Pixote

We had a great time. In reading the reports from the Trib & Sun-Times, it appears to me there is not a whole lot I can add to the reports. I expected as much for the media usually jumps on any worth while quotes from such events right away. So was it a waste of time & money to go to an event of this nature when I could have read up on it on the net or newspaper? Absolutely not! It was worth every penny (and every sore muscle I am experiencing today after walking around for 9 hours). On the locker room tour I noticed that the players lockers were grouped a lot by position. Makes sense but something I was not aware of. Olsen & Cutler in the same area, not surprising. These guys are joined at the hip. They signed autographs together at the same booth. They sat next to each other at the seminar where they answered questions. We all know they have enjoyed some night life together. Cutler even joked that Olsen was staying in his guest room of his home (I think he was joking, LOL). I thought the locker room seemed smaller than I got the impression of in locker room interviews or after game locker room reports. I also was amazed at how small the visitors locker room was (not part of the tour but I got to see it when getting some autographs set up there). You talk about cramped. It had to be half the size of the Bears LR. Going out on the field was a blast. Remember, I had never been to Soldier Field. Going out onto the field and walking where my beloved play was just awesome. To view the stands from the field was quite an experience. The field looked incredibly small when actually standing on it. I played a lot of FB in HS but the field was not engulfed by such a massive structure. Makes a big difference in perception. They had field goal kicking opportunities. I am talking very short field goals, less than an extra point attempt. Yet only approximately 10 % made the attempt. Hail to bowlingtwig, he was successful, but I would definitely not sign him to a contract, it was just barely over the crossbar and just a bit inside the left upright, LOL. In our quest for offensive help, bowlingtwig looked OK in the RB drills but dropped a long pass, hands of concrete, LOL. Scratch him off possible help for Cutler. We were among the first 4000 fans to enter so got a guaranteed signature opportunity. Did we get Cutler, Olsen, Urlacher, Forte, Pace, NO. Gary & I both got Chris Williams. Now that was not so bad, I like the guy and think he will be a darn good OT. However, when we got in line for the signing and after 45 minutes past the signing time he still had not shown very few in line had much good to say about him ;-) As a result of his no show 2 things happened, one good, one bad. On the good side, they had Jarron Gilbert & Johnny Knox replace Williams so I got to meet and get sigs of 2 very impressive rookies. My hats off to them for volunteering to substitute for Williams as they had more signings and a seminar later in the day. Gilbert is a monster, huge, muscles on muscles, and Knox for a small WR was definitely a regular in the weight room. It was great to meet them and shake their hands. On the negative, because of the 45 minute delay, we were late getting to the seminar for the "big show" with Cutler, Olsen, Forte, & Pace. Thanks CW! As a result we had lousy views of the players but was able to view them from a distance and on a huge monitoring device set up. We were able to later get front row seats to the rookies seminar. Gilbert, Knox, Freeman, & Moore. Knox was a bit uneasy in the prime light. He seemed a bit nervous in the spotlight. He was very open and friendly but just seemed uncomfortable. This guy ran a 4.25 40, man that is fast. He admitted he will need to improve his route running skills but seemed confident in his ability. Next to him was Freeman. Of all the 4 rookies he seemed the most polished in the interview process, always coming up with excellent responses and never got rattled. I got good vibes from this guy. He could be a huge player for us in the near future. Gilbert was next to him and also seems a bit awkward in the spotlight. However, he did not shy away from questions and seemed humble. He had rave reviews of RM from rookie camp saying he had already learned a lot from Ron in his limited time. Enormous physical specimen. Huge wing span. Huge muscular build. Could touch the ceiling of his dorm doom flatfooted? Could put his fingers to the floor under a door frame and reach up with the other hand and touch the top of the door frame. Had a 37" vertical leap and over 10' in the broad jump? Man, turn him loose, this could be fun. Next to him was DJ Moore. This guy was funny and had a bit of swagger to him (like many CBs). Man did he look small. He has great vertical leaping skills which he reminded us of when he was asked about the press & experts questions of his height. He was definitely very comfortable in the "prime time". DJ was the first to arrive for the rookie seminar and spent a lot of time signing autographs before the start. Tom Thayer was fantastic helping out in the Seminars and spent hours between shows signing autographs, shaking hands, allowing fans to take pictures of him with them, etc. I was super impressed with his rapport and tireless efforts to please the fans attending. In short, I had a blast!

Unlike many on the forum, I drool over the idea of signing Plaxico. Hell, I was in love with the guy when he was in the draft. He is an elite WR who could easily make our offense one of the more dangerous in the league. Put him with Cutler, Forte, Hester, & Olsen, sprinkle in our rookie WRs and an improved OL and what do you have? Something I assure you we have not seen in Chicago for decades. Add to it one of the top STs in the league and what I hope will be a top 10 defense, and what do we have? A Super Bowl. If we can not get Plax (or he winds up in jail) maybe the Boldin trade will resurface with lower asking price or B Edwards is a possibility. I know we may be fine with what we already have on the roster, but I would welcome a proven veteran with open arms.

Yep, will do. It's about 5:30 AM and I am getting ready to make the trip to the Expo. Gary (bowlingtwig) will be picking me up in a few minutes and we are looking forward to some BEAR sightings.

Looks like things may be slipping in my hopes of a "Pisa" signing.

If cheap, why not? I'd take the gamble.

No wonder Angelo failed to get Boldin.

It use to be QB Kitna making bold predictions in preseason & WR Williams during the season. Now that they are both in DAL I guess Smith feels he needs to fill the void.

You betcha, just got my tickets via mail last weekend and printed out the program offered on the Bears Website to plan out my day. I am surprised no one has responded to this thread. I have to believe Gary & I are not the only posters attending.

Well if they are that bad why waste a spot on the PS for them? Cut them and sign someone else to take their place. I assume the reason a player is on the PS is because they have 'SOME" potential. I guess I am sadly mistaken.

I am a firm believer in the thought that one can not truly evaluate a player until they get actual NFL game experience/reps. Haas & Riddeau have had zero chance to prove themselves. They both have looked outstanding in preseason, but that proves nothing. It does make one curious as to what they would do if given a chance for Prime Time. Look at last seasons WRs. Lloyd looked good the first half but then showed in the 2nd half of the season why SFO & WAS gave up on him. Booker showed us he was no where near the receiver he was in his 1st run with us. Davis dropped so many passes everyone wanted him cut, and many still do. Bennett never saw the field. In the light of the underachieving WRs we had, what would it have hurt to give Haas or Riddeau a shot? What could it have possibly hurt? Could they really have been any worse than Lloyd, Davis, or Booker?

It seems to me Angelo is on a mission. He has been extremely active this offseason, picking up 3 OLmen, A Pro Bowl caliber QB, tries to go after Boldin during the draft, now picks up Gaines, picked up a few other backups for DBs, and seems to have the cap space and motivation to add a few more players before the season starts. This is about as good as it gets for Bears fans. I can't wait for the next acquisition. I would not be surprised to see a few more signings before camp opens up in July.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=5817

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/05/fo...may_11_pis.html I am intrigued with the possibility of obtaining this guy. Your opinions?

I think you miss the point. I do not think any of us thought he would be the next superstar for the Bears. However, a lot of us thought, in the light of a very underachieving WR Corps, that he at least deserved a shot at the main roster. The same goes for Riddeau. Neither Haas or Riddeau will be more than a #3 option, but I think both could have contributed more than Booker or Davis did last year.

Very interesting indeed. I did a search to see if I could find other rankings posted after the draft that were reflecting moves the Bears have made. They were tough to find. Prisco of CBS (what a jerk, IMO) has us as 14th. CBS Power Rankings WalterFootball.com (a site I really like) has us at 7th. Walterfootball.com Power Rankings The thing I love about these 2 sets of rankings as well as the one you posted is that all 3 have us above MIN & GBP and of course, DET.

Or, Conspiracy Theory no. 124525: We are preparing to trade Greg Olsen and our 2010 2nd round selection in the NFL draft for A. Boldin.

I think SEA signed Haas from our PS and must have felt Haas was better than Riddeau as I think both were up for grabs. I thought both had excellent potential and could not see why we did not give at least one a chance on our main roster in that our WRs last year were not that impressive.

I wish we still had Haas.

I think we should not expect the guy to throw for 4000+ yards and 30 TDs. Last year Denver had no running game, they were bringing in players off the street at the end of the season due to injuries. We definately have a star RB and an excellent ground game that will only get better this year. They had no defense and were playing from behind in "shootouts" just about every game. I expect to see the return of a dominating Chicago Defense. He threw over 600 passes last year. I would be shocked if he came anywhere close to that this year. He will still contribute greatly to our return to the SB in 2010!!!!!!!

I an guessing Olsen, Clark, & Davis remain our 3 TEs. Louis I think will be looked at as a developmental OLman If we sign Gaines I suspect it will be for FB & an occassional extra blocking TE in certain situations.

Here is some ammo for your project. There are many sites issuing top lists for the 2010 NFL Draft. I think listing projections at this point is a bit silly. I do not think one can determine that until at least near the end of the season. Many lists height & weights, again, they are typically inaccurate for many reasons this early. Some even lists 40 times, again, what is the rush. The main thing is to identify the top prospects to date and then add additional prospects as they emerge during the season and then of course Juniors as they declare. 40 times, height, weight, etc can be filled in as the season goes along and confirmed with the combine and individual workouts. Here are some lists to ponder and use if you wish to start things off. 3 are htm files and one if the excel database I created for you today. I hope you find them useful to give you ideas as to possibilities. We could possibly have a major listing(s) and then hyperlink each player to a thread or page created for each player where we can accumulate viewpoints of posters on each player as well as links to bios & articles & photos. Alphabetical Listing of Top 750 Players in 2010 Draft Top 750 Players by Position in 2010 Draft Top 750 Players in 2010 Draft Sorted by Schools 2010 NFL Draft DataBase

****Bump****

We have a QUARTERBACK. Yes, it is hard to believe. We have upgraded our OL to protect this excellent MOBILE Quarterback. Forte average ypc will benefit immensely as teams will not be able to stack the "Box" Forte is an excellent receiver as well. Greg Olsen will be HUGE as a target for Cutler, Clark & K Davis will also contribute. Cutler's buddy E Bennett should have an excellent year. Cutler to Hester connection should be very exciting, Cutler can hit him on those deep routes. Then I read this from FootBallGuys.com: Then you add in our sleeper WR from the 7th Rd. This could be very interesting!!!!!!

Agreed. Now I did expect our early odds for the SB/NFC Championship to be a bit better. I thought we would be favorites to win the NFCN and therefore was surprised when GBP & MIN both got better odds for the season than the Bears. Thats ok, we just need to upset Vegas, LOL.