chwtom

That is exactly what a lawyer is supposed to do for a public figure. Just put some doubt in the public's perception of a player. Personally, I thought Benson was a loser from before he was drafted, so if he's innocent I still think he's a loser anyways, and if he's guilty it just reinforces that feeling. It is entirely possible the Bears wanted to cut Benson in the off-season, but couldn't because he was injured. They may not care whether he's guilty or innocent either, this may just give them an excuse to cut him without getting hit with an injury grievance.

Johnson reportedly is about to sign with Buffalo. DJ Hackett could be productive, but I think he'd do better as a number 2 or 3. Not to mention he's coming out of a system that is fairly WR favorable. Outisde of a trade I don't think there is anything the Bears could do at this point to have a solid passing game next year. You can call it angst, but with a new O-line, shaky QBs and a mess at WR, DJ Hackett and a rookie isn't going to turn our passing game into something d-coordinators worry about.

I'm all for bringing in a new RB but if that guy is Julius Jones we might as well stick with what we have. He averaged 3.6 ypc las year behind an infinitely better offense than ours. If we wanted a crappy RB that can't hit the hole, make anyone miss, break a tackle or bust off a big run we could just stick with Benson or AP. Just because his brother did well here don't be fooled into thinking he will also.

I'm sure this will not come as a popular suggestion, but should the Bears consider trading Tommie Harris? The current club is not built to win now. We are missing a starting caliber QB, RB, 2 WRs, OG, RT, DT, and saftety (or two). Add to that our LT is getting up in years and losing effectiveness, we have major and numerous holes to fill. Particulary after the crazy contract Tommy Kelly got from the Raiders, Tommie Harris is going to look to make history with his next contract. He will want to eclipse what Freeney got, probably seeking to average 10-13 mil per year. Can we afford to tie up ~10% of the salary cap in one player when we have SO many holes to fill? In this league, teams can turn around quickly. I recall thinking prior to this last season that the Packers, especially after last year's draft, were going to be bad for quite awhile. But they righted the ship, and their young guys performed well. But I think the Bears problems run deeper than the Packers did. If we could get 2 first round picks, or a first and a second, for Harris, would you do it? What if Oakland was that team? We could draft Long with their first to be our LT, Mendenhall with our first to be our RB, Flacco,Brohm, etc with their second to be our QB, and a WR in the second. Harris is a premiere DT without question, but perhaps that is an unneccessary luxury on a team without talent around him. Angelo is a high floor guy, maybe he'd rather build up the floor of the team at the expense of one of his high-talent guys. Just food for thought.

Unless Turner gets 2x what he's worth from Atlanta, why would he go there? Bad situation all around there. I don't know that we are in any position to call another team a bad situation. Unless Jerry pulls some very shocking moves out of his hat, we are looking at a potentially historically bad offense next year. Think John Shoop bad. And the defense, which was pretty average last year, lost one of its biggest playmakers, Harris is coming off surgery, and we have no dependable players at safety, one of the most important positions in the cover 2 defense.

Fortunately for us it's not up to Benson who the starting running back is. He didn't seem particularly motivated by having Thomas Jones take his reps, so I don't know why a draft pick or free agent would have any effect on his performance. That's the problem with him, and the reason I think he should be cut--he is not motivated. And now he's a step slower coming off this injury. I say cut him and eat the relatively small ($1.7mil) cap hit, and invest heavily in your next RB, whether high in the draft or in dollars through free agency. If you want to get off the bus running you can't have a substandard RB corps. They've blown two high draft picks recently on running backs, but they shouldn't compund those mistakes by sticking with them too long. There is no doubt they need to overhaul the line too, but I think a new RB should be a priority. Problem is this team has a lot of should-be priorities, and the GM seems to think he can take a passive role in free agency.

It wouldn't make sense to acquire any qb through trade (whether Warner, McNabb or whoever) now that they've signed both Orton and Rex to short-term incentive contracts. Both those guys signed short term deals with the thought that they could compete to start against eachother this year, and parlay any success into a long term deal if they did well. It makes perfect sense to do that if you are going to draft a rookie and let him sit a year. It makes no sense to do that if you are going to bring in a superior qb via trade. The writing is on the wall that the Bears will ditch Griese and draft someone in the first 2 rounds in the draft as the "qb of the future". I don't agree with this plan, but that seems to be their plan.

I couldn't disagree more. Manning has been terrible.

I would rather sign Adams and draft the best guard available in the second, and use our first on a skill position like Mendenhall, Stewart or Sweed.

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I thought Rex's deal topped out at around $3 Mil if he met his incentives? Maybe I'm remembering wrong. $30 Mil ion cap space sure doesn't get you what it used to.

He does a lot of things well, but most of his throws were behind his receivers even in his highlight reel. He has a wierd throwing motion, almost like a dart throw instead of a football throw. He does have really nice pocket presence though. He's a project.

They are likely to lose Travis Henry, and have expressed interest in Benson. They also might have to get rid of Walker, so they might as well turn a malcontent into someone who they can turn into a franchise back. He wouldn't come with any signing bonus, so he'd be fairly cheap for them.

There is a cap hit for trading/releasing Benson but iirc it is under $2 Mil, so relatively manageable. Maybe the Bears can trade Benson to the Broncos for Javon Walker. Not sure who has more trade value, but I know the Broncos like Benson and if anyone could harness Benson's talent, it's them. That would make Mendenhall (or Jonathan Stewart, who might have more pass-catching ability) more of a possible target. I think Javon Walker has a roster bonus due pretty soon, so I would imagine Denver will want to do something with him relatively soon.

Things worked better for the DLine when Anderson was a situation pass rusher. I think they saw his sack totals and thought they'd found a star DE on the cheap, but maybe now they've realized that his role is/should be more limited than that.

True, but Javon Walker is also a possible free agent (or trade dump), and if our WR were Walker-Johnson-Bradley-Hester I'd be pretty excited. Both Hester and Walker could stretch the field, and Bradley/Johnson could catch the underneath/over the middle stuff. As far as money goes signing two free agent WR would be expensive, but they have no choice. Rookie WRs don't usually contribute, and our WRs currently are Hester and Bradley. This team has a ton of holes, and they won't be able to compete this year unless they poney up some serious cash in FA.

Maybe JA likes a couple of the OTs slated to go in the top half of round 1, and some of the DTs slated to go in the back half of roiund 1. If his OT guys are taken, then he'll try to trade down and get his DT AND an offensive guy with the second round pick he picks up by trading down. Just a thought. Also, has anyone else noticed that an unusually large number of defensive players are going in the top half of round 1 in mock drafts? Seems like a good time to be looking for offense, since there might only be 5 or 6 offensive guys taken by the time we pick. Lastly, if I have learned one thing watching the NFL the last couple years, its that you are better off having a good runing system and line than a highly touted RB. With the exception of LT (who also has a great system) and A-Pete, most of the top producing RBs were taken outside the top 10 or 15 picks. Guys like Ryan Grant, Willie Parker, Westbrook were all taken outside the first round (Grant was undrafted) and were among the top-producers in the league, whereas Benson and the other two taken top 5 the same year haven't had consistent success. Maybe its a mileage thing, maybe college running skills don't translate directly to the NFL. Bottom line is, while I think Benson is a bust and RB is one of our top needs since JA has wasted two first day picks on RB the last couple years, I think we'd be better off scouring the free-agent, late round areas for RB, and investing more of the resources on OL and maybe an O-line/RB coach who's had proven success.

i think considering how quickly even mid-round running backs can come in and perform, how expensive free agents are, and how the career of a pro football running back is so short, it's a good policy to get your running backs in the middle rounds of the draft, rather than in free agency. also, julius jones is horrible. i cannot imagine why anyone would want him.

if i was putting together a highlight reel i wouldn't have the first clip be of me throwing a ball behind the receiver. that should've been a highlight for the reicever, not the qb. i'm no expert at evaluating talent, but i can tell you for sure that guy does not have an nfl arm. sometimes there's a reason you play for the u of delaware.

The guy who wrote that at CB.com was pretty thick. But what I took out of it was that there would be no cap benefit to cutting certain guys this year, such as Griese, Moose, Arch etc wouldn't save anything against the cap this year (though would free up room for the 09 season. Miller and Walker would save room, so they are as good as gone. Benson would be a cap hit, but may be worth a post-june 1 cut if he doesn't get in shape. That guy is such a turd it kills me. Pretty sad that every other team picks guys in the middle rounds or undrafted that cna be solid, and we get a number 4 overall pick and a third rounder in Wolfe who can't run three yards.

I'd rather take Phillips or Johnathan Stewart in the first, and sign a tackle through free agency, and some other linemen in the 2nd-3rd round. OT and WR take too long to develop to justify taking them in the first round imo. I'd rather take someone like a safety or RB who can step in right away and make an impact. Unfortunately, short of cutting Benson, there might not be room on the roster whith A-pete and Wolfe around. I think Carloina has Jordan Gross and another tackle potentially hitting the market, the Steelers will lose Starks and Faneca, and the Cowboys might lose Hotel Adams. So there is talent out there ready to step in immediately.

copied from another board, hope that's ok Name............... Base salary......Signing bonus(amortized) ......Other bonus(roster etc)........ Total 1.Adams, A $800,000 $250,000 - $1,050,000 2.Anderson ,M $445,000 $39,000 - $484,000 3.Archueta,A $730,000 $1,000,000 - $1,730,000 4.Bazuin,D $370,000 $295,000 - $665,000 5. Beekman,J $370,000 $97,500 - $467,500 6. Benson ,C $820,000 $2,400,000 ? $3,220,000 7. Bradley,M $520,000 $300,000 - $820,000 8. Brown,Alex $550,000 $1,100,000 - $1,650,000 8A. Brown,M $2,440,000 $833,333 - $3,273,333 9. Clark,D $1,000,000 $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 10. Dvoracek,D $455,000 $187,500 - $632,500 11.Garza,R $730,000 $583,000 - $1,313,000 12. Gattis, $370,000 - - $370,000 13.Gould, R $460,000 $50,000 - $510,000 *14. Graham, C $370,000 $37,500 - $407,500 *15. Griese,B $1,400,000 $900,000 $300,000 $2,600,000 16. Harris,T $977,500 $525,000 - $1,495,000 17. Hass,M $370,000 - - $370,000 18. Hester,D $445,000 $226,750 - $671,750 19. Hillenmeyer,H $1,450,000 $1,000,000 - $2,450,000 20. Idonije,I $1,500,000 $400,000 - $1,900,000 21. Kreutz,Olin $2,333,000 $3,000,000 - $5,333,000 22. Mannelly,P $770,000 $93,000 - $863,000 23. Manning, D $445,000 $400,000 - $845,000 24. Manning,R $1,850,000 $1,000,000 - $2,850,000 25. Maynard,B $925,000 $360,000 - $1,285,000 26. Mcbride,T $370,000 $13,750 - $383,750 27. McGlover, D $520,000 -- - $520,000 28. Mckie, J $605,000 $250,000 - $855,000 29. Metcalf, T $900,000 $583,000 - $1,482,000 30. Miller,F $4,000,000 $1,200,000 - $5,200,000 31. Muhammad,M $1,600,000 $1,000,000 $500,000 $3,100,000 32.Ogunleye,A $4,700,000 $2,500,000 - $7,200,000 33. Okwo,M $370,000 $145,000 - $515,000 34. Olsen,G $370,000 $50,000 $4,025,000 $4,445,000 35. Orton,K $370,000 $114,500 - $484,500 36. Payne. K $370,000 $37,500 - $407,500 37. Peterson,A $605,000 $333,333 - $938,333 38. Polite,L $520,000 - - $520,000 39.St. Clair,J $750,000 $250,000 - $1,000,000 40. Tait, J $4,600,000 $2,333,333 - $6,933,333 41. Tillman,C $750,000 $2,570,000 - $3,321,000 *42. Toeaina,M $370,000 ?? - $370,000 43. Urlacher, B $3,950,000 $2,167,000 - $6,116,667 44. Vasher, N $750,000 $1,900,000 $2,500,000 $5,150,000 45. Walker, D $1,150,000 $600,000 $5,200,000 $6,950,000 46. Williams,J $445,000 $103,000 - $548,000 47. Wilson, R $520,000 ? - $520,000 48. Wolfe,G $370,000 $155,000 - $525,000 ---------- TOTAL $96,758,499 LBTE's not earned $1,700,000 salary cap $116,000,000 Room left $20.941 mill -rookie pool

i wouldn't be so sure. probably not, but the team was no worse with A-Pete at running, Benson has never shown ANYTHING whatsoever, is coming off a semi-serious injury and doesn't work our hard, which could slow his recovery, and is a year from his contract being unusuable. He is no better than a replacement level player, so the team might be better off using that money to sign someone like Ayanbadejo, who might have to go if Benson is here (not that the two are necessarily related. I can give a laundry list of reasons to cut him, I'm not sure I can list any reasons to keep him outside of an ego thing with Angelo.

But if McNabb was here throwing him the ball....

Does anyone know what kind of situation the Bears are in for the 08 cap, and whether cutting people like Moose, Benson, Griese, Walker and Archuletta would be beneficial/harmful from a cap standpoint. Would be nice to know if some potentially helpful players (Starks, Faneca, Hackett, Porter etc) are even feasible given our cap situaiton.