bradjock

He's getting 41 million with 18 guaranteed. He went for 200 yards last season, and in four years in the league, he's been bad every year but one. I'll admit, I'd have been happy if we signed him, but I sure as hell don't blame the Bears for not getting in on this. Yes, he went for 1300 yards once, but so did Roy Williams. The media is reporting that with so many players available, so many guys being cut, and so many teams over the cap, this is a buyers market. I look for the Bears to wait it out and sign several good players. With the money Seattle spent on Rice, he'd better be great.

Is there any credible source confirming this? Hub Arkush mentioned on the SCORE Monday the Bears might be interested. When your quarterback is an athlete with one helluva an arm, we shouldn't have to make trick plays our focus.

Agreed Terra. IF we're sitting here Saturday at this time and we ain't done a damn thing, then I'll be worried. Anthony Adams was on the SCORE tonight and said his agent is talking with the Bears tomorrow. Hell, we might have done a deal and the story hasn't leaked yet.

So any interest in a retread like Colombo? We seem to think J Webb is the truth and we drafted Carimi. Chris Williams is still on the roster & we paid Omiyale 2 years ago. I don't see how Colombo helps. Or how about the monster known as Davis? Leonard Davis turns 33 this year. If we matched Davis with Kreutz & Garza, that's 3 real old guys. And I might think of low-balling Williams. Not sure what his deal is. IMO, we need to add a veteran WR. My expectations for Williams would be low, but my expecations for Hester & Knox ain't good. And I for one welcome the idea of Donovan coming to the NFC North. Should be fun. I'd much rather see Christian Ponder then McNabb.

Charles Johnson just turned 25 and he's been in the league 4 years. Jason Babin is 31, has been with 5 teams, and he's been bad besides last year. I agree Babin won't be cheap, but based on his history, I can't imagine he'll cost THAT much.

As you said, we say we believe in Hester, Bennett and Knox. Davis was instrumental in the offseason lock-out practices. He knows every position, and as you said, he's a good ST's player. Considering we line up Olsen as a WR frequently, that lessons our WR need. I fully expect us to sign a guy via free agency. Along with the other free agents, Roy Williams & Berian have been released. Once we resign Davis we'll have 4. We'll add another FA. We may keep a 6th WR like Andy Fantuz.

The Bears made the biggest splash for two consecutive years adding Cutler & Peppers. We've been lucky as hell that neither plan backfired. Teams like the Redskins traditionally make the biggest splash and look where that's got them. More importantly, the Bears have been impressive buying guys from other teams while keeping the players we want to keep. If we lose Kreutz or Adams I'll start to be worried. Otherwise, I fully expect we will add football players that will make this team better.

Supposedly Rice wants 10 million per year that that Seattle is going after him hard.

What year was that when Steve Smith torched us in the Playoffs?? He was a beast then. I have not paid too much attention to him the last 2 years, how has he looked? I know last year they didnt have much of an offense so it would be hard to look at numbers and really gauge how good he could be. Anyone with an idea let me know. If he is still getting seperation then i say trade the 3rd!!! That was 2005 when Smith made us look bad. He's a little guy who takes a lot of big hits. If it was just the 3rd, I'd be all for it. The problem is that he's due 15 million over the next two years.

Thanks for the updates guys! Keep 'em coming!

The wildcat isn't a wasted play. It's a useful tool for teams that heavily focus on a running game and have really bad quarterbacks. Hub Arkush mentioned the Bears were rumored to want Brad Smith. Does that mean we think Cutler's awful? Teams with good QB's don't resort to the wildcat.

As per Brad Biggs: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/break...0,5687009.story He's a 31 year old former #1 pick who did almost nothing for years, then puts up 12.5 sacks for Tennessee last season. On an unrelated note, we've also been linked to wanting Cullen Jenkins from the Packers. Pending cost, both these guys have glaring red flags with inconsistency and health. I can't argue we need to upgrade the d-line. That being said, we spend an enormous amount of time, money, and draft picks on the d-line, with disappointing results.

As far as a WR goes, I've always thought we'd get a true #1 (there ain't none available) or a cheap talented player to compete. I've always thought we'd look at Mike Simm-s Walker. Here the article states: "Mike Sims-Walker, Jaguars: Sims-Walker is somewhat of an enigma considering his size (6-foot-2, 214 pounds), deceptive speed and smooth route-running ability. Injuries and life outside of football (let’s be clear that he doesn’t have off-the-field issues) have kept Sims-Walker from reaching his full potential." Can someone explain that last line? How his life outside football has hurt him yet he doesn't have off the field issues? What does that mean?

How bad does the timing suck? The guy's been waiting for months. The lock-out is resolved and he finds out his career might be done. This wasn't a shock as the papers reported we want Steve Weatherford, but it's just a tough nature of the business. Thanks for a great 10 years and good luck Brad.

I remember watching Dallas play last year in the HOF game. Tony Romo took 4 snaps, mostly handed off, and was pulled. For the HOG game, there's no game-planning. This is a glorified practice with a bunch of guys who've spent their lives playing football. You need 2 minutes to prepare. It'll be ugly, won't accomplish a damn thing, and we'll get a heavy dose of Nathan Emberle in a televised practice, but who gives a damn? The sack-man's a HOFer.

I've got to admit, I'd be bitching up a storm if the tables were turned. The Ravens looked like ass-clowns and the Bears were responsible. JA is lucky as hell the Chiefs didn't take Carimi. Then we'd be the ass-clowns . . .

Agreed. More importantly, you've got to give JA a ton of credit for repeatedly being able to to be in a position to "buy." Especially when you consider the past two years we've added Cutler & Peppers, while not losing our own guys we were interested in keeping.

Don't forget that D Manning has also been pretty good at free safety. This pick could mean we're thinking about starting DJ Moore opposite Peanut. DJ Moore is short, but his vertical leap more then makes up for it. I still don't think we like Chris Harris . . .

Boling would've been damn nice in the 3rd. I'd wish I could trust the Bears when they talk about how good Conte is and how much research they've put into him. Everybody agrees on Carimi & Paea. On Enderle, if we think he's a legit talent and can be our #2, that's great. With Thomas, we've had good luck with lb'ers. Assuming we sign a top-tier guard and resign Anthony Adams, it's a nice draft.

As per http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=7849 He's number #92 and they've only announced 91-100 so far. Urlacher and Peppers will make the list. Maybe Hester???

Angelo's botched trade could have put some other GM one step closer to the unemployment line; it was a lucky thing that the team on the other end was the Ravens, and Ozzie Newsome isn't going anywhere any time soon. If it were a GM on less firm footing with his team, I could understand why he'd be pissed. When the clock expires and the NFL says there's no deal, it's Newsome's own damn fault. He has to know the NFL is a cut-throat business & should assume the worst. Really, Angelo is a pretty good GM in a lot of respects. He does an excellent job re-signing the Bears' own players, he's got a better than average track record in player trades and free agency, and he's picked up some nice players via UDFA and off practice squads over the years. People always forget that the money we've saved trading high draft picks has allowed us to be major players in FA for more proven players. But that said, he hasn't done anything to change the perception that he's one of the least prepared, most disorganized GMs in football when draft day comes around. Look at 2009: the Bears thought Mike Mitchell would fall to them in the 2nd round, and when the Raiders grabbed him two picks before Chicago, Angelo apparently didn't have anybody else on his board. So he trades down 20 spots into the 3rd. That should have given him ample time to put together a big enough board to pick somebody in the 3rd, but apparently he was just waiting on Alex Magee out of Purdue. And when the Chiefs picked Magee one spot before the Bears, I guess he Angelo was working with a one-player draft board AGAIN, because he tried to trade down again, only this time he couldn't swing it and ended up picking a guy who can jump out of a pool. While JA should take heat for a lot of things, it's incorrect to say we didn't have a "big-board" with a next best player available. The draft is unpredictable and we weren't happy with who was left so we traded down. This wasn't unprepared. As for Gilbert, this was a high risk/high reward pick. He had the talent of a 1st rounder but had done little. We did the same thing in round #4 drafting a rb to play DE in Henry Melton. While we blew it with Gilbert, Melton's looking good. Who did you want the Bears to pick? And then there was the time when Angelo changed his mind on James Starks after the Bears were already on the phone with him, telling the kid he got picked. I believe we'd told him we were "going" to pick him if he was still there. We never told Starks we'd picked him. Then Bazuin fell to us. He did the SAME thing this year with Carimi: they were telling the kid they'd picked him at #26 when they found out that they hadn't traded up at all and they never had that pick in the first place. That's an astonishing level of disorganization for a professional sports team. If the Chiefs or the Seahawks had taken Carimi, Angelo should have been run out of town on a rail. I never heard we'd spoke to Carimi. That being said, sometimes it is better to be lucky then good. If we don't pull off this trade we don't get Paea.

Which first day trades are you complaining about? In 2006 would you rather we stayed and drafted John McCargo? If we hadn't dealt for Cutler, we'd likely used our first round pick this year on Andy Dalton. No thanks. The Gaines Adams deal ultimately worked out in our favor since his death gave us the motivation to sign Peppers. If he doesn't die, I'm guessing we stand pat and spend the off-season talking about how Marinelli will work wonders with Adams. While you hate to call someones death "luck" . . .

Good need pick. Here's the scoop: 2006: Redshirted. 2007: (10/0) 19 tackles, 3 TFL, 1 PBU. 2008: (13/13) 65 tackles, 10 TFL, 3 sacks, 2 FF, 2 FR. 2009: (13/13) 76 tackles, 7 TFL, .5 sacks, 5 PBU, 2 INT. 2010: (13/13) 73 tackles, 7 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 4 PBU, 2 FF, 2 FR. Height-Weight-Speed 3 Possesses adequate height but could use to add some bulk to frame. Top-end speed and agility is above-average. Durability 3 Ankle injury forced him to redshirt in 2006. Missed most of fall camp in 2010 with a neck injury. Intangibles 2 Handles his business both on and off the field. Member of the Athletic Directors Honor Roll. Awarded scout team defensive player of the year during redshirt freshman season (2006). Two time winner of Iron Mountaineer Award for his dedication and work ethic in the weight room and off season workouts. 1 = Exceptional2 = Above average3 = Average4 = Below average5 = Marginal Outside Linebacker Specific Traits Instincts/Recognition 3 Instincts appear to be average. Will false step on occasion and can be a second late finding and reacting to the football. Does display good recognition skills to sniff out the screen game. Shows good awareness for crosser in his zone when dropping into coverage. Strength/Toughness 4 Area of weakness. Appears to have a thin frame and lacks elite strength at the point of attack. Is easily engulfed by bigger and more powerful offensive lineman when caught in a phone booth. Also can get pin balled on occasion when wading through traffic. Displays excellent technique when slipping blocks. No question about toughness as although undersized he does not shy away from firing his gun upon contact. Fights to get through trash in pursuit. Range vs. Run 2 Overall range is a notch below elite. Light on feet and possesses above-average change-of-direction skills and lateral quickness. Angles can be inconsistent at times but closing burst is excellent in pursuit. Tackling 3 Fundamentally sound wrap up tackler. Does not a nice job of keeping legs moving through contact. Not a heavy hitter but flashes ability to strike upon contact. Generally a reliable tackler in the open field but poor angles can lead to missed tackles on occasion. 3rd Down Capabilities 2 Strength in this area will be in coverage. Shows a wide range in underneath zone coverage. Active and does a nice job of looking up crossers in his area. Athletic and fluid enough to match up with RB's and TEs in man coverage. Times pressures well but lacks power to run through blocks. Closing burst is above-average and can get to QB when having a clear run to secure sack.

Am I the only who likes this pick? I don't necessarily dislike it, it's just we have so few picks and spent 2 consecutive picks on areas that weren't a major need. The Bears, IIRC, can still trade Hanie when the lockout is over and could get a 5th or 6th round pick for him most likely. Hanie's a free agent and we gave him a high tender. Martz turned a 6th round pick into a Pro Bowler (Bulger) and turned Kurt Warner into a Super Bowl champ from a freaking AFL QB. All he's done is try to get Cutler killed. Cutler hasn't demonstrated much improvement under Martz. Interceptions went down, sacks went up . . . If I had to guess, I'd say they use FA to address the OG position. I've said on here at times that the Bears would never draft a C because they'll never get rid of Kreutz or send him a message to wake the hell up. We could sign a starting guard and still draft a guard. We're that thin at the position. If he sucks again, they go C in round 3 or 4 of the 2012 draft, IMO. I'm not sure what you're talking about. Kreutz was solid in 2010.

Agreed. We've done nothing to address CB, WR, or OG. Two consecutive picks that were not an immediate need . . .