bradjock

If we're in need of a DE, I wonder why we wouldn't go after Simeon Rice? If we're truly interested in Carter, what does that say about Mark Anderson? Not to mention Melton. Does anyone else find it curious that he was placed on the IR for an ankle injury? To me this seems like a situation where he's not good enough to make the team, but we drafted him too high to cut him. I'm guessing if Iglesias has a hang-nail he'll also get the IR treatment. It's also noteworthy that we kept two DE's on the practice squad. That's an indicator we're not thrilled with what we have. Baldwin looked good in pre-season, but Joe Clermond???

As per chicagobears.com: LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Seven players who were waived by the Bears during final cuts Saturday where placed on the team’s eight-man practice squad Sunday. Brett Basanez and Johan Asiata were both signed to the Bears practice squad on Sunday. The group includes quarterback Brett Basanez, defensive end Ervin Baldwin, defensive end Joe Clermond, guard Johan Asiata, fullback Will Ta’ufo’ou, cornerback Woodny Turenne and center Donovan Raiola. Basanez completed 15 of 26 passes for 221 yards with two touchdowns, three interceptions and a 71.6 passer rating in the preseason. The former Northwestern star spent the previous three seasons with the Carolina Panthers, appearing in one game. Baldwin joined the Bears in 2008 as a seventh-round draft pick. On the practice squad for the first 10 weeks of his rookie season, Baldwin spent the final seven weeks on the active roster, but did not appear in a game. He registered two sacks in Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Browns. Clermond spent the final month of the 2008 season on the Bears practice squad. Asiata, Ta’ufo’ou and Turenne all joined the Bears this year as undrafted rookie free agents. Raiola, who was signed during training camp, has spent time with the Rams, Steelers, Seahawks and Cardinals. The Bears still have one spot open on their practice squad.

I think we often forget that these guys are human beings and this has to be devastating for some. He's spent months with the team, and everything is "team, team, team." All of a sudden the team doesn't want you any more. The dream is shattered. He probably expected to be cut, but it can't be easy. I have zero problem with what he said.

Not to mention Rashied Davis might be the most polished route runner. Yes, he's had his drops, but he's had some huge plays. Iglesias will be lucky if he ever gets activated. You can only gamble with so many WR's. Rideau has been on and off with the team for 3 consecutive off-seasons. I'll be shocked if he's signed.

Good question. Better question: How the hell do you do a keeper league on yahoo? Unless I'm missing something, people in keeper leagues have to enter their results manually.

I'd rather see us make a run at Alphonso Boone who was also cut. He's not ideal for our system, but he's solid and I think he'd be an upgrade over Matt Toeinia.

I think with Tillman we're looking at two options: 1. He's 100% ready to go and we play him on week #1 2. We PUP him for 6 weeks. Our team typically looks at the "big picture" of things, and we need Peanut for the long-haul. McBride's missed tackles cost him his job. Not to mention he's short and slow. Hamilton sucks. Meanwhile, D.J. Moore has failed to impress.

Sounds good to me. I'd rather keep it at 10 teams since the talent becomes too diluted.

I think it's September 6th he's suspended for. That being said, the SCORE is saying Denver wants a #1 and a #4 . . . plus he wants paid. To hell with that. Like you said, no way he is coming here.

[b]Freeman would seem safe due to draft status, but has easily shown the least in camp. I am not sure I can recall mention of his even really being in on a play in camp that stood out. After last year, I don't think we can count on his draft status helping Freeman make the team. The same is true with Knox. Don't forget that last year we cut 5th round pick Zack Bowman. He was even the 7th pick of the 5th round. Thankfully we re-added Bowman after we had injuries after week #1. We also cut our 2nd & 3rd round picks from the year before, Bazuin & Okwo. I'm just saying, draft status ain't what it used to be. Roach is a player the staff really likes, was promoted over Hunter last year, and is a special teams ace. Then there is Hunter who many thought was on the way out, but IMHO seems to have worked himself back into the mix. There were times in the last game we went w/ 4 LBs, and it was Hunter who was our 4th LB (w/ Briggs, Urlacher & Pisa). I think Hunter is also viewed as the most capable backup MLB, thus adds versatility. I don't know about this. Hunter's a back-up who sucks on special teams. Not to mention we'd save money by cutting him.

Three things I picked up from the SCORE that are subject related: 1. When you think about it, Riddeau & Davis may not be battling with one another as much as they are the likes of Adrian Peterson & Michael Gaines. Do we keep 6 WR's, 4 RB's or 4 TE's??? 2. According to Mulligan, against the Giants we played Olsen in the #2 WR spot and put Bennett in the slot frequently. Doesn't this diminish the value of adding a 6th WR? 3. The fact that nobody on the team is talking about Davis or Peterson could indicate they're both goners. IMO: 1. We go with 6 WR's--Hester, Bennett, Knox, Iglesias, DA & Davis. The two rookies have done nothing to justify us cutting Davis. 2. We keep the 4 TE's--Davis has looked great and Gaines is the best blocker. 3. 3 RB's--I can't imagined we signed Kevin Jones with the intent of keeping Adrian Peterson. 4. We'll save roster spots for defense by going with 2 QB's and only 8 o-linemen.

1. I can't believe Soldier field is packed. There doesn't seem to be an empty seat. Unbelievable for a pre-season game. 2. Tonight our ST's is the weakest link. That's awesome. 3. DA & Riddeau appear to be our #3 & #4 receivers. 4. Forte was a monster but I'd have like to have seen Kevin Jones with the #1's. 5. We need to keep Rashied Davis at the bottom of our roster. I've said this all along: He's a great #5. 6. To hell with Basinez. We need to give Hanie as many reps as possible. I hope he finishes the game. IMO it would make sense to put Basinez on the practice squad. Assuming he's eligible. 7. The most awesome part of Cutler's throw to Hester was that he was scrambling. Unbelievable. 8. Glad to see Corey Graham has emerged from the scrap-heap. We'll need him. 9. Vasher looks equally worthless on cb duty and return duty. 10. Mark Anderson looks like a new man.

He knew better then to try and tackle Jacobs high the 2nd time.

A great WR makes that catch. Hester will never be great as a WR. But I'm bitching about finding money! Great first half.

Holy hell!!! That catch by DA!!! That was a "wow" play. Congrats DA. You just made the roster.

On a side note, it looked like Baby Huey was getting pushed into the backfield every play from RT. If hes a dancer why isnt he playing LT while Pace probably less mobile now and would likely provide more service as a mauler. Interesting point, but I don't think you'll see a switch this season for 2 reasons: 1. Do you really trust Williams to protect Cutler's blind-side? No way. 2. One of the stipulations with Pace agreeing to sign with us is that he was determined to continue playing LT. This may change after this season. Im not putting too much stock into anything we see in the preseason, i never have. But i dont care what anyone says, we dont have a legitimate #2 WR on our roster let alone a #1. Hester will be a good #2, but the other guys??? Yikes. I don't think Cutler can make his WR's better when they can't beat the jam and they can't get open.

I have ZERO problem with Cutler's statement. I thought he could have been much harsher. Hell, Hester used to be a cornerback for christ-sake and he can't make any effort to knock the ball down? That's unacceptable IMO. Cutler was under pressure and chucked it up off his back foot. You can compare that to a "Rex-like" play, but Rex's ball wouldn't have came even close to Hester. Yes, it was a bad play on Cutler's part, but Hester HAS to be better then that. This is the guy we expect to be our #1 WR? This play, combined with the fact that I've never seen Hester make a spectacular catch, the kind that bails the QB out, is what convined me we need to go after Matt Jones.

Everyone keeps saying, "It's just the first pre-season game!" Except ALL last season our WR's were bad, and our secondary was god awful. We added two rookies for both: D.J. Moore and Alflava in the secondary, and Knox & Iglesias at WR. My point is, we sucked at these two positions ALL last season. It would appear we're starting exactly where we left off.

DBs...not good at all. Gave up pretty everything all game long. If someone mentions that Peanut & Bowman were hurt I'm going to go through the roof. New DB's coach, new DC, same old crap of getting dinked to death. Afalava can tackle. He reminds me of Payne. Some big hits, but not that talented. LBs...saw some good plays from Url and Briggs. Pisa didn't standout IMO. Pisa missed big-time on one of the plays. DTs...saw good consistent push up the middle until we got down to the third string but nobody really broke free inside. Harrison got a lot of snaps and early on was beast but tired late in the game. Gilbert showed some quickness to get upfield l but I don't recall him making a lot of plays. DEs...Mark Anderson did nothing. Brown and Ogun did little more. Nobody stood out among this group. Agreed. The fact we've done the exact same thing the past 2 pre-seasons is cause for concern. We're bad in pre-season, we're bad during the regular season. QBs...Cutler was either really good on a pass or downright awful with not much in between. On Cutler's pick, Hester needed to make a play on the ball. Instead he looked like a spectator. Hester has bad instincts and questionable hands. The only thing he's good at is making a play in space, and even in pre-season they're draped all over him. If we don't find more receiving options we're screwed. Hanie reminded me why I liked him last year. He really likes Rashied Davis but he needs to work more of the field. I never liked Hanie better I feel better about him now. But that's much easier to say now that we know our QB won't get benched. As for Rashied, he might actually be our best WR. Seriously. And he's not very good. That's bad, bad, bad.

He did. Frank Omiyale not only started over him, but when Beekman was inserted at the start of the 2nd quarter he was playing center. Supposedly Omiyale has sucked up to this point. So much for competition. It seems like we really want Beekman going back to that hybrid role of being the back-up RG, LG, center.

What I saw from tonight's game with our WR's: 1. Cutler forces the ball to Hester when Olsen's out. 2. IMO Rashied Davis appears to be our 2nd best WR. Not good. 3. Knox & Iglesias ain't going to see the field this year. 4. For all the hype, were Riddeau and DA even playing??? 5. Earl Bennett can't get open. I know the obvious excuses: It's just pre-season, blah, blah, blah . . . I ain't buying it. Cutler loves big WR's. Go get Matt Jones.

Afalava has looked pretty good. I'm feeling better about Caleb Hanie. Steltz with the nice forced fumble. Along with the secondary, my main concern is that Cutler appeared to focus in on Hester, forcing it to him 2 or 3 times when he wasn't close to being open. Sure there was no Greg Olsen, but there sure as hell doesn't appear to be a #2 WR.

I'm WAY more concerned about Trent Edwards throwing 9 complete passes in a row. It seems like the same old secondary to me. Trumaine McBride looks like he should be a punter. As bad as he looks you can't tell me he's better then D.J. Moore.

I don't feel bad for Denver fans in the least, and here's why: For the most part, the Denver media was HAPPY with the Cutler/Orton deal. I compare it to the Briggs situation. Here we have a pro-bowl linebacker, but fans would have been happy if he'd walked away. This was because we've been spoiled by the likes of Butkus, Singletary, and Urlacher. Denver was spoiled by having John Elway all those years. Heck, I'd have taken Jake Plummer over most of the guys the Bears have rolled out. They don't "get" how damn hard it is to find a good QB. In other words, they're too stupid to be that upset.

Two thoughts: 1. As for Cutler's input on who our WR's are . . . on a normal team this might be unthinkable. But look at it this way: We have exactly ONE WR that other teams in the NFL would want, and that's Hester. I could see Knox, DA, Riddeau, and Davis all seeing the chopping block. If Iglesias wasn't a 3rd round pick I'd include him in that list. Bennett has proven he's better then the rest of this bad group, and no more. My point is, 4 of our top 6 WR's could easily be out of the NFL in a year. When you're looking at a group like this, why wouldn't you get input from the QB? 2. The SCORE keeps saying Cutler likes big targets. That could ultimately doom Davis. He's not that big, he doesn't have long arms, and he doesn't have an explosive leap.