bradjock

SLB Pisa Tinoisamoa / Nick Roach / Jamar Williams Marcus Freeman (Pisa was quick to #1) Gotta say. This is a position that seems to have a nice group in the battle, but I have read next to nothing about in camp. When did Jamar Williams become a SLB? Why didn't we try him out when Roach & Hunter were competing to see who was worse last year. Speaking of this, are we going to pay Hunter over a million to play ST's and be a back-up? LCB Trumaine McBride / Corey Graham (Tied) Little deceptive as they are not factoring injured players. Tillman is obviously the #1, but I think it safe to say Bowman has taken (despite the injury) the primary backup spot too. Still sad IMHO that we have Graham flat out burried. Mully on the SCORE says McBride looks terrible. I'm confused as you about Graham. FS Danieal Manning Josh Bullocks Craig Steltz (Steltz 3rd string!!!!) What I find interesting here is, Afalava has been drawing a lot of praise for his work at FS, with the 1st string, and from all reports, seems to have moved ahead of Steltz. Really have to wonder at this point if Steltz makes it out of camp. If Afalava beats him out on the depth chart, I am not sure Steltz sticks. So Steltz went from competing for SS, to nickel-back FS, to 3rd string? That's ALL happened in the last 2 weeks. And he hasn't been hurt. Can we just load all these guys up in the freaking clown-car? Steltz will stick because someone will be injured. As for Knox, I do not think he gets the red shirt. From what I have read, we have taken a very specific approach w/ him. Opposite Bennett, we are developing Knox at one position only, and envision him as a potential deep threat this season. I think he may not see a ton of snaps, but will be a deep threat every time he is on the field. That will be his niche. Wasn't that what Airese Currie was supposed to be for? Like Knox, he was fast as hell. I see him getting the red-shit. Could it be possible to see AP gone? I do not think it happens this year, but IMHO, it should. I would hate to cut one of the talented young WRs or a TE in order to keep a roster spot for him. I don't see how you'd justify keeping Knox or Kellen Davis over AP. Chances are, Knox or Davis would make it back to our practice squad. For at least a week or two. I think Davis was very much on the bubble, and may still be, but has been having a very solid camp. We may well keep 4 TEs. We've said that Gaines can play FB. I look for him to replace McKie, and we keep 4 TE's.

Davis may not be starting, but the depth chart does not indicate who is the starting slot receiver. Face it, Rashied looked pretty damn good in 2006 in the slot. The team has indicated that when we asked him to do more it became a problem. I REALLY like Davis as a #5 WR. He knows all the positions, he plays special teams, and he's a scrapper. You can put him out there in a pinch and expect him to perform. Yes, he had some drops, but seemingly every WR we acquire has that problem . . . then they go away and the problem stops. A final note on Davis: Everyone focuses on his drops, but how many huge receptions has he had? I think it was the Atlanta game he caught what should have been the game winning TD. (He had at least one game-winning catch.)

September 7th works for me.

Disagree. How would Rashied go from starting slot receiver to cut? I just don't see that happening. Especially since we've maintained that Rashied Davis is good in the slot, but nowhere else. We've been playing Knox exclusively as an "X" receiver with Hester & Iglesias playing the "Y". I just don't see Rashied losing his job to the likes of Riddeau.

More Graham weirdness. This was in the Tribune today: "Danieal Manning continued to nurse a hamstring, allowing Al Afalava to see reps with the first team at safety." So Corey Graham has now fallen behind Al Afalava??? Not to mention that Afalava is another strong safety who's playing out of position at fs. WTF???

I'm rooting for Orton to do great, but I laughed my ass off at this. From PFT: Orton hears a boo Posted by Mike Florio on August 6, 2009 10:57 PM ET Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton received a warm welcome from Denver fans during a Thursday night practice at Invesco Field. The crowd of 13,000-plus loudly booed the former Bear when he threw two interceptions and badly misfired on a pass to receiver Chad Jackson. Orton has been installed as the starter, for now, following an offseason trade that sent quarterback Jay Cutler to Chicago.

The one thing this article didn't mention that the Sun Times did is that Cutler has 3 years remaining on his contract. Three years ago today we were sure that Rex Grossman was our savior if only he could stay healthy. We were also wondering why the hell JA didn't sign a WR and whether or not the TJ/Benson feud would tear the team apart. Pretty good year 2006. I mention all this because damn that seems like a long time ago. There's no rush. Franchise QB's never walk . . . unless they retire and then unretire. Sure things could change with the cap & CBA, but who cares at this point? I hope we sign him and I'm sure we'll sign him sooner or later.

I'd get there by 1:30 at the latest. There will be a pretty good line waiting to get in by then. You might even want to arrive by 1:00. They open the gates at 2:00. One of the coolest things I've liked about camp is watching the players coming out for practice. If you're early, you can have a pretty good spot by the fence, so you can see every player fairly closely. I'm always amazed at how big or short some of the players are. The area closest to the fence is roped off for kids. This is something new they added after the fence damn new collapsed from the "Jay Cutler" surge the first day of practice. The only player who won't come near the fans is Urlacher. He sneaks in and out the back on a golf cart. I've never understood this since all he has to do is jog by. Player do not sign before practice. The only one I saw sign was #10, who was not Rex, but the back-up kicker/punter. So if you want autographs, it's a good idea to find a spot near the area where the players enter and exit before practice ends. If the practice starts at 3:00, it will end real close to 5:00. A few have ran over, but they're pretty consistent. By 4:30-4:45 you should move to the fence where the players run out. You'll have a great time. I go every year and I always love it. This year kind of sucked because it was so damn packed. But that was on a Sunday. It shouldn't be too bad tomorrow.

I don't mind PPC. I hate all the flex options. One is good, but no more then that. Otherwise you end up starting all these crap players who aren't going to have meaningful playing time. I've heard good things about that pay-out web site. A buddy of mine did it and says it's great. Instead of paying an individual, you deposit your money in a bank, so-to-speak. The day the season is over with, the winner gets paid. It's free.

1. So how do we pay you? 2. If you had enough and needed an extra, I'd join a 2nd pay league. 3. Did you include enough positions and bench players? Forget the damn waiver wire . . . Thanks for setting this up.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...nson-04.article Some of the highlights from the article of the ass-turd's idiocy: "I'm sure they know they made a mistake [releasing me]," Benson said, "after the way I finished last season. But I'm not worried about them. It's in the past and I've moved on. I had a career-high in touches and yards in a little more than half a season, more than I ever had in Chicago. That tells you the story right there." There remains no love lost between Benson and ex-Bear Thomas Jones. The pair combined for 1,857 rushing yards during 2006 en route to the Super Bowl, the same season that Jones once slugged Benson in practice. It was Jones who got into an on-field tussle Monday in Jets' camp. "Typical," Benson said. "That's the kind of guy he is. I don't pay attention to what is going on in his world." "I think the only person that wanted me there was Lovie [smith],'' Benson said. "The Bengals sure hit the jackpot.''

FS - This is the biggest question mark area, and the one w/ the fewest answers. I still believe Bullocks could end up starting, unless DM just runs w/ it. Have we even tried Bullocks as a FS??? I thought the pecking order was DM, Steltz, Graham . . . Of course none of our secondary moves have made a damn bit of sense to me: --Bullocks has ideal size & speed to be a free safety but he shies away from contact . . . so we move him to SS where more contact is needed. --Corey Graham was good as a starting CB, so we move him to FS, and now he's a back-up CB behind Bowman? --Steltz is a big hitter with poor range . . . so we move him to FS? --Vasher loses his job to Graham . . . so he gets it back by showing up for OTA's? --DM SHINES as a nickel back. He preps all off-season for it. So after 3 years of failure he's back at FS for #4. --Kevin Payne misses as much as he hits. He's better suited for special teams and a back-up role. Yet he's the uncontested starter. It's like you can almost here the damn Looney Tunes song playing in the back-ground.

Helluva a good point. Marshall was the 119th player drafted in the 4th round in 2006. Eddie Royal was a 2nd round rookie he caught 9 balls for 146 yards the first game he played. No rookie does that. Either Denver has an uncanny knack for drafting WR's, or Cutler made these guys one helluva a lot better.

I like your draft except for your Chicago Bear bias. By most rankings, Hester going 55 is a couple of rounds too early. But if you feel that strongly about him having a break-out year, it's not really a reach. Take Cutler at #66 was a mistake IMO. Not because he'll be bad, but because you already have Peyton Manning. Unless it's a two QB league, how many times will Cutler start? Other then that it's good.

Hey Bomber, when are you setting up the $20.00 league?

Great post! This explain lots. Specifically why our pass-defense sucked balls the past two years. If a WR fakes long, all he had to do was cut back across the middle to get open. Specifically, I hope it means we'll jam the WR instead of bending over for him . . . Last season against the Bears, Brian Griese passed for 407 yards, Gus Ferrotte 298, Kerry Collins 289, Matt Ryan 301. All 4 put up season highs against the Bears. Why the hell didn't we adjust to this sooner?

Just got back from camp. Sheesh, not like the old days Last year you could wander around whereever you wanted. This year it's wall to wall people. The SCORE reported there was a record crowd today of over 11,000. A few random thoughts: 1. As everyone's said, Cutler's amazing. Normally I try to get a broad view of everything, but it was tough to take my eyes off the QB position. 2. Basinez sucks. He threw 3-4 picks and struggled even in 2 on 1 drills. 3. Bennett hauled in a bomb from Cutler that was impressive as hell. 4. We're really focusing on Olsen, mostly underneath. At least today we were. 5. Vasher spent some time returning punts. This suprised me as I figured Knox or Iglesias would get the nod. 6. Hester really appears to be focusing on making runs after the catch. He looks electric. Had a couple drops but had some great catches. 7. Orlando Pace looks like a monster, but he's not exatly fleet-footed. 8. Brandon Rideau is big, can jump, and has decent speed . . . but he has no "burst" whatsoever. It's like his feet are in mud. 9. Josh Bullocks had an interception. I wish I'd spent more time watching 10. Zach Bowman appears to be a stud. I could ramble on forever but I'm tired and sunburnt as hell. The pictures I took suck cause I couldn't get close enough. Damn crowd.

The league id numbers and passwords are listed previously in this thread. Better sign-up asap.

My guess is his new role is not about where he'll be lining up, but how we'll be looking to get him the ball. Everyone keeps waiting for Hester to be our #1 WR, but I'm thinking it'll be Olsen. That's the only reason I can fathom that we haven't went after another WR. We're going to give Greg every possible chance to shine.

He was a solid special teams guy . . . why would we keep him through all the OTA's and dump him as soon as he reports? Agreed he wouldn't make the team, but it seems like there are far worse players then "La Rock' who haven't been cut yet.

That's true. "His agent talked to the Bears" could mean Angelo said "Moonshine can go to hell!" and hung up.

I hate to ask a stupid question but could you expound on the meaning of gone?

That's good to hear. I'm guessing most of these teams are offering a one year deal for the minimum or close to it. It's weird the Bears actually have a leg-up in the competition. We have a combination of the best quarterback with the worst WR's.

At first I thought it might mean "points per rush." If that were the case, Cedric Benson would be a steal as he'll rush the ball 20 times a game for an average of 34 yards. I do like the PPR. Hell, that stat made Forte a beast last year. Like you, I'm really ready to go.

Due to being out of shape. As per the Sun Times. No kidding. The SCORE said he appeared to be pushing 400 lbs. They might be exaggerating, but either way, how can a 2nd year pro athlete not stay in shape? Unbelievable. Lets hope Dusty can stay healthy.