemed to work well together in the past. Heck, they were together when our new QB coach was working with the Denver offense, right? Still need a "Beast" as a number one option, but we need more quality receivers to go along with the #1 so Royal might just be a cheap option that would work out???

I was not too high on him, I have a feeling he will never reach his potential due to attitude issues, from what I am hearing. Now Emery has ties to KC, it would not hurt me one bit to see both Carr & Bowe signed day one of FA.

That is actually good news. Foster is very comparable to Forte IMO, great running the ball, excellent catching the ball, both young. At this point in their careers Foster would probably be considered by many as the better of the two. So now the Bears have a legitimate bargaining point with a reasonable figure to work with.

I suspect this will set the standard for Forte: It will establish a ceiling, not sure if it will be matched, maybe something similar. I am anxious to hear the terms which are now being finalized.

I believe Forest Gregg in GB did the same which led to Martin injuring McMahon, or am I mistaken?

The Official Bears site has an article showing Forte has had the franchise tag placed on him. Hopefully before long we will see an article saying he has been signed to a long term contract and the "tag" was just used to make sure he did not go anywhere while we tried to finish up negotiations. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=8669

Yes, did not want anyone to take me serious, I obviously do not think either would be there in the 3rd, just having fun is all.

Mike Adams, OT - OSU - 19 Reps Peter Konz, C, Wisconsin - 18 Reps LOL, Personally, I think they will fall all the way to the 3rd round, where the Bears select both of them and our new GM breaks out his brass knuckles and whip he used when he was a strength & conditioning "Devil" for the midshipmen and our OL problems will be over with.

He should be in the top 10 for drops, LOL. I saw him drop quite a few during the season.

I am not sure TE is high priority for the Bears. Personally, I think Davis could be a diamond in the rough, never really given an opportunity to develop due to the OC not wanting to utilize TEs the past 2 years.

Exactly. Tice obviously wants to succeed as OC, and if he does, unfortunately he will probably be gone next year as a HC somewhere. NO OC wants to have to keep a TE or RB in place to help out a LT who cannot do the job solo. It limits the offense in the plays it can run, taking a skill player out of the equation. It tips off the defense and makes it easier for them to "sniff out" what is coming. Tice had to show support for Webb, no matter what he thought, for what else could he do? Go to the press & whine about how his LT sucks?

I must chip in with a comment, LT2 is kick-ass when it comes to cap analysis and has always had great success in his projections. For many years he posted on our site here (and the previous versions as well) with well defined information in a spreadsheet format that could not be disputed. I will be interested to see if he is still as accurate as he has been in the past. I miss his input to these forums and would welcome him back in a heartbeat.

How much of it is "Tice loves Webb" or is it "Tice wanted to give support to his player as he had no other options". My guess, if given a chance, Tice would love to upgrade the OL, and OLT would be the first spot to upgrade. I give Webb credit for playing his ass off, he is a 7th round pick and he, IMO, gave it his "all", but that is just not good enough at this point of his career. Maybe he would develop over time, but for now he is a viable backup and not a starter.

I think for Brandon Marshall I would be tempted, but with all the talk about Marshall, Miami would be crazy as hell to let him go. I want our first round pick, and I want Emery to hit gold on it, I do not care what position he fills with it, as long as it is a blue chip player that contributes big time in his first year and does not spend a year red-shirted, on the IR, or on the bench.

You would be surprised how far they can stretch a dollar with innovative contract structuring. If they have 25-50 Million to spend, they can do a lot in FA and still sign Forte. That is where the expertise of Stein comes into play, he is one of the best in juggling the books.

McNutt must have suction cups on his finger tips, he was making his QB look good with some incredible catches.

Isn't it unusual for a Center to be projected as a 1st round pick? I do not recall many centers going in the 1st, or is my memory bad? Konz is a center, correct?I don't see one OLT in the list or am I missing something?

Some of you seem disappointed in the press conference. I do not understand what you expected. I thought he did fine and said the right things. I did not expect anything of substance and no one should have. Here is a link to an excellent article on Emery GakMan linked to it earlier in this thread. I urge all those concerned about Emery to read it. I am very encouraged by what it said. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...to-the-top.html By the way: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/orientated There is some debate on the net as to it's validity, but it is defined and not one of those weird made-up words that Angelo would use and cause every newsman and writer to make fun of him. I really do not think it matters. We did not hire a professional speaker, we hired a GM.

I think we have a better chance of addressing the WR needs in FA than OT, therefore, assuming FA goes as I hope it does, if a WR and an OT were both of equal grade, I would opt for the OT. The Bears need to protect Cutler and open holes for Forte, unless they do, does it matter what skill players we have on offense?

I understood every word he said and every word was actually listed in the Webster dictionary, LOL. I like what I heard, no, he did not give away any "secrets" but did we really want him to? Would that have been best for the Bears? I want a good solid GM not a cheerleader or someone making "they were who we thought there were" type of rants to entertain us. We do not need a Ditka type press conference, we need a leader in the front office who knows what the hell he is doing and I think we now have one. I am looking forward to the free agency period, could be very interesting.