adam

Ok, so I was thinking about our Left Tackle situation and thought I would take a look at the last five years of teams that made the Conference Championship games (20 teams) and see how many had a Pro Bowl Tackle. Out of the 20 teams, only 9 had a Pro Bowl Tackle, and one of those was an Alternate. So more than half of the teams did not have an Offensive Tackle (Left or Right) on their team that year. Going further, only 3 of 10 teams that played in the Super Bowl over the past 5 years had a Pro Bowl Tackle. This is sort of the reason why I would not go OT in the first round unless someone drops to us at 19. I think guys like Martin and Adams may be reaches and not a good value at 19. So what do you think? Here is the list: 2011 OL Tackle Pro Bowlers (NYG, NE, BAL, SF-1) Joe Thomas, Cleveland Jake Long, Miami D'Brickashaw Ferguson, NYJ Ryan Clady, Denver (Alt) Jason Peters, Philly Joe Staley, San Fran Jermon Bushrod, New Orleans 2010 OL Tackle Pro Bowlers (GB-1, PIT, CHI, NYJ-1) Jake Long, Miami Joe Thomas, Cleveland D'Brickashaw Ferguson, NYJ Matt Light, New England (Alt) Jason Peters, Philly Jordan Gross, Carolina Chad Clifton, Green Bay Tyson Clabo, Atlanta (Alt) Donald Penn, Tampa Bay (Alt) 2009 OL Tackle Pro Bowlers (NO-1, IND, MIN-1, NYJ-1) Jake Long, Miami Ryan Clady, Denver Joe Thomas, Cleveland D'Brickashaw Ferguson, NYJ (Alt) Jason Peters, Philly Bryant McKinnie, Minnesota Jon Stinchcomb, New Orleans David Diehl, NYG (Alt) 2008 OL Tackle Pro Bowlers (PIT, ARZ, BAL, PHI) Joe Thomas, Cleveland Jason Peters, Buffalo Michael Roos, Tennessee Jake Long, Miami Jordan Gross, Carolina Walter Jones, Seattle Flozell Adams, Dallas Chris Samuels, Washington Jammal Brown, New Orleans 2007 OL Tackle Pro Bowlers (NYG, NE-1, GB-1, SD-1) Matt Light, New England Jason Peters, Buffalo Joe Thomas, Cleveland Jonathan Ogden, Baltimore Marcus McNeill, San Diego Flozell Adams, Dallas Walter Jones, Seattle Chris Samuels, Washington Chad Clifton, Green Bay

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Some-p...ound-picks.html They list Coples, Floyd, Jenkins, Poe, and Martin. They make Martin sound like Chris Williams 2.0.

Yeah, if you are talking about 5 slots, you need to at least give up a 3rd rounder to move up in the first, a 4th rounder to move up in the 2nd, a 5th rounder to move up in the 3rd.

For the OLine, the subtraction of Omiyale helps a lot and you can almost consider Carimi an addition. We will definitely go OL and DL in the first three rounds shoring up those need areas.

I would be up for it as long as we had several options at 19 and felt like we could get that player at 24 (PIT), 25 (DEN), or 26 (HOU) while also picking up a late 3rd rounder or swapping some other picks. Another scenario would be swapping 1st's then moving into the end of the 2nd from the 3rd, essentially giving us a 1st and 2x 2nds and adding a 4th. Take Houston at #26 (700), they also have #58 (320) in the 2nd and #121 (52) in the 4th. They move up to #19 (875) in the first, move down to #79 (195) from the 2nd, and give up their 4th rounder, #121. We get #26, #58, and #121 and give up #19 and #79. 700+320+52=1072 875+195=1070, Pretty close in terms of draft value. New England is also an option at #27 as they have a bunch of picks, but they always seem to fleece people. Now if someone falls to us that we didn't expect to be there, I say we keep the pick unless we get an offer we cannot refuse.

He is a new DB on the Chicago Bears, played for NE and DEN; has started 15 games in his 4 year career (comparable to Bowman and more than Graham). A decent pickup for a backup DB.

Really hard to see us drafting a DB now. Looks more and more like OL, DL, and WR.

Great signing, damn I thought we were done. He is a decent CB and knows the Cover-2. This should obviously reduces the need for a CB in the first few rounds, and makes the picks a little more focused.

They also noted on ESPN radio that this occurred after the league warned that they were looking into bounty systems. It is one thing to say "hit em in the mouth" or "knock the daylights out of them", but when you specifically name players and body parts, that is pretty blatant to me. This in itself is one thing, but tied to the whole bounty system thing makes it something totally different.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-s...s_bounty_040412 I wonder how many games some players will get?

Two of the games have exact dates, its the games at Soldier Field that only have windows:

I agree, almost every acquisition filled a need, replaced a player who departed, or was an upgrade for that position. What more could Emery have done? Marshall obviously fills one of the team's biggest needs and is the biggest upgrade for this team. We might have overpaid for Campbell, but he is a starter-caliber QB on a one year deal. Bush not only can be the change of pace back if Forte is starting, but can come in and start if Forte holds out or is injured. Costanzo replaces Graham on SP, Weems replaces Knox on SP and can fill in at the bottom of the WR corps, if needed. Thomas is a league minimum pickup who can also play SP and WR if needed. So the Bears can now go into the draft targeting OL, DL, DB, and pickup a LB and some other roster fillers.

I think almost all offensive skill players will benefit from having Marshall out there. Bennett, Davis, Hester, they are all going to have more open looks and space to work in.

We had 6 last year (Knox, Williams, Bennett, Hester, Sanz, and Hurd), we lost Knox, Williams and Hurd - and gained Marshall, Weems, and Thomas. So we are still at 6.

What would've been our record if we had Campbell and Bush last year with the same team? 11-5 at least? The point is, we aren't as bad off as some are making us out to be. Hell, with Marshall alone we probably would've won 2 more games than last year. Each player that has been brought in is essentially better than the player they replaced. Campbell > Hanie, Bush > Barber, Weems/Costanza/Thomas > Graham/Knox, and obviously Marshall > entire Bears Receiving Corps. So the offense and special teams should be better with those acquisitions, and that is all you can really ask for. Looking at some of the contracts handed out, we could've probably gotten maybe one more major acquisition, but it would've sacrificed 3-4 of the other pick ups. Now if we add OLine and defense in the draft, we can cover the other areas of need and also get younger on defense which is becoming critical at this point.

Who are the scrubs, and who are the backups?

Yep, and it is better to be able to narrow down BPA to only a few positions. It sort of makes the picks a little easier, and if a few are available at each pick, we could always look to trade down a few slots, gain a pick, and still get the guy we wanted. I really like our position heading into the draft.

I'm content with our signings. We are now in a better position to target specific positions in the draft.

Broyles is a risk after the knee injury and I don't think we have the luxury to pickup someone like him unless it was more of like a 6th or 7th round pick.

You really can't blame him for not getting much action at WR on the Giants, they were pretty deep this year. Looking back to his last year in Washington, he was 4th on team in catches and yards for a WR. Jason Campbell was his QB that year.

Is she alluding to the fact that you can pleasure yourself?

I had to laugh at that one. I like the move. He still has potential.

I don't see TE as a need. Davis has shown decent skills as a pass catcher and is a good blocker. There doesn't seem to be much value in bringing in another TE as the upgrade would be marginal at best. I would say OL, CB, DL, WR are the biggest need areas.

I agree. I just didn't think there would be anyone in those two categories that would be available at 19 unless Richardson or Tannehill slipped. If that happened, it would be hard to pass on Richardson, and there would have to be some takers for 19 if we did not want Tannehill. I would say we are a year or two off (at least) from drafting a QB in the first or second round.

I think we just need to go BPA at #19, and more than likely that will be an upgrade regardless of position.