dawhizz

I thought Trent Edwards would be the better choice, but lets see what the lesser Palmer can do.

Very encouraged by Long & Mills. I never would have thought Mills had a shot at starting at RT, but with Scott's injury, Webb's struggles, and Mills' game tonight, I'm starting to believe. Mills and Long were consistently blocking well down the field tonight, something I'm not sure I've ever seen Webb do, and Trestman really tested them by running to their side. Also glad to see the ends do well with Peppers out and solid safety play from both Wright and Conte. On the not so good side, Stephen Paea made no impact and didn't seem to get by anyone, although on the plus side I think Nate Collins is a really good player and made plays against the pass and run. Also discouraged by the Bears 2nd & 3rd string tackling - the first guy to the ball almost always whiffed or failed to wrap up. Don't like to see that. Also another no-show for the TEs - it might as well have been Kellen Davis out there all game. For all the talk about the difference Martellus Bennett would make, I'm not sure he's caught a pass yet. Worse yet, Mareri, the purported blocking TE, got pushed around a lot. Also VERY wary of McCown. I hope this team is willing to keep an eye out during cut day for a better back-up option. Even against the 3rd and 4th string Chargers defense, McCown didn't show me much and seemed to bail on the pocket/check down well before he should. I was hoping that we would see something from the back-up WRs to separate Aromashodu/Anderson/Wilson, but none of them even got opportunities.

So, we're hearing that for Marquess Wilson to make the roster, he either has to really stand out as a WR, or show value on special teams. This is not especially surprising, as the Bears have repeatedly gone after players for their special teams value (Costanzo, Weems, Zbikowski, etc.) and seemed dedicated to proving to everyone, whether we care or not, that they value special teams as the unheralded, but equally important, third phase of football. This makes ZERO sense. For one, the Bears knew when they drafted Wilson that he had no special teams experience, and that he was a slim WR who didn't exactly project as a special teams player. They drafted him as a WR. That's his future. If you think he has skills worth developing that you don't want to lose (and while it's based on just one game, he's looked pretty good so far), you keep him, knowing that WRs get hurt all the time. Maybe Joe Anderson is the better WR right now and he's almost certainly the better ST player. But I'm not worried about Anderson getting plucked from the practice squad and becoming a contributor. I do have that worry about Wilson (I see a bit of Danario Alexander - simialr heatlh concerns, but clear WR ability). So you keep him on the roster, let him learn from some other big WRs, and see how he develops. If anything, the Bears focus on ST players in FA means they have a roster that is better built to absorb a one-dimentional player than others. This makes me crazy. Just had to vent for a bit.

I don't buy it. He's on a relatively cheap contract and can play any of the three LB spots, which is invaluable considering the lack of depth the Bears have there. Even if he doesn't win the MLB spot, unless he's an IR candidate, I don't see how he gets cut outright.

This has definitely more to do with Webb than Mills. Mills wasn't real impressive in the last game, from what I saw, and I think this would be Jon Scott if he was healthy, or Eben Britton if he had had a better game. Let's just hope Mills steps up or Scott comes back healthy.

One each for training camp, Trestman (kinda), and Emery: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle...s-training-camp http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle...-coach-rankings http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/953119...ager-philosophy

I appreciate the report. I went to TC last year and loved it and am hoping to make it up there again this year. Looks like my schedule might only permit me to go to one of the afternoon sessions - anyone know if there is a content difference between the morning and afternoon practices?

Got to say, while I understand, I'm not a big fan of releasing talented players before you have to. Bringing in Tony Fiametta is fine, but let ERod compete against him to see how he stacks up. Give Carimi a chance to prove himself against the talent they brought in this offseason.

Interesting to see after the fact. Probably puts to bed any sense that the Cowboys would have taken Long over Frederick. http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013/5/30/4...e-7-round-board

Was anyone else a little angry when you heard this? I mean, here's a guy who was offered a contract admittedly lower than he was accustomed to by this team he calims he was proud to be a part of because of concerns that team had about his deteriorating skills and his passion to return to that level. After negotiations broke off, he immediately started saying to anyone who would listen that he considered himself to be the same player, characterized their offer as "a slap in the face" and "insulting" and talking about how the Bears never really wanted him back, resulting in a whole news cycle of how the Bears were not showing Urlacher enough respect, typical cheap Bears, the new regime in Chicago isn't showing the proper deference to the past, etc. Now Urlacher retires, validating all the concerns the Bears had and proving that the Bears' "low-ball offer) was actually $3.5 million more than any other team was will to pay him. But this doesn't give the Bears any of that lost prestige. Honestly, I want to hear him apologize to the Bears for bad-mouthing them this off-season. Because the Bears actually played this exactly right, and that deserves to be recognized.

I imagine his spot was taken by Maurice Jones, the CB from Temple they signed earlier today.

Fixed

I can't imagine any Bears greats doing anything embarassing . . .

Seems to me you have to view this as "what were you thinking when this pick was up?" and if so, I don't see how anyone can pick Long. At this time, I was thinking Emery had perfectly set us up to go BPA, and Floyd was the BPA. So that's where I went.

You lost me when you put "expert" and "Hub Arkush" in the same sentence.

Looking at highlights of Harrison, he looks like a very thick WR. Wonder if he might be tried at TE?

While he's bigger than your standard inside receiver, he ran a lot of quick screens and inside routes in college and shows some good move and speed in the open field. Check out the last highlight here: Also interesting to note that he's only 20 years old, so he was putting up his most productive years when he was 18 and 19.

I do really like this draft, but it's hard to put in perspective because I don't really see any immediate starters, which is less a criticism of the draft and more a reflection of what a good job Emery did of filling the gaps in this team in FA. While the Beas needed depth and future starters, there were very few spots where you figured you really needed a draft pick to come in and start like we have in years past. Right tackle or guard maybe, but Fluker went early and I'm not sure any draft guard outside of Cooper or Warmack will start over Carimi, though I think Long has a shot at it. At LB, as long as Williams and Anderson are healthy, I think they start, but that might have been the case with any drafted LB. A high pick at CB might have been able to start at the nickel and a high draft pick at WR might have been able to start in the slot, but other than that, there weren't a ton of starting holes left. So, I'm considering any production from any of these draft picks gravy, and we'll see where they are at this time next year.

To be honest, I'm just searching "chicago bears" in Twitter. Most of the players are breaking the news themselves . . .

Zach Minter, DT, Montana State Michael Ford, RB, LSU

From what I can gather from twitter (though it's hard to figure out), looks like so far the Bears have signed: PJ Longergan, C, LSU Tress Way, P, Oklahoma Demontre Hurst, CB, Oklahoma Brent Russell, DT, Georgia Southern Mark Harrison, WR, Rutgers Marcus Rucker, WR, Memphis

While I'm weary of him based on the fact that it appears he quit on his team last year after some hard coaching, I really like what I see in the videos.

Might as well put them all in one place. Try to keep it to signings, not "I would like to see the Bears get this guy."

Thing is, as much as it was nice to add Anderson and Williams, they are both on 1 year deals and one is coming off injury and the other suspension. Before today, we were one injury/suspension away from starting Blake Costanzo at LB. Now we have quality depth today and potential starters next year. Makes a lot of sense.

Any of these would be fine by me.