bradjock

We supposedly have like 3.5 million in cap space. I don't know how we will do it, but I promise we will sign players to contracts far exceeding that.

First off, are you comparing Kellen Davis to Anthony Fasano and Ben Watson? Of those three, I take Davis last. Fasano and Watson aren't as talented, but they're not nearly as bad either. We HAVE to sign one good offensive lineman. We should sign more but we have to sign one. Can we have that one guy where we can say, "he's our starter!" Aside from Garza who will be 34, we can't say that about any of the five o-lineman. In a good year, we'd be talking about drafting Garza's replacement. This year we are worried about replacing the guys who may be playing next to him that we haven't signed yet.

We pretty much need five new starting o-lineman. How the hell do you make the offensive line good AND make it for the long term in one offseason when you have little cap room??? We still have to sign Lance Louis, and if he's anything like Derrick Rose, he might not be back until the Super Bowl. We need talent. Young, old, in their prime. We need it. The fix is going to take 2-3 years.

That's the difference between taking a LB in rounds #1 or #2 vs. taking a guy in rounds 4 or 5. At this point we'd be drafting a back-up and special teamer we hope could develop into an eventual starter. That won't likely happen, but bringing Urlacher back for one year buys us some time. Currently listening to the SCORE and Lawrence Holmes is talking with Izzy about how Urlacher is the lynch-pin of the defense.

Is it certain we won't resign him? I don't think we will but damn we need some offensive guards. I am interested in knowing what Lance Louis is worth.

We should pull the pin on a grenade and toss it to Kellen Davis. He'll be ok as long as he doesn't drop it . . .

I don't remember commenting much on the Tice hire which means I probably didn't bother reading many comments. I spend over an hour a day in the car, most of which is spent listening to the SCORE. The media and most callers were in favor of the Tice hire. We may not know how to hire coaches, but when you burn through that many offensive coordinators, the problem is bigger than coaching. With Lovie's 4 offensive coodinators, chances are that one of them wouldn't suck.

I should have said that Albert is rumored to change positions. This seems more likely after they dumped their RT which opens the way for them to draft Luke Joeckel with the #1 pick. Sheer speculation.

We praised Mike Tice for the improvement in our line play to the point we made him our offensive coordinator. Our o-line play continued to suck and he was fired. What does that tell you? By comparison, we start 3 linebackers. Basically 2.5 since one is on the bench in nickel downs. Lance Briggs is a perennial pro-bowler. Yet we worry about our linebacker depth. Meanwhile, of the 5 o-line starters, there is not one you can hang your hat on and say he'll be starting this year and next year. Not one. Getting to my point, Kromer can only do so much with a turd. We have very little talent on the o-line. He's not a magician.

All the Chiefs did last year was run and dump the ball off quickly. Brandon Albert gave up one sack, Winston gave up 3 sacks, yet KC had the worst passing offense in the league. Heck, Bears tackles have been known to give up more than 4 sacks in the first half of a game. It took Albert and Winston and entire season to do less damage. Winston is cut and Albert is being moved. What does that tell you?

Hell yes. He immediately becomes the best player on the Bears offensive line. That being said, the fact he was cut tells me that he is average at best. So I would like to reiterate that average at best, probably immediately makes him the best player on the Bears offensive line. I slightly exaggerated there, but I do wonder what made the Chiefs dump him. I know I'd have loved to see him in a Bears uniform last season but we had no interest. Heck, we were more interested in Jeremy Mincey than Winston.

That was my first thought. That elusive quick step is a gift of the young. With other positions with experience can come greatness, that's not true with return men. I'd add to that, when Hester was at his best, everybody we put back there looked awesome. D Manning and Knox both looked great. Everybody looked mediocre last year, including Hester. How much of it was the blocking and how much of it was the players involved? My second thought: does Hester want traded and the Bears told him what he needs to do??? Sometimes you'll see, "I want to be with this for life!" and the next week they are gone. How did Hester go from one extreme to another? My third thought: Contract extension??? What's a mediocre return man and a bad WR worth? In 2008 when Hester was at his best, his value was debated. Unproven WR who appeared to be the best return man in history. What is that worth? Now? He's looking at close to the veteran minimum. There's no sense in Hester agreeing to an extension when he's at his worst.

I'm skeptical. This sounds like something that is agent driven. For years the Bears had the worst WR's in football so every time one was available, he was rumored to be going to the Bears. Does any team have worse TE's than the Bears? Last year at this time all the talk was that the Bears were going to make a run Mario Williams. While it was true we wanted to upgrade the DE position and made a big offer to Mincey, there was no way we were coming close to Mario Williams. With two big WR's on the roster in BM and Jeffery, I just don't see us prioritizing the TE position.

Except he's a terrible blocker. Mike Martz wanted TE's as a 6th blocker and wasn't concerned about receiving. Mike Tice wanted TE's who could do both but unfortunatley, Kellen Davis couldn't do much of either. I wonder what Trestman wants? As far as I know, he hasn't said much other than you don't need to draft a TE in the first round (which makes you wonder if we'll draft a TE in the first round). On a side note, I'm kind of surprised we have neither cut nor restructured Kellun Davis yet.

Good insight. I'll add that Brandon Marshall is as good as any across the middle receiver in the league. Alshon Jeffrey is similar in size and Earl Bennett is best across the middle. Heck, if Marshall or Jeffrey added a few pounds they could play TE. Which begs the question: if your two starting WR's have similar builds as TE's, are very physical, good in traffic . . . how important is it for you to have a good receiving TE? With Marc Trestman being an offensive guy, I wouldn't be shocked if he went after a weapon who can stretch the field.

Thanks for the insight but IMO it doesn't matter if he's a tackle or a guard. Currently our starting guards are an unsigned Lance Louis who is recovering from a major injury and . . . James Brown? Roberto Garza turns 34 in March. Olin Kreutz was that age when we didn't resign him and he proved to New Orleans he was too damn old. Borrowed time. The new coached called Carimi versatile. That means he can't play tackle and he looks too damn tall to play guard. Bring in any talented players and sort out the rest later.

To me the most interesting guy on that list is Tavon Austin. Having a deep threat with that speed would be a huge luxury. Although that might be just a luxury. We'd likely cut Hester and use him as a punt returner. We've said we're not interested in a first round TE but that could be a smokescreen.

It's hard to imagine us not drafting an o-lineman in round #1. It's an enormous need and there's going to be a lot of first round talent when we pick at #20. That being said, thought the same thing the year we drafted Chris Williams and the year we drafted Carimi.

As for the cap, Sean Jenson was on the SCORE last night and said Kellun Davis had a cap number of 3.8 million for 2013. Davis will lucky to have a job and be making the veteran minimum next year. Jenson was confident the Bears will sign a starting tackle within the first 48 hours of free agency. As for Long, if we did sign him to a big contract it means we think he'll be healthy and productive. It's a gamble, but if he could shore up the LT position it might be worth it. The Bears have been trying to find a LT since John Tait retired.

Moot point with Melton locked up now. I also think that Melton being signed really minimizes any concerns you had we might draft Manti Te'o or another defensive player in round 1. The offensive line is of the greatest need and good o-linemen will be available at #20 . . . unless we decide to draft a TE.

Hurts a lil but glad to have him around for at least another year. He's saying he hopes to get a long term deal done. If that happens it could reduce his number for this year. If the reports that Collins will be tendered are true that's 9.7M of the ~12 spent already(on 2 DTs), throw in the the 3-5M for the rookie pool and we're probably in the negative...with quite a few holes to fill. Get to restructurin Phil! I think we have something planned to free up more room. Peanut seems like the most likely option since he's playing at a pro-bowl caliber and he'd make one helluva a safety. Either way, this is a good move. I know we need to upgrade the offensive line, but if you lose a pro-bowl DT the defense gets one helluva a lot worse.

Good point. I missed that. I am active on this site after the Super Bowl leading up to free agency and the draft. I get irritated with the draft and free agency talk in January because everything changes. During the season there is so much information out there it's tough to visit here. The combine is in the books and free agency is 12 days away. Now it's go time.

Um . . . doesn't that mean every other team in the league has 3 million more to spend? Since we have a hard salary cap . . . we have more to spend but they have more to spend. Essentially this is great news for EVERY team. Basically it doesn't change anything in terms of our ability to sign free agents.

I don't see Melton being quite as successful with another team. Granted, that could change with a new DC, but Mel Tucker has already talked about the importance of DT's. Julius Peppers makes everyone better. How do we let a pro-bowl defensive tackle go to sign a good but not great offensive lineman? That doesn't seem like a fair trade.

I agree. Although Albert has a bad back. That's all we need is another bad back. I still can't believe the article said that Bushrod was worse than J Webb the second half of the season. Wow.