AZ54

A sleeper is Danieal Manning in Rd 2 when I say who the heck is that and can't even find the guy listed on any draft sites.

Pass on LB Larsen from UofArizona. Too slow for what we need and doesn't have very good instintcs on the field. He'll hustle and work hard but he's always chasing the play after yards have been gained unless it comes straight at him. Pig Brown S Missouri I could see some interest in except that injury is a huge question mark so he's a 7th Rd pick or UDFA. The injury probably means he'll be on IR his first season. Sam Keller QB Nebraska (formerly at ASU) just say no. Holds the ball far too long doesn't read defenses very well. Does have the measurables though and he'll get a chance by some team with a late round pick (my guess Rd 4-6 depending on what he does at the combine). I'm more interested in his old backup Rudy Carpenter when he comes out. Rudy still has a few things to learn though. Franklin WR Missouri definitely worth keeping on the draft list.

This is no longer an argument. The 85 Bears pass rush was twice what the 07 Giants had. Brady would have been dumping off to Welker all game long and Moss would have been running the same 5 yard in routes that he ran in the second half yesterday. The only difference was our tackling was a heck of a lot harder than what the Giants did yesterday. Moss would have been using his gator arms by the second quarter and possibly gone back to his Raiders route running days in the second half (i.e. jogging so as not be open). As stated above when you look at this years Patriots team they didn't dominate in the playoffs the way the 85 Bears did. Discussion over. Now we'll wait to see if there's evidence they cheated before the Superbowl against the Rams. What kind of a penalty do you give the team for that? Especially after they were already penalized for the same thing afterwhich they said those 6 games were the only time they'd made the illegal videos.

Patriots completely knocked out of all discussions about greatest team of all time. 85 Bears still leading the discussion. Bill Belicik forced to give an interview after leaving the field early. It's all priceless.

Why not tag Berrian and work out a trade involving him? That would certainly make it easier for the Bengals to make the deal. I'm sure we'd need to give up something else like one of the ten DTs we have on the roster and/or picks. I think it would be worth it to secure the #1 WR spot for a few years. For the first time Chad would be playing on a team that had a good defense where the offense didn't have to play great throughout the game to win. It might tone down some of his frustration. But let's be honest here, Moose hasn't been quiet throughout all the QB strife so if I have to put up with some of that crap I'd at least like it to come from a guy who can make a game changing play.

What I read out of all the smoke and mirrors is the one thing never mentioned....we'd really like to draft the best safety.

I didn't see any highlights, I watched him play against DSU in the playoffs. I watched specifically to see what he could do. His slow release was the first thing I noticed and my sons both agreed with me. Once he starts to throw it takes a long time to get rid of the ball. A little You Tube clip in which everyone appears to run a 4.3 forty isn't enough to change my mind. The guy has enough talent to get drafted I'm just not sure he's the right guy for us but I'll watch what he does leading up to the draft.

First time I've ever heard of a draft pick being better because he was out the league faster than a player taken in the same round. With that concept you'd think JA would get more positive press for some of his Oline picks.

For all the breakdowns in drafting offensive skill players the biggest failure IMO is drafting Oline. Other teams can find good Oline players in later rounds of the draft and we can't find any, not even one. It would be nice to be able to put an average RB or two behind a good Oline and watch them rush for 1300 yards. Or see an average QB put up good numbers because he has time to throw. It's hard to find a top rate QB but with the exception of LT it shouldn't be that hard to put together a good Oline.

Interesting quote. This is nothing but a wild ass guess but I assume that's Yards Per Attempt on Point of Attack runs? If not ,what is that stat? Question #2 is where do you get your hands on that kind of info? Seems like one of those tasks a quality control coach gets stuck with.

I only saw Flacco play in one of the playoff games, against Delaware St. That's not exactly enough to represent his body of work but if nothing else I know he'll be good at executing the statue of liberty plays for Hester. Regardless, we need to draft a QB but I prefer a LT in Rd 1. Find a QB in Rd 2 or preferrably Rd 3. I only saw Woodsen in one game too and he didn't impress me that much. It was a national broadcast and KY was being talked about for the championship. Maybe the pressure got to him that game but then the next week he came back and lit it up. I saw Ryan of BC play a couple games and at times he looked good but other times he couldn't get anything going. The announcers said his WRs weren't very good and had trouble getting open. If that's true how do you evaluate him? He's not going to the Senior Bowl either. Brian Brohm I know nothing about. Brennan I watched in a couple games and he seemed ok but the question remains; is he a product of that system and the competition? Overall it seems like a tough year to evaluate QBs and where they should be drafted. I say we go with the Brady approach in a late round and take the guy who studies the most film and dates the prettiest women.

I'd take Haynesworth in a heartbeat. Rogers I'm unsure about, takes too many plays off. The talent is there but he'd have to come at a good price so we could cut him with minimal penalty.

If this guy winds up to throw the ball at Soldier Field in December his arm might freeze in place due to that outrageously long windup. I don't think you can change that and I know if I'm a DB once I see him start the windup I can get about 3 steps toward where he's gonna throw. Could he even get rid of the ball fast enough to throw a quick slant off a 3-step drop?

I have no love for the Giants and but I despise the arrogance of the Patriots fans. They all run around like their entire coaching staff and GM are geniuses for drafting Tom Brady in the 6th Rd. Not to take anything away from Brady but it's a simple fact that if you can an elite QB in any round of the draft is going to setup your team for a ton of success for the next 6-10 years. Right now they have the best team in football without a doubt. I'll be rooting for the underdog Giants because I love a good upset. Interesting how Brady comes down to earth with 3 INTs when he gets a lot of pressure on him. Just wanted to point out a very Rex-like stat.

I want to see Wolfe after a full offseason with Rusty. Berrian has changed his physique quite a bit in the last 2 years and if Wolfe can add similar muscle mass without losing too much quickness and speed I think he'll be fine. I like what he brings to the team in open space but he can't get tackled by a pinkie finger every time he goes up the middle.

It was a happy birthday indeed.

Problem is the matador gets one sword and just one shot to kill the bull. Our Oline would need a backup plan.

My wife is from Spain and having seen the real deal in bull fighting in Madrid, I can personally vouch that we already have adequate Matadors on our Oline. There's no need to go to Spain to recruit more.

Everybody forgets about Kevin Payne but this is the guy who, IMO, led us to trade away Chris Harris. I think he's going to get a shot at finding a starting role next year unless we draft a S in Rd 1. My guess is he ends up as our 3rd Safety but I'm not sure if he's going to find a home at FS or SS. McGowan ends up our #4 backing up SS; he's ok but he's just a backup IMO. DManning remains the starter at FS but he needs to know that the job isn't guaranteed.

I read this the other night, great story, thanks for posting it. My wife couldn't figure out why I was laughing so I tried to explain how a LT would carry a DE off the field and onto a bus. I'll be happy if we could just find a LT that can stay in front of a DE and run him over whenever asked to do so.

In FA you can find OG, C, and even some decent RT but you don't see elite LTs. If one is available to us in Rd 1 we need to take him.

I don't know why they put that in there. It seems like a made up stat just to have something to say. But some of the other stats were surprising to me, especially the 3 and outs by the D.

I must have been at the bar picking up another beer because I can't recall this many good things. The Bears offense ranking 3rd in big plays during the last 13 games? The Bears D leading the league in 3 and outs? One of the best 3rd down defenses? I definitely remember Green Bay going down twice! http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4288 LAKE FOREST, Ill. – While the Bears stumbled into last place in the NFC North with a disappointing 7-9 record in 2007, the season was not devoid of highlights. The Bears swept the season series from long-time rival Green Bay. The first victory was a 27-20 comeback win Oct. 7 at Lambeau Field. The win was the first of three straight road victories in which the Bears rallied after trailing in the final quarter, a franchise first. The Bears offense was led by a passing attack that finished with 3,362 net yards, the third highest total in team history. Quarterbacks Brian Griese, Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton helped six different players reach the 200-yard receiving plateau (Bernard Berrian, Muhsin Muhammad, Desmond Clark, Adrian Peterson, Greg Olsen and Devin Hester). In the last 13 games of the season, the Bears passing offense generated 25 plays of at least 25 yards, tied for third most in the NFL during that span. Griese, Grossman and Orton each had scoring strikes of at least 55 yards this season as well. The Bears finished eighth in the NFL with 33 takeaways, including 20 in the last eight games, tied for third most during that span. Chicago’s defense forced an NFL-best 65 three-and-out drives on 214 opponent possessions, a 30.4 percent rate that was also tops in the league. The Bears also ranked second in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert just 32.7 percent of their opportunities. The Bears excelled on special teams throughout the season. Devin Hester broke his own NFL record with six kick return touchdowns (four on punts and two on kickoffs). Robbie Gould became the first kicker in Bears history with at least 30 field goals in multiple seasons after finishing tied for second in the NFL with 31 field goals (on 36 attempts). Chicago’s kickoff (19.3 yards per return) and punt (5.9 ypr) coverage units finished first and third in the NFL, respectively. The Bears also blocked a league-high eight kicks during the season (three punts, four field goals and one extra point). The Bears closed the regular season with back-to-back wins for just the third time in the last 21 years.

I agree we're not going to draft a first round prospect nor spend big bucks in FA so this means our new RB isn't perfect, but he's good enough to provide competition. While I'd like to see the home run speed long runs are really as much about speed as they are about scheme and the ability to make a guy or two miss. What I think we'll see is a guy who has more quickness than elite speed. He'll still be fast enough to break a long run but not that guy who pulls away from guys. He'll still be big enough to run plays up the middle but probably won't have the power to take a LB backwards. He needs to be stout enough to carry the load fulltime if need be because that will never be something Wolfe can provide. Simply put, I want a RB who is good at stretch plays and screens. Add some shake to the bake. I view Ced and AP as being similar. Ced having more ability and AP having more desire. They can battle for the inside running job since neither of them shine working outside the tackles or on screen routes. I don't think we'd have to alter our offense because we have those plays in the playbook they just aren't too effective with Ced or AP. Which style RB starts doesn't matter a great deal IMO since the alternate coming in for 10-12 plays has a different style. The most productive guy starts.

Anderson gets about 2.5mil with the high tender offer. That gives Cleveland the right to match any offer he gets but that would force a team to give up a 1st and 3rd Rd pick. As stated nobody is going to give up the picks for Anderson so he won't get an offer. They have $30mil in cap space. The money given to Quinn is already gone so that's not a factor and it also makes Quinn untradeable due to cap hit. With this team, coaches, GM, etc. fighting for their jobs so they'll keep both QBs which is a very affordable option for them. If Anderson lights it up next year they'll offer him a new contract midseason and then hang onto Quinn as the backup for perhaps one more year and then look to move Quinn. Unless someone comes along with a good offer for Quinn after next year but I'm not sure what cap hit they'd take to trade Quinn after two seasons. I'm not against the idea of inquiring into Anderson but I just don't see why Cleveland would let him go.