defiantgiant

Here's the article. I think Tice will probably take it well. He was patient in Jacksonville coaching TEs when he really wanted to be coaching o-line. I'm sure Lovie's going to make it clear that it's just because the o-line project isn't done, and I assume his normal policy of letting assistants advance will resume when we have a line that isn't getting Cutler sacked 60 times a season.

Yeah, he's also up on assault charges after a road rage incident where he punched some guy. He's not doing much to help the perception of him around the league.

According to Rotoworld, the Patriots just franchise-tagged Mankins.

Me too. I think a lot of the o-line fix this offseason is going to depend on the coaching staff's evaluation of Williams. It's fair to say that they inserted him at LG as a band-aid solution. By the time Williams was healthy, Omiyale was settled in at LT and they'd tried a million OG combinations already; nobody wanted to reshuffle the line for the umpteenth time. I think this offseason is going to be their opportunity to really evaluate Williams and figure out what he can offer them. If they decide he can move back to LT and be at least an average starter (which he was at the end of 2009 and in Week 1 this year) then they only need a stud LG to really improve the o-line. They could go LG in Round 1 or in free agency, draft a developmental RG in the middle rounds, and call it a day. If they decide that Williams' best position is guard (which I think is less likely - I don't know if he's really a good fit there physically) then they pretty much have to find a left tackle in the 1st round. If Jared Gaither hits the open market and his back checks out medically (which is a very big if) then they could make a play for him, but otherwise they're going to have to address the position in the draft. Personally, I think Williams can still be an average-to-good left tackle. I don't think he's ever going to be a stud like Jake Long or D'Brickashaw Ferguson, but when he's gotten a chance start at LT, he played pretty well. Pair him with a Pro Bowl-caliber left guard and the left side of the line could be just fine. That would leave Webb/Omiyale competing for RT, hopefully with Webb winning out and Omiyale becoming the swing tackle. EDIT: Actually, if Tice and company decide that Williams can play LT, I'd like to see them target Davin Joseph in free agency, then draft Rodney Hudson out of FSU in the 1st and John Moffitt out of Wisconsin in the 4th. This way, our line could be: 2011: Williams-Hudson-Kreutz-Joseph-Webb 2012: Williams-Moffitt-Hudson-Joseph-Webb Hudson's technique is polished enough for him to start at guard as a rookie, but his lack of size means that his long-term future's at center. Moffitt's got great size and strength for a guard, but could probably use a year to develop. This way, Hudson gets a year to learn from Kreutz while solidifying LG, and Moffitt gets a year of practice reps/working with Tice before he has to start. Plus, having a Pro-Bowl-caliber veteran RG lining up next to Webb would probably help his development, and those two would make a great run-blocking right side.

Vlad Ducasse and Jerome Simpson are both from 1-AA and were both drafted in the 2nd; same goes for Darren Sharper. But I think you're right: it'd be pretty unprecedented to spend a 1st-rounder on an o-lineman from a 1-AA program. Flacco got picked in the 1st because he plays one of the two highest-value positions and because he has some rare physical attributes. If Ijalana were some 6'8" 350-pound surefire left tackle prospect, it wouldn't be crazy to pick him in the first. As-is, though, Ijalana seems a lot like Ducasse: great physical attributes for a guard, pretty good for RT, probably can't play LT in the pros. Like Ducasse, I'd guess that the mid-2nd is probably as high as he'll go, even in a weak o-line class like this year's. CBS Draft's rankings are usually fairly accurate, and they've got him as a 2nd round pick (as a guard.) I'd rather get a guy who's more polished and could start as a rookie. If Carimi, Pouncey, or Castonzo falls to #29, I'd pick any one of them over Ijalana.

I would hope that Lovie could convince Tice to stay for at least one more year and finish the job he started. He's a young guy, and there will be other coordinator or even HC jobs in his future if he turns the Bears' o-line into an elite unit (assuming that Angelo remembers to draft some players come April.) I respect Lovie a lot for making it a policy not to block his assistants from advancing their careers, but he needs to make a push to retain Tice, at least for one more season. I shudder to think what that o-line would look like without him coaching it.

Yeah, he's not like his brother. He had major issues snapping the ball when Florida tried to move him to center. I do think he'll be a stud guard, though.

I didn't know he was in the Texas v The Nation game...I'll go check that out, thanks.

So the guys at Walterfootball.com have done a 5-round mock draft for all 32 teams. Here's who they have Chicago picking: 1. Mike Pouncey, OG, Florida This would be a stellar pick, in my opinion. Get a genuine stud at left guard, move Chris Williams back to left tackle, and let Omiyale and Webb compete for right tackle. Three birds with one stone. 2. Marvin Austin, DT, UNC Drake Nevis is off the board at this point in their mock, making Austin the best remaining under-tackle prospect. Given the guy's talent, I'd be OK with gambling on his character issues. A d-line of Izzy-Adams-Austin-Peppers would be beastly. Also, their mock has a serious run on WRs, so there's not really good value at WR when the Bears pick in the 2nd. AJ Green, Julio Jones, Titus Young, Torrey Smith, Jon Baldwin, Leonard Hankerson, and Randall Cobb are all gone before Chicago's pick. 3. Vincent Brown, WR, San Diego State I don't like that he's only 5'11" and 184, but Brown does have the agility and route-running that Martz requires. Still, I'd rather go for a big-bodied receiver like Greg Little here. They have him going to Dallas in the 5th, but I don't see him falling that far in the real world. 4. Derek Newton, OT, Arkansas State Another pick I don't really like. I've never heard of Newton, and both Derek Hall from Stanford and DeMarcus Love from Arkansas are still on the board at this point in their mock. I'd rather take a long-term starter from a bigger program. 5. Jamie Harper, RB, Clemson A power back to complement Forte, plus , so he'll fit into Martz's offense. Should be a much better short-yardage back than Chester Taylor, at 5'11" and 235 pounds.

Damn, you're right...I thought a 7th was the lowest the conditional pick could go, but it turns out we don't get one at all since he didn't make the Week 1 roster. So I guess we don't have a pick in the 7th this year.

Yeah, fair enough - clearly SOMETHING's wrong. I don't know if it has to do with reps or intelligence or what, but he definitely doesn't run his routes very well. From quitting on routes to letting DBs in front of him to getting jammed at the line, the guy's not a very polished WR yet. He probably got by on his speed and hands at the college and high school levels, but that's not enough in the NFL. I do still think he'll improve, and he has a lot of value for our offense as-is, but he just shouldn't be the #1 guy.

I think it's either a 6th or a 7th, but we get one back from trading Kevin Payne to St. Louis.

Wasn't being too serious about the height/weight thing...I'm pretty confident that Plax is in better shape than I am. I think that's probably a given. But he's definitely going to have to work to put the weight back on if he wants to play again, and 20 pounds of muscle is a lot to put back on by July. I'm not saying the Bears shouldn't give him a tryout, but I don't think anybody knows what he's going to have left in the tank.

St. Clair sucks in pass protection, even going back to the last time he was on the Bears. If I'm remembering right, he was near the bottom of the league in sacks allowed that year: he gave up 10 or 12 sacks, which is worse than Omiyale this year. I doubt he's gotten better in pass pro since then.

Yeah, I think Dowling's an interesting pick. I go to UVa, and I've gotten to see him play some. His injuries worry me a little bit, but he's not made of glass like Bowman. He could be a really good pickup either at CB or at FS.

If he's lost 20 pounds, that would mean he's going 6'5" and about 210-212 pounds. I'm 6'4" and 210...trust me when I say that I would not stand up to getting hit by an NFL safety.

My point doesn't have anything to do with #1s or #2s, or with whether the mental aspects of the game are important. My point is that the Wonderlic is basically useless for telling whether a guy is football smart. As a measure of football intelligence, the Wonderlic is wrong as often as it's right. Iglesias did great on it and then couldn't learn the playbook. Nicks, Harvin, and Crabtree did badly and then learned their playbooks no problem. Those aren't guys who had to catch up mentally, or who were getting by on their physical talents. They were ready to go as rookies, mentally and physically, right off the bat. You don't have to do well on the Wonderlic to be smart on a football field. If you don't believe me, here's a study showing no correlation at all between quarterbacks' Wonderlic scores and their performance on the field. So the average score for QBs is 24...some guys like Tom Brady (33), Drew Brees (28), and Peyton Manning (28) had good Wonderlic scores and became good QBs. But Alex Smith (40), Matt Leinart (35), and Ryan Fitzpatrick (48) had MUCH better Wonderlics and became crappy QBs. Any test that ranks Alex Smith ahead of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for football smarts is probably a lousy test. And then you have guys like Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, and Jim Kelly (all got 15) who did badly on the Wonderlic and became great. I mean, it's clear that Knox is running his routes wrong, I'm just saying I bet it doesn't have much to do with how he did on his Wonderlic. I'd bet that it has a lot more to do with playing his college ball at a junior college and then Abilene Christian, going against DBs who were never going to make it to the NFL. You don't have to worry about running great routes or crossing the DB's face when you can just run a streak route and blow the top off the defense on every play. Aside from their crappy Wonderlic scores, another thing Nicks, Harvin, and Crabtree have in common is facing big-time competition in college. Football smarts aside, Knox is a couple years behind those guys on the learning curve.

A lot of guys on that list with above-average scores are out of the NFL or on practice squads. Performance in the NFL isn't correlated with the score at all, from what I can see. Nate Swift, Patrick Turner, Jordan Norwood, Brooks Foster, Manuel Johnson...those guys all had good Wonderlics and did nothing in the NFL. Also, Juaquin Iglesias scored a 27/37 on the Wonderlic, which is well above average. Percy Harvin scored a 12/42. Hakeem Nicks got a 11/31. Michael Crabtree got 15/22. All way below average. Harvin, Nicks, and Crabtree were first-year starters and impact players. Iglesias got dropped to the practice squad after two years because he couldn't learn the Bears' playbook. Now he's fighting for a roster spot on another team. I'm pretty sure a guy's Wonderlic doesn't have much to do with whether he can learn to play wide receiver in the NFL.

So I just read that Le'Ron McClain is going to be an unrestricted free agent, and apparently he wants to carry the ball more than he did this year in Baltimore. If the Bears are looking to replace Manumaleuna at FB, McClain would be a GREAT pickup. He's a nasty lead blocker, has the size (6'0" and 260 pounds) to handle linebackers or DEs in pass protection, and is a complete wrecking ball as a short-yardage RB. They could sign him to take Manu's job, plus let him have Chester Taylor's goal-line and short-yardage carries.

Pouncey would be an awesome pick - the Bears need a stud guard just as much as a stud tackle. If Carimi and the other 1st-round tackles are off the board when the Bears pick, Pouncey's got to be the guy. Plug Pouncey in at LG, move Williams back out to LT, put Omiyale on the bench or let him compete with Webb for the RT spot...in a best-case scenario, that one draft pick could upgrade 2 or 3 positions on the line.

This would be pretty ideal, provided we can get a receiver in free agency. Carimi and Schilling would be major upgrades on the line. Dowling may not have the agility to stick at corner, but if he can do it, it'd be in a Cover-2. He kind of reminds me of Antrel Rolle a little bit: I think he'd make a great FS if he can't stick at corner. That would let the Bears move on from Danieal Manning if he wants too much money. I like Greg Little's potential a lot - if he takes coaching and develops, he's got the physical skills to be a very good possession receiver. And Clay is perfect for the one thing that Forte isn't great at - short-yardage. We'd have a great RB group with Forte as the bellcow, Clay as the goal-line back, and Taylor just backing up/spelling Forte.

Yeah, that's really it: we need to fix the protection up front and get a go-to WR. We can probably get one more good year out of the current D without any major retooling, just some middle-to-late-round draft picks at DT and CB, plus maybe a late-round or UDFA linebacker for depth/special teams. The offense, though, needs an overhaul up front and a bona fide target for Cutler.

Aromashodu did deserve to sit on the bench all year. That wasn't a personnel decision Lovie made, it was one that Martz made. Aromashodu wouldn't or couldn't play in the slot, when Martz lines up his #2-#3 WRs both in the slot and outside. How many times did we see Hester and Bennett motion into the slot pre-snap? Knox was basically the only guy who mostly stayed outside the numbers. If DA's only going to play outside, that means he's got to take Knox's job as the #1 receiver. He didn't step up to take that job and he apparently didn't learn to play slot receiver, which means he's only going in if there's an injury or to give Knox a breather. Also, remember that Aromashodu got his shot to prove himself in Week 1 this year. Cutler targeted him non-stop and he dropped what, 3 or 4 passes including a touchdown? Cutler threw to him 10 times: he only caught 5 and dropped 4 more that he could have caught. He had a similar game against Baltimore last season: Cutler threw 10 passes his way, and Aromashodu only came down with 2 of them. If a guy can only play the #1 receiver role and can't consistently get it done when he gets a #1 receiver's workload, what use is he? Last offseason I was really hoping that Aromashodu would convince everyone that he could be a #1, but this offseason I wouldn't be surprised if they cut him.

It's worth kicking the tires. Rogers was always kind of a bad fit in a 3-4 defense. He's much better as a 1-gap DT in a system that lets him shoot his gap and get into the backfield. He could offer something as a 3-technique DT. Given that he's 32 and dinged up, I'd want it to be a 1-year contract with most of the value in incentives, though.

Yeah, Knox reminds me of Bernard Berrian in terms of how he plays. Granted, Knox is faster and has better hands, but his limitations are a lot like Berrian: vulnerable to being jammed at the line, doesn't consistently fight for the ball, best at running deep routes outside the numbers. And when we had Berrian, what did we do? Paired him with a big, physical receiver in Moose who could go over the middle and make the tough catches. Berrian I still think Knox has a lot of value in this offense, but he's too easily defended to be the #1 receiving option. Like you said, he needs to be the #2 opposite a possession-type #1 receiver. Pairing Knox with Vincent Jackson, Sidney Rice, or even Steve Smith from the Giants would give us a rich man's version of Moose/Berrian: one fast downfield guy, one dependable possession guy over the middle. Add in Hester and Bennett and you've got a pretty solid WR corps.