AZ54

Is Eifert the best rumor we could generate to help motivate someone to trade up with us? I didn't realize the flexibility we have with Bennett's contract. OTOH adding Eifert definitely rounds out the TE situation for years to come, which I like. I just don't like the holes it leaves us at LB and potentially OG for years to come. I say potential because as already stated above, we just have no clue what the coaching staff thinks of the remaining RT competition and/or Carimi at OG. Brown as well. Looking at our roster it's hard to rule out a DT with our 1st pick. The only thing I feel confident in right now is that some player of very good value, if not a few, will be there for us when we pick at #20. So I'm not fixated on any position as I think Emery and (more likely) Lovie were last year. Hopefully Emery and Trestman stick to their BPA mantra.

Ogletree at #20 is my preference and if he's drafted I expect he'll challenge for the starting job at SLB. I like Brown but he's more of a 2nd Rd pick for me. I like the Missouri LB as well in the 3rd. Seems like he was too much of a playmaker for him to last until our 4th Rd pick.

Clearly they know the names so all the GMs know who it was as well. With one guy labeled a "potential" first round pick it has to be someone who is late first round. Since this is the area we will be drafting in I'm wondering who this was. Any ideas? http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/NFP-Su...Blitz-9661.html *NFL teams still were trying to find out about an incident in which a hotel room at the combine was trashed, apparently by two players who were staying there. One of the players is a potential first round draft pick, and the incident could affect both players’ stock. Front office men hoped to speak with one of the players about it at his pro day, but the player curiously made himself unavailable to talk.

Things are a bit slow as we wait on the draft. I found this article on Favre's last hit and thought some others might like to read it. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-f...ded-his-career-

Apparently nobody is arguing about him anymore: http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Friday...k-and-more.html *From what we’ve heard, there has been very little interest in quarterback Jamarcus Russell, and it seems unlikely at this point that he’ll get another chance. The biggest issue is Russell still is overweight and out of shape. His lack of discipline and conditioning is what derailed his NFL career in the first place, and the fact that he hasn’t changed his habits tells NFL front office men he hasn’t learned anything. But at least J'Marcus has solid goals for his comeback as he stated he "wants to sit on that bench behind the starter".

They freely admit it's hard to pick what starter means. I think they've done a good job of giving a reasonable definition to it by making it for 5 years. My remark about Jacksonville having 22 starters is just because I've seen so many below average players hang around as starters. Years ago I read some scout of front office personnel person said the league is really about blue chip players. I now lean more toward that way of thinking. Every team has it's "starters" or as Bill Parcells said JAGs (Just Another Guy). Add in a couple blue chip players to the mix like a young Urlacher and it dramatically changes things. Scheme and coaching are what you need to keep the JAGs above average productive. New England is a great example because you have blue chip Brady and a few other good players (Welker) plus some JAGs. How many players left their system and didn't put up the same numbers? Or didn't even look like the same player? So 5 yr starter means something but the draft is where you need to find some elite talent. Picking later in the first round doesn't mean it can't happen and I'd say Ozzie Newsome is one of the best at this. Ed Reed 24th overall. Ray Lewis 26th overall. Terrell Suggs 10th overall (when many said he was too slow). Right now Emery's first draft doesn't overwhelm with potential for the future beyond saying there might some 5 yr starters.

Are you talking about his boner or the draft picks?

I think at some point the Bears did interview Ogletree...maybe at the combine. So there has been interest just odd that the LB who is typically ranked as a top 50 player but not top 30, Arthur Brown has been linked to the Bears in Rd 1 so often. I'm referring to media reports of player interest but if I consider the mock drafts, the majority have us taking Ogletree (if they have us taking a LB). Regarding McClellin and rumors last year I believe we started hearing some rumors about him during the last week. I had completely ignored him up until that time and at that time I started reading some draft profiles of him which left me thinking ...nah, only if we trade down.

Exactly why there are always some trades. I just don't see it being a big year for it. The other concern, more of a concern considering our position of needing more picks, is that if this is a buyers market (trade up with many teams wanting to trade down) then we won't get as much value for our pick. If the trade value isn't there I'd prefer Emery to stay at #20 and take BPA.

On this I agree and #20 makes a lot of sense for teams to move up out of the second to get their QB. But there is that issue of will they feel like taking that risk and might it be better to trade back in the first round (i.e. AZ drop back from 7 to 12) and grab the QB. Gotta figure in the usual GMs on the hot seat versus GMs that are new and have time.

Am I the only one more interested in what we're not saying or doing? All sorts of rumors about Arthur Brown, Te'o, now Ertz pops up out of nowhere after we spent a small fortune on a TE. We've even had some rumors of CBs. Few rumors of OG, lots of silence on Ogletree despite all the mocks that have us taking him. Since we are being open about trying to trade down I look at most of these rumors as being what we might do if we trade back to late first round or even early second. Most of what I see in the last week doesn't make sense at #20 (Ertz?) IMO.

I think we just go with where the Bears pick otherwise the "what ifs' open the door for lots of variations. You know how our debates go.....should Webb stay or should he go now.... I'm good with Jason's idea. We all submit the names, debate it and narrow it down to 3 choices. Not sure we'll ever agree to just 3 choices so I tend to think that'll take a couple votes, or some longer debates.

Yes everyone wants to trade down but in this not-so-talented but deep and balanced draft who wants to trade up? For who? I've read more about the teams that like QBs might as well take them in the 1st round. Are they worth the value of the pick? No but they might not be there when you get to your second round pick? So trade up from the second and grab your QB. Why? Isn't it better to grab the QB in Rd 1 and then your Oline, WR, or whatever in Rd 2 and 3? Yes there will be trades but I think it's going to be hard to find trading partners and so that will make it more of a buyers (moving up) market. Fact is things have changed now that their are salary slots for the rookies so the risk/reward of what teams pay a 1st Rd pick isn't as great. Plus, something I didn't know is that teams drafting a QB in Rd 1 (or any player) can keep them with an option for the 5th year. Gives you a little more time for these guys to develop before that next big contract. Players worth trading up for are the top 3 OTs. Beyond that who or what position? I suspect there will be some trades for QBs in the late first but can't see teams giving up a lot to go get any of these guys. I can see some trades similar to what we did last year trading up just 5 picks to grab Alshon Jeffrey but that doesn't generate an extra early round pick. There might be some interest in some of the early defensive players too. Then again, draft day always has some interesting twists! For the moment for the first time in years I'm comfortable saying we won't be picking a S in the 3rd Rd.

All I can say to that is: Jacksonville has 22 starters on their roster.

It doesn't change our approach, we will base our picks on where the Bears draft, including any trades up or down during the draft. We'll just evaluate the players available at that pick and then vote for our draftee. Is there a site with a player ranking system we can all agree is worth using, at least as a basis for starting the discussion of who should be our top 5 or so for voting on our draft pick? Or do we just open the discussion for everyone to submit player names and state their case for those players? Like I said, I can see these debates taking place over a few days as we all have jobs/family and will need time to get everyone's input, as well as for some of us who aren't avid draftniks (like me) to do a bit of research. I think it is very fair for people to try to persuade others to their side. Then gather all the names and make the poll with them? Perhaps we do a couple rounds of voting to narrow down the choices? Again first round is easier but later rounds it gets more challenging as you have more prospects with similar grades. In reality this is how teams build their draft boards and coaches and scouts gather together and give input on the various players. We're going to have the same debates via the message board but on a much more limited scale since we're just looking at the players who were actually available for a known draft spot.

For camp competition for the last spot in the rotation he's fine. Every team brings in guys like this.

Football is game. This message board is also just for fun and this is to play "what if". I'm not sure why you are so stuck on this issue. Like I said, there are too many other variables as Jason correctly noted with schemes and coaching that will impact how a player ends up performing. Nonetheless, we can isolate on the draft itself and choose our players versus what the Bears chose. This has to happen AFTER the draft in order for us to know: a) where we pick in case we trade down or up what players are available when the Bears pick It seems the majority are on board with the concept let's begin defining the rules. How will we setup the "board" of the players that will be in the poll?

Canceling a pro day is a huge PR blow. It basically means there was little to no interest. At this point right before the draft, one with a weak class of QBs, should be the highest point of interest from teams with no QB. Russell might be competing with UDFAs to be a camp arm. There is no way this is what his agent planned on happening.

I've been thinking about all the recent chatter about if the board could be smarter than a GM (or let's say as smart as). Now there are far too many aspects of a GM's job for us to sit here and say we got it...from FA, to staffing levels, scouting, knowing the inside details of player's behavior, details on injuries, etc. However we can approximate the one area of most interest these days...the draft. This is some long term thinking here for those who have been with this board for several years. I believe we can build our own draft and save it for future evaluation. After the draft the board is usually quiet. This off-season I propose we take on the challenge of acting like a front office and run our own draft. Once the draft is in the books we will know which players are available at our picks. We can setup simple votes for each pick. That's the easy part. I think we should handle this round by round starting with round 1 of course. First, we have to setup the "board". Give us some time perhaps a 2-3 days for everyone to submit, debate, and negotiate who should be our top 5 on the board at that pick. Or will we need more players on the list? Then post the vote for a couple days so everyone gets a shot to vote. This approximates what teams are doing these last couple weeks. We'd have to decide on criteria for winning or choosing the draft pick. Will it be simple largest % of votes wins. Or do we run a second vote of top 2 players if nobody gets more than say 35% of the vote? We'd have to debate how best to handle this as there are a myriad of options. In the unlikely event of a tie I propose Pixote gets the tie breaking vote on behalf of his extensive history as a Bears fan and as an admin here. If we need to include more than 5 players (more likely in last few rounds as opinions will be more diverse there) we might have to do two rounds of voting to narrow down the list to a small enough group that the final vote will identify a clear draftee. This is simpler in the first round since we know more about the candidates and who is likely to be there but it does get more interesting in the later rounds and we will (at least I will) be relying on our draftniks for input on players in the later rounds of the draft. Once our round 1 draftee is complete we move on to build the board for round 2, vote on Rd 2 draftee, then build the board for Rd 3, and so on. It's a way to pass some time over next few weeks and it will also build the official 2013 TalkBears draftee list. We can have it archived and reference during the season, next year, and down the road to see how we would have done compared what the Bears did. If we do this annually we'll have a solid history of board vs. Bears GM for the draft. Thoughts?

In that sense yes I think Robinson will end up a decent player in the NFL but not as a read-option QB. If anything the team that plays that game, much like with Tebow, has to waste limited practice time working on those plays.

I know Tillman went to the Pro Bowl last year but the offseason is about projecting future performance. In reality there were several games where Tillman was exposed in coverage. IIRC I think the 49ers game was the worst. His forced fumbles were something to enjoy and were largely responsible for putting him in the Pro Bowl. Yet he's a CB and his first job is to cover WRs to prevent completions. I can't see him at a Pro Bowl level in that role not even this season (I hope I'm wrong) and especially 2 seasons from now. His next contract will have to reflect that or he won't be in Chicago. The one year we finally seem prepared to draft interior Oline early and for the first time ever the top two OG might both be gone before #20. If the OG are gone and CB, in Trufant is the BPA at 20 I'm ok with it. I'd live with a DT as well if the right talent falls to us. Paea didn't perform as well as I hoped last year. No long term deal for Melton is on the horizon although I'd like to see it happen. DE would be an even bigger surprise (disappointment) but I can't rule that out either knowing Peppers huge contract next season is the easiest path to lots of cap space. Now we have to compare the rookie plus maybe 4 other good FA players to see what yields the best team overall versus keeping Peppers. If Emery is intent on getting a younger roster rapidly this may be what happens. I also don't know what FA are available after the 2013 season. There could be plenty of talent available again next year for Oline.

Agreed, In a league where the average margin of victory is within a FG having one of hte most accurate kickers in the history of the game is worth the money. Compare what his $3mil gets us versus Hester's $2+mil? Or Bennett's $4mil?

I'd be ok with that.

Please no. There is no reason to take away the deep threat on any single play just to run some little QB option with a flyweight player. Didn't work with Hester and won't work with Denard Robinson.

Me too but I wonder if that won't happen behind our pick. 20 just might be a bit early to cash in (trade down) on all the action. Plus this is that type of draft with a weak top 10 and a lot of balance across the top 40 picks talent wise where most teams feel they can trade down and do better. That means.... who really wants to trade up?