'TD'

Emery was left in a crap situation when he came in. There was nothing but Forte and Cutler on offense. There was aging players on D, no replacements being groomed, and he was stuck with Lovie for a year. Off the top of my head, he has 3 players on O and 3 on D that he inherited from JA that are starters (Tillman, Briggs, and Forte being the only ones drafted by JA). Since Tillman and Briggs were drafted in 2003, I think only Paea, Forte and Conte are left. I know some players have moved on to have decent careers, but that is just a horrible way to leave the team.

http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...74-856af82b6315 I like that part of the interview even better. He's blowing smoke up everyone's hind end, but it's good to hear.

LB in general is still a position of need. The Bears were a joke in the running game. It started up front and funneled all the way back through the safeties. They've got their line back to where it was supposed to be last year prior to injuries. Last years rookies need to step up, and they need a solid prospect at MLB even if Williams fills the role. The comments on Bostic sounded more like we may have to use him there this year, but it's really not our long term plan for him. That said, the addition of JA and resigning of Tillman have me optimistic on a defense I had no hope for this year. I'm excited for the draft and wondering who the fudge Emery just drafted in the first round.

Sorry Jason, I read let's get madden and didn't read your thread. I didn't know it had been brought up.

When Shea was in, of course they did. He is now a linebacker because he sucked at all things DE. Brandon Jacobs wasn't rushing around the ends, that's for sure. The middle was the main problem in the running game. They were like 10th against the run before Briggs got hurt. Injuries kept adding up at DT and the LBer's/safeties were not doing their job.

I didn't see DE as the problem in the running game. The off the street tackles, inexperienced line backers, and poor safeties seemed to be the problem to me. Teams were just running straight up the middle and not getting stopped.

That's pretty major, Tillman is still elite.

Building for the future is part of the reason I hate the signings. Why overpay for average when you aren't trying to rush a championship? I'd been happy if only Houston or Young were signed for Young's contract. It's a reasonable deal for a starting average DE. However, I think Houston's contract is ridiculous and the combination of the 2 starting is just insuring a weakness from last year. I really don't think it's being pessimistic to call a spade a spade. Getting to the QB was one of the major problems on D last year. These guys can't do that, and their contracts pigeon hole them as starters and limits how the team can build. I'm can see the Bears digging themselves in a hole, but I can't see the foundation being laid yet.

I didn't mean anything directed at you. I saw your grading, and saw the opportunity to vent on the team a little. I miss read what you were saying. You were talking Young's value against this years FA's. I thought you were giving the Bears free agency signings as a whole a B+ when I read for this class.

I thought Emery's bust looked fantastic at the press conference.

I'd go with an F-. -Safeties were exposed last year due to no pass rush. They lose their only competent pass rusher in Peppers. Instead, they sign 2 guys to start that can't get 10 sacks combined and likely not as good as Wooten who is also gone. -To improve the safeties, they signed the one safety that may be worse than the ones they had. -They let one of the best punt returners in the league go, and bring in an unknown. - Rosario was signed, cut, and replaced by himself. I guess that is a wash. I just can't see an area where the team has improved. I think they have side stepped or taken major steps back, especially if you factor in the additional potential losses of Melton and Tillman.

It wouldn't be to me. I don't think a DE should be paid more than 2 or 3 mil a year unless they are putting up 10 sacks a year.

I was about to make the same comparison production wise. He's bigger tho and can move inside to DT. That's why I used the Wooten comparison instead. He's a player that is nice to have on the line, but I'm not sure at his price. 16 sacks in 4 years just doesn't warrant a decent contract to me. About half his price and I would really like the signing.

He'll have some good weapons in TB this year too. I'm not the most versed on TB but I do know they have Vincent Jackson and Doug Martin. He earned this contract last year more than Cutler earned making 4x more than him this year. I think he will be fine if he gets the starting nod and a great teacher/example for any young guys they bring in if he starts or not.

Double Danged, great minds think alike lol.

Dang, I really hate to see him go. I'm happy for him tho, as he deserves to be paid after last year. I figured Tillman or Hester would be the first Bears that Lovie would still. I never thought about McCown.

It'd definitely hurt cap wise, but it'd be doable. The Bears won't have the 8 million in dead money from Peppers next year. They would just need to be a little creative on the numbers to take advantage. There's always the Cutler ATM to go to also. The Bears need an impact player on D. At 31, he is better than the 29 year old Peppers that the Bears signed 5 years ago. A player that does what he can do isn't easy to come by. The Bears lack of pass rush was a major part of why they were so bad last year.

Screw 5 million, give the man 27-45 million for 3 years. He never had less that 11 sacks in his 6 years in Minny. Creatively pay the man, and let's get a pass rush back. He'd be Peppers age after 3 years, and we could let him go then.

I'd rather have seen the money go to Melton or Tillman. It feels to me like the Bears just paid a decent sum for a Wooten caliber player. I know he's not a monster cap hit, it's just seems like the Bears could have found someone, like they tried with linebackers last year, that could put up his production. They've had Pro Bowl quality seasons, he's had quality starter seasons.

The title change and first post in this thread threw me off lol. I was like why would Bennett signing with Seattle hurt us financially. I had to do a double take till i realized what happened lol. The Bears have failed horribly in the past at finding DE's in the draft. I was hoping to see him signed. He may not be Peppers in his prime, but I'd put him up there with Ogunleye.

http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/lance-brig...&ocid=yahoo "Trade all the draft picks and bring my brothers back," Briggs deadpanned on the Kap and Haugh show Friday. Briggs, of course, is referencing Charles Tillman, Devin Hester, Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher when he mentions his "brothers."

I really don't see Emery trading back. He could have did that the last 2 years. Instead of risking it, he drafted Long and McClellan some what early.

Fiction - I hate trade downs, I want quality over quantity Fiction - I think both are highly unlikely Fiction - Cutler's here for at least 3 years, no reason to waste a mid round pick on a QB Fiction - I'll believe it when I see it

I always hated the words re-sign and resign. I thought a couple people quit lol.

Conte was bad last year, but the defensive line was worse. He was adequate the year before. He really sucked last year, but shouldn't have been in the situations he was in as much as he was. If the D Line had gotten more pressure, we may have be been talking about how good he was, as he did come up with some big plays this year. They were just over shadowed by a lot of bad.