LT2_3

Interesting use of the word "logic" along with a splash of revisionist history. You obviously think that teams should draft based on need regardless of whether the best guy on the board at the top need position is ranked where the team is picking or not. Even though I disagree with that concept, WR wasn't the biggest need at the time of the draft. At RB, all we had were TJ and AP while we had just signed Moose to a large contract to be our "Posession" receiver. Even if I bought that a WR was the top need, Williams would have been the wrong type. The need would have been a speedster and the top prospects would have been Troy Williamson or Mark Clayton. Mike Williams would have been redundant with the signing of Moose. Your opinion of MW is bizarre. Before that draft, I didn't like MW at all. In fact, I believe I said something along the lines of "Mike Williams won't make it in the NFL as a WR with his inability to keep weight off. He's young and his frame can handle extra weight too easily. He'll probably make someone a good TE someday once he gets over the idea that he's a WR at this level - and it probably won't be with the team that drafts him." As for your concept that Williams would have worked out differently if drafted by the Bears, I laugh. There is some validity to your concept, but NOT when taken to the extreme. Mike Williams has been a failure on 3 teams in 3 years. I just don't see how that can be spun positively.

I totally believe it - and it makes sense to me. I *think* probably what Lovie said was that Orton gets one game to prove that he should get to start again and that Griese is the alternative for the following week if Orton doesn't play well enough. That seems perfectly reasonable to me. As for the *spin* that's been applied to this, I don't believe anything but direct quotes heard in context. I recommend watching Bears Blitz so you can hear quotes for yourselves. I've seen harmless stuff spun in the papers and on radio to ridiculous proportions.

It's really too early for this sort of thing. You can't consider the draft until after you've dealt with early free agency and you can't deal with free agency until you see who gets extensions before free agency begins, who gets franchised, and who gets unexpectedly released. That being said, I'll comment on what you've got. Good effort for a hypothetical exercise although you have completely neglected free agency beyond our own players. That will determine our draft needs alot more clearly.

When he got injured, his prognosis was 3-4 weeks which might have him healthy for the season finale. I read this week that he's been on the practice field throwing the ball with Pep Hamilton and that he might be the #3 QB this week.

O geeeeez! Don't let reality get in the way of a good persecution complex!

Hey Balta - What's with the 1701-A designation? Personally, I'd be more of a 1701-D myself.

Yeah - but the ACTUAL top 10 guys aren't free agents this year with a $116 millon cap. Any deal that makes him a top 10 WR now, but where he won't be in 2 years, is probably a reasonable deal.

There are a couple of things to remember about the situation with Berrian. 1. Because the cap has grown so quickly in the past couple of years, the top guy at any position will get a FAR better contract than the BEST players signed to contracts only a couple of years ago. A perfect example is the Nate Clements in SF who signed the 8 year $80 million contract this past offseason. So while he's no Champ Bailey, he's still making more than anyone else at the position. 2. You have to also figure the difference in "Bears dollars" vs. the rest of the league. With the Bears, a player actually has a good chance at playing out his contract. Whereas Nate Clements has salaries of $9m, $10.7m, and $15.5 million in the final 3 years of his contract that he will likely never see. I think Berrian will get (from the Bears) somewhere around $15 million guaranteed on a 5 year contract worth $30 mil. On the open market, the guaranteed money will probably be about the same, but you can tack all kinds of extra stuff at the end since it's fantasy anyway. While that may sounds like alot, it's peanuts compared to what a Marvin Harrison or Chad Johnson would get in this year with this cap.

Actually, on the new board, there is a new rule that anyone with "Grouchy" in his name is required to have a kickin sig AND post a new one of his "lovlies" with each and every post!

Ok. How about a bit of background on the Soxtalk board? I didn't realize another group was joining us. - Not that I'm xenophobic or anything, just surprised. I'm LT2_3. I've been around since Dabeasshrine and do salary cap stuff occasionally and hope to have some numbers soon.

I've noticed that at least one person has changed his handle/monniker. For those that do, please post your conversion equivalencies here: Example: I was Ghost of Bearstalk on the nflfans board and was previously and am now LT2_3.