ASHKUM BEAR

How about also adding: Sanchez and Oher as they were top 10 for a while. If Jenkins, Andre Smith, Maualuga, Sanchez, or Oher were available, I'd cut it down to Sanchez, Smith, and Oher. With Tait retiring and St. Clair just a stop gap, I would go Oher in a heartbeat. 1. Oher OT 2. Nicks/Britt/Robiskie WR (like last year, WR's will start going in RD2 - hoping 1 of 3 makes it to us) 3. Rhett Bomar QB 3b. Nic Harris OLB 4. D. Bruton FS 5. Aaron Kelly WR 6. Louis Vasquez G 7. best FB available

I'm with jason on this one! T.O. works best in a west coast offense which Turners offense is based off of. Every team that he's been on, he's put up monster #'s. When his team starts losing and he's no longer the focal point of the offense is when the media starts asking him his thoughts and the negative energy emerges. I think TO would be 50/50 on his decision to come here: 50 For - Chicago is the second largest market, a storied NFL franchise, team still has a chance at SB, he can become Chicago's best WR ever. 50 Against - Offense has been in the gutter, QB not very accurate past 15 yds, Turner hasn't been too creative. Odds are, Angelo/Lovie wouldn't think twice about it, but getting a true #1 may change minds.

Here's something I recently heard, but can't find any facts on yet: The way the salary cap works, the teams have a limit and a floor on what they have to spend. The Bears have approx. 20-30 million available to spend, but if the ownership don't have the cash readily available, they won't be able to compete in signing bonuses. At some point in time, the teams are given there revenue sharing but that is after the FA period starts. What I heard is that the Bears won't be able to do too much b/c the ownership wouldn't have millions available to hand out and with the economy and banking situations borrowing wouldn't be much of an option. I wish LT2 3 were available to correct me and explain, but I think this has something to do with the inactivity. Once the cash becomes available the Bears will have to find a way to be within 85.2% of the cap.

Your right, we don't move too fast b/c we got ourselves at 30 mil plus cap space by not buying into the FA hype and letting things settle a bit. We look for contributors that will keep us finanically healthy and build our core through the draft. Also, I think whatever JA and the Bears do, they will be criticized one way or the other. For instance we need a franchise QB. If the Bears brought in Warner, there would be negative statements like he's too old, can't play in cold/wind, won't have Fitz/Bolden or Holt/Bruce as WR. If we brought in Housmanzadeh we would get: he's too old, only a pos WR, always a #2, played in Cincy who almost always had to pass to catch up. So I'm ok on bringing in lesser names like we have in the past (R. Brown, R. Garza, F. Miller, K Jones, etc.)

One reason we are in such great cap space, 30mil or so, with most starters signed long term is b/c we don't bite on the high priced FA's. We wait it out, prices go down, and we can get the bargains. It may not be flashy, but right now the Bears would prefer to bring in their stars through the draft and be able to resign them.

We did interview Crabtree and Smith at the combine though, why would we go through that process if we didn't think there was a slim chance we might be in position to take one.

Going back to saying JA sabotaged Jauron is dilusional, Jauron had GM powers even though JA had the title. It was put in Jauron's contract. Once Angelo got control of full GM, he canned Jauron. This took place after Ed McCaskey died in 2003 and his power in shares was divided out and the majority was taken away from Virginia and Mikey. I know were trying to figure out why we've only signed one player in 5 days there must be a conspiracy, but that's just not the case. JA will make a move when he finds a player he likes on/off the field and a Bear friendly contract can be made.

I'm thinking maybe more like St. Louis, Seattle, Oakland, or Jacksonville. These are teams that are not in the best cap space according to ask the commish: 21 Jacksonville Jaguars $20000000 22 San Diego Chargers $18000000 23 NY Giants $15000000 24 Dallas Cowboys $14000000 25 Carolina Panthers $13000000 26 Seattle Seahawks $13000000 27 St. Louis Rams $12000000 28 Oakland Raiders $8000000 29 Indianapolis Colts $6000000 30 Washington Redskins $1000000 31 New Orleans Saints $-1000000 32 NY Jets $-3000000 But to make a deal with one of these, we probably have to forfiet this years 1, 3 and a 1 next year at least. Sitting in this position, we can possibly get: Stafford, Monroe, J Smith, Crabtree, Orakpo, E. Brown. The ones making the most since would be Monroe/Smith to play RT. 1. Monroe/Smith OT..................Crabtree WR......................Crabtree WR 2. Britt/Robiskie WR ..... OR...... Loadholdt OT........... OR....L. Delmas FS 3b. Bruton FS..........................Bruton FS...........................X. Fulton OT A draft like this would have me satisfied

I always mix those two up, dang it. It looks like he signed today, maybe they had an agreement in place 3 days ago. Lions | B. Johnson signed Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:37:56 -0800 Nicholas J. Cotsonika, of the Detroit Free Press, reports the Detroit Lions have signed unrestricted free-agent WR Bryant Johnson (49ers) to a three-year deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sorry guys, had to throw a "sike" out there. As we are all down on the lack of news, were only 5 days into FA. We all hope for the "castle of grayskull" toy for Xmas, but since our parents aren't big spenders, we know we'll always end up with a lego set every year instead. We can always hope, please ma/pa by building our castle from legos, and maybe we'll get our dream once things settle down.

In other news, Cedric Benson resigns with Cincinatti and Antoinio Bryant WR signs with Detroit

Bengals | Grossman to visit Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:12:57 -0800 Joe Reedy, of The Cincinnati Enquirer, reports unrestricted free-agent QB Rex Grossman (Bears) said during a radio interview that he will meet with the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday, March 5. Here's some news for the guys with the kffl ticker blues.

My choice: 1- Reggie Williams WR JAX (not sure after the bone head was drunk and high driving around) 6-4 225 4.45 forty time draft profile: Positvies: good speed for size, excellant hands, very physical, rarely loses on jump balls. He can manhandle CB's trying to jam him at the line, great blocker, He can be the closest thing to Larry Fitzgerald and maybe a new team will allow him to refocus his NFL career. If he is willing to straighten up, I'd be willing to offer him an incentive laden contract. 2- Michael Jenkins - never mind, I see he signed a contract extension back in Nov 25.

Feb 18th, no hard feelings. Feb 18 2009, 10:20 PM Post #13 Practice Squad Group: Super Fans Posts: 321 Joined: December 11, 2007 From: Ashkum, IL Member No.: 2,593 I can live with that mock, but I think at least for this year we can pass on a CB or at least not a high RD one. Right now we have a decent group that can become better with better D-Line play. Tillman, Graham, Vasher, McBride, Bowman, Manning have all shown flashes and my sleeper to step up this year is Bowman. Heres my take: 1-Hakeem Nicks WR - He is really starting to grow on me and I think he can become a #1 threat that would complement Hester very well 2-Phil Loadholdt RT - He definately has some work cut out for him in terms of pass blocking, but the Bears can really use a mauler on the right side to open up lanes for Forte. 3-Trevor Canfield G - After Canfield, the next 2-3 best G prospects have had recent knee injuries. If Canfield still available, he'd be too good to pass up. 3bb-David Bruton FS - Has decent speed that Lovie likes and can possibly be insurance behind Atowge when we sign him 4-Phillip Hunt DE - A quick DE that has a knack for getting to the QB 5-Drew Willy QB - Decent size QB, Doesn't make a lot of mistakes, comes out of MAC conference. 6-Herb Donaldson RB - coming out of our far back yard at Western IL, Donaldson is 5-11 220 has good size/speed but played in Div 1-AA. With approx. 1800 yds and 21 TD's he outshined his small division which shows something. This will be JA's small school talent. 7-Travis McCall FB - known for playing as a FB/TE at Bama and he can definately block. He only had 8 carries last year

I like it, but like someone else mentioned, if Bryd or Bruton are there grab them. As for Hunt - here's what you told me earlier (lol)

I'm sure if we took Beatty, then RD2 would be Britt or vice versa Darius Hayward-Bey and Phil Loadholdt RD2. I know a couple of guys here that would love to see all lineman drafted though.

My choices for this version: 1. Aaron Maybin DE - We need to have some youth move in for Adewale and Alex real soon. I picked Maybin over English b/c Maybin has 2 more inches of height at 6-4". It was mentioned before that Mark Anderson was too small, but he's also listed at 6-4" were Wale=6-4, Brown=6-3". Larry English listed at 6-2" 2. Brian Robiskie WR - He's the sleeper of the litter at WR. Playing for a run oriented Buckeye team, Robiskie at 6-3 209 has nice size/speed combo. His routes, hands, and maturity are pro ready as his father (ATL WR's coach) groomed him well. 3a. Jarius Bryd CB/S - The Bear need to find a true FS, Byrd has the versitile to move from CB to S if needed 3b. Fenuki Tupou OT - Two Ducks in a row lol, Tupou has nice size and can be groomed for the RT spot. When I compare him to Beatty/Britton I don't think theres much of a drop off. With Xavier Fulton still on the board we can even look at him. ---------

The Results of the People of TalkBears version I mock is: RD1=William Beatty OT Con 9 votes ---Darius Haywood-Bey MD 7 votes RD2=Phil Loadholdt OT OK 11 votes ---Kenny Britt WR Rut 6 votes RD3=Jarius Byrd CB/S 7 votes/J Watkins OT 7 votes See Version II that has adjustments made after combine

Derrick Dockery signs with Washington. 5 yr 26 million 8.5 guaranteed.

Brandon Moore G resings with the Jets 4 year 16 million 10 guaranteed.

Jason Brown C signs with St. Louis 5 yr 37.5 w/ 20 guaranteed.

Stacy Andrew OT to the Eagles JJ Arrington to the Broncos Correll Buckhalter to the Broncos Fred Taylor to the Patriots

Please add any free agent updates here unless you'd like to have a broad discussion on a certain player.

With the Angler working on resigning St. Clair and Omiyale brought in to compete for a G spot, I fear we will have some upset posters coming April 28th. The writing on the wall is telling me that the Bears probably won't be drafting an Olineman on the first day. The best thing that can happen is for some team to sign St. Clair and leave the Bears no choice but to trade up and grab a day 1 starter quality RT. Here's our Offensive Line 2009: St. Clair - Omiyale - Kreutz - Beekman - Williams (Buenning backup G, 3 or 4 RD draft pick as backup T) I really like the Omiyale signing and commend JA for winning him over 10 other NFL teams.

I figured Jenkins would fall further than Oher b/c w/ Smith pulling his crap teams might grade Oher slightly higher. Oher/Smith will most likely be gone before 18, but Jenkins may end up making it to us. As of Thursday, walterfootball just updated there site and they have Smith @ 13 to WAS, Jenkins @ 14 to NO, M. Johnson @ 15 to HOU, and Oher @ 16 to SD. That leaves us w/ English, Moreno, Beatty, Britton, DJ Moore, Maualuga, Maybin, Maclin, Nicks, or Robinson to finish out the first. Thats also why I didn't have Robinson as a 2nd, b/c walter had him going as a high 2nd RD pick.