bradjock

There was an article in the Tribune today talking about how Idonije gained 40 pounds in the off-season in order to play defensive tackle. Essentially he was DE forced to play DT at times. Now he's a DT. Bazuin will likely take his spot as the 4th DE on the team. You figure we'll keep 9 D-lineman on the 53 man roster (Bazuin, Mark Anderson, Ogunleye, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, Dvoracek, Adams, Idonije, & Harrison)

On July 29th 2007 the Bears traded for Darwin Walker. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3631 Heck, that was when Dvoracek was still healthy. We traded for Ogunleye on the eve of our 3rd pre-season game. Granted, these are defense players, but it gives me hope & confidence that we will make an upgrade at some point.

Good info on what Stein said Gunga. That makes total sense. The Bears, unlike some teams, typically don't give over-inflated money at the end of a contract. That's why you never hear about the Bears having a tough decision to make because a good player has a 10 million $$$ roster bonus due. We did cut Darwin Walker who was due to be paid a 4 million $$$ bonus, but IMO we cut him because he was bad more then anything else. It also help explains how no player has a ridiculous cap it for one see. Whatever the hell we paid Hester is far less then what he would have received had he ever hit the open market.

Signed through 2013!!! That's freaking awesome. Every deal the Bears have made so far this off-season have been pretty damn reasonable compared to what other teams in the league are paying. I'm guessing we'll be saying the same thing about Hester's extension. The biggest debate for next off-season will be whether we should use the franchise tag on Grossman, Lloyd, or Kevin Jones (that's just me being unrealistically optimistic that all 3 make the pro-bowl . . . I mainly just threw those 3 names out because I think they're the only significant players we have on our roster that are due to become free agent.)

I think we're all unanimous it's the o-line. St. Clair started one game at LT & filled in at least one other time when Tait was injured. I thought he was ok. Not great, but ok. He's someone you can get away with for 2 or 3 starts, but to rely on him for 16 games isn't a great option. I'm not concerned about Kreutz, and IMO, moving Tait to the right side will probably extend his career for two more years. NFO expressed concern about Garza's lack of an ACL, but he's been with the team for 3 years and hasn't missed. He's never going to be a pro-bowler, but Garza's a guy you can live with as long as you surround him with good players, and Kretz & Tait could both make the pro-bowl this year. That basically leaves Metcalf. Has anyone who's watched him ever been impressed with him? I'm ok with the Williams/St. Clair battling for the LT spot, and I'm ok with Metcalf/St. Clair batthling for the LG spot. But it's glaringly obvious we're missing one player. Is what's his name? (the center from Cleveland who had the staff infection) still available? I also would be happy wit bringing R Brown back. He never really liked training camp, & he was just a pro-bowler in 2006.

Angelo mentioned how Dusty was NEVER hurt in college. His rookie season the injury was probably minor, yet we placed him on IR because we had tons of depth at DT at the time and we needed the roster spot. Realistically he's had one major injury. Seeing him on the sidelines wearing a baseball cap seems to indicate that him sitting out is more precautionary then anything else. If we were playing tomorrow, he'd be dressed. I look for him to turn it around this season & stay healthy.

Glenn missed didn't catch a single pass in the 2007 season due to injuries. His salary was only 1.7 million, yet the cowboys didn't want to pay him. Who's their 3rd young WR they to develop that you're talking about? Booker's not exactly unproven. He's had some good seasons. Lloyd had a Bernard Berrian type season before dissappearing to Washington (like most of their FA's do). Hester's considered the most explosive offensive talent in the game. Meanwhile Rashied Davis & Earl Bennett have looked great in camp. Most importantly, you're forgetting that we had a proven 34 year old WR who ran good routes and was capable of putting up 1000 yards in a season. He sucked so we dumped his ass and he's in Carolina. Lloyd & Booker are both castoffs looking for another chance. So far they've looked good. We don't need to add a 3rd player in that same mold.

Rex turned his head back & called for the hike. He was expecting it. It doesn't concern you that Rex has a history of fumbling? How many botched snaps has he been a part of? I tried finding the stat but couldn't. I remember it happened in the Super Bowl and happened more then once last season.

Disagree. Glenn's 34 years old. He's not any better then any of the guys we have. And whose roster spot does he take? We have room for a maximum of 6 roster spots: Marty Booker, Brandon Lloyd, Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Earl Bennett, & Mark Bradly. Then we still have Rideau, Hass & Monk. He'd just be another mediocre WR thrown into our mediocre WR mess.

What's most important is that he's with the team, studying film, lifting weights, etc. Heck, if he legitimately had a minor injury we wouldn't hestitate to yank him from practice. Although I wonder how that works if a player is cleared by the team Dr.'s but swears he's still injured. Has that ever happened? (Other then with Cedric "I should have stuck with baseball" Benson) The strange thing is the fake injury actually gives Hester a certain amount of leverage. This could get REAL ugly if we don't agree to terms soon.

Kreutz was not playing, he was standing behind wearing a baseball cap. I'm pretty sure it was Beekman. Here's what bothered me: Grossman looked like Peyton Manning before the snap yelling & pointing at a receiver. The next thing I know the ball is out. We've seen him do this in the past where he gets distracted & he's not paying full attention to the ball. Orton didn't fumble a snap when I was there, & I can't remember him ever doing so in a game, so if it happens once in training camp, to me it's no big deal. With Grossman this has been a chronic problem and every other time it's been with Kreutz. IMO it makes it worse that it was with a different center (didn't Kreutz take the blame previously???)

As per the SCORE. I hope like hell this is just a precautionary measure and not something that's going to linger all season long. Remember how Urlacher missed so many practices with "general soreness" last training camp? Tillman is practicing however Hester is not. (They didn't say why Hester's not practicing.)

In all seriousness, let me ask you 2 questions: 1. If given a choice, would you rather have Bernard Berrian or Devin Hester on the Bears? 2. If Hester had hit the FA market, last spring, would he have received, "Bernard Berrian money"? My answers are Hester to 1. and hell yes to 2. What you're forgetting is that we're not paying him to be a ST's player, we're also paying him because he's the most dangerous offensive weapon we have. He's the only player who draws double coverage. We have to have a guy like that who can open up the field so we can run the ball. Is there any team in the NFL that spends less for their WR's then the Bears??? I believe the highest paid guy is Booker who's making something like 1.8 million, which is about what ST specialist Israel Idonije makes. I hope like hell by the end of the season we're debating how we're going to pay Grossman, Lloyd & Kevin Jones, because all 3 had pro-bowl seasons. Either way, Hester will get paid by someone.

The good thing about Olin is you know if there was a game today, he'd be suiting up and playing. This seems like a preseason precaution, being extra careful & giving veterans extra days off. Of course we did that with Urlacher & Ruben Brown last pre-season and it bit us in the ass. We need to add either a back-up swing tackle & start St. Clair at LG, or add a starting LG. I hope like hell you're right and we're looking to add someone still. We didn't add St. Clair until the 3rd week of the season when he joined the team.

Agreed that all team's have figured Rex out. Blitz, blitz, and blitz. While Rex did throw less interceptions when he came back last season, he still had all the damn fumbles and all the sacks. I don't think he can fix those two things. Right before Rex fumbled the snap yesterday, he was looking to his left barking instructions at a WR. It's the same thing we've seen again and again. With Rex you never know if he'll move forward 10 yards or back 10 yards. Christ, with Hester giving us the ball at the 40 most possessions, all we have to do is advance the ball 28 stinking yards to the 32 in order to be in field goal range where Gould is automatic almost every times. It's time to see more of what Orton can do.

If I didn't know a thing about Davis & Olsen, and yesterday you'd asked me who I thought was better, I'd have said Davis easily. But Olsen look as impressive as I'd hoped he would. No idea if he can block or not. But he does appear to be a steal. He'll be extremely important if we have a ton of plays desiged for a two TE set.

Williams back injury is a concern, but I think we're nuts if we count on a rookie. I'm comfortable with St. Clair starting at LT. What concerns me more is Metcalf's lack of mobility. He appears to be mean & tenacious, and if he was taking guys square on he had no problem. But for instance on one play I saw Urlacher came blitzing up the middle. Metcalf tried to move to block him & simply fell down.

Your computer's faster then mine! I was sitting at the computer when I heard & you still beat me to it. The Mully & Hanley show's great IMO. As for the why: He's due to make $450,000. If he sits out 30 days he'll be fined $450,000. What's he going to do, just not get a pay-check? It's all about the money. That being said, I look for him to have a new contract within the next few days. I'm sure the "We don't negotiate with players who aren't here" had something to do with it.

He's reported to training camp as per the score & Brad biggs.

Again playing Devil's advocate: Is Parker any beter then Booker or Lloyd? Would we want him to replace Bennett or Rashied Davis? Unless Parker con routinely turn punts & kicks into touchdowns, I don't see how signing Parker puts any fear into Hester.

That's one helluva a theory, but there's one HUGE hole in it: The guy is so damn good as a return man, we're constantly getting the ball on the 40 so all we have to do is go 28 yards to be in damn near automatic field goal range. (which is depressing as hell considering how few points we score.) And that's on offense he constantly draws double teams as a deep threat. Doesn't the great field position & the threat earn him #1 WR money? It's a tricky subject either way. That being said, he pretty much has to report. If he waits until August 5th he'll be fined close to $200,000, damn near half his salary.

I've had my 47" Magnavox for almost 3 months now & LOVE IT. I'd have loved to get the 52" but didn't have the extra $$$. Now that I have a big HD I sympathize with people who don't. I compare it to driving you're car to work while other people have to ride a bike. There's that much of a difference.

First I'll reiterate what Crackerdog has said: Training camp's awesome because you're able to get so close to the players, practice, etc. Got autographs from Gould, McGowan, Rashied Davis, Zack Bowman, Kevin Payne, AND even Jerry Angelo. JA was off by himself on a mountain bike. I said, "great off-season . . . are we going to get Hester taken care of? He said, "We hope so." He signed my football: "Go Bears! Jerry Angelo." Then I reared back, punched him in the nose & screamed, "That's for drafting Benson you bastard!!!" (Ok, I made that last part up. But it's strange that a guy so many have wanted to murder seemed friendly and laid back. He's actually a human being. Weird huh? On practice I was seated on the side-line near the 30 yard line and had a great view of the QB's & WR's. On QB's: Rex: Seemed determined to step up into the pocket yet continues to hold onto the ball for too long. He still tries to "needle it" into double coverage. And he appeared to fumble a snap. Ugh. IMO he's shown little improvement from last year. Orton: His wind-up & release are much better/faster, but he shows no interest in throwing down-field. He threw tons of great passes that John Shoop would be proud of. Based on today's practice, he should be our starter. Caleb Haney & Nick Hill: Neither looked especially impressive WR's: Booker: Damn he's smooth. When he runs his shoulders constantly go back & forth to confuse the corner. They practiced catching lob-passes with one hand. Every other WR caught it with their palm out flat, then shoved it to their chest. Booker simply snagged the football out of mid-air the way you'd catch a baseball. I about shit when I saw that. Earl Bennett: Quick as hell, the QB's already look for him, & he never dropped a pass all day. Lloyd: Also looked good but I didnt' see the blazing speed we'd heard about. Bradley: Where I was sitting I heard the WR's coach Daryl Drake repeatly yelling at him for missing his route or making a bad cut. He dropped one pass right in front of me & some fan yelled, "Come on Mark!" Bradley just glared at the fan & looked pissed. Last season I wondered why Bradley didn't get more playing time. Now I know. Monk: He's tall/fast & lanky as hell, but Drake was repeatedly unhappy with his routes & cuts Hass: When Drake wasn't yelling at Bradley or Monk he was yelling, "Nice job Mike!!! That's it Mike!!! I've never lobbied much for Hass, but he appeared to work harder then anybody out there & caught everything. He might make it. Davis: He's a gamer & looked good as hell. Mike Brown claims Rashied shoved off on a TD pass he caught. Mike Brown is correct. It was a two hand shove to the chest of Graham. Riddeau: He's just not quick enough to have an impact. I could ramble forever but I'll end it at that. I bought way too much Super Bowl XXI merchandise that was on clearance. Great day.

I agree. I'm still shocked we didn't give him a look at the end of the season. That being said, right now we have: Booker, Hester, Lloyd, Bradley and Davis all in front of him. Not to mention we supposedly like Monk. It sucks, but barring a miracle, Hass is gone.

Good! And I am being serious. That's who I want to see starting (assuming they deserve it.) Hester has become the face of this franchise & one of the most explosive players in the NFL. How the hell does he not get a starting job over the likes of Booker, Bradley, Lloyd . . . I personally don't want to see him on every play. We need to keep him fresh for special teams. But just because he's listed as the starter doesn't mean he has to be in on the first play. Here's how I see it: We open up at Indy. If we win the coin toss do you think they'll want to open their new stadium with Mr. Ridiculous repeating what he did in the Super Bowl? Hell no. They'll kick out of bounds. So why not have Hester in on the first play? It's not like he'll be tired. As for Lloyd starting, we've heard nothing but good things about him. If he's outperforming Booker, then he should start over Booker. Period.