bradjock

I don't automatically take there word for it, but I believe they have their reasons for not wanting him out there in blocking situations. Wasn't this more of a generalization that he was hoping to draft 4 or 5 starters in this draft? What GM wouldn't say that? He didn't specifically say this year. If someone asked if he hoped Harrison would go to the pro-bowl this year, I'm sure he'd say yes. That doesn't mean much. True, but if Steltz isn't impressive, he will be the #3 safety. This staff has been extremely reluctant to start rookies and have done so only when needed. It blows my mind we're expecting Williams to start right away. I don't like Benson, but they always say you can find good running-backs in later rounds. The fact we drafted Forte in round 2 shows our desperation. AP ain't going nowhere. He's too valuable on special teams. What are you talking about? Benson didn't deserve to start. He's never deserved to start. Our mistake was giving him a chance. AP is an average #2 running back, and a great #3 since he can do so many things. He might be our best special teams guy, he caught 51 passes, he never gets hurt, and he's cheap. His rushing average was the same as Bensons. He's the better player period. Did we ever pimp any of those guys as a potential starter the way we're pimping Forte? Hell no. We never drafted Danieal Manning to replace Mike Brown, we drafted him to replace Chris Brown, the guy he replaced week 3 vs. Detroit his rookie year. There was little doubt that Manning would eventually be the starting FS, and he quickly became so. Bradley was always touted as a "project." Bazuin was also a project since Alex Brown was unhappy & Wale had underachieved. I'll be surprised if Forte is not starting very early on. Mike Williams--4 rounder to Oakland Troy Williamson--4th rounder to Jacksonville PacMan--4th rounder to Dallas With that group of turds, you'd think Cedric would be worth something to some stupid team.

It seems to me like we weren't sure if we'd be able to land a safety we like in the draft, so we held onto Arch. Once we drafted Steltz, and once we had Steltz in for a workout to make sure he could play, that left us with 5 ok safeties.

Is there THAT big of a difference between SS & FS??? You're forgetting that we want Kevin Payne to take Ayanbadejo's spot on special teams. If that's the case, that leaves the SS spot between Steltz & McGowan. But the talk of moving Steltz to FS, could indicate we'd think about that when Mike Brown gets hurt. Man D Manning must suck. I could have sworn he'd be a pro-bowler by now. With his speed, and all the weapons around him on defense, he should be thriving.

Benson might have the potential to be a better runner, but he also has more potential to just fall down. AP has more drive and gives more of a push to get up the pile. You might think CB is a better blocker, but the coaching staff doesn't. I'll take their word for it. I swear you're on Cedric bandwagon just to play devil's advocate. You're arguing against yourself. We didn't draft Harrison to replace Dusty or Harris, we drafted him to replace the other defensive tackle who played with Philly, that we acquired from Buffalo, and just signed with Carolina (How can I remember all that and not his damn name!!!) We drafted Steltz to replace Arch & possibly D Manning. You just mentioned two players we drafted specifically to take the place of 2 guys we already had. We drafted Forte even sooner which means he REALLY doesn't like Cedric. More importantly, do you think we'll carry 4 running-backs on the 53 man roster? There's no way in hell that happens IMO. Last year I believe we started the season with 5 safeties (Arch, Brown, McGowan, Payne, Manning) and 5 defensive tackles, (Adams, Harris, Dusty, the guy I can't remember, & Idonije.) Replace Arch with Steltz & what's his freak with Harrison. (We cut ties with Oshinowo today which further convinces me we're set at the spot.) There's speculation we'll keep AP as a special teams ace, but I don't believe it. He's a lock to make the roster. We're talking about starting Forte. That leaves that 3rd spot between our 3rd rounder Wolfe, and the drunken boater who cried to his mommy over the weekend. Sure Angelo's pissed with the entire offense, but during his "state of the union address" the only thing he promised was to bring in competition at running back. Heck, Jamal Charles & some other quality running backs were available in round 3. He didn't just want competition he wanted a replacement. You don't draft "competition" high in the 2nd round. JA seemed happy enough with his QB's & offensive line after we drafted Williams. IMO we wait & see what "Bust Benson" does in TC. If he continues to suck, he gone.

That doesn't make sense. JA and the staff brought in a guy (Forte) they declared was a "3 down back." Cedric is not a 3 down back. (He can't catch the ball or block). Wolfe is not a 3 down back (he's too damn small). AP is a 3 down back, but he's not that good. If we were that unhappy with the o-line, you draft a guard. There were plenty top ones available when we picked in the 2nd round. Not to mention, we didn't draft a replacement for Rex or Kyle. When you draft a player that high and have 3 on the roster, you're clearly unhappy with what you have.

Christ almighty you should be a politician! That was a great non-answer. First and foremost, as for the Thomas jones, he was let go by two different teams (if Tampa really wanted him, they'd have found the cap space). Based on that theory, Cedric will be good after he's dumped by 2 teams. Great. You're still avoiding my main point: We dumped David Terrell because we recognized he sucked. Period. We gave Michael Haynes a 4th season, how did that work? A turd is a turd. Maybe Cedric's not that bad of a blocker, but for whatever reason, after 3 years, we dont' trust him. If it hasn't happened in 3 years, it's not going to happen. Not to mention his hands will not get any better. I won't even mention how there always seems to be bullshit surrounding Cedric. Either way, we drafted his replacement and he's done here in Chicago IMO. He might as well move on now.

Based on these options, don't you think Cedric chose #6? Guys who are working out on a regular basis, unless they're lineman, do not appear flabby. #6 would explain why JA & Lovie are ready to replace him. Granted that's speculation, but JA and this staff are extremely unhappy with Cedric for whatever reason. Yes he sucked, but we've proven with Rex that we're willing to give 2nd chances. We didn't draft a starting QB with our 2nd round pick, we drafted a starting running-back.

Thanks!

Why did I feel like Jerry Angelo alluded to this? I could be wrong, but I feel like this came out of the horses mouth and not Brad Briggs (Lance's older brother ) This could simply be bullshit from Halas Hall to justify an apparant reach. When we drafted Mark Bradley, I thought JA was full of it when asked if Bradley was a reach he said, "Green Bay was trying to trade up to get Mark Bradley." Green Bay did take a WR with their 2nd round pick (Who quickly had a career ending injury taking him out of the NFL.) There was speculation that Hester was a reach in the 2nd round . . . I agree with you Pix: To hell with the reach! If he's our man, he's our man! I was thrilled with the pick.

Any reason? It wasn't exactly controversial by any means.

I was thinking the same thing. If he's that bad you either: a) Cut him before free agency begins, or Wait until training camp to cut him. Seriously: What were we waiting for?

Benson's "shape" is still being debated so I wanted to post what Hub Arkush said on the SCORE on last Sunday the night. According to Hub, after the 2007 season, the Bears asked Benson to gain 12 pounds in the offseason. However, Benson decided not to reamain with the team and work-out under the watchful eye Rusty Jones, but he spent most of the off-season back in Texas. Hub said the Bears should have changed their weight gaining plan when they knew Cedric was leaving, but didn't. So Cedric returned heavier, but not in a good way. Hub said that if you saw Cedric in the locker room he looked like a regular guy and you'd say, "How the hell does this guy play in the NFL." What Hub didn't say, but I'll speculate on, is this: The Bears didn't punish or comment on the fact Cedric was heavy, since that's what they'd asked him to do. Yet we were pissed when he showed up out of shape. This explains why Cedric's weight was never an issue and why Cedric looked so much slower this season.

I threw out the "why now" argument when we dumped David Terrell after the season ended. My thought was, "Why not wait until training camp." The obvious answer to my question is that he wasn't going to get any better, so it's better to move on. After 3 seasons, the thought that Cedric will all of a sudden be able to catch the ball, not miss blocking assignments, and do all the intangibles we demand from a RB, is flat out ridiculous. Year 1 he was bad because he was a rookie, year 2 was TJ's fault, and year 3 was the line's fault. Cedric's out of excuses. Cut ties and move on. I wonder if he's cleared his physical yet?

Why does everyone assume that Adrian Peterson won't be in the mix? AP's not a "special player" by any means, but he damn near set a receiving record last year for all the balls he caught. He's a very good blocker, and very solid overall. He's not elite, and he's not the kind of back you win a Super Bowl with, but he was clearly the best running back on this team last year. If there's any debate about who should be starting, it should be Forte vs. AP. Considering Cedric can't handle blocking assignments and he's more worried about getting hit then catching the ball, I don't know how anyone can include him in the equation.

Maybe things are different in Texas, but in Illinois, if you're a boater, there's a "wink-nod" you're probably drinking, and if you don't do anything stupid, we won't mess with you. Benson was in Longhorn territory where he's a hero. There's little doubt in my mind that for him to get pinched, he must have been a complete jackass.

Jason, I appreciate your loyalty to a douchbag such as CB, but will you PLEASE tell me this: (I've been asking this for a while). Other then the occassional few and far between great run, what does Cedric do well??? Seriously? On my list I have: Can't block, can't catch the damn ball, terrible vision, runs into his own lineman, blames the o-line for his failure, refuses to play when mildly injured, out of shape, says stupid things, gets arrested . . . Seriously Jason, what does he do well???

Pepperspray??? Christ almighty, all the cops had to do is hold up their arms & Cedric drops like a whore on the boardwalk. Cedric's lawyers are currently gathering game-film of the 2007 season as evidence to how easy he is to subdue. The cops must be Longhorn fans who remember the days when he didn't drop so easily.

Agreed AZ. I'd say if 90% of the players on our team were arrested for this, my resopnse would have been "whatever." I'd say "whatever," about Adrian Peterson, but he hasn't repeatedly made ignorant comments bashing his teammates, he hasn't been pulled from games because he doesn't know his blocking assignments, and he didn't show up to training camp out of shape. Cedric is a bad player and a bad teammate. You include embarrassing the organization with that mix, and the bastard needs to go.

As per profootballtalk.com. They didn't know why, but he's been released on bond. What an asshole.

I only bring this up to remind us that even though we may be passionately upset that "our guy" didn't get drafted, it doesn't mean we know any better than the staff. I remember many people were furious that we didn't draft Byrd when TE was considered such a glaring need. Lo and behold, although we thought Clark was the problem, all we needed to do was fix a couple of pieces around him and change our gameplan a little and we found a pretty good TE already on the roster. Is it possible that with an upgraded line and some fresh blood at receivers and hopefully better coaching we discover Rex and Benson are what we'd hoped they'd be? Some may say no, but did you say the same thing about Clark? I don't know the answer but I'm willing to wait and see. Great point. I'd have been thrilled as hell if we'd drafted Byrd in the 3rd round that year. Dvoracek has looked awesome when healthy. I don't think anybody would trade the two. Although I do disagree with your Clark assesment. First off, he'd been suffering through injuries and had some bad drops at critical times. Then all of a sudden we're guaranteed to draft his replacement. Even though we didn't that year, his consistency and health improved dramatically. Just like TJ's health & consistency improved after drafting CB. Which tells me some guys need a fire lit under their asses once in a while. More importantly, I think it's important not to have much faith in any draft pick.

I find it interesting that there are those of us who are thrilled with the draft no matter what we do, and those who hate it no matter what we do. Our o-line, WR's, D-line, D-backfield, and running-back situtation are all significantly better. It's perplexing why we made a statement in not drafting a QB, but I'm sure we had our reasons. Either way, I had a great time spending about 12 hours message boarding about the Bears. Thanks to all of you who participated. Great draft.

I'd be shocked as hell if we didn't sign some free agent journeyman to be our #3. It's still flabbergasting that we made a conscious decision not to draft a QB. It wasn't just that we didn't like any of the guys who were available, but we wanted to make a statement in not drafting anyone.

Next Best Available at Bears positiosn of needs based on ESPN rankings. (I've marked their overall "pre-rank"). Damn good value picks for both Bears 3rd rounders at #70 and #90. Defensive Tackle: Marcus Harrison #46 Pat Simms #59 Andre Fluellen #68 Quarterback: John David Booty #74 Andre Woodson #97 Eric Ainge #116 Wide Reciever: Mario Manningham #53 Early Doucet #71 Andre Caldwell #73 Guard: Oniel Cousins #72 Jeremy Zuttah #79 Roy Schuening #107

I bought the Sporting News Draft Guide (for $7.00 off the newstand) and they have Forte listed as the 11th RB overall, and projected him as a 3rd rounder. Of course they projected Chris Johnson as the 7th best RB and a late 2nd rounder, and he went in the first to Tennessee. They said Jonathon Stewart was the 5th RB and a 2nd rounder, and he went as the 2nd to Carolina at #14. What is comes down to is this: What the hell does Sporting News, Profootball Weekly, or anybody else know? We met with Forte on at least 2 occassions, I'm sure we poked and prodded him, and watched every second of game film available. Based on that, we felt he was the best RB available for our system. Considering we needed a RB, that's tough to argue with IMO.

The staff & JA has indicated they want Tait to move back to RT & they want Chris Williams to stick with his natural position, LT. That's great. (Assuming Williams doesn't suck. With rookies, you never can tell). They've also indicated they like St. Clair as the starting LG. That's great also. He looked solid there. What will keep me awake at night is this: Who is our back-up LT??? The easy answer is Tait, but then that would require moving St. Clair back to RT, and moving Metcalf/Beekman or some other crappy player in LG. That's WAY too many moves. Basically we need a solid LT who can complete with Williams or fill in the back-up role.