ASHKUM BEAR

Briggs didn't have much choice left. Teams said to have been interest were Tampa Bay who have Derek Brooks, Cato June, Quincy Black, Jerimiah Trotter, plus about 4 others at LB, not an option here IMO. New Orleans was also interested, but were spending big cash on Vilma, McCray, Gay, Stecker, Henderson. Washington was never really in the mix IMO, b/c they really don't have the cap space at the moment. Briggs realized he better sign quckly with the Bears before they brought the Atlanta FA in and before they started lowering the offer.

Going by #1 need, I'd say Clady. I'd truly think about McFadden/Mendenhall really hard though.

JA-Better call Bell's agent soon....... Rams | J. Bell to visit Monday Sat, 1 Mar 2008 19:42:37 -0800 Jim Thomas, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reports free-agent OG Jacob Bell (Titans) is scheduled to visit the St. Louis Rams Monday, March 3.

It's great to see Briggs back, even though I was prepared to see him leave. So, what's next JA? The papers say your working on our own players to extend contracts, but shouldn't you be looking at adding an outside piece here or there? Or, are you trying to extend our own (Harris, Url, Hester, Anderson) to gauge what there mindsets for $$ is so you know where our cap space will be for the next couple of years. Those guys are players we want for sure to be around long term and if we can get them extended now, the better. If extensions cannot be worked out, at least we know what were up against next time at the contract table. Hopefully in the next week or two, we can find a O-lineman and a WR to add to our team. The WR pool is pretty deep compared to the OG pool. I hope we can land Jacob Bell to fill LG and then add DJ Hackett/J. McCariens and Patten/Booker. WR's {Moose=35yrs old} Randy Moss-31 will command a lot of $$ and would prefer a contender w/ a QB to get him the ball Bryant Johnson-27 set to meet Buf - Bears would put him at Moose's spot DJ Hackett-27 Could replace BB Javon Walker-29 -Once a proven #1, suffered some bad knee injuries and not sure about character Marty Booker-32- Once a beloved Bear. Would bring vet leadership and replace Moose David Patten-34- Solid vet, produces every where he goes Drew Carter-27- Has speed, but never proved much when given the opportunity when S.Smith was out Brandon Lloyd-27- A Turner guy at UofI, flopped at Was and showed gator arms Eric Moulds-35-A solid vet who still can produce Eddie Kennison-35 Sammie Parker-27 David Givens-28-A Domer who has been solid up until Tenn. Justin McCariens-29-A NIU grad who'd I love to see in a Bear uni. Showed glances of being a solid WR Keenan McCardell-38-A solid vet who seems to always have a knack at making the catch Peerless Price-31 Carlyle Holliday-26-Another Domer that can also throw the pass on a trick play Tim Dwight-33-a Senoir Welker anyone? Mike Williams-24 USC player many wanted instead of Benson, This is almost as bad a Ryan Leaf OG- Not many Olineman talent left so I'd hope JA would make this a higher priority. Jacob Bell-27 Would still cost a lot of dough, but the Bears need to make the Oline their strengh Jake Scott-27 Looked solid at Indy, but many say it's the system. Womack - 29 A solid G at Seattle

Starks was franchised by Pitt, and Olevia ended up on the Charger bench and is only a RT. The only way I would think about Mendenhall is if we know we can get a potential OLT in the draft b/c there are no OLT availble in FA. Since this is a deep draft for RB's, I think we will wait until the 3 or 4 round. Before we invest in QB's, RB's, WR's, IMO we need to have a young strong Oline.

Moose is truly a bus driver. If he was smart, he would keep his pie hole shut unless he wanted to say good things about the organization and city. By running his mouth, he is hurting his chances at returning to the city as a possible media man with Comcast. He seemed to spend more time on TV/Radio shows than he ever spent on becoming a better player.

I also have Patten as a target. Why not? He's a vet, should cost less, and still is productive. I have a feeling, Berrian will sign elsewhere and Hester could easily fill his role for the deep man. I'm not saying Hester will immediately become a #1 in the league, but he will be on plenty of espn highlights catching the hail mary's. Those deep plays is what gave Berrian a name 2 years ago and also made Grossman look like the Good Rex. I also hope we show plenty of interest in Bryant Johnson and Marty Booker. It would be nice to see Book be able to retire here and Johnson could become a true #1 if given the chance.

Olivea is a RT, could be worth a look, but I think we already have our RT (Tait) I think we should really look at bringing in FB Lorenzo Neal who was also released.

This was just a theory. Like I said "this is not what I want to see", but after hearing the rumor that we will not be pursuing BIG name FA, I was wondering why and thought maybe we are "white flagging" it this year.

It's been said on the radio 670 the Score that the Bears are not pursuing any big name free agents. This thought angers me b/c IMO we are still close to being a playoff/superbowl contender team. So remembering the Bears recent history with Angelo saying we will be active in FA or not, he is usually honest about which way there going. With that said my conclusion is: 1. We lose Briggs and Berrian in FA without signing significant FA contracts we gain possibly two 3rd round compensation picks in 2008. 2. Our draft board is: RD1=Brohm QB/Mendenhall RB both positions need a new franchise player - I look for the Bears to trade up to the lower 1st round to grab another top need QB/RB/OLT/WR if another targeted player is available. -As much as I'd love Mendenhall, getting a top QB should be a higher priority 3. We extend the rest of our guys that we want around for the next 2-4 years (Harris, Urlacher,Hester,Gould, etc) 4. We cross our fingers that the guys we have for 2008 can carry us again into the playoffs, but the plan is to be rebuilt for 2009. This is not what I want to see, but a theory to why we will not go after any big name FA's (Faneca,Turner, etc) Our 2008 mock draft 1a. Brohm QB 1b. Baker OT 2 . traded 3a. traded 3b. Jordy Nelson WR 4 . K. Smith RB 5. traded 6. traded 7. Caleb Campbell SS Army FA's brought in: David Patton WR, Justin Smiley G, C.C. Brown SS 2009 mock 1. Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia, Michael Oher OLT

Does anyone have an idea what our cap space is like now? With Rex, Des, A.Brown signed and Orton, Berrian(hopefully) soon to follow we can't have an awful lot left for a big FA signing like Faneca/Bell/Scott(OG's). The rookie pool will also cost about 5 million. LT or NFO please help

I would love if the Bears ended up with this draft. We would probably look for a SS somewhere in RD's 4 or 5. As for keeping 4 RB's on the roster, I'd think that if we drafted a stud like Kevin Smith, we'd move Peterson to full duty special teams like Ayenbenejo was.

We all read mocks and criticize the so called pros who post them. Here's a chance to showcase your thoughts on who teams will draft. I'd like to see your opinions on how the draft will pan out. Below is my RD1 mock, followed by the Bears complete draft. Round 1 1 Miami-----------Matt Ryan QB BC 2 St. Louis--------Glen Dorsey DT LSU 3 Atlanta----------Chris Long DE Virg 4 Oakland--------Sedrick Ellis DT USC 5 Kansas City----Jake Long OT Mich 6 New York Jets--Vernon Golhston DE Ohio St 7 New England---Leodis McKelvin CB Troy 8 Baltimore------Mike Jenkins CB S Flor 9 Cincinnatti-----Darrin McFadden RB Ok 10 New Orleans--Kenny Phillips FS Miami 11 Buffalo--------Keith Rivers OLB USC 12 Denver--------Ryan Clady OT Boise St 13 Carolina-------Rashard Mendenhall RB Illinois 14 Chicago--------Jeff Otah OT Pitt 15 Detroit---------Brian Brohm QB LSU 16 Arizona--------Chris Williams OT Vand 17 Minnesota-----DeShaun Jackson WR Cal 18 Houston-------Jonathan Stewart RB Org 19 Philedelphia---Derek Harvey DE Florida 20 Tampa Bay---Aqib Talib CB Kansas 21 Washington --Calias Cambell DE Miami 22 Dallas--------Felix Jones RB Ark 23 Pittsburgh---Brandon Albert OG Virg 24 Tennessee---Limus Sweed WR Texas 25 Seattle-------Fred Davis TE USC 26 Jacksonville--Early Doucet WR LSU 27 San Diego---Dan Connor LB Penn St 28 Dallas-------James Hardy WR Indiana 29 San Fransisco--Quentin Groves DE Auburn 30 Green Bay----Dominque Rogers-Comartie CB Tenn St 31 New England---Forfieted SPYGATE 32 New York Giants--Antoine Cason CB Arz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chicago Draft: 1 Jeff Otah OT Pitt 2 Malcolm Kelly WR Ok (Big target w/ speed & hands to replace Moose) 3 Ray Rice RB Rutgers (Chad Henne's available but we pass w/ Griese still on team) 3 Craig Steltz SS LSU 4 Colt Brennan QB Hawaii (Falcolns take Flacco w/ their high 2nd) 5 Jordan Dizon LB Col 6 Paul Hubbard WR Wis 7 Jordan Grimes OG Purdue

I'm glad to see the Bears are close to getting Grossman back. I think they gave up on him to early last year. He should have at least gotten a chance against Detroit before pulling the plug. If Grossman re-signs, I still hope to see the Bears draft a QB on day 1. Hopefully we can get Flacco, preferably with the later 2nd. Grossman + (Tait+Garza+Kreutz+Faneca+Otah) = Eli Manning. Not a great comparison, but my point is Manning looked much improved when he had time in the pocket and WR's that were catching everything close. Give Rex a little more time w/o pressure and have his WR's make catches like the NYG's and the tunes will change.

My 2-cents Griese will not be a Bear at the start of the season. First off, the word on the street is the Philly game Griese really did orchastate the final drive and him taking credit offended Turner. Second, Griese was upset at the Bears brass when he was demoted. Griese said publicly that he was healthy enough to play, but they gave the reins back to Rex. JA will say that they will bring back Grossman, Griese and Orton, but this is a smoke screen. They don't want another team to leap frog them to grab Flacco/Henne and they don't want to decrease trade value they may get out of Griese.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is the Draft Tek Mock this week, I like this site! 1. Jeff Otah OLT Pit 2. Devin Thomas WR Mich ST 3. Ray Rice RB Rutgers 3. Joe Flacco QB Del 4. Tom Zbikowski SS Notre Dame 5. Chilo Rachal OG USC 6. Paul Hubbard WR Wis 7. James McClinton DT Kansas Free Agency: Sign Berrian, Ayebandejo, Harris: Sign Faneca, Booker and Hamlin

QB Grossman, Orton, Flacco RB Benson, Peterson, Wolfe, Choice FB G Jones, Polite WR Berrian ,Hass WR Moose, Bradley WR Hester, Davis TE Olson, Gilmore TE Clark OLT Clady, St. Clair LG Faneca, Garza C Kreutz, Beekman RG Brown, Oakley RT Tait, DE Ogunuleye, Anderson DT Harris, Adams DT Dvorecek, Laws DE Brown, Bauzin OLB Williams, Okwo MLB Urlacher, Wilson OLB Hillenmeyer, Ayanbadejo CB Tillman, McBride CB Vasher, Graham FS Manning, Payne SS Brown, McGowan

Bringing up a Hester trade is like bringing up a Jordan trade. It's gonna stir up a hornets nest. Chicago finally has another star they can see on National TV (commercials-espn highlights). Why not offer Hester to Cle straight up for Anderson-Cleveland can then put Hester and Cribbs back on all kicks (that would be sick). I personally wouldn't trade Hester for Anderson or for picks. I believe if we can fix our line and make it the strength of the offense, the players we have can get the job done.

http://walterfootball.com/draft2008.php I'd be happy with this draft if it started out this way. 1-14 Chris Williams OT Vandy Jeff Otah is still on the board, so as long as we get the best OLT, I'm happy 2 -44 Andre' Woodson QB Kentucky Great leader, high completion percentage, a winner>work on quicker progressions and mechanics 3-75 Trevor Laws DT Notre Dame I could pass on a DT, but Laws is awesome and who knows what Tommie's future with the Bears will be 3-90 Tashard Choice RB Georgia-Tech Choices stock rose after the senior bowl, has a good combo of size/speed. Could be the 4th best back in the draft 4-106 Andre Caldwell WR Florida At 6' 207, Caldwell can bring the speed 4.36 40 time. 5 Best SS available 6 Best player available 7 BPA Free Agent priority: Alan Faneca G Pit - age 31, will see his down side in 2-3 years, but he's at the top right now or Jacob Bell G Ten - age 27, may be a better option than Faneca b/c of his age Bryant Johnson WR Arz- age 27, A vet who IMO is looking for a new team so he can shine. He sat behind Boldin/Fitzgerald and would like to go to a team to catch some of the spotlight. and David Patten WR NO - age 34, an old vet who can still get it done and can come in and help coach some of the young WR's. Greg Jones FB Jaz - age 27, Jones is a great blocking TE and has helped Jax become one of the top running teams in the NFL.

What would your top 5-10 war room list look like? 1-Jake Long OT Mich 2-Ryan Clady OT Boise St. 3-Darren McFadden RB Ark 4-Kenny Phillips SS Miami 5-Jeff Otah OT Pittsburgh 6-Sam Baker OT USC 7-Michael Oher OT Ole Miss 8-Brian Brohm QB Lou 9-Chris Long DE Virg 10-Matt Ryan QB BC That would be my order, crossing the guys off as they were selected and grabbing the top guy off the list. I know guys like Chris Long and Matt Ryan will be gone before, but this would be my order is I were GM.

Otah from Pittsburgh.......> Jimbo Covert from Pittsburgh-------->Mike Ditka from Pittsburgh=Hard nose football players. I'm starting to like the thoughts of drafting Otah.

Norwood is decent, but won't be able to carry the load. I also thought Chris Redmond looked decent at QB the last couple of games. With Harrington, Leftwich, and Redmond, I can see them holding off on QB hoping Woodson falls to the 2nd round. McFadden can give them a boost right away also if he really is the mini A.D. (APeterson).

I can see that too, I just threw in a WR to put in a bit of a twist. We definately need a OLT prospect that is capable of starting right away.

It's still very early, but if the draft were tomorrow, how do you see it panning out? 1-Miami~~~~~Chris Long DE Virginia Miami will look to get out of the first pick to aquire more picks to re-tool. Chris Long DE, fits Parcells 3-4 defense, so they may reach a little here if no trade partners are out there. 2-St. Louis~~~Glenn Dorsey DT LSU Many people are saying St. Louis grabs Jake Long to replace Orlando Pace at LT, but they drafted Alex Barron a couple of years ago to fill that roll. The Rams defense is in a dire need of a run stopper and Dorsey is that man. 3-Atlanta~~~~Darren McFadden RB, ARK Arthur Blank needs to redeem himself and bring some hope to the Falcon fan base. McFadden is the game breaker who will recharge the Falcons and with Warrick Dunn coming to the end of the road, RB is a need. 4-Oakland~~~Jake Long OT Mich As much as Al Davis would love to have McFadden or Cal WR DeSean Jackson, protecting the franchise QB seems like the best choice. He will be hestitate here because of the failure of another Big-Ten prospect Gallery. 5-Kansas City~Ryan Clady OT, Boise St. Clady will shoot up draft boards when he starts showing off his athletism. The Chiefs would like to get LJ back in the groove since they just re-invested in there franchise back. 6-New YorK~~Vernon Gohlston DE Ohio St. The Jets would love to get a young DE to line up opposite Shaun Ellis and Herm Edwards is a D guy. Gohlston size and speed will solidify the Jets D front. 7-New England~Malcom Jenkins CB Ohio St. It's a toss up between fellow Buckeye Laurinaitis and Jenkins. The Pats have a bigger hole at DB with Samuel most likely leaving. 8-Baltimore~~~Matt Ryan QB Boston College The Raven's get the first choice at QB and decide Ryan is the best of the bunch. With a new coach, it's the best time to find a future signal caller. 9-Cincinatti~~~James Laurinaitis LB Ohio St. Laurinaitis is playmaker on defense who should help a weak Bengal squad regain some respectability. 10-New Orleans~~Kenny Phillips SS Miami The Saints offense can put up points against anybody, but there defense usually allows more. The weakest link on there D is in the secondary and Phillips is the best prospect available. 11-Buffalo~~~~~DeShaun Jackson WR Cal The Bills need another option opposite of Lee Evans. Even though Jackson is the smaller speedy type like Evans, Jackson's speed and return capabilites make him the top WR candidate for Trent Edwards. 12-Denver~~~~~Sedrick Ellis DT USC The Broncos need to improve there D-line and Ellis will fill that need. Dumerville and Ellis will wreck havoc on QBs looking for open receivers that are covered by Baily and Bly. 13-Carolina~~~~Sam Baker OT USC The Panthers may be losing there two starting OT to FA. Sam Baker will be able to fill one of those holes right away. 14-Chicago~~~~Malcom Kelly WR Oklahoma The Bears need a big target to replace the aging Moose. Kelly at 6-4 will give the Bears a big and fast possesion reciever to work with Olsen and Berrian. There first target was OT and felt the talent at QB will last until the 3rd Round. ******************************************************************************** ************* Why WR? He just seemed like BPA at the time along with biggest need. Bears go with Barry Richardson OT Clemson RD2, Joe Flacco QB Deleware RD3, Josh Barrett SS Arizona St. RD3, Kirk Barton OT Ohio St. RD4, Ryan Torain RB Arizona St. RD5, Kirston Pittman DE LSU RD6, RoShaun Fellows CB Tenn RD7 The Bears also add Faneca as there big time FA, along with resigning Grossman, Berrian, B.A., Briggs is released