bradjock

"What is the solution" is the question. For me it comes down to one simple thing: Defensively, can we get back to being close to what we were in 2005 & 2006? Because for me it's not as much about players, but more about bad coaching and bad schemes. Lovie's a proven DC, Babbich is a proven lb'ers coach, and Marinelli is a great d-line coach. In other words, we need to get out shit together, or it doesn't matter who we bring in. And if we can't get back to wear we were 2 years ago with this defense, we need to blow the damn thing up. That means rebuilding, losing, and lottery. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can get it back together. Losing sucks. I agree completely when you say there's no guy in the draft we can get. But I honestly believe, as piss-poor as our secondary was last season, we could sign Suggs, Peppers, AND the DT from Tenn (whose damn name escapes me . . . the guy who stomped on somebody two years ago, defensive MVP . . . ) but we could sign all three, have a healthy Tommie, and our pass rush would still suck cause QB's would drop to steps back and throw an 8 yard pass to a wide open TE underneath. In the NFL it's all about consistency and building through the draft. Pittsburgh lost Faneca this offseason . . . who did they add? What players did Arizona sign? Did either team have a rookie that made a major impact? You may not "trust Lovie" as he asks you to do, but we'd better be keeping our damn fingers crossed that he's correct when he says, "We're not that far off."

I do think Gage would done well in our system. I never liked our letting him go so easily, but at the same time, I think fans memory gets shaky. He was never a great WR for us, and was injured most of his final season, so it just isn't shocking that we didn't make a big push to keep him after his contract was up. Do you mean Gage would do well with Kyle, or does that include Rex? Rex was never good with the short stuff that is ideal with Gage. But Gage would help Orton a lot. Meanwhile Berrian was never quite as good when Orton was QB'ing. While I am not going to say our staff likes playing rookies, I do have to throw out there, I don't think Beekman is a good example. He didn't play as a rookie because he was a 2nd day pick who was expected to be a backup center. Even this past offseason, the staff was VERY hesitant to look at him at OG because they didn't feel he had the size to play inside. They viewed him as a pure center, but due to injuries, were forced to give him an opportunity, and he ran w/ it. So, point is, while I think it is fair to question our staff's evaluation of Beekman, I don't think it is correct to use him as an example for Lovie not playing rookies. Maybe not Beekman, but name one rookie that we didn't "ease into it" unless out of necessity? Hell, there's little doubt in my mind that Cedric starts last season as the starting RB if he hadn't been arrested. Bennett did see action in one or two games last season, and Orton did throw to him once on a ball that was badly over-thrown.

this is the #1 free agent i go for this offseason. since ASHKUM BEAR brought this guys attention to the board i have argued that this is the premier free agent that will help our entire team for the same reasons i argued for charles woodson 3-4 years ago. so angie gets a redo if he is even reasonably smart. Based on what happened last season, we could put 20 men on the field, play most of them in the secondary, and the other team would just throw underneath to the TE for 8 yard gains again and again. Signing Asoguman or whatever the hell his name is would be like living in a shack and spending 10 grand on a TV. Or driving a Dodge Neon and spending 10 grand on a stereo. No matter how you decorate it, a turd is still a turd. We have a lot of problems we need to fix, and having the talent we already have in the secondary, making the highest paid player on the team a cornerback is definitely not one of them. It'd be like giving my 600 pound wife a face lift . . . Either way, it's a waste of damn money and it doesn't fix the real problem.

For the second time in two days, I'm going to bitch about Bear's rumors that make little sense. Yesterday it was taking a huge cap-hit to cut Vasher. Today it's reading: If the Bears can re-sign John St. Clair, he’ll likely start at right tackle with aging veteran John Tait in the rotation What the hell does that mean? There's not going to be an o-line "rotation." That's idiotic. The o-line is all about consistency. If we re-signed St. Clair, with the intention of starting him at RT, we cut Tait, just like we cut Fred Miller. You're not going to demote the highest paid o-lineman in the team. What's even more idiotic is to assume that Williams can stay healthy and be an effective starter for 16 games. Just like last season, we need St. Clair as insurance. In other words, we need 3 reliable OT's. I do understand that St. Clair has done enough for this team, that if he re-signs he deserves to be given a legitimate chance to start. IMO, that means he goes back to LG. Beekman's was okay, but he's far from great. St. Clair was very good playing LG at the end of '07, and I see no reason why he can't get back to that. Considering we moved St. Clair inside the brief times we played Williams, it seems that this staff is leaning towards this. St. Clair is versatile enough that he played TE in college and caught a TD pass for the Bears in '07.. Like last season, we start him at LG, & if St. Clair or Tait break down, we move him out. Sheesh, we haven't even played the Super Bowl & I'm already pissed at ignorant rumors.

Isn't this Asomugha love WAY over-hyped??? The guy has had two interceptions in two years. Yes he might be the greatest corner the NFL has ever seen, or he's a good corner on a really, really bad team. In five years he's had 10 interceptions and 8 of them were in 2006. Are you kidding me? The thought is the teams are scared to throw at him. I don't buy this. I think a lot of Offensive coordinators are cocky & over-confident. For instance, against the Bears, every team knew their TE's were likely to go for 200 yards. Yet certain teams, like New Orleans & St. Louis ignored this tactic. They were thumped in the process. Great players find a way to make plays. My guess is that if Asomugha were to come here, we'd be extremely dissappointed.

You're ignoring the obvious: How do Wade, Gage, or Bradley look for the Bears if they joined the team right now? 1. Mark Bradley had a couple big games for a horrendous Kansas City team that was often playing from behind. In 10 games only finished with 380 yards receiving. Then he was hurt for 3 games. Do you really want him back? 2. Bobby & Gage put up over 600 yards with Minny, but is he any better then Lloyd, Booker, Rashied Davis, or anybody else we have? You think we gave up on Andre Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald. These are 3 very mediocre receivers, that we replaced with mediocre receivers. As for Bennett, this coaching staff seems to hate playing rookies. (Forte being the exception.) I fully expect Bennett to be our starting #2 next season. Don't forget that we did the same to Beekman, and he started 16 games this year.

I signed up.

The four you've mentioned, with the exception of O-gun, are not significant concerns. Izzy did not have the impact on special teams this year after gaining weight to play D-tackle. Dusty's spent far more time on the side-lines then on the field, and Toinea will be lucky to make the team. As for Wale, I suspect we'll begin searching for his replacement early in the draft. Not to mention, it's not unthinkable that he'll put up 15 sacks this season & we'll be begging for him to return. Not likely, but not impossible. Either way, I do have to give Angelo credit for having an established team that is returning. With the exception of WR, every position has established veterans returning. We can view imporoving via the draft & free agency as more of a luxury then a necessity. This team was one win away from making the playoffs, and as Arizona demonstrated, once you're in . . .

I think how we draft in previous years can affect how we draft this year. I just have a hard time seeing Angelo stressing offense a 3rd straight draft. Maybe, but right now scouts inc has 4 OT's ranked in the top 32. They have Oher ranked the lowest @ #23, and I've seen early mocks saying all four could be long gone by the time the Bear's draft. It could easily see the Bears taking Andre Smith, Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, or Michael Oher if available. Then again if we signed Gross, that would make it a mute point. IMO that's part of the reason we don't go nuts spending big money on DE or OT in free agency. While our situation at those spots isn't great, it's far from bad. It's more logical to hope guys improve and draft potential replacements, rather then "making it rain." I do agree that, right now, DE seems a likely call in round one. It is viewed by our staff as a high priority, while also looking to be a solid value w/ our pick w/ several DEs likely available and offering solid value. My guess is we're taking the "best player available" between OT & DE. Profootball Weekly's latest mock has DE Aaron Maybin from Penn St. going to the Bears at #18. Scouts inc. ranks Maybin much higher. I simply can see us going offense in FA and defense in the draft. That's easy to see since Angelo has preferred doing that in the past. As for BJ, it isn't that I think he is the best option, but I simply think we will address WR and OL in FA. We have too much cap space to simply go after two spare players, and I think there is greater value at OT, and thus believe Gross could be an option. Then we will look at a mid-tier WR, and BJ is just an option I am throwing out there. I found a blurb from profootballweekly http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/The+W...cwest011009.htm saying that San Fran will lot Johnson walk since they like their other young WR's better. That's not exactly a glowing endorsement for BJ. Teams were reluctant to sign him for fear there was a "Steve Breaston" effect in AZ, and that he was much better because of Boldin & Fitz. Apparantly there might be something too that. That tells me BJ will not be sought after and come very cheap. Which makes me wonder: Is he any better then Lloyd? It seems like after Housh & Antonio Bryant, about every other WR available will be signing for damn near the minimum. That makes drafting one early even more imperative. Personally, I would rather TJ Hous and a mid-tier OT, but I think Angelo is more likely to go the opposite, which frankly is fine. I'd be happy for either or. What I'm really afraid of is that this will be the year the Bear's decide to be cheap again. I could easily see us doing very little and just sitting on that money.

What I want to know it, how much of a problem is it really? Yes, our WR's are reguarded as bad, but how much do we REALLY want to use them? Greg Olsen & Des Clark combined for 95 catches and almost 1000 yards. I look, for Olsen's numbers to see a big increase again next year, and I look to see one helluva a lot more from the rookie Kellen Davis, who looked great in training camp, but didn't see much time with Clark in front of him. Then you have Matt Forte who had 64 catches for 484 yards. AP's always been very good at catching the ball also. What I'm saying is that we don't necessary need a solution. Turner always talked about "stretching the field" but I'm not certain that's as important any more. That does not utilize Kyle's strengths which is in the shorter passing game. IMO, I think a big receiver like Justin Gage would do great with Orton right now. I don't think that would hold true if Orton were still QBing. So while I think Housh would immediately be our best WR, I don't think having him is that critical. I think we could have damn near the same success with a guy like Bryan Johnson, who has good size. That being said, it'll be interesting to see how much demand there is for Housh. I would think he would generate a deal similar to what Bernard Berrian signed last year, 6 years 43 million $$$. I don't see the Bears paying anywhere that amount of money for Housh.

That's not surprising really. In the full article that was in the Sun Times on Wednesday, I think, Mulligan added that after we spent so much money on Moose, and how bad he was, we'd be reluctant to do that again. Housh & Moose are both bigger WR's who don't have great speed. Seeing how much Moose improved after leaving here, one has to wonder exactly what the problem is with Bear WR's. Heck, Marty Booker went from 556 yards in 2007 on a HORRIBLE Miami team, to 221 yards this year. If Housh could fix our QB/WR problem, we should pay him whatever it takes. But realistically he'd just become yet another mediocre/bad WR who can't hang onto the damn ball.

More and more, I think we are bound to draft heavy on defense, while attacking offense in FA. Look at our last two drafts. This past year, our top 3 picks were offense. The prior year, 2 of our top 3 picks were offense. Prior to these past two years, Angelo seemed to rotate between offense and defense each year. This year, I think Angelo will be going back to defense in the draft. W/ needs (at least in Angelo's eyes) at DE, DT, SLB, CB and S, I think it makes sense to Angelo to attack defense in the draft, especially as that is his strength. To me it doesn't make a damn bit of difference what positions we drafted last year, but it's more about what's going to be available combined with what we needed. For instance, after last years NFL combine, IMO we'd determined that we would: In round #1 draft the best OT available. It was need plus availability. If not Williams, we'd have been choosing between Otah & Cherilus. In round #2 we wanted Matt Forte: I've never seen a 2nd round pick so predictable as this. But if he were gone, we'd have taken Ray Rice or Kevin Smith. In round #3 we were going WR: After Earl Bennett, four different WR's were drafted in round #3. We knew this going into free agency, which effected the moves we made. While last year the hot pick where we were drafting was OT, this year it seems to be DE. That's based on these early mocks. It's tough to speculate past round 1 at this point, but right now it seems like we'll be looking at the best DE available, meaning we'll be less like to sign Peppers. Sign Gross and Bryant Johnson in FA. There has not been too much discussion about our adding Gross, but why not. OL is a huge need, and Gross is one of the best. While he played LT this year, it has been discussed how he was a great RT prior to this year. We can also cut Tait, which simply frees up more cap space. Then we add a WR like BJ, who is not great by any means, but one of the better options in a poor group. We had plenty of chances to sign Bryant Johnson & he didn't do much with San Fran this year. But with his size, I think he might be what Orton needs. With Housh & Antonio Bryant overpriced, we're going to have to bring in a mediocre WR. It might as well be Johnson. As for Gross, we may determine that a good OT will be available in the draft when we pick. It'll be interesting.

From ESPN Insider: Mel Kiper's 2009 NFL mock draftComment Email Print By Mel Kiper Jr. ESPN.com Archive Mel Kiper's first round Pick Team Player Position College 1 Detroit Matthew Stafford QB Georgia 2 St. Louis Andre Smith OT Alabama 3 Kansas City Mark Sanchez QB USC 4 Seattle Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech 5 Cleveland Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest 6 Cincinnati Jason Smith OT Baylor 7 Oakland Jeremy Maclin WR Missouri 8 Jacksonville Eugene Monroe OT Virginia 9 Green Bay Malcolm Jenkins CB Ohio St. 10 San Francisco Aaron Maybin DE/OLB Penn St. 11 Buffalo Brandon Pettigrew TE Oklahoma St. 12 Denver B.J. Raji DT Boston College 13 Washington Brian Orakpo DE Texas 14 New Orleans Vontae Davis CB Illinois 15 Houston Everette Brown DE Florida St. 16 San Diego Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia 17 New York Jets Percy Harvin WR Florida 18 Chicago Tyson Jackson DE LSU 19 Tampa Bay Josh Freeman QB Kansas St. 20 Detroit (from Dallas) Rey Maualuga LB USC 21 Philadelphia Chris "Beanie" Wells RB Ohio St. 22 Minnesota Hakeem Nicks WR North Carolina 23 New England Brian Cushing LB USC 24 Atlanta Larry English DE/OLB No. Illinois 25 Miami Darrius Heyward-Bey WR Maryland 26 Baltimore D.J. Moore CB Vanderbilt 27 Indianapolis Peria Jerry DT Mississippi 28 Philadelphia (from Carolina) Michael Oher OT Mississippi 29 New York Giants James Laurinaitis LB Ohio St. 30 Tennessee Michael Johnson DE Georgia Tech 31 Arizona LeSean McCoy RB Pittsburgh 32 Pittsburgh Alex Mack C California

I couldn't find how much his last deal was worth, but I feel like Idonije signed a 4 year deal for 8.7 million. Would a new deal be for that much more? Idonije is 28 and is one helluva a special teams player. I can't imagine that any deal we make with him would be a deal-breaker for going after a guy like Peppers. You mentioned that if we get it right, he won't see much of the field, but when have we gotten it right? Season after season he's a regular member of the rotation. You mention he we'd be looking for a 3rd DT, usually he's the 4th guy. I'd be happy as hell to sign him. As for our DT's, with Idonije & Dvoracek under contract, along with Harris, Harrison, and Adams, I'd be shocked as hell if we added another player into the mix this season. Agree with waiting on Wale. It doesn't look like he'll be in the mix, but what if he drops the QB 15 times this season? Not likely, but not impossible. That changes things.

I am not going to totally take away credit for the picks. I don't recall them all, but do seem to remember him making some solid plays on the ball. As for Vasher to FS, I am simply not sure I see it. For one thing, I have never heard this idea mentioned outside of our board. It is something fans might think about, but I am not sure any others due, as opposed to Tillman moving to FS, which has been talked about by many. I've never understood the "move Tillman to FS" movement, except for a few years ago when we thought he sucked. Honestly, I don't know that I've ever heard talk about Vasher being moved except for the board. To me it just makes sense because Vasher's been demoted and we are desperate for a FS. Thing is, I just don't know how well he transitions. When I watched him this year, before the injury, I did not get the sense of a player who excels playing deep off the LOS. At FS, he is 3 times deeper. Some of his skills may translate, but I just am not sure, and to be honest, I am sick of "trying" players at FS, rather than just getting a FS. I always felt Vasher's best position was nickel DB. He did very well there before winning the starting job. As a starter, I thought I was being proven wrong, but now wonder. Regardless, I still think he can be valuable to us as a nickel DB, but am not high on the idea of moving him to FS. I don't think Vasher could be much worse at FS then the guys we've had. If DM is our starting nickel-back, Graham is our corner, you don't think we should cut Vasher, then what should we do with him? As for DM to FS, that just baffles me. We move this kid all over the place, and he looks awful, but the one position he finally looked good at (nickel) we seem to plan on moving him away from. I just do not get it. If DM starts at FS, and especially if Payne or Steltz is at SS, I will be sick. I will say I agreed with moving DM to FS during the Houston game since we were depleted in the secondary. But that game proved we not only need a FS, but a back-up FS. Payne looks good, but he'll never be great. Steltz might be a stand-out on special teams. I'm assuming McGowan will be gone . . . First, I am not so sure we will make the big FA splash in the secondary. I don't see CB as we have recently spent so much there, combined w/ Graham looking good. At S, the group available just isn't very good. I am on record wanting the kid out of StL, but am not sure he makes it to FA. Disagree with us going after a safety. With the exception of DT, there's no other position JA has sought to fill then safety. We draft one damn near every year: Chris Harris, DM, Steltz, Payne, AND we gave up a 4th or 5th round pick to get Arch. (Was McGowan a 7th round pick or an undrafted FA?) And what do we have to show for it? Payne is mediocre at best and we have no FS. Agreed we won't seek a corner. JA's been great at drafting them. Most fans have written off Vasher, while also putting Graham in as a starter. I have no problem w/ this idea, but would point out how most felt McBride looked good last year, only to really look average this year, if even that. Even if, and I would say it is in fact an if, Graham does play strong at CB, what depth do we have at CB? Our depth would be Bowman (who has like one game of experience), McBride (who saw his play slip this year) and likely DM, who I think few would want to see lined up at CB. The difference between Graham & McBride, is that we really like Graham's size & speed, and he would have been drafted much higher if he hadn't been injured his senior year. McBride looked better last year, but he was given a lot more opportunities since this year he was demoted. Assuming we keep DM at nickel, which should happen, we have Bowman & McBride as back-ups with room to draft one more. Tillman's injuries, and overall injuries at DB, can we really afford to cut Vasher? If we were going to save a ton of money, that would be one thing, but as his deal was so recent, I doubt the savings would be much. I think it would be far better to allow him another year to (a) redeem himself, ( provide at minimum better depth and maybe a solid nickel and © would likely be a better cap cut a year from now. As we are not in need of the money, and lack depth at CB, I just do not see the point of cutting him now. As I mentioned, I could see us doing the same thing we did with RMJ: Keep him around but not give him a real chance to win his job back. Unless there's a roster bonus due, it doesn't benefit us to cut him now. Yea, I just don't get this, but at the same time, would it really surprise any of us? Isn't FS where Angelo has wanted DM all along? Yes, but after 3 years of failure??? JA is often slow to pull the plug, but after 3 years, even he usually gets it. Of course it might not be JA's call at what position he plays. It's also interesting that DM will be a free agent this year. That wouldn't mean much if he hadn't finished the season as the top kick-return man in the league.

One. I would argue Graham was better in coverage than Vasher. Watching games, to me, QBs really focused their attack on Tillman far more than Graham. Part of that was Tillman's man seemed to always be wide open, but part of that also has to do w/ Graham simply doing a better job in coverage. If QBs are not attacking Grahams man as much, he thus getting it done in terms of coverage. Picks are not a great indicator of coverage. [/b] It is true we didn't see or hear much from Graham. Sometimes that's a pretty damn good thing. I thought QB's focused their attack on Tillman, simply because the top WR's like Andre Johnson seemed to line up on the QB's right side which is where Tillman lines up. That and QB's were so damn busy throwing slant passes underneath to the TE's . . . either way it's strange that Graham didn't seem to be tested much. Wouldn't you go right at a guy who's never seen the field before this year? Like Zac Bowman, Graham's talent projected him to go much higher in the draft but he slipped due to injuries. Two. I would agree that Vasher proved the better playmaker, but would also point out two things. One, Graham just played his first season. Maybe we can give him a chance before we write him off as not being a playmaker. Two, when Vasher was getting picks, we had a better pass rush. It is much harder to get interceptions when you have no pass rush, and QBs are not hurried into bad throws. That always bothered me about Vasher. I can't remember him EVER grabbing a coverage interception or a jump ball. EVERY interception I remember the QB threw the ball straight at him. Vasher's strength was always getting in position to make plays. If he can improve his tackling he's an ideal FS. Either way, the talk of moving Manning back to FS again is disturbing. Seriously. How can JA even say that? As for the idea of cutting Vasher, I am 100% against it. Especially as Angelo's comments indicate we intend to move DM back to FS, who the hell is going to be our nickel? Has everyone forgotten how big of a hole that looked early this year, before DM stepped up? The coaches talk all the time about how the nickel is dang near a starter due to how many teams play wide open offenses. Vasher was a GREAT nickel before moving to a starting role. Even if he can't be a starter, I think he is still worth keeping on the roster for the nickel job. Not to mention that, while Graham looked good this year, he is far from proven and depth is important, especially at a position we have seen so many injuries. Angelo's comments indicate we'll be extremely active in free agency, or that the Bears are feeling the economic pinch and plan on being cheap. If we plan on getting a top FS, like the guy from the Rams, would it be ok to dump Vasher then? It would be in my world. If we were loaded w/ depth, then maybe, but we have little depth, and thus I don't understand any ideas of cutting Vasher. He maybe expensive as a non-starter, but we are not paying Graham or McBride jack, so until we have to give them a raise, I am not sure why there is a need to cut Vasher for money. Agreed with that. Usually when JA hints at such things, for better or for worse, there's another plan in place. Although I keep thinking, "DM at FS AGAIN??? WTF???"

I wonder how much we'd save by cutting Vasher? I wonder if we'll have a situation similar to Ricky Manning Jr's last year. RMJ was benched and never really even given a chance to redeem himself. Considering Vasher was outplayed by Corey Graham who makes the minimum, it might be safe to assume he's gone. The one thing that bothers me is that Graham is not as good as Vasher was at his best. In 16 games last year Graham had a whopping 1 interception. While he's good in run-support, he's not great in coverage. At this point I don't see how our secondary gets better by cutting Vasher.

Is Manning going BACK to FS??? Yhe Mike Brown comments confused the hell out of me. First off, Danieal Manning seems to have found the spot he's best at--nickel-back. Hell, he was torched playing FS vs. Houston AGAIN. So we're letting Mike Brown go so DM can play FS after sucking at it for 3 seasons? Not affording Mike Brown is ridiculous. Last season we dropped his salary to $950,000, with 1.49 million of not likely to be earned bonuses. http://www.rototimes.com/nfl/news.php?tqid...4&nid=38775 We're 25 mil under the cap & don't have an extra mil for Mike Brown? Mike Brown looked slower and less effective this season. It's tough to be successful with all the injuries we've had at safety. So I can understand letting Brownie walk. But why blame it on money? I don't always agree with Angelo, but I can almost always understand where he's going from. But this is just ignorant.

Agreed 100% that those are two teams we should model ourselves after. And neither one of them has a TE as good as Olsen or a dynamic playmaker as good as Hester (although he's not a great WR). The one thing I'd point out is that as far as I'm aware, both teams built their o-line, d-line and rb's through the draft. The one exception to that is Tennessee signing Javon Kearse from Philly . . . except they were the one's who'd drafted the freak originally. Alex Brown's overall play improved after he was benched in favor or Mark Anderson. TJ improved after we drafted Benson, and Des Clark improved after Olsen. If we drafted a DE & OT in rounds 1 & 2, how much better could Wale & Tait be knowing their replacement is waiting in the wings? Especially since both of them are in a contract year? These positions can get better, but I think we can do it without giving Peppers a 6 year 80 million $$$ contract, which I'm guessing is what he'll cost.

I agree that you can't take what he's saying at face value. But do you really think DE & OT are our top priorities? I disagree based on how bad other positions are. If we cut Alex Brown or Wale, they'd sign pretty good deals with other teams and they'd be starting next season. With the exception of maybe Hester, that's not true of any of our WR's. Hell, Booker and Lloyd could be out of the league if we cut them. Rashied Davis would likely stick with another team, but mainly because he's a good special team's player. Will Earl Bennett have a sophomore season like Josh Beekman or Michael Okwo? Does anyone believe Hester can be a true #1? We need to focus on getting him back to being a top-return man. Our WR's are pitiful. If we have to over-pay for a position, that should be it. As for the Tackle position, Brad Biggs at the Tribune wrote today we plan on sticking with Tait & Williams as our starting offensive tackles. We could do much better, but we could do much worse.

But how do you know Peppers would do that much for the defense? When we brought in Wale, he was coming off a 15 sack season. The next season with the Bears he only recorded 5 sacks in 12 games. Peppers had a great season this year, but in 2007 in 14 games he only had 2.5 sacks. Sure he was hurt, but who's to say he won't be hurt next season? Peppers just turned 29 and Wale is 31 now and turns 32 in in August so there's a 2 1/2 year age difference between the two. It's likely Peppers will want a 6 year deal . . . if we think Wale is bad at 31, how will Peppers be in two years? Sure you can cut the guy, but when you fork out huge dollars, you expect the guy to fortify the position for years to come. Here's how I look at it: Hypothetically speaking, what if Tommie Harris had never been a Bear, yet we signed him last offseason? Fans were pretty pissed with him this season, and he's already been great for this team. What I'm saying is that Peppers might suck. We're better off hoping like hell Wale turns it around in his contract year then betting the farm on someone else.

[b]IN OTHER WORDS: Don't count on Jordan Gross, or a RT or a RG in the first 2 rounds come April.[/b] I agree on Gross, but not the draft. As for Gross, you simply don't pay someone to be the highest paid offensive lineman ever (which is likely what it'll take) when you're not desperate at the position. Gross would be a major upgrade, but we have more desperate needs. As for the draft, there's a bunch of OT's projected to go in the first round. If one is there at 18, I don't think JA would have a problem grabbing him. IN OTHER WORDS: Don't count on Peppers or Suggs in FA. If the Bears defense struggles, Lovie will be sh*t-canned after next season, and rightfully so.3. When asked about possibly another RB to spell Forte, Angelo kind of moved that one to the side. He just complimented Forte on everything he had done last year. Harry, the one who asked the question, said that Peterson isn't a #2 RB. Angelo also moved that to the side but said he wished Wolfe could have seen the field more. Unless we go 0 & 16, Lovie has at least two years left. As for Suggs & Peppers, like with John Tait, I'd like to find out if we can get more from Wale. IN OTHER WORDS: He's fine with Wolfe and Peterson, and I'm guessing Wolfe gets plenty more touches next year. Watching Daren Sproles, it's tough not to wonder for Wolfe can do. Not to mention, AP still looks pretty damn good. You seem pissed that we're not going to break the bank for o-line, d-line, or rb, but isn't WR & FS our most pressing needs?

Is Rosenass Peppers agent? We heard worse things from Briggs last year. Lance didn't just he wanted out, but declared he'd never wear a Bear's uniform again. In other words, this is just Peppers putting pressure on the team to give him a long term deal and not use the franchise tag on him. Although I was shocked as hell that if franchised the cap number would be 17 million??? I'm guessing this would be the 2nd year in a row he's been tagged. This tells me his deal will top Jared Allen's deal of 6 years 73 million. That's one helluva a lot money. Wale had 9.5 sacks in 2007. Let's work to getting him back to top form before we do anything else.

It'd be great to pair up Leinart with Kyle Orton. Kyle could teach him work ethic and why it's important not to get pictures of yourself acting like a drunken ass-hat plastered all over the Internet. That being said, this wouldn't and shouldn't happen. Leinart was the 10th overall pick and his contract will cost us a significant amount of money. That means we'd have to give up a high draft pick plus pay out the nose. If you're going to give money plus picks you'd better make sure he's one helluva a lot better then the guy we have, Kyle Orton. Is he? Heck, Leinart struggled with Fitz & Boldin as his WR's. How the hell would he do with Marty Booker? IMO, the Bears best bet is to sign a good back-up who's still young enough to be the guy: Leftwhich, Simms, J.P. Lossman . . . Then drat a guy in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rounds (If you take a guy #1 there's too much pressure for him to be elite.)