nfoligno

First, why do you want to trade down SO badly. Every plan of yours seems to begin w/ our trading down. Right now, though we really don't know what will happen on draft day, we have a shot at numerous players who would be great value and fill a position of need w/ our 1st round pick. Second, to be honest, I hate this plan. (a) You do nothing to upgrade our OL. Sure, you talk about re-signing St. Clair, but he was a starter last year. Yea, he moves to the right side, but how great of an upgrade is that? Further, you do nothing to upgrade our interior, and our depth is still awful. ( While I doubt we spend a ton in FA, at the same time, you spend next to nothing. We have too much cap space to do so little. © Why cut Hilly? We do not need the cap space, and he offers, at minimum, depth. Especially if you expect Roach to start, I think we need Hilly for depth, if not competition. If we do so little to improve our prospects at OL and WR, I think we would really regret such a plan.

I would not want to count on him this year, especially as we are not exactly strong at the strong safety position, but I would not mind if he were considered for future development at the FS position. Sign a veteran FS, and develop Bowman. That sounds a lot better than simply expecting Bowman to move to FS and start there immediatly.

here is my question. What are we looking for in a FS? How many times have you heard Lovie and Angelo state the safety positions are interchangable in our system? I know I want to scream everytime I hear that. Maybe their statement is true in theory. The problem, IMHO, is that such a player is very rare. We had one on Mike Brown. While not a speed guy, he was solid in both coverage and run support. The problem is, such players are rare. Most excel in one area or the other, but not so much both. I swear it is like we believe pass coverage can be easily learned, but run support can not, and thus we draft a lot of SS' expecting them to also be capable of playing FS. Besides your list, also think about Mike Green and Harris. I would argue both of those two were weak in coverage but better in run support. Hopefully our perspective has changed, but I wonder. Angelo said last year we could not count on Mike Brown, but then drafted Steltz. That is why I really want to see us add Jermaine Phillips in FA. He seems to best fit this mold, as he is a S who can play either Strong or free. Further, as he comes from TB, he would seem like an easy transition coming from the same scheme.

Showoff

Probably my 3rd choice. Right now, I am really hoping for Jermaine Phillips to man our FS spot. If we don't get him, Gibril Wilson is probably my 2nd choice, just ahead of Eugene Wilson.

I personally think Garza is that bad. I think his poor play would be more visable if not for how poor the play of others on the OL has been. When we are in short yardage situations, he never seems to get any push. He rarely does much in pass protection, and IMHO, is even weaker in terms of DL movement (blitzes, stunts, etc). You say the organization seems to like him, but so what. The Organization likes many players who have no business starting, or being on the team. The Org loves AP, but that doesn't mean I want him as a starter. Garza is a good player to have in a reserve/depth role, but not what I would call a quality starter. Heck, I would argue Beekman looked better last year than garza. I really disagree that OG upgrades are a luxury, and would just point out how often Forte was stuffed in the middle to prove my point. If you want to open up hole for our franchise RB, then you have to upgrade our OG positions as well.

ALWAYS!

Jason, how do you like the sound of this. We hit FA by adding St. Clair and Brandon Moore (OG for NYJ). Then we hit the draft and take Oher. We now have an OL of: Williams - St. Clair - Kreutz - Moore - Oher. I know we have inexperience on the edges, but we flank them w/ experienced OGs. Further, we now have Garza and Beekman in more suited roles (depth). Now that is an OL I think Orton and Forte would LOVE to work behind.

Understand where you are coming from, but still not so sure. 1. Agreed the lower in the draft you go, the more you are able to gamble w/ character and other red flags, however, I am just not so sure we can afford such, particularly in the 1st. We have many needs and many holes, and while the pick may not be top 10, I would argue it may as well be in terms of expectations. W/ our 1st pick, we need a legit stud starter and can not afford a bust. 2. Again, coaching. What in our staff's history leads you to believe we have the staff in place to mold, develop, help mature a troubled kid. 3. Me personally, I simply am not sure the difference (if any) between Oher and Smith is so great. To me, Smith is a player who seemed to be compared very evenly w/ Oher until the offseason began and the process of over-analysis began. Big for me is this. Our margin for error is small. We simply can not afford a bust. We drafted an OT last year who had red flags. We gambled, and it blew up in our faces. We hope luck turns, but I am not sure we can afford to draft OTs w/ red flags in the 1st round of consecutative drafts.

To be totally honest, I believe I wanted pretty much every 1st round OT prospect, except Williams, or at least Williams was my least favorite. I remember saying I thought Clady would be better than Long, and felt we should have traded up to get him. It was largely believed Denver would take him, so I felt we needed to jump ahead of Denver. After Clady, Albert was by far and away my favorite. I felt he too would end up better than Long, though it would take him a bit longer to get there. Of the OTs we had a legit shot at, Otah was the one I liked next. I felt it was 50/50 whether he could end up as a LT, but felt it was a lock he could be a stud RT and/or stud OG. As much as I wanted a LT, I also felt we had needs across the board on the OL, and simply felt he was a better overall prospect. So yea, I did want Otah. Now I want Otah. J/K. Oher.

But there is the rub. While I think all three appear to be a reach at 18, it seems like the expectation is all three will be gone by our 2nd round pick. All three appear to be considered late 1st round, maybe very early 2nd round picks.

I actually like Heyward-Bey a lot, but not necessarily for us. I think he is a WR who could be great, but it will depend much on where he goes. Send him to an established offense, w/ an established QB, and where he could develop w/o too great of immediate expectations placed on him, and I think he could develop into a great WR. Think Roddy White. Little to nothing his first couple years, but year 3 is his coming out party, and he has not stopped partying since. I can see similar for Bey, but not if he is drafted by a team like Chicago. We can not afford to draft a WR in the 1st and wait 3 years for him to develop. We have a QB more in need of quality WRs than one in which can elevate the play of those WR. Bey may have great skills, but they are raw. That just isn't what we need. I too like Nicks and Robiskie, but wonder if their value will match up w/ our pick. Right now, Nicks seems like a late 1st round pick, while Robiskie a late 1st, early 2nd. In other words, either is a reach w/ our 1st round pick, but will likely be gone by our 2nd rounder. So I am not sure we are going to end up w/ either, though we agree on those being the "type" of WR we should be looking at.

Damn. I was making the same mistake last year too. Frankly, I would place a bet I make that mistake more than one more time as well.

Even if we draft Otah? I am not sure about Andre Smith. I know where you are coming from. He is an upper tier prospect, at the position you want, and while he has red flags, you are not big on passing on players w/ character red flags. At the same time, his red flag seems to be glowing. The thing for me is coaching. Its one thing if you have a coaching staff you have confidence in their ability to take a troubled youth and mold them into solid men. Its another thing if you have Lovie Smith. Do you really think we have the staff in place to mentor a kid who has the sort of rep as Smith?

Okay, there are the dreams where you dream of Angalina Jolie, and then there are dreams of that hot chic that lives down the street. Both are great dreams to have, but only one has any shred of realism to it. I would love to have a pair of stud w/ experience on the outside, but that is the Jolie dream. I can have two stud on the outside who may lack experience today, but will be Bear bookends for the next decade. That is the hot chic down the street dream. I realize the potential issues w/ the lack of experience on the outside. At the same time (a) I would rather have an elite prospect w/ less experience over a very middle of the road talent w/ more experience and ( Both inexperienced players would be paired w/ experienced veterans. It would be a more scary situation for me to have a rookie LG starting next to Williams, rather than Williams playing next to St. Clair and a rookie OT like Oher playing next to Moore.

While I ca not necessarily disagree w/ anything you are saying, I think the key is this. W/ Lovie taking over for Babich, and Marinelli at DL, do we have reason to believe/hope/expect improved play from those currently on the team? I would say absolutely. I always questioned how much of our weak DL play was simply about talent, rather than coaching. Well, we now have coaching in place that is more likely to get more out of what we have. But can the same be said about WR, OT and S? Are the problems we have seen at those areas simply about coaching, or is it that we just lack talent at those positions. Think veggies. I would say we have turnips at OT, WR and S. You just can't squeeze jack out of a group of turnips. At DL, we have tomatoes. I am not saying they are the most ripe tomatoes, but there is a good chance you are going to get something out of them if you squeeze.

"under-the-radar"? From what I have read, Moore instantly became one of the upper tier FAs on the market. As he is an OG, he may not be a household name, but we have seen the price tag for OGs soar in recent years, and Moore just went to the top of the list. He may be under the radar in terms of name recognition, but his contract will not be under the radar. W/ that said, I totally agree w/ adding him. How about this dream OL. Williams - St. Clair - Kreutz - Moore - Otah.

Problem is, from what I have read, Jenkins has said he wants to play CB and not move to S. I agree he may be better if he moves, but if he is unwilling to make the move, can you really take him? I do agree that a CB who lacks top end speed better fits our system. I also agree he may in fact be a good fit for us and our system. The problem I have is, I just do not view CB as a top need, and the talk of how our system does not require top speed/talent CBs only furthers the point that CB is not a 1st round value for cover two defenses.

Actually, I think his prior injury was the same as Crabtree's (stress fracture). But I also think that was only part of it, as there were character and other red flags as well.

Yea I get it, but at the same time, I think many simply see the name, and assume he would be a great addition, whether realistic or not. Also, just explaining there were reasons beyond character to question the fit. Okay, here is one for you. Realistically. Many of the players we may have wanted are gone (re-signed or tagged) and most feel the rest of the pool is pretty weak. Put on your GM cap, and get to work. I'll give it a go. I see OL, WR and S as positions that really need to be addressed in FA. If we do not, we will enter the draft w/ such a glaring hole that we may have to reach for need, rather than draft for talent. So. OL - I would really like to add better than St. Clair, but I think that is going to get done. I am absolutely fine re-signing St. Clair, so long as that is only a piece of the puzzle. Saw where Brandon Moore (NYJ) was cut to avoid a $7m roster bonus. He instantly becomes a top target for me. He is an excellent OG, considered NY's best run blocker, and still on the right side of 30 (28). Further, that I know of, he doesn't have the injury issues, and I think has started the last 4 years for NY. He is going to be expensive, but I think is exactly what we need. If we were to add both Moore and St. Clair, I think it would go a long way toward solving our issues on the OL. Further, w/ St. Clair versatile, we would still have options in the draft. S - Personally, I always felt the options at S were better than just Atogwe. He was the best out there, but not the only player. The player I most want to target is Jermaine Phillips. He can play either SS or FS (would play FS for us). He simply fits so many of the things I think we should be looking for. He would bring a veteran leadership to a position seriously lacking in that after losing Brown. Coming from a cover two system, he knows our scheme, and would likely be an easy transition. He is not young, but at 29 (w/ only 7 years of experience) far from over the hill. And like w/ OL, by adding a versatile S like Phillips, we keep our options open in the draft. If a FS falls to us (somewhere in the draft) we love, we can take him and move (now or eventually) Phillips to SS. Regardless, I would feel much better about Payne or Steltz as our starting SS if we had a veteran like Phillips playing free. WR - I still think this is a big need, and if we do nothing in FA, feel we will nearly force ourselves to draft WR high in the draft. I would love to get TJ, but (a) its not going to happen and ( especially not after spending on the above three players. It's not so much about cap position but about up-front money. The good thing is, WR is one position that seems to be improving as many teams are cutting players to free up cap space. The top two WRs I would be looking to go after are Harrison and Holt. Yes, they are old. I realize that. I am not looking for a stud #1, but a good veteran who can simply help this group out. Both of these WRs I feel could do that. Meanwhile, they would buy time and aide the development of our other young WRs like Hester, Bennett and the rookie we will be drafting at some point. So I add St. Clair, Moore, Phillips and Harrison. By doing this, I am able to enter the draft looking at more than just one position. Oher would still be my ideal option (play him at RT, St. Clair at LG and Moore at RG), but if Oher isn't there, I can look at BPA as opposed to reaching for the next best at one position.

Hell yes. I always read fans talk about how you can't teach speed. Okay, fine. But I'll give up speed in order to get a football player anyday. Think about it this way. Who really wants to follow the footsteps of Al Davis? Davis is well known as an owner who loves speed and athleticism. He doesn't care how raw the guy is. If he see's a great 40 speed, he falls in love w/ the player. On the other end of the spectrum is Billichek, who simply tries to find football players. Players he gets may not always be the fastest or most athletic, but I would argue they look much better on the field than Al Davis' projects.

I don't know Jason. One, some felt Terrell was a draft stud that would not even make it to our pick, but he did. Sort of makes you wonder why he began to fall. I remember the year we drafted Dez White. Most on the boards talked about how he was such a steal, but Mr. Stone hands proved otherwise, and maybe other teams were right to pass. Point is, while DT may have had the athleticism, that doesn't mean he was a sure thing stud. He is a player who excelled in college based on pure talent, but simply was not willing to put in the time or effort to take it to the next level. You can get by in college on talent alone, but talent is simply not enough in the NFL. Two, I don't think Bennett and Terrell are remotely similar situations, and frankly, I think it is insulting to Bennett to say that. According to the staff, Bennett worked his arce off in practice, but simply took time to "get it" or play up to NFL speed. Terrell was a prima dona who didn't care enough to even try during the week. He felt he was a stud, and didn't need to practice. He felt he could just show up on game days. Sorry, but I do not think there is a coach in the NFL who would accept that sort of attitude. I think you have previously been in favor of coaches like Cower, Parcells and other hard asses. You really think Terrell would have seen the field under their watch if he blew off practices? I am with you on questioning our staff for not giving Bennett more opportunites on Sunday, despite how he looked in practice, but I just think that is a totally different situation. He was putting in the effort, and working hard, according to all the sources. In Terrell, you had a player who simply didn't feel he needed practice, and being a starter on Sunday's was a God given right, not something you have to work hard to earn.

No thanks, and it has nothing to do w/ character. Frankly Jason, I am shocked to see this from you. You do not want to add WRs or pretty much anything else, but you want a MLB? No matter. I still don't like the idea, even if it were possible. IMHO, the problem is not nearly as much Urlacher, but more a matter of Urlacher, at this point in his career, not being ideally suited for the system we run. Well, IMHO, Lewis would flop nearly as badly as Urlacher. Do you remember a few years back when Baltimore essentially (a) altered systems and ( lost their big boy talent on the DL? Lewis' play really went downhill, and many began to talk about him being done. Baltimore then upgraded the DL talent and reverted back to a system he previously showed high levels of success in, and what do you know? Lewis is again considered a stud. Point here is not to try an excuse Urlacher, but to state that in our system, I am not sure we would see the level of play from Lewis expected. In fact, I think we would see a very unhappy Lewis as OG after OG was able to get his hands on Lewis. Lewis may be a great player, but if you put a great player in a system not suited for him......well.....Let's just say you are not going to get what you hoped for.

I said in another post that a player's history is also a factor. Pacman was on probation for numerous other incidents, and the trouble did not stop. So when he gets into another "incident" whether or not a DA presses charges may not mean as much as when looking at a player w/ no prior history of problems.

Carey, Dolphins agree to deal ESPN.com INDIANAPOLIS -- The Miami Dolphins on Friday signed right tackle Vernon Carey to a six-year contract. Of Miami's five unrestricted free agents, Carey and safety Yeremiah Bell were the most significant. The Dolphins on Thursday opted not to place the franchise tag on either of them, increasing the likelihood they would hit the open market on Feb. 27. But the Dolphins locked up Carey less than 24 hours later. Carey, the 19th overall selection in the 2004 draft, has started 59 straight games for the Dolphins. He started at right tackle for two years and was moved to the left side for 2007. The Dolphins switched him back last year to make room for No. 1 pick Jake Long, who made the Pro Bowl. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3921654