adam

I can't see the Bears putting that many resources into LB (signing Trevathan and drafting two LB's in the top 3 picks). I also think we will draft OL in the first few picks, we can't ignore that position of need early in the draft.

I don't think this is tied specifically to the Bears or Forte, it is the NFL as a whole. I took a look at the amount of 1,000 yard rushers per season over the past 10 years and I thought the numbers were shocking: 2015 - 7x 1,000 yard rushers with only 3 over 1,100 2014 -13x 1,000 yard rushers with 9 over 1,100 2013 -13x 1,000 yard rushers with 10 over 1,100 2012 -16x 1,000 yard rushers with 11 over 1,100 2011 -15x 1,000 yard rushers with 9 over 1,100 2010 -17x 1,000 yard rushers with 13 over 1,100 2009 -15x 1,000 yard rushers with 14 over 1,100 2008 -16x 1,000 yard rushers with 10 over 1,100 2007 -17x 1,000 yard rushers with 13 over 1,100 2006 -23x 1,000 yard rushers with 16 over 1,100 So in one season, we basically loss half of our 1,000 yard rushers and 2/3 of our elite rushers. What is crazy is the drop off from 2006 until now. In a 10 year span, we lost 16x 1,000 yard rushers and 13 of them that had over 1,100. If that doesn't show the devaluation of the RB position, I don't know what does. Now when you compare that to contracts, you can see it there as well. There were 8x RB's with an average annual contract over $7mil (Forte was #7), none between $5-$7mil, and all other RB's below $4.2mil per year. That is insane. There are 13x TE's that average more than $7mil a year.

Feb. 16: First day for clubs to designate franchise or transition players. Feb. 23-29: NFL Scouting Combine, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis. March 1: Deadline (4 p.m. ET) for clubs to designate franchise or transition players. March 7-9: Clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents. However, a contract cannot be executed with a new club until 4 p.m. ET on March 9. March 9: 2016 league year begins. Free-agency period begins at 4 p.m. ET. March 20-23: Annual league meeting, Boca Raton, Florida. April 4: Clubs that hired a new head coach after the end of the 2015 regular season may begin offseason workout programs. April 18: Clubs with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs. April 22: Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets. Mid-to-late April: 2016 schedule release April 28-30: 2016 NFL Draft, Chicago. May 6-9 or May 13-16: Clubs may elect to hold their one three-day post-draft rookie minicamp from Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday. May 19-22: NFLPA Rookie Premiere. Invited rookies (typically, first- and/or second-round selections) must be permitted by their respective clubs to attend. Such players are unavailable for offseason workouts, OTA days and minicamps during this period. May 23-25: NFL spring league meeting, Charlotte, North Carolina. June 19-25: Rookie Symposium, Aurora, Ohio. July 15: Deadline (4 p.m. ET) for any club that designated a franchise player to sign such player to a multiyear contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one-year contract with his prior club for the 2016 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the club's last regular-season game.

I would say the lack of an offer has to be tied to a couple of things: 1. They didn't want to disrespect him with a low-ball offer (less money or shorter length), knowing he would command more on the open market. Just because the Bears didn't make an offer doesn't mean Forte's agent didn't throw some numbers at the Bears. 2. Pace knows the Bears are still a year or two away, so there is no point bringing him back if he is not a long term solution. It also gives Forte a shot at a SB (like Peanut and Allen). 3. They project Forte to drop off further or faster than expected and are in the camp of cutting sling earlier than later. 4. Pace is eyeing Ezekiel Elliott in the draft or a FA RB that is younger. 5. Pace has no clue what he is doing and we will be a dumpster fire until he is fired.

I am somewhat surprised at no offer. Pace clearly has a strict plan and is not letting emotions get in the way. Forte will be missed, a consummate pro on and off the field. Hopefully he gets a decent deal and we actually get a comp pick. Langford is now the man. Statement from Pace:

Hurt Forte as in he will get less money or hurt Forte because the Bears will be reluctant to sign him because of production risk?

I will budge, and the DB could be a S or a CB, I just felt the secondary needed to be addressed due to the age of Porter/Mundy. We could slide that need out of the top 4 picks, but not past the 5th round. So I would say ILB, DB(S or CB), OL, DL drafted within the first 5 rounds. So I want a D-Line pick, LB (preferably ILB), O-Line, and Secondary (S or CB) picked in the first 5 rounds.

I can't see Pace picking a player (after White's injury/surgery) who just tore his ACL and LCL and has not seen football action since the injury. Smith was a better player pre-injury, but is now a huge question mark and is not something I see Pace doing. - Side note - Great idea Jason. I had no issues with the first draft, you hit all the major need areas in the first 4 picks, went for a QB with huge upside in the 5th, then went depth at OL and DB, with a Kicker upgrade in the 6th. All from big school programs too. I really can't complain. Without knowing our free agent signings, this would be about as good as we could ask for in a draft.

Yeah, those are some big shoes to fill. They might as well go into full rebuild mode. They lost Suh last offseason and now Megatron this offseason. Seems like they are going in the wrong direction.

How about Houston? They were a great defensive team with no QB. They are at 22, which may be too far for us, but looking at the Draft Value chart, we could get a pretty good haul for moving down from 11 to 22: Bears 11 (1250) = Texans 22 (780), 52 (380), 120 (54), 159 (27.8)~1241.8 That would be the Bears 1st, for the Texans 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th rounders.

Taking a different look at this. I think we all know our biggest weaknesses, but what about improving our skill positions? With the projected loss of Forte, questions about Bennett, and question marks at WR, what about some of these younger skill position UFA's: RBs Lamar Miller, 24, MIA, 194-872, 4.5, 8 TD Ronnie Hillman, 24, DEN, 207-863, 4.3, 7 TD Chris Ivory, 27, NYJ, 247-1070, 4.3, 7 TD Alfred Morris, 27, WAS, 202-751, 3.7, 1 TD WRs Travis Benjamin, 25, CLE, 61-893, 5 TD Marvin Jones, 25, CIN, 57-745, 4 TD Rueben Randle, 24, NYG, 51-638, 6 TD Rishard Matthews, 26, MIA, 43-662, 4 TD Mohamed Sanu, 26, CIN, 29-359, 0 TD TEs Dwayne Allen, 25, IND, 16-109, 1 TD Ladarius Green, 25, SD, 37-429, 4 TD Jermaine Gresham, 27, ARZ, 18-223, 1 TD Coby Fleener, 27, IND, 54-491, 3TD

Jason, nice comparison, I agree that the 85' Bears would beat the Panthers or Broncos. Now what about the Seahawks? I know they got pounded in the 1st half, but I think they match up, player for player a little better with the 85 Bears.

Jack, Stanley, or Ramsey seem like the logical choices, and there is a chance one of them will be there at #11.

Of the 76 kicker/punters in the database, Gould finished 75th (in terms of Value-Added) with a -13.4 and O'Donnell finished 42nd with a -1.6. The part that most were concerned with was Gould's kickoffs and that was clearly illustrated in this database as he finished dead last in that category. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-ha...on-nfl-kickers/ So with a cap hit of $4.1mil next year, is Kicker an area we need to address this offseason? Gould has the 3rd highest average salary for a Kicker (behind Gostkowski and Janikowski).

I believe they tagged Demaryius Thomas last year (then signed him) and Marshall will be a Restricted Free Agent this offseason.

Manning has a $21.5 million cap hit for next year, so it seems like Denver's plans will come down to whether they keep Peyton on board or not. Otherwise, they will only have $13 million in cap space for next year which will likely prevent them from doing too much in the offseason.

Of all the teams in the playoffs, I wanted Minnesota, Green Bay, and Seattle to lose. So my postseason is complete. I can now point to the fact that all they got out of this season was a worse draft pick (which technically should benefit us). For your morning pleasure: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown...-043643190.html

With the amount of cap space we have and could potentially have with some other moves, that is somewhat hard to believe. I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. I just don't want to overpay to just get a name. Also, I don't think Pace is the type to show his hand.

Feeling pretty good as a Bears fan, Vikings and Packers both lose in epic, heartbreaking fashions in back to back weeks. GB didn't even deserve to be in the playoffs, then drew overachieving Washington by losing in Week 17. Cards should've crushed them, but as you guys pointed out, GB getting the lion's share of non-calls.

Now I don't know if this is a team thing or just the website contributors, but if it is a team thing, then this would seem to support the notion that Forte will not be back. Easier to justify to fanbase if rookie RB is your RoY over others. Just speculation. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...0e-5aa9e812b8f9

Jason, The first draft is hot garbage, yours is clearly better. Cardale Jones and no ILB? I am seeing a trend with these compilation sites (like Walter Football, etc) where they are really becoming watered down and the mocks have been for the most part unrealistic. I like the sites that have team "experts" or enthusiasts draft for their teams, as those at least seem a little better at targeting team needs.

I can't see any scenario where the Bears just release Bennett outright without compensation. If they lose him as a free agent after 2016, they would more than likely get a comp pick (5th-6th), so I don't think they are just going to cut and run. Owen Daniels compensation was a 6th rounder. With so much cap space already, I don't see his salary being an issue this year. Right now I see the TE position as a position of strength (Bennett and Miller), so I would do one of the following with Bennett before releasing him this offseason: 1. Trade for a 5th or 6th rounder this offseason 2. Trade before deadline for 5th or 6th rounder 3. Play out 2016 season on current contract and enter free agency (get comp pick)

Good to see at least one of our players be recognized. I think the offseason will drive more where Long ends up than anything else.

Some comments from Long in regards to Loggains: I like the fact that he mentioned accountability and illustrated it with the seeking out a little face-to-face comment.

Using DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) which is way better than QBR as it takes the defense into account, Cutler was 9th. Also, an interesting note about Cutler, look at these QB Rating splits for sides of the field: 72.1 QB Rating (Wide Right) 85.9 QB Rating (Right) 109.9 QB Rating (Left) 107.2 QB Rating (Wide Left) He was elite throwing to the left and mediocre/average throwing to the right. I thought that was interesting.