chwtom

Agreed with those that say it's a difficult question to answer without seeing what is done in free agency. This is an amazingly deep class of potential free agents. I say potential in italics because the top guys (Bowe, V-Jackson, Colston, Welker, Stevie Johnson, Mike Wallace, Wayne) are all fairly likely to either get franchised or re-signed. If none of them hit the market, we are left with guys like Desean Jackson (who is like Devin Hester with a little better hands--but still with Hester's below average route-running and shying away from contact), Manningham, Lloyd, or Meachem. They would all be upgrades over what we have, but not difference-makers. If we can't get one of the upper-tier guys (the ones likely to not hit the market), we need to go after a first-round WR who has the potential to be a difference maker. If we can secure a top-end talent, then I'd vote for addressing other needs in the first round. I think LT and DE would be my top two positions of need for first round talent. We certainly need some help in the secondary, but our system makes good use of guys who wouldn't typically go in the first round. I think we need to add two pass-catchers in free agency. My top choices would be Bowe and Fred Davis. I think, for the money, Fred Davis would be one of the most impactful signings we could make in free agency.

I tried to attach a pic, not sure if I did it right. There is a picture of Emery in front of a case of jerseys at Halas Hall on the online version of the trib today. There is a throwback orange jersey in the case--must be around the same time as the throwbacks they wore last year. It looks really cool, I'd like to see them make an orange alternate jersey based on that.

I LOVE the throwbacks with the orange numbers they used last year. I'd like them to wear those a couple times a year. I like all-blue, but I think I'm in the minority.

I like that Licht seems to have a more well-rounded resume. He works in pro personnel before, but has been in the draft room and taken part in college scouting. Emery is a career scout. He may be a good scout, but there is so much more to the job than that.

Jensen suggested on the radio that Emery was--from the guys he talked to (coaches, GMs, team presidents)--the only one of the candidates who wasn't a great candidate. He is respected, but he wasn't on anyone's list. He COULD be great in this role, but it's fair to wonder why a guy who has been in scouting for 30 years never got an opportunity to move above that role. Maybe he didn't want it before, maybe he was overlooked, who knows. But the people running the search don't inspire a lot of confidence that they are going to outsmart the rest of the league.

I haven't heard anything about the passing coordinator job since the guy from Tennessee couldn't come. I wonder if Hue Jackson would be considered. He didn't have a graceful exit in Oakland, but he is a pretty respected QB coach and a good offensive mind. I'm less worried about the line coach, since I think Tice will probably keep a pretty heavy hand there.

That's kind of the case with all these candidates (aside from Ruskell), since none of them have been GMs. They are feeding info to the GMs about a particular pro player or college prospect, but none of them are making the call. It's a big jump from making suggestions to making decisions, and not everyone handles that jump well.

Maybe Licht could be GM and Emery could be assistant GM and head of college scouting. That would be a nice combo, since Emery doesn't have any experience with any aspect of the GM job but scouting. Either one seems like a pretty unqualified candidate, since neither has experience with a big portion of GM duties.

Actually Melton did a pretty good job this year in his first as a starter. For all the criticisms, some justified, or the Tampa 2, there isn't a defense that plays the Packers better than the Bears. They throw all over every other team, but at times really struggle against the Bears.

HOME Atlanta Falcons L They have a better qb, line, wr, coach and gm than us Carolina Panthers W SeattleSeahawks W Kansas City Chiefs W i think we'll split this game and the next one San Diego Chargers L Detroit Lions L but for the Calbin Johnson call they beat us last year and their young team is a year better. Green Bay Packers L they are just better than us, period. Minnesota Vikings W AWAY New Orleans Saints L Tampa Bay Buccaneers L Detroit Lions W Minnesota Vikings W Green Bay Packers L Oakland Raiders W Denver Broncos W Philadelphia Eagles L Realistically, I see us as 8-8 plus or minus a win, unless they strike gold in free agency and the draft. That's probably about how good we were last year, we were just one of the most fortunate teams in football when it came to our health, our opponents injuries, some crucial calls, and the way the schedule played out. There's no way we win this division again. Green Bay and Detroit keep getting better, and we keep getting older.

One thing is clear to me, Chris Williams is not a guard. I've never seen a guard get so consistently bull-rushed as him on pass plays, and he has no push in the run game. He's just not strong enough to play guard. I don't think he's good enough to play left tackle either. I don't know what his salary is this year, but if Tice doesn't think he's the starting LT I think he should be gone. His draft position is going to get him more playing time than he deserves, which will hurt the team (like it did when his draft position got him PT at LG and Raji destroyed him in the NFCCG.

How about we send Cutler to Cincinatti for Palmer and their first round pick (number 4 overall)? Then we draft AJ Green at #4. Palmer won't play for Cincinatti anymore--he said he'd retire before he played there again. He could be posturing, but who knows. Cincinatti is thought to be looking for a qb at #4. In my opinion, Cutler doesn't have the accuracy or decision-making needed to get our team a Lombardi. I don't know that Palmer does either, but I think Palmer's strengths (timing throws, accuracy, decision-making) mesh with Martz's system better than Cutler's strengths (cannon arm, mobility). I'd take my chances with Palmer, a new o-line and a Andre Johnson-like receiver over Cutler, Knox and a new line. It's not going to happen, but it's interesting to think about.

His contract is pretty reasonable I believe. He got a lot of his money up front, so going forward he's probably paid appropriately to his production. I'd like to see Angelo pick up Haynesworth and either a starting caliber o-lineman or a WR better than any we currently have and then focus on offense in the draft. I'd consider that a successful off-season.

I'd like to see the Bears trade for Haynesworth. The Redskins paid a huge part of his contract up front, so he's actually reasonably paid going forward, and he's not staying there. We have a big need at DT this season, and a drafted player would take time to develop. I'd go after Sidney Rice. 2 years ago playing with Favre he was awesome, constantly fighting for balls and getting yards after the catch. That he missed much of this year due to injury will probably make him cheaper than Vincent Jackson, who is less of a fit for Martz' offense. I'd like to see them find an OT in FA (maybe Gaither), and find a guard with their first pick. You can get a top guard at the end of the first round, but you're probably looking at the 5th or 6th best tackle there. Seems to be a better value. I hope Martz doesn't have as much input on offensive additions this year. After the Collins/Taylor/Manu disasters of this year, he doesn't seem to know personnel as well as playcalling (though after that stupid end-around call in the title game, maybe someone else should call plays too).

I'd like to see one pick in the 3rd-5th round range traded to the Redskins for Haynesworth. This defense excels when we have a great DT. Tommie isn't it, and I don't think we can afford to spend an early pick on an impact DT through the draft. Like him or not, Haynesworth is a fearsome DT in a 4-3 system.

Hester might get the ball more if he run good routes, caught the ball or didn't run straight for the sidelines every time he saw a defender coming. Just saying.

The natural solution is to do something along the lines of the NBA rookie deals. They get shorter, smaller guaranteed deals (say 3 years). At the end of the 3 years, the drafting team has an advantage in signing them--they get to offer a slightly larger deal than the rest of the league can. This way nobody gets paid big dollars without proving themselves, there is still an advantage to staying within the draft, and player on average would get their big deal sooner after the draft. It is completely unfair to the players that a third round pick could be at the pro bowl on a salary close to the minimum and Jamarcus Russell is using 100 bills as napkins. I think this would solve that problem.

Here are my 2 problems with this pick. 1. A lot of scouting reports make him sound like a strong safety in the pros. Every year Lovie claims the 2 spots are interchangeble in his "system", and every year we draft a safety who fails at FS for us. Lovie is wrong, there are certain skills needed to play FS in any system, and the guys he and Jerry like don't have those skills. One of the most frustrating things about this regime is how to repeat the same mistakes over and over (ex: Wootton is Bazuin who was Michael Haynes, Wright is Steltz who was Payne who was Bobby Gray, drafting guys either too big or small for DE/DT and shuttling them back and forth, thinking free agency is the answer to all offensive line problems, not cutting bait on draft picks when there is a superior player on the roster, etc) 2. Angelo hinted that they could have moved up for a different player, but didn't want to give up a 5th rounder to do it. WTF? The 5th rounder was Josh Moore, who has about as much chance of making an impact in the starting lineup as I do. And for him, we pass up a better player at a critical position, and have to settle for a guy who might not be able to play FS? That's just stupid arrogance on Angelo's part, thinking he can strike gold with every pick. The Bears should have done whatever necessary to move up and get Nate Allen. If he was their only draft pick so be it (I don't see Wootton, who can't rush the passer, Moore, who is too small for cover-2 CB, or Lefevour, who is weak-armed making any impact on the team. Outside of the top 2 safeties who were out of reach, he was the only other true FS in the draft. Angelo needed to make that happen and he failed. The only consolotion for me would be signing Atogwe and moving Wright to SS.

Passing on a rumor from a friend of a friend who has contacts in the Rams from office. The Bears apparently called them offering Greg Olsen and the Bears third rounder for the Rams second rounder and a mid to late 2011 pick. The Rams turned it down, but agreed to talk more on draft day. Apparently the Rams would like a TE, and want to see what is avaiable when they pick at the open of the second round. If the guy they like is gone, they may talk more with the Bears.

I read Smith's comments as "Shoot, we wanted to trade him, but we couldn't get anything for him. So we'll try to figure out some way to use him"

1. Alex Brown isn't cheap. He's making over 5 mil each of the next 2 seasons. 2. Alex Brown is not big or strong enough to play left end well. He's barely starter-worthy at RE, but we now have one of the top 3 REs in football playing there. 3. It would not be wise to move one of the top 3 REs in football to LE where he'll be rushing into the face of the qb, beign blocked by a tackle and a TE. 4. There will be a mediocre DE across from Peppers whichever side he plays (either Brown or the Izzy/Anderson combo), so I'd rather have him at RE where he can rush the blind side. 5. Maybe some of Brown's salary gets reinvested. 6. I like Brown and his energy, but he's not very good at his position, and he plays a premiere position. It's time to let him go. 7. There is no way we get more than a 5th rounder for him, and I'd be suprised if we got that. Teams don't want veterans going into a potential lockout year. They want picks.

Instead of Melton I'd have taken Bruton or Clemons, and istead of Gilbert I might've taken Michael Johnson, only because he seems to have a true position and Gilbert seems like a tweener. Idonije has had some success in that role, but I think we'd like our early third pick to do more than Idonije.

After Seattle picked Aaron Curry, they removed the franchise tag from Leroy Hill, effectively making him a free agent, since he hadn't yet signed the tender. St Louis put the tag on up and coming FS OJ Otogwe, then drafted a FS at the start of the third round--Bradley Fletcher. Might St Louis remove Otogwe's tag now that they have a cheaper option? Could the Bears pounce? They have the money, they showed that by their inquiry on Boldin.

I wish Angelo would have done all the things he says he's going to do during his whole tenure. He says he's only going after high-character guys--but why start now? Why not always do that? Further, why wait until you're 29th draft (Angelo said he's been part of 29 drafts yesterday) to decide you're going to have to look more at injury concerns? I don't think Angelo is terrible, but I think he should do a far better job of drafting given his experience and training as a scout. Particularly for a guy who puts an emphasis on "high floor" guys, he has a way too high strikeout rate with first round picks. If you are only trying to draft guys who, while they won't be spectacular, won't suck, shouldn't you have one of the lowest bust rates in the NFL? You might not have a team full of superstars, but you shouldn't have many busts. But Angelo has almost as many busts as Millen in the early rounds (I posted a study about this at WCG--Angelo is as bad as Millen at picking first rounders, is pretty good at the 2-4th round picks, and sucks again at late rounders (though everyone sucks at those). He must have some kind of McCaskey kryptonite or something, because if anyone else in another industry blew as many tens of millions of dollars as he has, they would've been fired years ago. I really feel like his ego gets in the way of him making good decisions in the draft. He seems so smug and arrogant when defending his high-round picks, then a couple years later realizes what all of us knew at the time--that it was a bad pick. It's like he is trying to hard to be smarter than everyone else or something.

If that was our draft, I would be devastated. Then again, I am bummed after every Bears draft, so maybe this is realistic.