Wrong year to be thinking anything QB. Now there is one upside to this drought of QB talent and that is that it makes Cutler's value much higher. Desperate HC and GMs that need to make something happen will see Cutler as their best option to get something going on offense in 2015. Even Mariota will need a year or two of experience to be ready to play in the pocket. Behind Mariota and Winston there is nothing. In FA there is nothing. Our GM and HC have time on their side so to sit back and wait a year to get their QB is less of an issue especially if the right deal comes along.

I think they dont think Cutler will be the QB when we make the run for a SB, in a few years, so they rebuild the roster and leave all options open. Think this will be interesting to see what smart people do to attempt to reach a SB as compared to the two goofs we had the last few years. To be truthful, I was hoping they did there jobs well, facts are they sucked.

Didnt think about the leverage Cutler has with guaranteed money with taking a pay cut.

 

From the info Dabomb posted it looks like they may be trying to get a trade market going for Cutler.

They are simply checking out all options to make a better team. It may be with Cutler, it may not, but there really isnt any reason to have to make that commitment until the last day.

Just to be fair and in judging him in recent history you have to consider what he's had around him. Last year was a bit of a challenge for him being that the original OC went down for the count and was essentially lost for the season. As a backup they promoted the QB (?) coach to run the offense. Coincidently that person has since moved on. (is it the "Lovie curse" on offense? - possibly). The year before last, under a pretty effective OC (who played the part of HC) he did well. When he was previously with Carolina (2008-09) he was in a true backup role and towards thr later tenure in Fox' reign in Carolina.

 

I have to believe that as much as a fan of McCowns I am I still think he's worthy of a roster spot. Not necessarily as a starter mind you but more as a mentor. Could it be that Jay maintain the role as starter and McCown compete for the job (considering they again have a competent OC in Gase?)? Or will be relegate to a true backup role and considering Cutler cannot or will not, mentor whomever the next QB of the teams future may be?

I think he is a good team player and likable so why not have him as a backup. He is not a starter, look at what he did as a starter(awful). But a few games, probably better than Clausen

I think that is the first time ever I've been accused of kool aid drinking here, awesome!!

 

Zaidman already had the narrative in his mind, and to him Fox and Pace's comments confirmed it. I took the same comments as they were willing to commit publicly to the idea of them being back, in comparison to their comments on Cutler and Marshall.

 

If anything definite can be said, it's that Fox and Pace are obviously on the same page and they very talented at making people think they said something when they said nothing at all.

I listened to the speech myself and get the same feeling they wont be back. Briggs(who cares) and Tillman(doesnt fit the scheme) Peanut has always been one of my favorite players, but all good things come to an end.

Love that they are going to the 3-4. Something new!! SMC can go back to his college position, so if he performs like a 1st round 3-4 OLB we may have just gained a decent 1st round pick. Just trying to see the positives right now.

 

Projecting Willie and Jared as OLB= they both can play the position with their hands in the dirt. Rushing the passer from the outside is the same as a DE or OLB.

 

Very noncommittal on Cutler= I like this. Fox and Pace are a unified front on this topic saying the same things. Maybe they are trying to see if there will be a trade partner for him. Other teams are now thinking they may be able to get him.

Some guys have commented here that there would be a trade partner out there, we should find out.

 

 

BM= they want to make sure that Chicago and winning is the most important thing to him. BM just prove it and you and will be back!!

 

 

 

 

 

What do you guys think for OLB Jared and Willie on one side and SMC and Jones on the other????

Nobody hear now have any draft ties to SMC, he might make the team but no way he starts.

He may be right, but he was going off his perception instead of facts and I don't trust Zaidman's perception.

 

Both Pace and Fox referred to their history as Bears and such. Zaidman takes it as trying to address their situation better than what happened with the Bears and Urlacher. I didn't come away with that. It felt more of a positive, and a willingness to consider bringing them back.

There not going to be back, put the kool aid down and live in the real world. I think we have the oldest team in football, the old guys are on there way out.

I meant *and the draft

free agency sucks for QBs and this will go down in history as the worst QB draft .

He doesn't give away much, but I like to see him talk. There definitely seemed to be an interest in bringing Tillman and Briggs back.

Zaidman stated on the score, that neither of them will be back. As per Pace

I think that's reading an awful lot into a very simple statement from Marshall. Jay Cutler doesn't know if he'll be back either. Neither does Forte, Allen, or any player for that matter being listed as a part of the future plans. I don't how Marshall saying he doesn't know if he'll be back is a huge distraction to the team in Feb. All I've seen is that they are evaluating the roster. I don't want them to commit to anyone as a long term key for this team right now…not even Forte and his $8mil cap hit.

As far as Marshall goes, I leave it up to the Bears brass to decide the valve and the determent Marshall would have on a team. I read an article in the tribune by Steve Rosenbloom. I dont always agree with his opinions but he adds humor to a sometimes bland reporting on the Bears.

 

He had this line in his article on we should spend the money on Randall Cobb and dump Marshall.

 

"The Bears don’t have Rodgers, just to clarify. In fact, they have the anti-Rodgers, but at least with a guy like Cobb, Cutler’s killer interceptions would be deeper."

 

just found this humorous

This is interesting and both of these guys, Fangio and Gase, decided to come to Chicago to prove their point working alongside John Fox and Ryan Pace. I don't think they came her believing this was a long term rebuilding situation.

I dont think anybody takes the job thinking being 3 years away, but to be competitive next year they have to hit on all off season moves and have some unproven talent we didnt see last year take a big leap. Our schedule is much worse than last year.

Was looking through San Frans defensive free agents and came across a somewhat intriguing name.

 

Dan Skuta, the OLB who filled in for Aldon Smith while he was out. He racked up 5 sacks in just 398 snaps.

 

Here's an article entitled "Dan Skuta Aims for 10-sack Seasons, Pro Bowls"

 

http://www.49ers.com/news/article-2/Dan-Sk...f0-7b0e2eb6ff3c

 

As you can see he's pretty high on himself, and gives a lot of praise to Fangio for putting him in the right position. He was a nobody up until Fangio put him at OLB.

 

Now the question is, is Fangio as big on him as he is on himself?

 

Hard to get a tell on him with pretty much no tape out there and little to no previous production, but Fangio has seen what he can do so I'd trust his judgement were he to be brought in.

thats an interesting name as a FA, he doesnt knock your socks off but may have upside.

And even then when talking about 3-4 LB unless Ray is there I'm still comfortable trading down because I believe its a crapshoot between Fowler, Beasley, Dupree, and even Eli Harold.

I personally think Dupree will be the best of the lot, but Dan Durkin from the score, has been saying some good things about Fowler, and I think he is a bright guy, he puts in the work to check these players out.

When you draft farther down, the pool of talent has been decreased and you have a lesser chance of getting an all pro type player. This discussion has been had every draft and statistics PROVE that the farther down the draft you choose the less chance you have of getting an all pro type player.

Trading back is ok, if you dont slide to far down. IF we traded with Cleveland and got 12 and 43. AS scs stated there are several in the same tier for edge rushers, so if they think they are good enough, it would be worth it. At 43 you get another potential starter, providing our new regime knows how to draft.

Having this high of a pick for the Bears is new territory we havent visited in along time.

In viewing dozens of mock drafts and player ratings several names keep recurring.

 

these 4 are in every article: Winston

Mariota

Gregory

Williams

 

we will never see these for names at #7.

 

Amari Cooper-Shane Ray-Brandon Scherff-Danny Shelton

 

the next 4 most common names to show up: Our pick will come from these 4 names

 

There is merit to select each of these 4 as pertaining to our #7 pick

 

I think with Fox, Pace,Fangio they will look to establish a dominate player to build around on defense.

 

With FAgency happening before the draft, who will sign will lead to who our pick will be.

 

Houston is the only OLB with going after but his cost or a franchise tag will remove him from consideration

Knighton is probably the only plum NT to grab in free agency and has ties to Fox.

 

We all concede that they will be going to a 3-4 but I think if you look at Fangio he is more driven by the flexibility to play hybrid defenses, he was in a true 3-4 only 20% of the time while in SF.

 

#1 I think they will strife to get younger and the free agents they go after will be on the younger side.

#2 I think they will target a few players but they will be no big money contracts on the horizon this year.

#3 I think our pick could be from between Shelton and Ray but neither is capable at being flexible to hybrid defenses I think we will be in.

#4 I think we might drop back a few spots and get some extra picks and end up having a surprise pick we havent in our thought process.

Here are some names to look at if we drop back

Fowler- can play both DE and OLB and is rated high

Dupree- can play both DE and OLB and brings a productive senior year and high draft rating

Armstead- is a DE but can play DE and DT in several different lineups.( I wont like this pick, he was not productive in college despite great size and speed)

 

 

So my take that we will move back and get some extra picks and grab Dupree in the first round.

The SCORE reported that after Brandon Marshall met with Pace and Fox, he doesn't know if he's going to be on the team next year. Why does he say that? It is possible Jason Cole made it up, but Marshall's uncertainty indicates that there could be something to it.

I think its all speculation, but by Marshall comments they didnt tell him he was the greatest thing since slice bread was invented so he takes that as uncertainty, precisely why he is a problem, cant keep his mouth shut. It will get him a new address if he doesnt learn.

Just saw on one of PFFs signature stats that Mundy had the 7th least missed tackles among safeties. Not bad. Mundy>Landry.

I think with a more talent at other positions that Mundy would probably be ok at his spot, but I prefer we draft someone and let him grow into the position.

I'm with you on this one. Nobody was complaining about Brandon after the 49ers game. Team goes on a 5 game losing streak, gives up 50pts in back to back games, and suddenly Brandon is a leading cause for the decline. Sure Briggs wasn't happy with Brandon but Briggs is the same guy who walked out his team's first practice of the season. I'd say Brandon was pissing off the right people (Briggs and Gould) because nobody else was doling out the discipline. Did it go too far? Maybe but I agree that with the right leadership at the top and in the locker room (bye Briggs) Marshall reigns it in.

 

I'm not buying this story of a paycut nor do I think we'll just grab a WR and replace his production in year 1 or 2. That's if we draft one at #7. Take one later and the odds go way down.

 

Let's step back for a moment. How does a team get a player to take a pay cut? Player has to be on edge of getting cut and worried that he might not get as much on the open market. Marshall just got his guaranteed $14.5 million.

 

To the new GM that's water under the bridge that he won't be held accountable for. He only cares about money going forward. Marshall will earn $7.5 million this season. That puts him around 15th in the league for 2015 salary. I think his production is easily worth that.

 

To Marshall it's more about guaranteed money plus his 1st year salary. If the Bears want him to take a pay cut he's immediately thinking if he can get a new deal with $7.5mil guaranteed. If he can do that or better, and I think he can easily exceed that, then he is not taking a pay cut. Among last years' FA WR who would you rather have: Eric Decker (5yr $36mil w/ $15mil guaranteed) or Brandon Marshall? In 2015 Marshall would compete against (forget Dez and D. Thomas who will be franchised if they don't sign) Randall Cobb, Jeremy Maclin, Torrey Smith, and Michael Crabtree.

 

Teams with a Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Peyton Manning don't need WRs with a huge catch radius. Everyone else does. Marshall has no reason to take a pay cut so if the new GM doesn't want him around for $7.5mil he will cut him. If we were in FA and close to signing an elite player and needed a little bit of cap room I could see this conversation taking place. Then they would play on Marshall's desire to win. But in Feb before the combine and before any other significant player decisions have taken place?

Your probably right about everything you stated, but the key is what Pace and Fox think as far as his positives and weight it against his negatives.They decision will go along way to telling us how much of a distraction he was as to what we think it is. If it is like a Harvin deal that drags the whole team down, then , he should go, it they can manage him, then he gets to stay.

He also played behind a solid and healthy offensive line. Unlike last year where it was musical chairs.

The games he played two years ago was an anomaly, last year was more the norm for his career. He would be ok, but I think this team is looking to get younger not add older players to the team. I think we bring in a backup QB that we may try to develop instead of one to hold the line with.

Brandon may not produce in the traditional #1 receiver role. But most everything else he does is #1, if they even exist anymore. The fact that he leads by example on the field, talks to the team AS A LEADER and encourages younger receivers to train with him in the offseason, defines him as a #1 in my book.

 

In all reality if it were stats alone, Jeffery would be the #1 receiver and probably would have won the year before. But so far he doesn't exhibit those other traits, doesn't need to. Still learning from his mentor.

 

And as far as BM running his mouth, I wonder how Steve Smith did for Baltimore despite all the jaw-jacking he does/did? Was he their "#1 receiver"?

All we see is what he produces on the field and that has been quite good since he has been here, but we can only read about what goes on in the locker room. Everything I hear is he creates chaos and a lot of the players dont want him around. Last year was a disaster in many ways and his act wore thin. New leadership will help control that but the brass are weighing in on a 31 year old WR about to make 9.5 mil and is he worth the distractions he may create when you trying to establish a new culture in the locker room.

Yeah then, no thanks. Probably too old and apparently too travelled anymore to play for the Bears.

 

If we're going to go experienced or veteran like this I'd much rather hope Peanut would consider a move to Safety. I really think he could contribute there for another year or two better than he could at CB. I really hope Fox and Pace can talk him into it.

The problem is he has lost skills he had when he first came into the league, more of what we have.

As much as I dislike mock drafts I would like to inject that I'm intrigued about Shaq Thompson (OLB - Washington). Bucky Brooks had him as the #1 pick for the Bears. Apparently he's extremely versatile. Not only played OLB and some Safety, he also has had a stint as RB. In the scouting report he's being advertised a potential 3rd RB on a team's roster. Talk about "Best Value". His comparative current NFL player? The "other" Brandon Marshall. Intriguing indeed.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/d...diary/23189969/

 

Although I'm hesitant only because I still feel the D needs a proven veteran LB to make things work.

At 6'1" 228 that is mighty small for a NFL OLB. He would have to play safety/

I find information on this website to be quite interesting and their 3 round draft had us taking:

 

1- Danny Shelton/NT

 

2- Hau'oli Kikaha/OLB---------------2013 13 70 15.5 13.0

2014 14 72 25.0 19.0

 

3-Anthony Harris/FS----------------2014 12 108 10 2 6 6'1'' 190lbs

 

Love this draft

Some here are hanging their hats on the statement Pace made talking about building through the draft. This has lead me to wanting to re watch it and digest it again after the initial excitement of a new GM wore off.

 

The statement was made about building in the draft for sustained success, and it's certainly understandable to take that quote and run with it, but there's more to it.

 

When asked about whether this is a rebuilding team or a team capable of a quick turnaround, Pace brought up the 06 Saints. The 05 Saints were 3-13 and Pace talked about how everyone was talking about how the team was in need of a "Massive rebuild" and how the team was "Decimated", but they "Quickly put together a team and got to the NFC Championship game the very next year(06)". Then he started talking about the next 2 years where he said "We continued to build" and then in 2009 they won the Super Bowl.

 

Then later he was quoted saying "In a perfect world, you're acquiring players in free agency that allow you to go with the best player available in free agency".

 

That BPA comment has also been misconstrued by some here on the board when talking about the draft. IMO he's saying he'll take BPA if the holes are filled in FA.

 

Me and Stinger have kinda gone back an forth on these topics and with Free Agency coming up soon I thought a refresher on some of these comments were needed.

 

The scenarios tossed around about adding 3-4-5 new starters on defense, to me, sound like a more likely scenario with what he said. The building in the draft will come after a foundation is set through FA.

In 2006 the only significant signing that NOs had was Dree Brees. I kinda think anywhere he went would have been a turnaround. He will acquire players thru free agency and the draft, just like every team does every year. My point is he will 5 or 6 players and none will be Suh, McCourtly, or Bryant. I claim he will add mid priced free agents, maybe 1 big contract, but I doubt it. I would love to add several high profile players, it aint my money, but that wont happen.

 

Here is my prediction: (list yours)

Eddy Royal/WR

Virgil Green/TE

Ingram or Moreno/RB

Franklin/OG

Culliver/CB

Moore/S

De La Puente/OC

 

there are several md priced free agents-Franklin will be the only elevated contract.

 

Franklin will let Long move to RT or LT.

 

 

In the draft he will be taken BPA and with the #7 pick he will have a choice of Shelton or Ray depending on his evaluation of roster.

He will draft 2 LBs, 2 DL and a safety and WR

Have no idea who this guy is but claims to know the free agent targets of the Bears.

 

http://www.chatsports.com/chicago-bears/a/...s-Are-10-16-881

Anybody know this name? He is a TE on our team.

 

Annen is a ridiculous athlete, running a 4.41 at the school's pro day, also posting 25 bench press reps, a 34 inch vertical and 10 foot broad jump. 6'4" 247

 

He did 16-182-2 his senior year.

 

Maybe he turns into a beast with some coaching.