bradjock

My thinking is our focus will be to make sure we have somone to fill Steltz's job. IMO, he's done nothing to prove he's good enough to be a starter. The thing is that all the guys mentioned, including Payne, are better at strong safety. That tells me Payne could end up as our starting Free Safety. I really don't remember much about Payne when he was playing FS, which tells me he must have done an ok job. Unlike that memory of Danieal Manning playing free safety and letting Andre Johnson run right past him for a touchdown.

The Sun Times and Tribune both had articles in today's paper talking about our secondary. Three things that were news: 1. Peanut Tillman is staying at cornerback (Not exactly breaking news, but it stops the rumors of him going to fs) 2. Danieal Manning is staying at nickel-back, not free safety (this is different then what Smith had said before) 3. Craig Steltz is penciled in as the starter at free safety with Payne at SS. First, this tells me our cornerback position is pretty damn strong. D Manning looked really good at nickel-back. We're hoping Vasher can return to form, and he'll be battling with Corey Graham who was pretty damn good last year. Trumaine McBride is a nice back-up & special teams guy, while Zac Beauman showed great potential in short time last year. Having 6 pretty good corners is a great luxury. Secondly, christ almighty our safety position sucks. Is anyone thrilled with Payne starting at SS??? Playing Steltz at FS is an absolute joke. And this as all we have at the position right now??? We need to sign a guy and draft another guy fairly high. The worst part is that it's not likely we'll be able to find a true free safety. Any thought on what safety we need to sign?

The Sun Times and the Tribune's report today indicate that Smith's comments weren't as definite as the SCORE led me to believe. Apparently there still is a slight chance that Tait could return.

A better question is this: Why were the Cowboys so ready to get rid of him? This is the Cowboys for Christ sake. Yes, they had other guys they wanted to put in front of him, but if he's good, there's no way in hell they let him walk. This tells me there not happy with his work ethic and/or life-style. Lets not forgot that we always get the censored version of a player. We get the guy who gets up to the microphone and is trained to say the right things. That gives us no indication of who the guy really is. We often wondered why the Bears were reluctant to do more with Cedric, but news out-lets like the SCORE always hinted to the fact that he was an ass-hat. Talent is one thing, production is another, but what we don't see is who a guy really is day in a day out. Cedric was an ass-hat. Tank is an ass-hat. Dallas knows this, that's what they said bye-bye. Angelo knows this.

I never liked the idea we'd planned on starting Chris Williams at LT as a rookie. Terrible idea IMO. Thank christ we had a back-up plan with St. Clair. Williams is STILL an unknown. We need a back-up plan. AND we need a starting RT. IMO, we need to sign St. Clair, AND draft Oher.

Agreed. Remember when Mike Williams interviewed everywhere, and said all the right things? Bear fans were furious we didn't take him with the #4 pick. On hindsight, he's actually worse then Bastard Benson. Last year Forte dominated the senior bowl, and showed up at the combine saying and doing all the right things. That's what a player is supposed to do. If a guy can't get his shit together for the combine, he'll be a bust. Stay away Bears.

Didn't Jacksonville lose their center, LG, RG, and back-up guard by the 2nd week of the season? Khalif Barnes is 26 and he's actually a LT. He's considered to be an upgrade over St. Clair. I'd be happy as hell if we signed him. Here's what ESPN has to say about Barnes: Barnes has anchored the left side of the line for the past four years. He has excellent size for the position and is a fluid, easy mover who is an adequate knee-bender with excellent body control and balance. He has above-average, small-area quickness and comes off the ball with good pad level. He gets a good fit with his hands to control and steer opponents on by the hole. He has good lateral range in pass protection and can ride the rusher on by the pocket, but will let his weight get a bit high at times and is inconsistent when it comes to reacting or adjusting to counter moves. He does a good job of bringing his feet with him on drive blocks and he understands angles and blocking schemes. He can struggle on the second level when trying to block linebackers and adjusting in space. He could show more of a nasty temperament as he tries to finish his blocks off. He is quick to pick up unblocked opponents and is a quick decision maker. While he is not a dominating blocker, he does more than just hold his own.

Lovie Smith announced this at the combine. He's no longer thinking about it, but he's going to make it official. Damn that sucks. I was really hoping after a couple of months off he'd reconsider. So that brings our money we have to spend to 31-32 million. Any thoughts on who we should spend it on now? (Other then St. Clair which has immediately become urgent.)

Mulligan mentions that the starting point for starting tackles is 5 million per. That easily explains why the Bears have not been very aggressive in pursuing him. Especially since St. Clair is 32. Now it's become a matter of desperation more then anything else. If we have to start Chris Williams opposite a rookie, we might as well start preparing for the 2010 draft.

I'd say you're in the minority in calling the interior d-line above average. I'd say we need to get one helluva a lot better. That being said, if we brought in Haynesworth we'd need to dump Tommie. Tommie & Haynesworth together would be a Daniel Snyder move that would sound great in theory, but suck ass in real life. Not to mention, combined they'd be worth 100 million (Tommie signed for 40, Haynesworth will get AT LEAST 60.) If we don't believe Tommie can return to form, we should make an effort to dump him. Otherwise, we need to play the hand we're dealt.

First on Derek Anderson: I believe he signed a 3 year 27 million deal??? We trade for him and we take on whatever he is owed. For 18 million (assuming that is what he is owed) we could get Leftwich, Simms, J.P. Losman AND Jeff George. Hey Madlith, as for Chicago teams making an "oomph" the detached retina is bad news for Stoudamire. Real bad news. I haven't heard, was if fully detached? Is the macula off? If so, he might never play again, or be playing with a patch. I'm glad the Bulls didn't gamble their future on Stoudamire. Please get good soon Tyrus.

With players resigning, the urgency to sign St. Clair becomes even greater. Realistic options of finding a player better then him in free agency are becoming few & far between. Stacy Andrews is questionable because of injury. Based on the ESPN rankings, the only two free agents who are considered better then St. Clair, who aren't close to 40, and who aren't restricted are Jon Stinchcomb and Kahlif Barnes. With the assload of money the Bears have to spend, and the few quality free agents there are to spend it on, I'm surprised Bear fans are more pissed that we don't seem to be making a move to resign St. Clair.

That's exactly the kind of deal I expected Gross to sign. One that made you say WOW. Is the best cornerback in the league worth 5 million more a year then the best LT in the league? For some reason agents seem to believe there won't be much money available on the open market, so they're encouraging their clients to sign. Hell, at this point the opening day of free agency seems rather anticlimatic. Other then Housh, and some really old quarterbacks, what significant player will be changing teams??? Does anyone else suspect the Bears will be very happy to sit on the majority of the 32 million (assuming Tait retires) we have to spend? That's bullshit IMO. While the economy may be bad, Soldier Field will continue to sell out, and the TV money will still be there.

Would anyone here have bithed if the Bears had signed Gross to a 6 year 70 million $$$ deal? He's 26 and the best left-tackle in football. Wouldn't 80 million over 6 years have been worth it? We easily have the cap room. With over half the teams in the league with tons of money to spend, I'm shocked he didn't hold out for more. Looking at other o-lineman contracts: In 2005 Orlando Pace signed a 7 year deal for 53 million. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nf...ace-signs_x.htm Last year Flozell Adams signed a 6 year 43 million $$$ deal. Steve Hutchinson, 7 years 49 million in 2006 Alan Faneca, 5 years 40 million Leonard Davis, 7 years 50 million Derek Dockery, 7 years 50 million If these guys are worth that, isn't Gross worth more? I'm not saying that's not one helluva a lot of money. It's just that Bernard Berrian is a good but not great WR, who's more ideal to be a #2, a 6 year 43 million $$$ deal. That's relatively "crazy money." I expected a young and dominating player who mans the 2nd most difficult position in football to get a lot more then 60 million. I don't get it.

I would love that as long as we don't have to rely on them this season. Resign St. Clair, and let the rookies battle it out with him. May the best man win. It always bothered me that Chris Williams was given the starting job so easily. He was handed the job damn near immediately. Forte wasn't named the starter until Bastard Benson was cut. MAYBE Chris Williams looked flat out that good, but I find that hard to believe for a rookie at one of the most difficult positions to play. We start Williams opposite a rookie, and Kyle Orton will be wishing he was once again Chicago's #2 quarterback. I do have to wonder if there's a certain amount of misdirection involved. Angelo's philosphy has always been that it's much easier to sign an offensive tackle then draft one. So now we're expected to believe he'll draft one in consecutive years? Especially while our DE position is a mess. Of course last year he made no secret that he coveted Forte . . . we also expressed great interest in Danniel Manning before we drafted him. Of course we were supposedly very secretive about the bastard Benson, never even interviewing him before the draft . . . maybe we learned from that mistake.

Moose went from Great to bad Booker went from good to terrible How good could Bernard Berrian be with Indianappolis? The poor guy is rich but he's doomed to play on crappy offenses with really bad quarterbacks. To answer your question, if we'd had Boldin & Fitz had been drafted by Chicago, they'd probably be the eqiuvalent of David Terrell & Mark Bradley right now. Yes, I'm being over-dramatic, but to answer your question, Harrison would be as useless as Booker in Chicago.

Since the contracts are for the upcoming season, wouldn't they have until February 2010 to get under the cap (if there is a cap then . . . ) For instance, any player the Bears sign in free agency for the 2009 season, wouldn't be applied to the cap until the end of the season. Why would it hurt them immediately to sign Peppers for next year? I don't know jack about the cap, and I could be way off, but that just makes sense to me. If I am way off, I'd expect there to be a ton of "Washington Redskin Type" restructuring done very quickly. This doesn't surprise me only because teams always seem to be able to do whatever the hell they want to do. On a conspiracy theory note, doesn't it seem strange that teams seemingly have more money to spend then ever, yet so few free agents are hitting the market? What made Gross decide his best deal was to resign? Half the teams in the league have 20 million to spend, and Gross doesn't want to test those waters? It could be collusion or the economy, but it seems like most teams are going to remain WAY under the cap this year. Assuming the Bears have 27 million to spend as LT suggested, I can't imagine we'll get close to spending that much. They're saying Suggs likely will get slapped with the tag. After that, who's there really left for teams to spend that kind of dough on? Why are guys like Gross willing to resign early when it appears to be a seller's market?

Because the value of a CB is significantly greater than the value of a S. Just watch FA this year and look at the contracts the CBs will sign, compared to the Safeties. Very average CBs seem to get sizable deals. I remember when Brian Williams, a nice but not that good, CB signed w/ Jax for $30+m and better than $10m SB. While cb's make more money, I'm not sure they hold the same value in the cover 2. I remember the year the Colts won the Super Bowl, they'd let both their safeties walk via free agency. They started two nobodies, and really didn't miss much. Meanwhile Bob Sanders was one of the best defensive players in football. Now that Peanut has gotten paid, we need to play him where he'll help the most. Period. You often see CBs move to FS, but RARELY do you see this done w/ a CB that is considered a very good CB. A college CB that doesn't have what it takes to play CB in the NFL may move to FS. Or a CB who is well past his prime, and can no longer get it done at corner might move to FS. Isn't this partly because all the best defensive backs in college play cornerback? I would ask, how much have we tried to find a FS? The only player I can think of who Angelo drafted to play FS is DM, which obviously didn't work out, but in 7 years, that is the only time I can recall Angelo drafting a player who ANYONE considered a FS. He drafted other safeties, but everyone of them were in the box safeties, and thus I would argue SS. Bobby Gray, Todd Johnson, Chris Harris, Payne, Steltz. Everyone of these players were projected as SS'. So is the problem we can not find a FS, or we have not spent the picks/time trying. IMHO, the greatest problem is with the idea that our safety positions are inter-changable, which is BS. On the other side, how many top free safeties are there in college? My guess is that JA would have rather had a FS over Steltz or Payne, but none were worth a damn that weren't drafted in the first round. As for our safeties being interchangeable, I have to think that's what we'd like to do, but it's not realistic. Payne/Steltz are too slow, while Manning's not a great run-stopper. Not totally sure I agree w/ this either. There may be a lot of CBs on the market, but how many of them are really any good. The market just got a boost of CBs due to cuts, but are they really any good? There are some players out there like the kid from Oakland, or Houston, but both are expected to be tagged (we'll find out soon enough on them). There are a lot of names on the market at CB, but most are on the market because they didn't play well. How many CBs are on the market who are as good as Tillman? Maybe not as good as Tillman, but finding a credible safety in free agency at this point seems damn near impossible. More importantly, I feel like we could draft a cornerback in the 2nd or 3rd round, and he could be an effective starter fairly quickly. I can't say that about any safety. My final point is this. Many believe Tillman can play FS, and maybe he can, but I think there would have to be an expected learning curve. That would be fine if we had more stability in the rest of our secondary, but think about how our secondary would look. On one side, we would have a still young and developing Graham. On the other side, either Vasher (who has been struggling) or a new face. At FS, you would have Tillman, but Payne or Steltz at SS, neither of which have been very impressive. So the point is, you would be sacrificing any level of continuity, and I think the secondary as a whole would suffer for it. I think we are in a much better position if we keep Tillman and Graham as our starters, and simply look to upgrade the FS position, whether that be in FA or the draft. To me, the key is for us to actually look to add a FS, and not a SS to play FS. Yes there would be an expected learning curve, but once again, if he could solidify the position for us it'd be worth it. As for finding a FS, who do you want now that Atogwe is gone?

Maybe. The one thing I do know is that it's one helluva a lot easier for the Bears to find a cornerback then it is a free safety. There's already a lot of cb's on the market, and seemingly the only safety of real value who's available is Atogwe. A better question to ask is if we think Peanut can be a very good safety (and everything seems to indicate that he would be) why wouldn't we move him?

Mike Brown's salary this past season was pretty damn low. I think it was around the million $$$ range, plus incentives (which I doubt he reached). Wouldn't it be worth it to pay him one million or so to be a back-up??? To hell with the practice time. I don't care how much Payne practices, he'll never be more then mediocre. And don't even get me started about D Manning who's sucked at safety for 3 consecutive years. If we have a better option we're looking at, then that's fine. But right now the free agent safety market and the upcoming draft market for safeties is pretty damn thin. It's difficult to see a better option in sight.

Why are we wanting to keep Hamilton again, I understand Roach but Hamilton? Depth. No more no less. To all my fellow fans who wanted Tillman to move to safety well looks like it's not going to happen. I just hope like hell we have a plan with how to fix the safety position. Right now it's a glaring weakness and seemingly our two options are: a) Signing Atogwe (spelling?) from St. Louis, or Drafting a safety, in another really bad draft year for safeties. Currently we have Manning we drafted in round 2 (Bad), Payne we draft in round 5 (bad) and Steltz we drafted in round 4 (Sucks). It's tough to be optimistic about this group. Well it looks like Gross maybe costing too much for us to sign. The article you posted mention 9 million per year. So we're talking maybe 7 years/63 million? That seems pretty damn cheap for the best LT in the game. I'd predicted Gross would command a deal approaching 100 million. If he's that "reasonable" the Bears should make a run at him. But then again, so should the other 15 teams that have as much money to spend as the Bears.

Agreed Pix. We spent money on Moose, but back then our #1 WR was David Terrell, with Bobby Wade, Justin Gage, and a rookie Berrian. The latter three hadn't done a damn thing. The combination of Hester & Greg Olsen makes us much better now then we were then. Yes, it's far from great, but I suspect we'll draft another WR in the first 3 rounds and sign another veteran on the cheap.

With St. Clair, does he really want to play OT, or does he just want to make the most money possible. My guess is he sees more dollar signs at the tackle position which is his primary reason for wanting to play there. If the Bears pay him, I'm sure he'd be thrilled to play TE.

The two biggest factors are: 1. St. Clair: Will we resign him? If we do, will Tait retire? Will Williams stay healthy/ I could see a situation like last years where St. Clair is the starting LG, and then something happens to Williams or Tait (assuming Tait doesn't retire) and he gets moved. 2. Buenning: How good is he? Is he recovered? Also, isn't he a free agent? IMO Metcalf is gone. He should have been cut last season but we didn't want to take the cap hit.

While everyone's been focusing on Gross, since he's the best OT available, he's far from the only OT available. If Tait actually is retiring, my guess is that acquiring a starting RT will be our #1 priority. This could be the reason we're not shoring more interest in St. Clair. As for Gross, I wouldn't be shocked if he signed a deal for 100 million. Average offensive-tackles have been signing 60 million $$$ deals, and right now Gross is the best in the game. I don't see the Bears spending this, mainly because we believe that Williams can be our LT of the future. We could acquire a RT for less. http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/fa?sort=gra...p;positionId=46 This is a good list of who's available. At RT, Stacy Andrews would be a good fit. He's young enough and he plays the right side. Either way, I'd still love to see us resign St. Clair. If nothing else, he can start at either guard position.