bradjock

Lucky, I have to disagree with your idea about giong after the corner from Oakland. IMO, it's the same problem we have at d-line: We've spent a lot of draft picks and money on the position, and our corners stunk. So is the problem with the corners, or with the scheme & coaching? It doesn't matter if we have the pair of corners in the league if we continue to have them drop back and not jam the line. Peanut is good, Corey Graham isn't bad, and Zac Bauman looked impressive briefly. Not to mention Vasher's still around. We have much greater needs then the corner position. Now if we can score a to FS like the guy from St. Louis, that's a different story. The difference is that our FS position has been a revolving door for years, while Payne, Steltz, and Mike Brown (if he returns) are all better SS's. If we're going to throw money at a position, we'd better do it on WR's or the o-line. Although with WR, after Housh, there's not much else. And I strongly suspect Housh would become Moose in this offense. Realistically, we're not desperate to upgrade any position at this point except for WR where the cupboard is bare.

I simply believe Angelo views a pass rushing DE as our top need heading into the offseason, and in Peppers, you have one of the best in the league. I can easily see him making a big splash here. I listened to the JA interview, and he didn't really speak about the defensive ends specifically. But he did say that he didn't see any reason why Tommie Harris wouldn't receive his roster bonus, and he reiterated that he's looking forward to seeing Harris return to top form. He also mentioned that had to look closely at whether they could fix the problems they had in house, or if they needed to look outside. We're probably just going to disagree on this, but I interpret that to mean with bringing in Marinelli, they're hoping Wale can return to double digit sacks and that we'll address the DE position in the draft. Snow? What's that. Cold as heck here (20s) but nothing resembling this thing you speak of. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 60s. Nice golf weather. It's up to 8 degrees here which is down-right balmy compared to the negative 12 it was when I woke up this morning.

The key point was their lack of cap space. They have only $10m in space right now. It was pointed out they can cut some players to free up maybe as much as another $5m, but frankly, so can we and most teams. The point though is, we have double the space as they do, and many other teams can say the same thing. That is why I said they will have a difficult time fighting off the suitors if he makes it to FA.[ The difference is that Carolina should be one helluva a lot more motivated to resign Peppers. They need Peppers more then we do. I wouldn't be surprised if they franchised him. Hey, you are preaching to the choir. I have said all along this is NOT what I would prefer to do. I too would rather devote that cap space to filling holes that we simply know are totally lacking in talent. WR. OT. OG. FS. Hell, I would argue I could sign the top WR and FS, as well as a very good OT. I would throw OG in there too, but the FA crop is really sad. The free agent crop is really sad. If JA thinks Peppers might put us over the top, he might go all out. But I don't see it. Please understand. I am not arguing what I want, but simply what I think Angelo and Lovie may want, and what they may do. I agree 100% that it is hard to know just how good or bad our DL is after the two crap years of crap coaching, but I simply feel Angelo would love to add Peppers, and further, simply feel it (in Angelo's world) makes sense. JA is being interviewed on the SCORE at 9:30. I'm anxious to hear what he has to say. Damn I love snow days.

So Carolina can't fight off all the suitors yet the Bears will? Even when we have more glaring needs at so many other positions? Not to mention that while our DE's aren't that great, they really aren't that bad. We don't even really know how bad our defensive-line is since either the play-calling or the secondary left things so wide open, the d-line never had time to get to the QB. Assuming Peppers will cost at least as much as Jared Allen, 6 years 73 million, the Bears could get a damn good RT and safety for that amount of money and easily draft a DE in the first round. It just doesn't make sense for this team.

First, regarding Wale. He signed a 6 year deal? That means he will be entering the final year of his deal, and will be a FA after the 2009 season. Also, you mention a $15m SB, but as I recall, we paid him $5m as a roster bonus, w/ another $10m SB due the following season. I recall pretty well it being a multi-tier bonus, as it created a lot of press. Anyway, the points here are (a) Wale is not likely part of the long term plans ( while we may have paid him a lot, it was a long time ago © If I am close to right on the numbers, we will eat maybe $1.5m or so in bonus, but I would bet we have over $5m in base salary due to him, and thus cutting him would create solid cap space. I pulled that from espn: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?sectio...&id=1866081 I can't argue with the details you mention. I couldn't find how much Alex Brown was making, but I feel like he's around 5 million per. So let me ask you this: Who would you rather have of the two? Wale has consistently been the better of the two. Either we need to conclude that Wale sucks, or we need to turn him around. I believe Wale is one of the players Angelo was calling out (not by name) and is a player/position he is looking to upgrade. Maybe, but upgrading him is either said then done. Second, You ask how others would feel about our bringing in a FA and paying him more. Again, couple points. (a) after the season (two seasons for that matter) we have had on defense, there is not a player on the squad who deserves the right to complain about another guy making more than him ( we are not talking about giving some spare more money than the rest, but adding one of the league's truly elite pass rushers more. I think the players would be thrilled w/ the potential addition of Peppers as he would go a long way toward the group as a whole doing a lot better. Disagree. How often to you see teams adding big name players into an already big name group? Usually it has an adverse affect. This would be the Dan Snyder/Jerry Jones factor. Maybe they wouldn't complain publicly, but these types of signings tend to back-fire. Jared Allen is probably the exception to that, but Minnesota had a tremendous need at DE, and he was warmly welcomed by two tremendous DT's. Third, how much would we be willing to give him? I have no clue. It always comes down to money, but I will say this. Several times, Angelo has surprised me (and fans) w/ how much he was willing to give a player. Harris didn't get the massive payday he likely wanted, but he also had the injury red flag. I do recall a few years back fans (including me) saying there was no way we would even look at Kearse, but guess what. We did. We didn't get him, but as I recall, offered as much as $20m bonus to get him, which would have put him over Urlacher, who was in his prime and our defensive leader. So I am not sure I would be so certain we would not fork over the money. While JA has not been afraid to pay a guy, when he did: 1. We were desperate for an upgrade at the position. That's why he paid Tait, Moose, and Wale. While we're not great at DE, we're far from desperate. 2. He never spent "crazy money." You mentioned how so many teams are way under the cap. I'd be shocked if Peppers didn't at the very least match Jared Allen's deal. That's just WAY to much when you're hoping your new d-line coach and new defensive play-caller can fix a lot of the problems.

Lately JA seems to be very concerned about the chemistry of the team, rewarding your own players, and not pissing off the guys already on the roster. Tommie Harris signed a very reasonable deal. Despite the fact he wasn't very good this year, won't he be pissed when we pay a d-lineman a ton more then him? According to Wikepedia, Minny paid Jared Allen 6 years, 72.3 million. This is after trading a ton to get him. Won't Peppers cost AT LEAST that much? This is after Tommie signed a 4 year 40 million extension. Wale's deal was 6 years, 33.4 million (although I have no idea how that breaks down other then the 15 million signing bonus). I would be flabbergasted if we shelled out that much for a position we've already spent a ton of money and draft picks on fixing. To me that would be similar to Dallas trading for Roy Williams. Throwing money at a position doesn't necessarily fix the problem. I'm hoping Loving is simply excited about fixing the problem. Either way, with Wale & Brown getting up their in age, and Mark Anderson stuck in the mud, I fully expect us to draft a DE very early.

Not true. When have we ever done that in the past? Bear fans have come to expect bad offense & great defense. When was the last time our offense cracked the top-ten? Yes, there's the annual bitching about Ron Turner, but it's been more disheartening IMO for Bear fans to see their defense suck for two consecutive years. Only Baltimore spends more money on the defensive side of the ball then we do. Personally, I would be surprised if we didn't see the starting o-line of Williams, St. Clair/Beekman, Kretz, Garza, and Tait again next year. While we need to upgrade o-line, I could easily see us continuing with the status quo. While the WR position is more urgent, what makes you think we won't continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel bringing in guys like Booker & Lloyd? JA doesn't seem that concerned about the WR position, and it more likely we'll continue to let Hester develop and focus on our TE's.

There's no way in hell we're going after a top-tier defensive lineman in free agency . . . for multiple reasons. First off, at the DL, who the hell do you replace? Dvoracek's been a dissappointment, but he's looked like a monster at times. Marcus Harrison has also looked pretty damn good and both of these guys are cheap. Even Tommie's contract for a pro-bowl DT is pretty damn reasonable. Marrinelli is supposed to help help them improve. It would be irresponsible to get rid of any of them at this point. Not to mention, Anthony Adams and Israel Idonije have been our most consistent D-linemen, and I don't see them going anywhere either. That brings us to DE. I agree that Suggs is not an ideal fit for our scheme. But if we paid to get Peppers, we'd likely have to make him the highest paid player on the roster. How can you justify doing that with a defensive budget that is already bloated and underperforming? If Lovie's excited I think it's because: a) There's a free agent DE flying under the radar we like that will be fairly inexpensive, similar to when we signed Anthony Adams . . . which I can't imagine Lovie would be getting excited about that. There a few defense ends projected to go in the first round we really like. To me this makes more sense. While Wale's expensive, it'll be tough to find a replacement that's better without paying through the nose. Alex Brown is a solid NFL starter, but he'll never be the elite pass-rusher we crave. And Mark Anderson is a nice 3rd-down pass-rusher . . . no more, no less. So to me it makes the most sense to draft a DE. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we went DE #1 and #2 the way we went DT with Tank & Tommie. JA LOVES drafting d-linemen and I could easily see him resigning St. Clair and sticking with the guys we already have on the 0-line. Not to mention he always believes he can find a WR later, the way he did with Berrian.

Good for him. It's great to have players like him on the team. He signed a big deal and has been as good as ever. Unless Vasher who's never been the same after signing the big money deal two years ago. You always wonder if money will change a person. Tillman is easily our best cornerback, especially when it comes to coverage. His ability to strip the ball is phenominal and he's a solid tackler. Like Bearsox mentioned, we'd be stupid to move him to FS. Hell, half the time all our FS's do is drop 30 yards back in coverage. That would be a waste of his ability. I still think we should move Vasher to FS. He has the speed, he's never been great in coverage, and he's a natural ball-hawk. If Vasher were healthy, that would fill our biggest gap on defense without having to add anyone.

Either way it still sucks. If he wouldn't have fallen, that just takes a different player away from the Bears. Looking at Scouts inc. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft In the top 32 they have 5 offensive tackles, 3 WR's, 5 DE's, and 3 QB's listed. You take one top player away from the pool, and everyone moves up one. Not to mention there are no safeties listed in the top round now that Mays is gone.

I take it he's the best free safety available? That's tough to argue with. Looking at his stats, the guy hasn't missed a game since his rookie year, he's had 13 interceptions the past two seasons, (which is pretty impressive considering the Rams have usually been getting their asses kicked and have a horrible run defense). And he was taken in the 3rd round, 66th overall, which means he graded pretty high at the combine. Although I wonder how much a top free safety will cost. I can't believe the Rams would easily let one of their few bright spots get away. Either way, it sucks that the top safety has decided to stick around one more year.

I have to rank Leftwich as #1 on the "retread" list. He has the physical tools to be great, he has the size, he has the experience, and he just turned 29 years old. Not to mention that his lifetime QB rating of 80.3 is higher then Orton's rating was this season, at 79. And he looked pretty damn good in limited time for Pittsburgh this season. He's a guy who would be a great #2, and hopefully push Orton. I hope we sign him. I still think we'd need to draft a QB pretty damn early.

Yes, Vasher needs to improve on his tackling. But he's fast, he's never been great in coverage, and his greatest strength has been getting in position to ifnd the football. That tells me he's be good at free safety.

Ultimately, Gage's fumbling promblem doomed him with the Bears. That and with Rex Grossman as QB, Turner craved WR's who could really stretch the field and be a deep threat. Although I wonder if that's changed now with Orton QBing. IMO, Gage would be successful with Orton. Yes, Gage, Bobby Wade, and Mark Bradley have looked good at times. But Brandon Lloyd's looked pretty damn good at times. But that doesn't mean we should keep him. And while it would be nice to have Berrian, I still don't know of anyone who wishes we'd have out-big Minny for his 43 million for 6 years. Hell, he signed for much more then Lance Briggs. Lance made the pro-bowl and Berrian completely dissappeared at times, and did not make his QB's much better.

I have to agree with resigning Mike Brown. He won't cost that much. The key is finding a free safety who's not retarded. Considering Steltz and Payne are both better SS's, it's a definite need. There's buzz about us drafting the safety from USC, but we have so many other needs, it's tough to see us going safety in round 1. I still like the idea of moving Vasher to FS.

If we'd have hired Joe Berry, at least we'd be bringing in a guy who's had success as a line-backers coach and has experience. Previously, we've been bringing in college coaches who have less NFL experience then Urlacher. That's why I was hoping Berry came with. It's the same argument I see with Ron Turner. Fans always want to fire Turner, but who the hell do you replace him with? Good offensive coordinators aren't changing jobs. Who the hell will we get instead of Berry? Although I have to believe this was money related. I'm guessing we had to pay Marinelli fairly good on the 3 year deal (at least on the back end since he's still getting paid by Detroit.) Chance are we'll be happy to get an LB's coach on the cheap as we've done in the past.

First: We could have had the greatest 0-line ever assembled and we would have continued to fail at getting pressure on the quarterback. When the QB is saying, "blitz is coming AGAIN . . . I'll take two steps back and toss it to the TE 9 yards down-field" that's purely scheme and bad defensive play-calling. Second: Tommie Harris has the nature talent of Sapp when healthy.

It won't matter now as ESPN.com announced that Tebow says he's staying. But I'm with you on Tebow. He needs work on his throw and he'd have to sit for a season, but he would have been one helluva a pick-up in the 3rd round.

I saw at least two of his picks headed in Mooses's direction. There were several times Moose appeared to be running the wrong route, or had the ball go through his hands. It's good to see Moose returning to "Bear form."

As D-line coach. There's no word if his son-in-law Joe Barry will be joining him as linebackers coach (I LOVE that reporter who asked, "Do you wish your daughter had married a better defensive coordinator?)

As per profootballtalk.com

Would you rather add another college coach with very little to no NFL experience to be our d-line coach? At least Marinelli & his son-in-law, who is likely to be hired as the LB's coach if Marinelli comes, has NFL experience. Yes it's not change, but it in an upgrade over what we've had.

Maybe an older QB is not out of the question, I think it's highly unlikely. During his state of the union speech, Angelo commented that yes, older quarterbacks did have some success, but he seemed to reiterate the importance of solidifying the position for years to come. Maybe that's just me reading to much into it. Yet, I can't help but wonder, what older free agent QB would we really be interested in? Kerry Collins & Kurt Warner's value are over-inflated due their success. Collins has been a game manager, which doesn't make him much different then Orton, and Warner's much better in a dome. Jeff Garcia's 39 and was briefly benched in favor of Brian Griese. You mention the draft being the way to go, and I can't argue with that, except that it's important to remember that rookie quarterbacks and generally worthless. Sure Ryan & Flacco may cause teams to buck the trend, but IMO that's more of a fluke. Either way, we need to have a competent NFL QB waiting in the wings to not only push Orton, but to fill in when he gets hurt. I hope like hell JA learned from his early mistakes of having back-ups like Hutch & the medicine woman. The best scenerio is to have a 3 tiered QB scenerio that we had in '06 & '07: #1. A promising player who's questionable but we hope like hell will develop into a legit #1. Then it was Grossman, now it's Orton. #2. A seasoned veteran legitimate NFL success, is not over the hill, and is dying for the next chance to be great. Then it was Griese, now it's likely someone from the list we've discussed. I will say that Byron Leftwich looked damn good at times for Pittsburgh this year when needed. Hell, I'd be ok with Lossman, Simms, or Carr. At least we know they can fill in when necessary without just pissing themselves and falling down. #3. A young QB we are grooming for the future. Then it was Orton, and this year it was Hanie. While some on here love Hanie, the fact that JA never said anything such as, "We really like Caleb . . . " is damning evidence IMO that he'll be this year's version of Mike Hass. As for the young QB, while I don't think we'd pass on a guy we really liked at #18, my guess is we'll wait for rounds 2, 3, or 4 to draft one. I'm just speculating, but I predict JA doesn't want there to be the pressure of, "You drafted him in the first round, you need to play him." Unless a guy drops to us the way Aaron Rogers did to Green Bay, I predict we'll pass on a QB. Either way, we cannot enter the season with a rookie as our back-up. That's a proven recipe for disaster. We need to make damn certain we bring in a real NFL QB to back-up Orton and keep him from taking his shirt off & chugging whiskey.

Here's a more expanded list that came from the Sun Times. I condensed it since most of the guys on it are much worse then Rex Grossman. It's pretty damn ugly who's available. I'm sure there will be other players like Alex Smith . . . Charlie Batch, Pittsburgh Steelers Kyle Boller, Baltimore Ravens Brooks Bollinger, Dallas Cowboys Todd Bouman, Baltimore Ravens David Carr, New York Giants Matt Cassel, New England Patriots Kerry Collins, Tennessee Titans Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cincinnati Bengals Charlie Frye, Seattle Seahawks Jeff Garcia, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rex Grossman, Bears Gibran Hamdan, Buffalo Bills Joey Harrington, New Orleans Saints Byron Leftwich, Pittsburgh Steelers J.P. Losman, Buffalo Bills Jamie Martin, San Francisco 49ers Luke McCown, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Dan Orlovsky, Detroit Lions J.T. O'Sullivan, San Francisco 49ers Patrick Ramsey, Denver Broncos Chris Simms, Tennessee Titans Brian St. Pierre, Arizona Cardinals Marques Tuaisosopo, Oakland Raiders Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals Anthony Wright, New York Giants Restricted free agent Jeff Otis, Oakland Raiders

There's lots of bellowing about fixing the quarterback position. What bugs the hell out of me is that it's easy as hell to say, but not easy to fix. At LEAST 2/3's of the teams in the NFL are unhappy with their quarterback situation. (If not more) and the teams who are happy sure as hell ain't giving them up. How many teams would like to have Kyle Orton? At least two teams in our division would. For the sake of argument, I'm going to take Angelo at his word that he wants to solidify the QB situation. To me that means no old quarterbacks who'll be done in a year or two. So that would exclude Kurt Warner, Kerry Collins, and Jeff Garcia. According to this list, those are the top guys available after Casell: http://profootball.scout.com/2/804428.html McNabb's not going to be available, and the Jets proved that going after a one year quarterback is not a good thing. So if we're going to bring in true competition for Orton, who's it going to be? I'm leaving out rookies because I would assume we'd want to give them a year to develop. That's not a definite, but with the exception or Forte, Lovie's never been anxious about playing rookies. So IMO, if we're truly bringing in competition, we're looking for a guy with experience who can compete or even win the job, without spending a ton of dough. From a realistic point of view (IMO) this is pretty much the guys were chosing from: Chris Simms Byron Leftwhich J.P. Lossman Derrick Anderson (If available) Kyle Boller Luke McNown David Carr There's more bad quarterbacks out there. I'm just curious as to what 2nd tier "retread" you think would interest the Bears.