bradjock

Brad, your killing me. I aim to annoy For some reason I just don't give a damn about debating the rules. I'll be even more annoying by giving my answers here and unintentionally What do you give up to keep that player. Give up one round higher unless it's in the 1st round (I'll elaborate) Can you keep 1st rounders. Yes. I say this for two reasons: 1. If a guy takes you to the championship, and since it's a keeper league, the manager should have the chance to retain them. 2. I really don't mind doing this since the plan often backfires. For instance, if you'd taken Brian Westbrook in the first in 2008, you'd have been happy as hell to take him #1 in 2009 since it's a PPR league. That's not much of a reward. But it allows the manager to make his own bad decision. How do we setup draft order. My vote is random. But if I may complicate thingsngs by presenting a 3rd option: I like the idea of a manager being able to pick their draft spot. If given the choice, last year I'd have chosen to go 7th or 8th since I was 110% convinced that Tom Brady was going to repeat his 2008 performance and I figured he'd be available. (ironically, he was there at #10, I drafted him, and he wasn't even a top 5 fantasy QB). How about this: We do something random like, "How many points will the Bears score in their first 3 pre-season games?" (I say 1st 3 because we need to get this determined ASAP) Whoever guesses the closest, gets to choose their spot. 2nd picks 2nd, and so on. The tie-breaker could be points the defense allows.

1 keeper

Damn good point as always Pix. As aforementioned, I'm like Robbie Gould, I'll get it done in the wind, the rain, or in a stadium . . . just tell me what the conditions are . . . then unlike Robbie I'll miss Maybe we should revote with a big damn poll?

Are we voting or are we discussing what we've already voted on? I'm confused. I vote for one keeper since I don't have any keepers worth a damn . . . although Chester Taylor might become the 1999 Marshall Faulk Just give me the rules and I'll be ready to

While it is good to hear was may be maximizing Olsen's receiving ability, I do have to ask, how is he going to improve his blocking, which is a must for Martz, if he isn't working on it in camp. Yes, I am sure he is working on it, but if he is working on receiving while the other TEs are working on blocking, is Olsen's really getting the practice reps needed? I saw a bunch of two TE sets when I was there. Turner often lined Olsen up as a WR so it'd make sense that Martz would do the same. There's no way Olsen can overtake Manu or Clark in the blocking department so why try? I've always thought that we'd utilize Olsen as a hybrid WR, much the same way Antonio Gates is used. The key I am curious about here is, does it seem Cutler is throwing to a space which the WR runs into, or is Cutler throwing directly to the receiver. That is the key for this offense, and the aspect of Cutler/WRs I am most concerned with. I'd also throw out they might have been practicing putting it in a place where nobody else could get it. Personally, I would just as soon dump the wildcat. While it may have potential, I think a typical Martz offense has enough rinkles to not need such a play. The playbook is confusing enough, with enough for the offense to learn, w/o spending much time (or any at all) working on something like the Wildcat. Agreed. I always thought this looked clumsy or forced. This works with teams that use it consistently. For teams that use it as a gimmick, it typically blows up in their face.

Agreed. I like how ESPN reports "HE RETIRES!" Everyone else in the media assumes he's doing the exact same thing as last year. What a pompous jackass. Just please go away and stay away.

2 Questions: 1. How the heck do we manage the keepers? Isn't that a pain in the butt? I probably want Tashard Choice in the 15th round . . . I assume the draft order be opposite of place? If that's the case, the draft order would be: 1. Bluecollarbears 2. Noppar 3. Papabear 4. Branch Palinians 5. Cali Bears 6. Black and Blues Brothers 7. Acedthesobrietytest 8. Brass Cajones 9. Devil Dogs 10. Crushers

Hopefully it's nothing. As long as he doesn't have a bad disc or something, he'll likely be day to day. The good thing is, for once we actually have some depth at the position. Heck, last year Al Aflava was the starter, and now he's at the bottom of the depth chart. Hopefully #27 Major Wright continues to develop where if this happens during the season, he'll be ready.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Seriously. The 2006 team making it to the Super Bowl was fantastic. God that was fun. All the hype leading up to the big game and having the country focused on our team. Not to mention getting there. Beating Seattle in overtime. Thumping New Orleans in the NFC championship at Soldier Field. Watching the Halas Trophy presented to Virginia and Urlacher as the snow was coming down. Amazing. Yes, losing the Super Bowl sucked. But you'd rather have just lost to New Orleans? That's retarded.

With no pads, it's damn near impossible to grade the lines & defense since they went through the motions. Here's my thoughts on QB's, WR's, and the TE's: 1. The radio guys talked about the all great catches but the secondary was avoiding contact. If you hear the media say, "He made a dazzling one-handed grab" there was typically a safety boring down on the receiver. In live action there'd have been no catch. Our QB's completed like 50 consecutive passes. 2. DA was constantly targeted by Cutler. He made some nice catches where he had to adjust his body and he'd go up and get it. He looks like Andre the Giant next to our other WR's cause they're so short. He's the #1. 3. Hester looked pretty damn impressive. Knox not so much. On seperate occasions I observed him run a wrong route, fall down, and have a drop. He's so small I don't see how you can count on him every down. 4. Our TE's were targeted heavily. Greg Olsen looked very impressive but he ALWAYS looks impressive in TC. We targeted Manu which is funny as hell. He looks like a DT trying to run. There's no way in hell we look his way much. 5. During full team drills, Cutler and Hanie took all the reps. Didn't see Lefevor much. 6. Bennett, Iglesias, and Davis all got a lot of work, but I didn't think any of the 3 distinguished themselves. Freddy Barnes looks really slow. 7. Taylor looks quicker and more explosive then Forte. I Forte still looks a step slower then he did his rookie year. It seemed like Bell got a lot of work. Wolfe looked explosive as usual. Unga wasn't used. Thanks to a buddy I got a Chase VIP pass. Here's a few things on that: 1. I got to meet Brian McKaskey. He seemed cool as hell and told stories out his grandfather, his Mom, and Ditka. 2. Thanks to the VIP seating I was around all the media guys. Jeff Joniak sounds amazing just when he's talking on the phone to somebody. 3. I got Corey Whooton and Craig Steltz's autograph. Whooton looks like he needs to hit the weights and Steltz needs a haircut

Surprise: #99 Marcus Harrison--Last year he was out of shape. This year he's said to be a monster. Year #3 will be a breakthrough. Disappointment: #90 Julius Peppers--His number indicates the millions we're paying him. Anything less then a pro-bowl will be a disappointment. Wale never lived up to his potential. Seeing what a big contract did for Fat Albert in Washington doesn't make me optimistic. On a side note, where the hell is Wale? Teams jumped all over Alex Brown, but Wale's still available. I haven't heard of a team even expressing interest.

Disagree. The way things are going in the NFL, come "firing time" the question will be: "Will there be football in 2011?" Do you think we'll: 1) Pay Lovie 5.5 million to go away. 2) Hire a better coach, for instance Bill Cowher, who'd probably cost 10 million, when 3) There's no guarantee there will be a season. IMO, if Lovie can scrape by with one more year of mediocrity, he'll be back in 2011.

Great job Noots. My favorite part: "If you were going to ask me who fits that mold best for the Bears, I’d say your starting receivers would be Earl Bennett and Devin Aromashodu. Earl Bennett was the Bears’ most consistent wide receiver last year. He doesn’t have great speed. He just runs excellent routes and catches just about everything. Further, he has a great knack for making the first guy miss after he makes a catch. Also in his favor is the relationship with Cutler from their days in college. Aromashodu was the Bears’ best receiver during the final month of the season." Damn good points. I'm wondering if Earl Bennett has not been written off but he's just recovering. To here the media talk, he's the #6 WR. I keep wondering how it will work when Cutler is asked to throw it to a spot and he hopes Hester will remember to go there.

Are we better then Green Bay or Minny? I could see Minny falling flat this year . . . but I said that last year. Green Bay is good. All these predictions assume we're at least the 3rd best team. If we're the 3rd best team in our division, can we really be a top 15 team? Just asking. While Bear Nation believes in Martz, everybody else is writing off our offense. Either they're right or we're wrong. I've given up hope that our defense will ever be top notch under Lovie. I hope I'm wrong.

When do invites go out for the Keeper league? Did we ever establish the Keeper rules?

Green Bay had the #1 or #2 defense last year. Aaron Rogers looks like the next Favre and they've only gotten better. I've heard several critics say that Minny might have the best roster in the NFL. I think everyone believes that Detroit is way over-due for a break-out year. Meanwhile, the Bears had few drafts picks, and major acquisitions included a blocking TE, an old back-up RB and a safety who was about to be cut. Yes we got Peppers, but we lost Wale, Brown, and the guy who died . . . As I say every year, 90% of the time they base pre-season rankings on what you did last year. If we'd won the division, chances are we'd be picked to win the division. Talk is cheap. I do look forward to attending TC on Friday.

I love how his main point about Cutler was that the team lost 2 more than it did without him. Wow thanks for that deep analysis. While I don't like negative Bears press, I can't argue with anything he says. His article was titled, "20 things to contemplate." You don't go in depth on 20 different things. Did anybody here think we'd lose more games with Cutler then Orton? I sure as hell didn't. It's worth mentioning. Then he compares Peppers to Haynesworth? Seriously? Wow what a comparison. It's a fair comparison. Haynesworth was the biggest FA prize and the team's d-line got worse. Shouldn't we at least contemplate this could happen with the Bears, especially since we let Alex Brown go? Peppers motivation has regularly been questioned. I'm much more skeptical since Cutler didn't provide immediate results. Most posters on here would be better suited to provide some detailed insight about the upcoming season than he does. True, but it was insight on the entire NFL, not just the Bears. My only complaint is he should have added, "The Bear coaches love their o-line and WR's with the exact same group who were bad last year . . . " That's something to contemplate.

Or should I say "Ticketbastards." Either way, I feel fortunate to be able to haven gotten through and pay just the retail price for Bears tickets. So I'm going to the Washington game on October 24th . . . my seats appear to be almost eye level with the top of the Sears Tower (what the hells it called now?)

Why is it assumed Unga makes the team??? I personally assume that anybody we draft in the 7th round is headed for the practice squad. Not to mention a 7th round RB who is built and runs like a fullback. The blocking requires a great deal of physical & mental maturation . . . he'll need to develop. Who was the last 7th round gem we drafted? I did like Trumaine McBride . . . If Wolfe doesn't make the team it's not because of Unga.

I've got to admit, I just now looked at these. All good plays . . . but that's it??? Seriously??? That's Hester at his best? Just on the 3 2009 plays: Browns: Helluva a play. Except we were winning 23 to 6 in the 4 quarter against a really bad Browns team. Falcons: Tom Thayer says, "I thought he was going to split the defenders and go the distance." He didn't. He broke left, made one guy miss, and got tackled. A great player goes the distance on that. Seahawks: The Seattle player tackled his teammate or that play doesn't happen. A bit of dumb luck involved. Nice play. I concede that Hester will occassionally make a guy miss. But if these are the best of the 2009 highlights, you've proven they are few and far between. I didn't see anything that Rashied Davis couldn't do and Davis is like our 6th or 7th best WR. Hester at his best can be a good NFL WR . . . that's about it.

Daryl Drake was interviewed at chicagobears.com http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=6887 While he brags up all the receivers, here's what he says about DA: "He’s got size, speed, explosiveness and the ability to make plays. He catches the football in a crowd. There are just so many things that he gives us from a physical standpoint and a blocking standpoint." For me what this all comes down to is that Hester has never looked like an elite receiver and IMO he never will. I'm not saying he's bad, he'll just never become a Steve Smith. On the other hand, DA impressed the hell out of me in those last 4 games. The way DD describes him, be can be a legit #1 WR and he should be starting.

PFT updated the story. Apparently Cedric is saying that he was the victim. Gosh, we've never heard that before. The police victimized him on the boat, and in the car when he got the DUI, the Bears victimized him on draft day, and then his teammates proceeded to victimize him . . . I'm sure I'm leaving out a few.

The other way is to catch the ball shorter, but to then be elusive and show quickness to add YAC. That is where I believe Hester can excel. Hester's been a full time WR for 3 seasons. I can't think of a single play as a WR where he made a guy miss. You can say this is due to good CB's and double coverage, but shouldn't it have happened once? He no longer makes guys miss on punt returns. He hasn't returned a kick or a punt for a TD in two full seasons. We've heard that teams do a better job of scheming for him. Yet, Knox and D Manning give teams more fits then Hester. Heck, Bennett even ran one back. Like teams weren't doing everything they could to stop him his first 2 years in the league? There was the game in '07 against the Vikings. He caught the punt and the Vikings covered it perfectly. Four players circled him. Somehow he took a step back and went past all of them. Took it the the house. Unbelieveable. No amount of scheming could stop him. That's not true anymore. Now he'd take a step back & fall down. Hester has lost that extra something that made him the most exciting player in the league his first 2 seasons. I'm scared it's gone for good. Have we seen this from Hester in the past so much? No. But I would also point out that we have seen Hester play outside, and I am talking about him inside. There is a pretty big difference. Hester has been our #1 WR on the outside, and thus matched up against opponents top CBs. Think about that for a moment. Hester was still not developed as a WR, and yet put into a position where he had to face opponents best CB. Further, due to not really having any other weapons to speak of, Opponents often could slide a S over the top. It was that Hester faced double teams all the way downfield, but would have a safety over the top, and thus if he did make the catch downfield, had another man there to make the stop. That's a damn good point you make, but at least once, maybe against a bad team or poorly coached team, shouldn't he have been able to overcome that? Where's the Devin Hester WR highlight real? There's not much there. If we move Hester to the slot, right off the bat you will have him matched against far different coverages. He will likely be facing nickel DBs, and at times even safeties. Far different than facing opponents #1 CB. Further, teams do not often double team an opponents slot WR. In the past, even if Hester did get sep from his CB, he often then had a S to deal w/. Not the case if he is working out of the slot. Finally, I would argue that Hester has improved his route running and overall knowledge as a WR each year. That's a damn good point and I hope you're right. It was only a couple years ago he was a freaking DB himself, and fewer still he was so clueless where to lineup that MM was pushing him around before the snap telling him what to do. He has developed as a WR, and done so in very difficult circumstances. How long does this give him an excuse for being mediocre? He's been a WR for 3 full seasons now. But now I believe we have better WRs fit to play the outside, and feel he could really thrive inside. Frankly, I think Martz see's the same thing. Shortly after Martz was hired, he talked about Hester out of the slot, but very soon after that seemed to alter his comments, which always made me wonder if Lovie or Angelo didn't tell him Hester was a starter and had to be used as such. Thus why, while I think Hester would be best in the slot, I think our staff will more likely line him up outside. You mentioned JA telling Martz Hester had to start, and I thought the same thing. Martz back-tracked on his comments since that's what his boss told him to do. Yet, based on Martz's reputation, I hope Martz will do what he thinks is best, not what is politically correct. For instance, last year it would have been a bad PR move to bench Pace. Yet everyone could see he was terrible. Turner waits until week 13 and the season is over to sit him. Thanks Ron. I wouldn't be surprised if Hester is listed as the starter, but on the opening snap, you have DA and Knox out there with #23 on the sidelines. It'll be interesting.

The key reason I would rather Knox start over Hester is, I believe Knox is a better outside WR, with better downfield ability. That Hester has speed is w/o question, but I have never felt he excelled downfield. He has the speed to get downfield, but does not track the ball as well, nor does he do as good of a job going after the ball. Remember what Cutler said? W/ Hester, you have to really "hit him" rather than allowing him to adjust and make a play on the ball. So basically, with Hester, Cutler feels he has to make a perfect throw, while many other downfield WRs have the ability to adjust and better make a play on the ball. Agreed. Not to mention there were several times last year where the ball went one way and Hester broke another. This could have been Cutler's fault, but somehow I doubt it. On the other hand, if you have Hester in the slot, you get the ball in his hands and allow him to use the skills we have seen as a returner picking up YAC. When has he ever demonstrated skills for yards after catch? When he catches the ball, seemingly one of 3 things happens: 1. The CB is draped all over him and he's dropped immediately. To me this indicates he's not able to get seperation. 2. He catches the ball in space & turns to face the defense. Then he's dropped immediately. I can't remember him making a guy miss after a catch. 3. He beats the defense downfield but typically juggles the ball. I can't remember this happening last year. I'm curious to know if the defense pays special attention to him. As a receiver there doesn't appear to be anything special about him.

I almost posted on that when I read it last night. Why wouldn't JA at least mention Afalava? We've had plenty of real bad players and we still give the standard, "we like him" no matter how bad the guy sucks. This is pretty damn disturbing IMO. Not that the guy sucks, but that this is a typical trend. I'm still trying to figure out how as a rookie 6th round draft pick, Afalava beat out Payne, Steltz, Bullocks, and Corey Graham (who started out there in TC). That was a shock. For him to be out of the mix 1 year later is even more shocking. But we're supposed to feel good about Chris Harris? After we dumped him for Kevin Payne, and after Carolina was so impressed with him they were going to cut him? Unfreakingbelievable.