AZ54

I assume we'll keep 9 LBs, 5 OLB and 4 ILB. For OLB I still think Allen will be ahead of Young in those 4-3 situations, so will McPhee. If we're building a roster then as we get toward backup players versatility becomes a factor in who stays. Acho seems to be fitting into the system well so assume he makes it based on his experience. Houston can play OLB in 3-4 and, as stated by others, could probably slide inside to 3-4 DE or stay outside at 4-3 DE in passing situations. That means we can better disguise the D when Houston is on the field. I don't see Willie Young having that versatility so he drops to 5th on the depth chart behind McPhee, Acho, Allen, and Houston. There he competes with a younger and healthier Bass for spot, a role that likely requires a player to be good on special teams. Without an injury to someone it's hard to see where Willie fits on the roster. ILB: right now starters are SMC and Jones. I expect Foster and Bostic will compete and somewhere among the 4 two get anointed starters. Whatever happened to Cornelius Washington? I expected him to compete for an OLB role but he's listed as DLine. He played well on special teams last year and flashed some potential a few times mid-season before he got hurt. I was expecting to see him in the mix at OLB.

http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15574...-olb-david-bass This scheme might fit Bass' skills better than the last one so we'll watch for this in training camp. Reportedly Acho has looked good as well but some of that could just be his familiarity with the 3-4 which gives him the advantage up front. I'm not too keen on Willie Young's fit in this scheme, especially coming off that achilles injury. If Fangio wants OLB who can get to the passer that's not Houston's forte but I can't see us cutting Houston this year. I think Jared Allen can flourish in this new scheme as a backup player focused on the 3rd and long, or obvious passing situations. Last year I felt he should have had less reps to keep his quickness for the pass rush. Allen of course felt he should be on the field all the time. How many OLB will we keep on the roster? Five? Six if one is a special teams ace? Once you get past McPhee there is nothing guaranteed.

Funny statement there because anyone who has Rosenhaus as his agent always (reportedly) "has quite a few teams looking at him."

Mathis is an option worth looking at for sure but we shouldn't be paying his price. I don't like Ducasse and Mills is very suspect. Unfortunately, but maybe not surprising given his lack of experience, I haven't heard any positives about Fabaluje. I still think long term Fabaluje will pan out but we can't wait for that nor can we force him into action before he's ready. Other than Leno getting reps due to injuries he hasn't impressed too much either. (All this with no pads on) That leaves a door open somewhat at RT, or at a minimum backup OT. I'm content to wait things out bit and see what shakes out. I liked some of what Groy did last year and think he deserves to be in the competition for an OG backup roster spot along with Ola. OTOH, I haven't heard one whisper of this new coaching staff moving Ola to OT....a definite change in how players are evaluated. IIRC, OLA is a smaller quicker type of Oline player and these coaches might want more power up front. Jason will educate me...

Great playoffs, great Stanley Cup series, great win by the Blackhawks. After being on the ropes a decade ago, hockey is on the rise again!

I wonder if they think he's not worth the headaches he causes?

I think you are referring to Terry Williams? Dan Williams was the FA from the Cards who I think signed with the Raiders. I agree there is some potential with Terry Williams but he's 6' tall and isn't likely to have the leverage to get off blocks in the NFL and he isn't quick. He comes with some character concerns too. If Bryant's price is getting closer to vet min I'd take him in heartbeat. He'll give us nothing more than a stout run defense across the 3-man front but you just don't find pass rushers this late in FA. At least if we can stop the run on defense we'll be 50% better than we were last season. We also have UDFA Olsen Pierre on the roster. He's a taller run stuffer (6'5) more in the DE style of the 3-4 we're going to but seems like a project.

The FA I'm more interested in is DT Red Bryant. He's just a run stopper but he could be in a rotation and provide solid depth with Goldman at NT. That would free up guys like Ratliff and Ego Ferguson to just focus on DE. The fact his former Seahawks DC, and now Jaguars HC, let him go after just one year on a $31million contract is concerning. Judging by his stats he didn't play very well last year. I expect Bryant was looking for some big money initially after being cut in March but pretty soon he's going to start wanting a job, any job in the NFL. Your value as a player never goes up if you sit out a year.

Not even a position switch because if it was he'd have been there from the first practices. This is more giving him some reps in case injuries during the season means keeping our best Oline combo on the field has Long at RT.

To borrow a phrase from a famous seargent: I know nothing. I watched a highlight film and can tell he doesn't have breakaway speed but seems to run routes well and has good hands. He's going to compete for the bottom end of the roster or practice squad. I do like some of his hustle plays on blocking that show up late on this link below. He'll need that attitude to make it in the NFL. He' probably quicker in/out of his cuts, with his first step, than Cameron Meredith is. We know the Bears were one of 8 teams in attendance at NAU's pro day so they got a first hand look at him before they brought him in for the tryouts. He made it through the tryout and got a contract offer so kudos to Ify. http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/3/13/...ro-day-round-up

Of course we like him, he's 6' 3" tall. Kevin White 6-3 Alshon Jeffrey 6-3 Cameron Meredith 6-3 Ify Umodu 6-3 Marquess Wilson 6-4 Gotta wonder how Eddie Royal feels at just 5-10

Willie will return to action at some point this season but I don't see anyway he will be the same player this season. That injury is very tough to come back from quickly. We'll hang onto him for now but I'd say he's very likely to start the season on the PUP list. If we have found some good backup players at OLB by that time he might not ever see the field with the Bears again. Finding quality depth on a roster still searching for quality starters isn't likely so he should have a good chance to play for us in the 2nd half of the season. I hope he hangs on because I really like how he plays the game but he's was limited in what he could do in the pass rush and that won't be better coming back from this injury.

I watched a lot of Carey and Rodgers when they were in college. I always admired both for their toughness despite their size disadvantage. I would take Carey in heartbeat over Rodgers as a RB. He's a tough quick inside runner that just keeps coming at you. Rodgers style was more based on making guys miss but once he bulked up for the NFL he hasn't had the same quickness he had in college. Rodgers, I assume, has the advantage in pass protection based on what I've read. Neither guy will run away from many players in the NFL. Carey will also have to be a better contributor on special teams if he's to stick. I wouldn't count him out at all, not even from the #2 RB slot. We're assuming Langford owns the #2 slot but that's not a given for a rookie. Are we going to more of a zone blocking scheme that fits quick cutback runners with good vision? Carey will look good in that situation IMO. Langford will likely be the best special teams player of the 3 backup RBs so he can hold down a roster spot one way or another. I totally agree that Langford's style is very similar to Forte's. Of the 4 guys on the roster I'd say Carey would be the best one to give the ball to on 4th and goal from the 1, he's the guy who finds that little crease down low and drives through it. We don't exactly have anyone that is stellar at that situation so keep that in mind, nor is that enough to keep a job in the NFL.

I don't think it's bad but we're projecting quite a bit of improvement from Ferguson and Goldman is a complete unknown. Plus which Jared Allen are we getting and will he really adapt well to the new role early in the season? Behind them we have two new MLB who are completely new to the scheme. I actually worry less about the DBs because Fuller will be fine on the outside, likely Jennings too. Rolle will be what he has always been and Mundy was solid last year.

He has all the traits you look for. On his tackling he said he was told during the pre-draft process that he wasn't very physical. He said that was a change because earlier in his career he was told he was too physical when tackling. We'll see what get soon but with just one year at safety he's going to need time to develop. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15508...under-the-radar

Nothing I hear about the Bears feels that much different that what I hear about the Cards out here in AZ every offseason. Maybe because it's a bigger market so there are more people competing in the news and reporting space. For all the hype you here there is also a huge amount of angst that Cutler is still our QB.

This guy is very powerful. He's going to improve our run D the minute he's on the field. Pass rush not so sure about but if he can learn to push the pocket it will be a big help for the guys coming off the edge.

Hoiberg it is.

The entire league does this we just don't read every little tidbit about other team's players. It's the offseason for a league in which one team will almost always go from last place in their division to first place.

He's put in a lot of time and effort. Not only that, I like his introspective approach toward improving those things he wasn't doing well at. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in preseason. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15500...te-ego-ferguson

If it's a straight up trade of Wilkerson for Bennett I'd make that deal in a heart beat. I'll figure out the money one way or another. Forte is open to a new deal that lowers his cap hit. Not sure how much lower but there is a few million potential there. Losing Bennett takes another $3.8mil off the books in 2015 and $6mil in 2016. Figure Jared Allen is gone next year but even if he is around we have $41mil in cap space for 2016. Without Allen add another $8.5mil in cap space. FWIW I doubt we'll be paying Tim Jennings $5.7mil in 2016. Willie Young might not fit in the new scheme so if cut in 2016 he frees up another $2.5mil. Without too much effort we'll have almost $60mil in cap space for 2016 and we can fit in Wilkerson along with Jeffrey and Kyle Long new contracts. The highest 3-4DT contracts are Cofield $6mil/yr and Paea $5.2mil/year both on the Redskins. If you start looking at 4-3 DTs then we're talking $10-13mil (leave out Suh of course). Wilkerson is going to slot in somewhere between those two groups and it might be a perfect swap for Allen's cap hit in 2016. I don't want to lose Marty but Wilkerson is a game changing interior Dlineman and I value that more than a good TE. In other words, although they play different positions, I think Wilkerson has more impact on a game than Bennett.

I"m glad Thibs is gone and I'm not sure why it took so long after the last loss. He's a good coach but there are better coaches. The way the team played against the Bucks and Cavs was horrible. Why was he double teaming LeBron out beyond the 3pt line with his center? All LeBron did was wait for the double team then pass to the wide open shooters who kept hitting 3's, or they'd kick it inside to big guys who had easy layups. Gasol is not nearly as good of an interior defender so leaving him to cover two players inside does not work. At some point Thibs should have realized this isn't working but he kept with it well into the 4th quarter and right to the end of the last game. LeBron was laughing at it because we just kept on doing it. Jimmy Butler was doing just fine guarding LeBron so no need to constantly leave shooters wide open like that. Other things I'm tired of is the same offensive play run over and over and over. Plus his teams never figured out how to run a pick and roll. If you are going to always do a pick and roll with your PG way up high then it's really helpful to do it with a big guy who can shoot outside. Noah is a great passer but he's not making anyone worry about his shot 20 ft from the basket. Why not run this more with Gasol? Noah is a great garbage man around the rim and needs to be setting the screens down low so he can stay where he is most effective. He's also a great interior passer giving him the ball in the post he can still be effective passing to cutting players. Derek Rose never learned how to setup the picks right either so somebody needs to get in his ear and tell him to quit leaving so early before the pick is set. That's high school basketball stuff. I don't think Thibs would get on him as he should have, or maybe Rose doesn't listen. Either way we need a new coach who can get these guys playing together on offense better than they have been the last few seasons. We've made it far to easy for other teams to play defense. Enough venting....I just think there more than can be done with the roster we had and it's time to find someone better. My only worry is that the leading candidate is Fred Hoiberg who has built my Cyclones back to an annual top 25 team.

Martellus had issues with the plays last year and not being in OTAs to learn a new playbook isn't going to help him. Don't think the new Bears brass aren't aware of his suspension during training camp last year. They aren't going to commit more money to him without seeing him work first. His issues with the plays early last year resulted in a couple INTs. Of course Cutler got the blame but IMO Bennett ran the routes wrong or read the coverage wrong. For his part, Martellus has to know we aren't throwing the ball his way as much this year as we did last year so he won't have those high numbers again. I can't say I blame him for trying but I think his strategy is the wrong one.

Not giving up next year's 4th. I'd rather just sit back and see what shakes out from the competition among the players we already have on the roster.

I think he's done. We need to get better but more importantly we need to get younger and better. We're not challenging for anything this season.