bradjock

We need a LG. Period. That'd be great. We can talk about quarterbacks, but Angelo said yesterday he's committed to Rex/Kyle, and I believe him. If we sign a QB, he won't get a chance this year. So none of them will help. I agree we don't need Lynch. I'd LOVE to see Bentley. Or Ruben Brown. Or any guard that's not terrible. Here in Illinois, the Peoria Journal Star reports the temperature for Saturday is supposed to be 99 degrees. How's the whether there in Iraq? Keep up the good work my man.

Cracker, first and formost, as a Chicago fan you should hate the Packers. It is correct to hate Packer players, but once they move on to another team . . . Secondly Cracker, I know you live near Chicago, so I know you must remember when Jerry Krause said something like, "I can't wait until Michael Jordan's gone so I can start building another championship franchise." Right. Bears fans should rejoice!!! at Green Bay's ignorance. The fact is, right now Favre is better then any quarterback we've had since Sid Luckman. I'd be THRILLED to have him. If for no other reason: How pissed would Packer fans be??? Does anyone believe that Aaron Rogers is any better then Rex Grossman? God they'd deplore it. That'd be great!! That being said, it won't happen. The Bears don't like the fact he costs too much & there's too much baggage with him.

Sheesh, do you really give Angelo that much credit to think he could find a Romo/Warner or Brady??? I really don't have a problem with it if we HONESTLY feel that Hanie can step in and win a game for us. Hopefully, the #3 QB won't be forced to play, but you never know. If we look at this kid and say that he has legitimate NFL ability, I'm all for it.

JA was on the SCORE's Boers & Bernstein show yesterday and he expressed that the job was between Kyle & Rex and he wanted it to be a true competition. He said he couldn't bring in a guy and tell him he had no chance to compete. He also expressed that he didn't want to bring in anyone who would be a distraction from Kyle & Rex's competition. That means any QB we brought in would have to understand that barring injury, he'll be holding the clipboard this year. No more, no less. That would automatically eliminate guys like Leftwich & Culpepper who still view themselves as a #1. Simms might qualify for that role it he's still not 100% and needs more time to get back into football. But I agree with you Pix. With the Cowboys interested in bringing him in, this will drive the price up. Not to mention that if we traded for him, I believe we'd have to pay him 2 million. The way we've paying guys lately, I can't see us spending that on a 3rd string QB who'll be a FA next year. If we do have 2 million, I'd much rather see us spend it on trying to get another offensive lineman (Ruben Brown?)

That is interesting. But just remember that we started at 25/1 & now we're 18/1, all that means is that a lot of Chicago fans are betting so the numbers have increased. Not to mention, with Favre gone, after the Cowboys the NFC is wide open. There's no true #2 favorite. I'll bet last year at this time the Bears were sitting at 10/1 like the Giants are. I personally think the Giants have a snow-ball's chance in hell of going back. But because they were just there . . . I'm guessing the Chicago number wouldn't be that high if we hadn't just made it 2 seasons ago. Talk is cheap. Words are plentiful. Sports predictions are mainly based on what you did last season and what you did in the off-season.

But if they're shopping him, isn't it a bad idea to demote him to 3rd string? Do you know if we gain cap space from cutting him?

Not necessarily. When the Bears offense runs the 2 TE sets, the Bear's defense responds by going into their nickel package. Teams are scared to death that Hester will beat them long. So if Hester & Lloyd are sprinting deep, you're probably looking at 2 cornerbacks and at least one safety or nickel-back going with them. By stretching the field that much you're really opening things up, especially when Forte, Kevin Jones, and Adrian Peterson are all excellent receivers. Granted, Orton is going to have to be able to chuck it long once in a while for that to work. But I'd much rather see that then have teams continue stacking 8 men in the box and Bringing the Pain on Rex.

Thanks for posting that!!! Good stuff. The one thing I'll say is that Mark Bradley appears to be getting better each day.

The thing with Lloyd is that supposedly he's out-played Booker over-all so far and is penciled in as one of the starters. Turner loves him since he provides a double-deep threat opposite Hester which should really allow us to open things up. It's tough to complain signing him. I LOVE the fact that we have so much depth at WR and we're having this debate. That being said, I think we stick with Bradley as our 6th WR. Mainly because, like you said, Bradley has the potential to be great. IMO Hass is the odd man out. For all Hass is doing in camp, you get the feeling the coaching staff is thrilled by his work ethic but not his ability. I wonder why we've never tried playing him on special teams?

RMJ was good in 2006 but didn't do much last year. Still, he finished the season as the starting nickel-back. I can see him being demoted, but how the heck does he goes all the way to #3??? Who's number 2 then? I wonder how much of this has to do with a cap-saving move. I know RMJ doesn't make that much, but JA's been spending like my wife on pay-day. What team is going to trade for him when it seems inevitable that he'll get released? Confusing.

Good warning Cracker. But I think it's real. To me the big difference came when we let go of our big blocking TE John Gilmore. Defenses would look at him lined up on the left said and say, "Gee . . . you think they're going to try to run it his way???" So we replaced him with Davis, a guy in the same mold as Olsen & Clark. Last year Olsen was a rookie. Since then we resigned Clark & added a bunch of double TE sets. It's going to be tough to ignore them this year. What's best is now that Moose is gone we're planning to start a double deep threat in Lloyd & Hester. So teams have to legitimately worry about us going for the bomb on both sides. That should open up things nicely.

I saw him running with the 3rd string defense, but it's almost imossible to tell how a DT or offensive lineman is doing, since they're not giong all out. That's probably why we've really heard nothing about any defensive lineman other then Tommie Harris. Which does make me wonder how they know that guys like St. Clair are showing so much promise. On a side note with our defensive tackle depth: Has Darwin Walker or Antonio Garay signed with anybody? If they have I missed it (although Garay might still be hurt).

On most teams I'd agree. But on a team with a potential #1 defense & #1 special teams, it's a different story. Let me put it this way: Hypothetically, Orton wins the starting job, and we start the season 4 & 0. Then he's placed on IR. Which leaves us with the previously off-injured Rex & two undrafted rookies. Unless you have a durable #1 QB you can count on, you have to assume that at some point you'll need that #3 QB. IMO, the #3 must be eiter talented with potential, or experienced. Hanie does not fit that description and now Hill is gone. That's not a horrible idea, but it goes against the NFL norm. When has this franchise ever went against the norm? Christ, hell, almighty, sweet jesus, no!!! Sorry, but that reminds me WAY too much of 2004 when we finished the season with Hutch & Jeff George as our QB's. That was awful. It was almost as bad the next year when Rex got hurt, Hutch gets cut, we make Orton our #1, and we sign a QB in training camp to be our #2 (he was with Cincy, then New Orleans . . . he's black . . . big arm . . . why can't I remember his name???) It's been REALLY entering training camp with 3 legitimate QB's the past 2 years. I'd like to keep it that way. So if we're going to get a legit #3, we need to do it ASAP. Maybe Caleb Hanie's better then Chris Simms, but if that's true, JA is smarter then everyone else in the NFL. If we liked him so much, why didn't we spend one of our 5 seventh round picks on him? As I mentioned previously, if we brought in Simms, he would not only be an upgrade as a back-up, but it would basically be a tryout for next season.

As per the Tribune, we cut Hill to bring back TE Marcus Stone (The cut we cut when Hester came back from his hammie injury . . . so we cut him Sunday & he's back Tuesday? I hope he didn't leave town.) I mentioned before that I'd be surprised if we didn't bring in a 4th QB. Then I remembered we're essentially allowed less roster players, since previously European players didn't count (which is why we don't have two place-kickers like we normally do.) So this means one of two things: 1. We're happy as hell with Hanie & we want to give him as much work as possible, or 2. Another QB (Chris Simms or mysterious other?) is on their way.

Thanks for that . . . except I also said Hanie looked unimpressive (although I know he's made some big throws in other practices) The big question remains: Who is going to take his roster spot? I'd be shocked as hell if we continue going with just 3 quarterbacks entering the first pre-season game.

The way we're using our TE's, it sounds as though we might actually be able to establish somewhat of a "mid-Range" passing attack. This is something that we've not been able to do on a consistent basis since Ron Turner's returned as OC. Seemingly (especially with Rex) it's mostly "all or nothing." If we didn't connect on big plays down field, our running game stalled, & we were basically screwed. How many times in the past 3 years have you heard "2nd & 2" (We've heard 2nd & 12 far more often.) I don't completely blame Turner for this. Moose sucked & Berrian is not an over the middle receiver. Now we finally have the personnel. (Olsen, Clark, Booker, McKie, K. Jones & Forte) It's exciting to think we might be able to establish a passing game between 5 & 12 yards and something more then just a "dump-off" pass. I also think this is why Orton ultimately wins the starting job. Everyone who's seen him says he looks great on the short routes.

IMO it'll be tough to find room for 10 defensive-linemen on a 53 man roster. Especially keeping 6 pure defensive tackles. On one hand, from a practical stand-point, it makes sense due to injuries. The tough part is, where do you cut back on the roster, when we have a ton of depth at so many positions? Do you cut another good play based on pure speculation that multiple DT's will get hurt? I'd thought about Toeaina. I wonder if he's still eligible for the practice roster. Last year we gave Antonio Garay a somewhat exclusive $250,000 contract to be on the practice squad. (I think practice squad guys make like $90,000 or something like that?) After week one Garay was activated in place of Dvoracek.

Could someone go out on a limb and predict if any of our five 7th round picks will do anything??? The way it's going now, unless it's the IR or the practice squad, none of those 5 will make it past the September 1st cuts. Which pisses me off since on draft day, JA was constantly trading down to get extra picks. Extra picks don't help if they can't make the team. Steltz is the obvious "surprise choice." McGowan is average at best, and like Mike Brown, he has a history of being injured. We seem committed to making Kevin Payne a top special team's player, and we also seem committed to keeping Dannieal Manning as our nickel back. That makes Steltz the #1 back-up SS & FS. With our defensive talent . . . But I won't pick Steltz, I'm going to go with Kellen Davis. He's a 5th round pick & nobody thought we needed a TE that wasn't a blocking specialist. We're running all kinds of 2 TE sets, so the first time Olsen or Clark have to miss a play, Davis should be able to step up.

If Grossman is still fumbling snaps in practice, do you really want him starting? We've heard him talk about "technique" and "fixing the problem" yet it seems to stay the same. I'm just curious. I wish like hell Rex would succeed but his damn turnovers are giving me ulcers.

That's one helluva an idea. So why didn't we think of it 3 months ago? First off, when we drafted Williams, Love or JA said they like to keep guys at there natural positions. He's a LT so he'll play LT, one of them said. Since then we've heard how Williams has been studying/learning/practicing to be a LT. Do you really want to move him 1 week into training camp when he's hurt? The kicker is, the situation is progressing great in theory: The back-up, St. Clair, has stepped it up a notch due to the competition. Meanwhile, his rookie replacement is hurt & not ready. That's EXACTLY what you want to see on your football team. Except the back-up is also our best LG and also our back-up RT. More importantly, if we we Williams to LG, does St. Clair become the back-up RT, and Williams the back-up LT??? UGH!!! The easy solution is to find a competent guard who's better then Metcalf. Have the Bears EVER said "See you!" to a player the way we did Ruben Brown, only to sign him back 6 months later?

Thanks for posting these each day! I enjoy watching them. I can't believe Hass dropped that deep pass. Then on another deep pass he was forced out of bounds while he was in the air. Under new rules that wouldn't count. I have a feeling he'll be an early cut so we give him the chance to sign on with another team. At this point I don't see us cutting Bradley over him. When Rex fumbles in training camp when there's no real pressure . . . so Kyle has fumbled once & Rex 3 times? The thing is, I don't ever remember Kyle fumbling or botching a snap in a live game. Rex??? Different story.

Yes. It's a 6th round pick. We traded away our 6th round pick this year for 2 7th round picks (which really didn't make a helluva a lot of since) In the 7th round we drafted DE, LB, OG, OT, and Marcus Monk. I only typed in Monk's name because he's the only one of the group we've heard much about. My guess is him and the rest are doomed for the IR, the practice squad, or just flat out cut. I don't see any of those 5 making the active roster at any point this season unless there are injuries. Although Simms would have to understand he's the #3 this season. If/when Orton/Grossman fail, then he'll be given a chance to step up eventually. I'm guessing Simms right now would have as much demand on the free agent market as Rex did. So if he never takes a snap, signing him should be a problem. It's a low-risk proposition.

We appear to have gotten one helluva a deal in Davis. Desmond Clark was on the Lawrence Holmes show in the SCORE this morning, and Clark was praising what a great blocker Davis was and how he's going to be the main blocking TE. This was surprising to me. From watching them he looked just as big and fast as Olsen, and actually had better hands then Olsen. Olsen dropped one and bobbled another when I was there. (How many drops did Olsen have last season?) Meanwhile Davis's hands were like glue. If he can become the best blocker of the 3, he'll be the best overall TE of the 3.

I'd agree with that. I "think" I saw Jay Glazer when I was there on day. The guy was bald with a gotee, and looked just like Glazer. Except he was dressed like sort of a slob--earing an untucked t-shirt that appeared to be like a West Coast Choppers shirt, and black jeans. He never took a note, and looked totally uninterested in what was going on. My thought was, "Nah, that can't be him . . . must be some bald guy who just looks like Glazer.) He appeared to talk to just one guy (who I didn't recognize) the whole time. So I'd say any information he got must have been from the local guys. Except he wasn't watching practice or talking with any players (that I saw) and he wasn't filming anything (he wasn't dressed for it) so why the hell was he there?

IMO, if he just continues to average 6 TD's a year on special teams & give us great field position I think he's worth the money. As fans it's important to appreciate exactly what Hester does. I remember in 2005 when Vasher ran back the missed field goal vs. the 49ers. To me that was the most unbelievable thing I'd seen from a Bear's team since 2001, when we tied the game versus the 49ers on a last second desperation pass to Raymont Harris, & then Mike Brown intercepted a pass and ran it in for a touchdown. Prior to 2001 I'd have to go back 10 years to think of something truly unbelievable & memorable. (All I can think of is Tom Waddle on Monday Night Football.) With Hester we're treated to just unbievable, "I've never seen that before" moments on a fairly regular basis. The NFL has never seen anything like him. Like I said, it's important as hell to appreciate exactly what Hester does and remember that 29 other teams would kill to have a guy who can do what he does.