bradjock

I'm confused as to why so many of you are okay with our current DT's. Jay Ratliff will be 33. He sits out an entire year, plays in 5 games, and he's done for the season. Nate Collins is a nice back-up. Not a starter. In 3 seasons, all Paea has proven is that he's a nice back-up. Not a starter. I can't argue that if there's a high level of talent it's possible we take two defensive tackles. But man we have a lot of needs.

Thanks for the info! Good stuff. What you said about high hopes, the beat writers start to get bored and begin doing these types of interest stories on the next great thing. I'm thinking last year at this time someone wrote a story about how Cheta showed potential and was ready to take the next step as a disruptive pass rusher. He had a forgettable season and today he was cut. Most of these stories have bad endings. How many undrafted guys have the Bears had that came out of nowhere to have an impact that spans over multiple seasons? Rashied Davis was a nice #3 WR in a group of really bad WR's. I'm struggling to think of memorable non-drafted players. Even Devin Hester, the man with no position, was touted as a possible first round draft pick when he came out.

Damnit. I can't remember the source but I recently read that on average, in the NFL, only 7% of players drafted made an official visit to the team that drafted them. That sounds about right. I can't remember us drafting any player that visited since Devin Hester. I think D Manning may have also visited that same year. I'm thinking the Northwestern guys like Wootton would not have counted in that statistic because of their locality. At least for the last two years, I can't think of a single player we drafted that was publicly on our radar beforehand. Usually the media jumps o the story. Like the team met the player and it was love at first sight . . .

Not to mention David Bass and Cornelius Washington. We are incredibly deep at DE yet woefully weak at DT. I'm wondering if we plan on playing Izzy at DT. It's my personal belief that our lack of movement at the DT position convinces me we are locked in on taking one at #14. Be it Donald, Jerigan, or Hageman. We want our #1 draft pick to perform like Kyle Long did last year. The quickest way to do that is to remove competition. DT is the only position we have no depth. We have enough safeties that I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't draft one. I'm not saying they are any damn good (although I personally still think Conte could be really good) but we have a lot of them. Most are experienced NFL players. I know it sounds crazy that we would lock ourselves in on one position when the best safety may be available. But we did draft Kyle Long at the #20 spot. He was the EIGHTH offensive lineman selected. And he's damn good. It could be that we see enough depth at the position. Feel free to call me crazy but I'm convinced our lack of depth at the position solidifies that we are going DT in round #1.

In pads, Hester never looked that impressive in terms of straight line speed. However, his ability to stop and cut on a dime . . . freaking amazing. That's what makes him special. Chris Williams could be a world class sprinter and a bad return man. I hope Chris Williams is great but I wouldn't be surprised if he's on the practice squad in September.

He's currently by far the most accomplished return man on the roster. I'm hoping we can do better, but we could do one helluva a lot worse. I know there's a lot of love for Chris Williams right now, but you have to be skeptical of any player none of the other 32 NFL teams wanted on their active roster last season. Ideally we draft a corner who can be our nickel back and have Hester-like talent. Until that happens, I'm happy as hell with the depth Weems brings to our return game.

They are just pointing out the need for depth at so many different levels. They prefaced it by saying they are thin at all levels on defense which led to our collapse last season. But we are also woefully thin at TE and RB. That just cements the argument we should trade back. That being said, I agree it's a stupid article. Starting with declaring, "Jerigan and Donald are not can't miss prospects." They may not be, but I remember when everyone declared that Curtis Enis was a "can't miss prospect." In other words, its stupid that anybody would declare that of any football prospect.

Yeah, and like you I bitch about this every year. I've accepted that it won't ever change. The Thursday night is huge for ratings and advertising dollars. More importantly for the NFL, it brings in the average fan who wouldn't waste and entire day following the draft. I now spend it in my garage man-cave chatting on here, watching ESPN, and listening to the SCORE. It's not as good . . . but it's still good.

Maybe. But how often we happy about anybody drafted after the 3rd round? In this draft, in the first four rounds we drafted the four positions of greatest need. I'll include RB in that list because we would likely use Freeman as a PR/KR.

More importantly, the Bears are an extremely desirable team for a back-up QB. Especially after McCown when from being out of the league to signing a big money deal. The back-up knows that: 1. Cutler is likely to miss games 2. He'll be playing for an offensive coach and be throwing to the best WR tandem in the league 3. He can sign for the veteran minimum for one year, then make a big splash in free agency the following year

Good! Maybe we can get a good blocking TE so we don't have to hear, "#62 reporting as eligible, #62 reporting as eligible." Nothing against Ebon Britton, but those official announcements during the game always irritate me.

Do we have any reason to believe the Bears want a change of pace guy? I feel like we want Forte in there to add an element of surprise. Forte can run it, pass block, or function as a receiver. You put a midget out there and it limits you. I think we would prefer to have another bigger back similar to Forte. A guy who can spell him without changing our offense. Don't get me wrong, I'd be okay with drafting him in the 4th round. (ESPN has him ranked as the #119 player). I trust Trestman to utilize him as one helluva an offensive weapon. That and I'm particularly worried that our return game is going to fall off a cliff the way our defense did last year.

Maybe. I like the fact we are viewing him as sort of a ultra back-up. I get the impression that if anybody is injured at guard or center, he's our guy.

So the thought of Jordan Palmer being our #2 doesn't cause you to panic?

Agreed. Usually talent wins out over coaching and scheme. That being said, our offense was one helluva a lot better with Trestman.

The SCORE is reporting that de la Puente will be a backup behind Garza. Although, you feel at some point we will move Kyle Long to RT. This probably has nothing to do with that . . . but it could.

That's funny. Every year McShay and guys like that swear a team is in love with a player, even thinking about trading up. Then the player is available and the team passes. I could easily see us taking Stephon Tuitt at #14. Stranger things have happened.

Weird. Although Brown was drafted as a tackle and switched to guard. Britton played some guard in pre-season last year.

With the last two Emery drafts, I'd add that we were drafting lower (19,20) and the talent wasn't as good. It's too early to rank the 2013 class, but if you go back and look at the 2012 first round draft class . . . there's a lot of blech. At a glance I'd say that 2/3's of the players drafted in the first round of 2013 could be considered busts. Granted, there was some elite talent at the top with Andrew Luck, RG3, and Matt Kalil, and Luke Kuechley. But it gets ugly quickly. Trent Richardson--bust, Justin Blackmon--suspended for drugs, Morris Claiborne--2 interceptions in 2 years, Mark Barron--mediocre. Emery's taken a ton of grief for Shea, but the majority of the 2012 round 1 is pretty damn ugly in hindsight. There's not that guy where you think, "We really should have drafted him instead of Shea." If there is, that guy would be Alshon Jeffrey who's easily a top 10 pick if you re-did the draft today. Getting back to my original point: at #14 this year Emery has far more talent than he has in either of his first two previous years. It's a better position with better depth. Because the talent is top-heavy, it's far more likely we draft a guy we expect to be drafted.

Don't forget that when Jordan Mills went out early in the last game of the season, Britton took his spot and looked good. It's always nice having veterans adding depth because you can't trust rookies. Good signing and I'm sure it was for the minimum.

Good ayalysis Grizzly. The only thing I'd disagree with is his closing the gap in the running game. There were lots of tons the running back got to him going full speed after clearing the first two levels untouched. Most times he ensured the running back didn't get by him for the touchdown. I mention this because I think he's pretty good in run support. But in pass defense, there were tons of times he was inches away from making a big play and stopping a touchdown . . . but he failed. We've added a lot of guys and I'm sure we'll draft a safety at some point. It'll be interesting.

You all are jumping to conclusions. First, we don't know why he waited for the surgery. He talks about looking forward to competition, so why would he wait? Second, if he had the procedure in March and he recvovers in 4 months, he could be back for the start of training camp. Third, as bad as his season was, he's still better than Craig Steltz and he's probably better than Jennings or McCray. Conte has the athletic ability to be successful. Emery and Trestman have repeatedly endorsed him. Everyone forgets that we were happy with him entering the 2013 season. Ultimately, this injury doesn't change anything.

Yeah, but the grades are often very close. A lot of places grade them from 1 to 100. So Jadeveon Clowney might be a 97. You probably have several guys at 91 and several guys at 92. If it's the difference between 97 and 92, you go with 97, regardless of position. When you are talking the difference between 91 and 92, you draft the position of most need.

Even if the turf toe derailed Paea a bit, after 3 seasons with the Bears, we have no reason to believe he is anything more than just a "meh" player. If he was a free agent, I'm guessing he would get a deal similar to Corey Wootton. At best he's okay and he's not a difference maker. That's fine when you are lining up next to a disruptive pro bowl center like Henry Melton. Mainly I'm agreeing with you. Ratliff MIGHT be that upgrade. But only for a season or two at best.

I agree with most of what you said. Particularly with the DL rotations and the potential of James Brown. What I don't necessarily agree with is your view of Stephen Paea. For so many of those bad games where the worst running back in the league had a career day, Paea was invisible. He started 13 games and did not appear to do a damn thing with running backs going wild. Playing the nose, he's not likely to pressure the quarterback. Except he's not good against the run. Pretty much every regular defensive player who remained healthy has taken a ton of criticism. Unless I'm forgetting someone, the only exceptions to the criticism have been Tim Jennings, Corey Wootton, James Anderson, and Stephen Paea. Tim Jennings was rewarded with a big contract. Wootton signed with the Vikings for 1 year 1.5 million. James Anderson remains a free agent. Then there is Paea. Paea looked good next to a healthy Henry Melton and a motivated Julius Peppers. When that went away, he became exposed. That being said, he still has potential and he's good as a DT rotational player with limited snaps. But based on what he did last year, he's not a starter. Which brings me back to the stupid article the suggestion his starting job is untouchable. We still need help at DT.