bradjock

Yeah, I saw that Tice said he'd try him there. It's an interesting idea, but I hope they're not relying on it. It seems like moving career tackles to the interior line is kind of a crapshoot. Sometimes it works out well, like with Robert Gallery, but a lot of them really seem to struggle with the change in technique. I wouldn't compare this to Gallery. To me it's more like we did with John St. Claire. He was sort of an ultra-back-up. He was solid at every position but great at none. I don't get the impression we want him to start. I'd love it if Shaffer can give the Bears an upgrade at LG, but I hope they're getting Beekman or Louis some reps with the second team so they have a fallback plan. I could have read it wrong, but the impression I got from the article was that Beekman's out with injury for a short time and the job will be his to lose. It didn't mention Lance Louis. The fact that Beekman's out and we're playing Shaffer over Louis tells me Lance might not even make the team. I still think we'll acquire another guard one way or another. What bothers me about this is that once again, we've handed the job to Frank Omiyale. We did this last year and he sucked the first half of the season.

One. Angelo has in the past tried to sort of take care of the players who will not be Bears. If Angelo simply did not believe Payne would make the roster, sending him packing now gives him an opportunity better than what he may have with us. At the announcement of the trade, the SCORE reported Payne would ask for his release. One of the Chicago papers had a story about how Payne's agent worked hard to get him traded and not released. Answer this: Is Payne better then Afalava? Bullocks? Steltz? To me it's the same or worse. At one point we thought Payne was better then Harris. Why dump him? Two. Someone offered something for him now. No guarantees that will be the case down the road. At best we get a 6th, if he doesn't make the team we get nothing. IMO we'll end up with a 7th. Not worth it IMO. At the end of the day, I think Payne was simply seen as the odd man out (not likely to make the roster) but one who could get us something in return. I think Bullocks isn't likely to make the roster either, but as he likely has no value on the market, we can hand on to him in case something happens to another safety. Unless we move D Manning back to nickel. We might dump D.J. Moore or Spencer. We'll likely keep 5 safeties. What is just sad IMHO, is how we have continued to repeat our mistakes over and over again. We have continually drafted the same type of safety, and done so on the 2nd day of the draft (old format). All these guys were considered in the box safeties, yet we were surprised by their lack of cover skills. Agreed. What's worse is we often praise Angelo for drafting them. We heard great things about Payne and Afalva. Daniell Manning was the exception, both in where he was drafted and in style. That didn't work out either, but at least that pick was different. Agreed. The truly sad thing is, Angelo has drafted a safety in 8 of his 9 drafts, and we have never found a consistent starter, much less a good or pro bowl players. Here's to hoping Wright finally breaks that bad streak. Wright at FS, Harris at SS, D Manning at nickel. I can live with that.

Thanks Pix. When I got the e-mail I was wondering who the hell "Cutsizzle" was.

This is extreme dysfunction and a FUBAR mess. What's happened: 2005--We draft Chris Harris in round 5. He plays and starts his rookie season & starts in the Super Bowl in 2006. 2007--We're unhappy with Chris Harris. He's a big hitter who often misses & can't cover. We trade for Archuletta & love Payne. Harris is traded. 2007 Season--Archuleta's a joke & Payne breaks his arm game 3. Harris looks like a pro-bowler for Carolina 2008--Payne starts 16 games but he's a big hitter who often misses & can't cover. We draft Steltz. 2009--Payne is benched for rookie Al Afalva. Afalava's a big hitter who often misses & can't cover. 2010--We trade 4th round pick Williams for Chris Harris. Carolina's lost faith in Harris cause he's a big hitter who often misses and can't cover. To make room for Harris we give Payne to St. Louis. Does anyone see a difference between Harris, Payne & Afalava? Why did we give away Payne? At the very least, why not wait until TC?

Payne was a 5th round pick entering his 4th season. That means he's likely making close to the minimum which is $300,000+ Bullocks is entering his 6th year. I "think" that means he's entitled to the veteran's minimum, which is around $800,000. I don't promise to be accurate on numbers, but I do promise we're not saving money by trading him instead of Bullocks.

I don't know much about any of these guys, but just a couple things: 1. Nesbit turns 34 in December. If we wanted an old guard, we should have nabbed Faneca. 2. Anybody know if Chester Pitts is recovered from his injury last year? 3. Are there any other players we'd be willing to trade for salary considerations? The media is questioning why the Bears didn't just wait for Carolina to release Harris. IMO it was a $$$ trade. In order to make room for Harris we had to purge Williams 1.5 million $$$ contract. It's interesting how new names keep arising in the hunt for guards. I know there was some speculation we'd go after a veteran safety, but I never once heard Chris Harris's name mentioned until the day the trade was made.

All along I've thought one of two things: 1. We're going to acquire another player. I know it's easy to say "who" but it's not like anybody predicted Alan Faneca would be cut or that we'd trade for Chris Harris. 2. We think Lance Louis is the shiz-nit and can start. If we don't acquire a player, soon we'll begin hearing "we love Louis." My guess is we'll try to find a guy and talk-up Louis as plan "B".

Based on previous events, here's what will happen: 1. We'll move Chris Harris to FS and move Major Wright to SS. On the eve of the season opener, both will be benched in favor of D Manning who will simultaneously play and suck at both spots. 2. Running out of the locker room on the season opener, Chris Harris will rupture both achilles ending his career. Williams will make the pro-bowl for Carolina. I agree with you Defiant, starting with trading Chris Harris to Carolina, nothing we've done at the safety position has made sense.

Damn . . . I was hoping we'd sign him. Assuming he doesn't suck.

1. So doesn't this mean we'll likely move D Manning back to FS??? Ugh. 2. We gave up a good young lb but we're getting a good safety. You've got to give something to get something. 3. The pick we received for Chris Harris was Zac Bowman. Nice. 4. When will we address the o-line.

Damn Madlith! I'm guilty also! I wondered why there weren't more comments!

Nice pick up! Here's a few things I picked up from the SCORE: 1. While it seems like we're admitting failure in trading him, the pick we traded him for was Zac Bowman. We got a starting CB for him. Nice. 2. He's set to make 2.1 million but the Bears may restructure. I believe Williams was due to make 1.5 million? 3. Harris is durable only missing 4 games in the past 4 year and he's only 27 4. He's great at stripping the ball and is immediately the best safety on the roster What I'm wanting to know: 1. Will he play FS or SS? What does this mean for Danieal Manning? 2. IMO we've really upgraded the defense. When the hell do we address the o-line?

As per the trib http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,2279764.story Is that an eye-popping number to anyone else? The 2nd round was only 2.5 million, but the first rounder was 18 million. Hell, lets trade our first rounder every year and spend that coin on a proven veteran. Seriously.

Jason, how many roster spots should we keep towards the o-line? You keep saying we need to add o-linemen, but where do we find spots for them? Since the o-line doesn't rotate players, we typically keep 5 starters, 2 back-ups, one special teamer (Mannelly) and one inactive for developmental purposes (Last year it was Louis) Do you really think we should keep more then 9? The way we go through d-linemen and d-backs, this doesn't seem practical. We currently have 7 o-linemen likely guaranteed to make the team: Williams, Beekman, Kreutz, Garza, Shaffer, Omiyale, and Mannelly. That basically leaves us room to add 2 more. If we really like Lance Louis, then we only need one. There was not a player available we could have drafted better then the top 6. If Faneca can still play and we sign him, we're set IMO. I know you're concerned about age, but it's not terrible: Beekman's only 26 and he seems like the appropriate replacement for Kreutz. Chris Williams is only 24. Ideally he'll be our starting LT for the next 10 years. Omiyale is 27. I'm not overly optimistic, but like you I still have hope for the guy. Shaffer's 30, Garza''s 31, and Kreutz is 32. IMO, we can count on at least 2 more years from each of these guys. I just don't think the o-line is as bleak as you think. Manumaleuna's going to make everybody look better.

Agreed with the importance of protecting Cutler. Every year it gets a little rougher to get our of bed in the morning . . . and I'm 4 years younger then Favre. Just because Cutler can take a beating doesn't mean he should. Disagree with drafting o-linemen no matter what. This was a weak draft for offensive linemen and I didn't see any we could have drafted that would have helped the team this year. There's nobody we could have drafted immediately better then Shaffer/Omiyale or Beekman. Wright is projected to start, Wootton will contribute, and is tough to find gold in the 5th. Next year we should be drafting 32 which is an excellent place to pick a guard Let me ask you: Would you be happy if we signed Faneca? For me that makes up for ignoring the position this offseason. That would leave us with 3 old interior linemen. He would be a one year band aid but we can't ignore the position much longer.

More thoughts on Faneca: We're making the comparison to Orlando Pace. One difference is that Pace was cut shortly after the season ended. The Rams wanted littled to do with him. Meanwhile, the Jets were apparantly happy with Faneca. They just didn't think he was worth the coin they were spending. They tried to trade him to no avail. Once they drafted another player they liked he became expendable. They tried to renegotiate his deal, again to no avail. I'll be honest, I have no idea how good he is. But his situation seems comparable to Alex Brown in that he's a good player but the team doesn't want to pay him more then he's worth. Alex Brown quickly signed a lesser deal with New Orleans. I expect Faneca to do the same and I hope that team's the Bears.

We did have lots of needs. I've thought all along we'd address the secondary via the draft and the o-line via free agency (like Angelo's always done) How would you feel about Faneca?

Do you really think we drafted him specifically for that reason? I'd like to think better of the organization then that.

He went to Tennessee in the 5th round. If I remember correctly you were pissed when it happened. I thought you were going fishing? It's raining like damn cats and dogs here.

But would we be getting Pace or would we be getting a player similar to Ruben Brown? I'd like to think our coaching staff is not a bunch of drooling idiots . . . I learned today that last week Martz implied that Omiyale is now a RT and not a LG. Unless Lance Louis can play, we need a guard. All I know is the Jets had one helluva a running attack. Sanchez was sacked a lot because teams brought the house daring him to throw. That and he was more likely to take a sack then throw an interception.

How about a drafted FA thread . . . by that I mean Faneca. Come on Faneca!!!

Didn't Kiper say something like he'd quit if Jimmy Clausen didn't go in the first round? That being said, for as mediocre as this team is, we're fairly deep with veterans at most positions. QB is the one position where we can draft a 6th rounder and he'll actually make the team. Plus he's from Naperville and has similar size and athleticism as Cutler. Nice pick.

How did you come to the decision that Pace and Flozell were done but Faneca's not? I'm wondering because I loved the Pace signing. Last week I said the Bears would get a veteran OG. You asked who that'd be since none are available. Faneca! I'd have said that a week ago but was busy

Big plays are nice, but the #1 job of our FS is to not get fooled and give up the big plays. Wright has an excellent football IQ and he's fast. D Manning always had the speed but not the intelligence. Wright should be an excellent fit.

Has his performance diminished THAT much in just 2 seasons with the Jets? You'd really rather have Beekman starting at LG over him? I am a bit nervous based on the Orlando Pace experiment, but now that the draft is over, by far our #1 need is o-line. Sign him to play LG, let Beekman be the all-purpose interior back-up, and let Omiyale and Shafer battle it out for the RT spot. It goes without saying Williams is the LT. That would put on exclmation point on our offseason IMO.