Bears4Ever_34

If we beat GB in week 2, we can really start building a lead in our division with 4 of our first 5 opponents being on the outside of the playoffs last year.

I see Todd McCshay has us taking Stephon Gilmore with our 19th pick. I'm a fan of both Gilmore and Kirkpatrick but Gilmore is more of the physical corner that has the potential to be a shut down guy. Kirkpatrick strength is in pass coverage, reading and reacting to where the throw is going to go. He's excellent in zone coverage and has the height to cover some of the bigger WR's in this league.

Yeah I don't know but I would hate that because I don't get NFL Network..

I hope to god that Thursday night game is not on the NFL Network like I think it's going to be. I also don't like how we open up with a short week right off the bat. Hopefully nobody gets hurt because of shortness between games.

Using a high draft pick on the position last year makes it a non need in the 1st round. Paea may be a bust, but drafting two DT within the 1st two rounds 2 consecutive years? Really? If you want to fill out the position, spend a pick in the later rounds on one or sign a free agent once the market opens up again after the draft.

Hosted Reuben Randle the other day. Sounds like if Floyd isn't there they are looking to find a receiver in the 2nd round.

On one hand you're getting a guy that provides next to nothing in the pass rush department, but on the other hand you're getting a very raw player with all the physical tools to become a pretty dominant defensive lineman. He only started 1 year at LSU so I guess he's been a late bloomer, but I'm not sure there aren't better options than him at 19. I wouldn't hate the pick but given how we already made the Paea pick last year, DT is not really a need at all.

Hill, Fleener, Adams, and Jenkins are all interesting choices in the 2nd round if they are available. It's too bad most of them will be off the board by the time our 2nd pick comes around..

Haha. Huh? I'm talking about the former All Pro Brian Dawkins that played for the Eagles previously and now the Broncos.

Mark Barron is the only safety worth drafting in the 1st round. That guy is going to be a stud. I think Dallas is almost surely going to grab him if he's there at 14 though, and if not, possibly Philly, who hasn't had a real safety since Brian Dawkins.

Trent seems to have jumped on the Cutler bandwagon since midway through last year. He was singing a much different tune before that. Good to see his opinions on him have changed because I agree. With Marshall by his side and a new OC, we should expect to see major improvements from him this season.

Meh.. I'll pass on McClellin. He belongs in a 3/4 scheme, not as a 4/3, especially if you're planning on taking him with a 1st round pick. Too high risk to try and makeshift him into being an undersized DE.

Updated my draft board.

I'm curious, after going through a plethora of mock drafts over the past few weeks, what our draft board should look like. I haven't really gotten that deep into it yet but there's been alot of mocks that have been posted here lately. If you were to put together a 10-12 player 'Big Board' for this team, what would it look like? Let's assume the obvious that Luck, RGIII, Blackmon, Kalil, and Claiborne are all off the table. Here is how I have mine set up. Subject to change as we get closer and closer to the draft. Draft board 1. WR, Michael Floyd + Physical beast; powerful runner after the catch + Great hands catcher; plucks the ball out of the air. Reminds me of Anquan Boldin + Benefits from having Brandon Marshall on the field; he's a #1 who's going to get the coverage of a #2. - Possession receiver, lacks elite speed, doesn't fully compliment Marshall's skill set. Same type of player. - Off the field incidents. Is Marshall/Floyd together going to cause problems? Analysis: Floyd is the clear cut 2nd best receiver in this draft. The Bears still need to fill the void of a #2 receiver. On paper, it looks menacing to teams that will have to matchup against us. Pick your poison between Marshall or Floyd. We also get the added bonus of having two "Big" WR's that are also extremely viable redzone targets. In terms of averaging out between best player available and need, Floyd comes in at number 1 on my board. 2. OG, David Decastro + One of the best guard prospects in the last 10 years. Drawing comparisons to Steve Hutchinson. + Good balance between being athletic and strong - Shows inconsistency with his run blocking Analysis: If there is a pro bowl offensive lineman in this draft, it's this guy. On a lot of teams, he could come in right away to a team and be their best offensive lineman the instant he steps on to the field. While guard is not a huge need for us, it's hard to pass up on a guy of his caliber if he somehow fell to 19. Being a guard is why he's not #1 on my list. Floyd fills more of a need and shows the same potential. 3. CB, Dre Kirkpatrick + Amazing Athlete; extremely versatile; could make the transition to FS if need be. + Shows great burst out of his breaks and has the instincts of an Asante Samuels. - Brittle; needs to add muscle weight to improve durability in future. - Off field incidents Analysis: May be the best pure athlete in this draft. I love this kid's potential. I know CB has never been that big on Lovie's totem pole for his defense because DE's are generally top priority, followed by LB's. But with Peanut's age and the lack of quality depth at the position, CB is definitely a need on this team. Kirkpatrick may very well be the best CB at his position. 4. DE, Quintin Coples + Prototypical size for an NFL DE + Well rounded player; can rush the passer and play the run well + Has great body control; he uses leverage to his advantage - Questionable motor - Lacks the burst that seperates a good DE from a great one - Doesn't seem to be as quick as he needs to be around the edge; struggles getting outside on the perimeter to bring down a ball carrier. Analysis: He's been labeled as the #1 DE for a while now. But lately he's been slipping a bit because of the kind of year he had last season. Doesn't seemed motivated to be great but you have to think a former UNC Alumn like Peppers could perhaps help him along the way if he were to come here. He fills a major need on this team at DE. The best thing about Coples is you don't have to sub him out on non passing downs like you would with some other DE candidates in this draft. 5. SS, Mark Barron + High IQ; reads and reacts like a pro bowl level safety + Ball hawking player that can defend against the run as well as he can in pass coverage - Can be careless at times tackling and on his back pedal Analysis: Definitely the #1 safety in this draft. The Bears do need a legit safety, after missing with Major Wright. Or atleast, that seems to be the case. Barron would come in right away and be an impact player. We saw this defense at a Superbowl level when we had Mike Brown being our captain. Barron has that same ability. 6. ILB, Luke Kuechley + Best LB in the draft; tremendous athlete all around. + High football IQ; great in pursuit + sure handed tackler - MLB; same position at Urlacher; will have to move to SLB until Lach retires. - Not a pass rusher, not alot of impact plays other than being extremely good at finding the ball carrier and bringing him down. Analysis: This one was tricky for me. Kuechley certainly doesn't fill a need because he's a MLB playing the same position as Urlacher but at the same time, he's so athletically gifted that he can probably play some strong side. He would be Urlacher's eventual replacement 3 or 4 years from now when his skills have eroded or he calls it quits. I think it's a great value pick if he's there. 7. OLB, Lavonte David + Good coverage skills as an OLB. + Great tackler who uses his athletic ability to his advantage when getting through tight holes - Undersized - Can get overpowered at the LOS if he has to guard somebody in man to man coverages Analysis: I really like this guy alot. He seems to be rising up on teams draft boards lately. He's not the ideal size for somebody playing on the strong side, because he's going to be asked to cover alot, but that doesn't seem to be an issue with him. Normally, Urlacher is the guy that covers the TE's over the middle. Lavonte is like Kuechley in that he can run sideline to sideline with the best of them. If some of these guys ahead of him aren't available, he's my pick. 8. WR, Kendall Wright + Play maker, point blank + Great stop and go ability; makes for being great after the catch + Can contort his body to make difficult catches; Steve Smith like - Undersized - Didn't face elaborate defensive schemes - Not a great run blocker; gets disinterested if he's not always involved Analysis: Wright is a guy who's stock seems to be dropping a bit as we get closer to the draft. His 40 time wasn't as good as some may have thought but he's still an extremely productive player that you can put either inside of outside of the numbers. He'll go up and get the ball at the point of attack but it's difficult to gage how he will play in a conventional NFL offense because he's been in that spread system his entire collegiate career. 9. DT, Fletcher Cox + High motor athlete; drives lineman back almost routinely + Extremely fast off the ball - Not as good against the run as he is against the pass - Sometimes relies on his athleticism too much; gets taken out of plays by a double team or poor execution. Analysis: Here's 'The guy' of the draft that seems to be shooting up the draft boards. Now he's being considered to go possibly in the top 10 because of his potential. Some rate him as the best DT in the draft. DT is not a huge need for this team because we already spent a high draft pick on Paea last year. Melton is coming around, this pick would be purely because of value. If he's there, he'll be tough to pass up. He'll come in and probably be a rotational player, atleast early on and sort of build his way into becoming more of a complete player. 10. DE/OLB, Courtney Upshaw + Uses his strength to his advantage + Uses hands very well in pass coverage + Can be overpowering at times; will be a power rusher more than finesse - Doesn't seem to have a true position; would probably play DE here, possibly SLB. - Not great laterally, slow feet - Plays better in tight areas as opposed to playing in space; bodes better as a DE in our system Analysis: Probably a DE if he comes here. Very talented player with great potential as a pass rusher. The issue I have with him is how he can play as a defensive end when he's probably best suited for the role of a 3-4 LB where he won't have to do anything but rush the passer. Typical high risk/high reward type of player.

Sigh.. You're really dragging this thing through the mud, man. But, I wouldn't bother. I don't care enough to give it a thought because it doesn't matter to me, nor does it seem to matter to anyone else on the board except you. Your 'over the top' reactions are getting more frivolous by the post as you continue to persist, and it makes you look pathetic. If you'd like to go back a month and search through Jensen's timeline and then make the comparison to what's on the CBMB feel free. It was brought up here too and I made a comment about it and then went on with the rest of my day. I'm not going to waste another second talking about this subject. Furthermore, if you'd like to continue on with this pointless exercise of beating an old topic to the point of exhaustion, please do so by sending me a private message. That way, I can read it, laugh at it, and then ignore it, while the rest of the board doesn't have to sift through a page of nothing while trying to find people who actually want to talk about the important issues regarding the Bears. Thanks!

This whole paragraph is just a series of sentences consisting of made up non sequiturs. I don't even know where to begin. I'll just say that you seem to take issue to people that can carry a debate past your initial points, which looks to be about as far as your debating prowess lets you get to before you start with the whole 'I'm right you're wrong, I'm going to say something stupid' bit.

I would agree with that. Nothing is a certainty in draft scenarios. It's all about weighing the risks and doing your homework on a player to make sure he's the right person for your team.

Christ.. What the hell are you even talking about? You couldn't find the grades on NFL.com so I decided to help you out by showing you. I'm not sure what your problem is but there's no need to get all defensive about everything you write. Instead of bashing someone for no reason, why don't you try spending time formulating a thought that actually adds something to the conversation? And as for the irrelevant and untimely comment on the cap, I wasn't going to say it but since you brought it up, it turned out that the number seemed to be right on track to what was mentioned on the CBMB. Sean Jensen tweeted the amount of space left a couple weeks ago that was on par with what was predicted weeks before by the man we were discussing. I just gave reasons as to why some of those other players weren't better players than Dre but instead of responding with something substantive, you revert to belittling and spouting off nonsense about something that happened weeks ago that is completely unrelated to the topic at hand.

Going by grades NFL.com has listed, Kirkpatrick was a 92.0 and they have Claiborne at 91.5. He was tied for 7th best in the overall player grades with Coples. Luck- 97.0 Griffin III- 95.0 Kalil- 94.0 Richardson- 93.5 Blackmon- 93.5 Decastro- 92.5 Kirkpatrick- 92.0 Coples- 92.0 Kirkpatrick is more of a complete player than some of those other guys not listed here. Ingram has physical limitations that do not bode well for him as a DE. He is more of a 3/4 OLB than he is a 4/3 DE. Reiff's arm length and lack of strength is less than ideal for a prototypical OT. The question mark with him as well as with Martin is in pass protection. Mercilus is more than likely going to be a 3rd down specialist as a DE until he can figure out how to play the run. Coples is an anomaly because of his season last year. He's extremely talented but alot of people question his motivation and his lack of explosiveness makes me cringe a little. Kirkpatrick's only real concern isn't his tools on the field, but his weight. Once you get him together with an NFL trainer, putting on muscle shouldn't be a big problem.

NFL.com gave Kirkpatrick a higher grade than Claiborne and most mocks have Claiborne being a top 5 pick. There isn't a ton of difference between either guy in terms of talent. If you are going with BPA approach then Kirkpatrick most likely will be that if he's there at 19 over guys like Reiff, Martin, Mercilus, Ingram, and probably Coples etc... If you value need over BPA, then those other guys are better picks but not the better player. The Bears need to inject more young talent on the defensive side of the football for when guys like Peanut, Urlacher, and Peppers start to decline as players.

How long is it going to take the Bears before they realize Devin Hester is a terrible WR? The thought of him being limited from his kick return duties is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

That's actually why he would be great here. His skills translate best in a zone coverage defense like ours. He's not a Darell Revis that's going to be physical at the LOS and play alot of man to man. He's got Asante Samuels skills of anticipation and the instincts to thrive in a Chicago Bears defense.

If Kirkpatrick fell to us at 19, I would draft him without hesitation. I think his skills translate best to what the Bears do defensively. Great instincts, great athleticism, and has that burst that allows him to excel at play making. He has questions off the field and is also on the thin side. Needs to bulk up a bit so he doesn't get bullied by some of the bigger receivers in the league and also because it will help him stay durable.

Huh? They play different positions. The OL class and the DE class are both bad this year. Aside from Kalil, the rest of the crew aren't very strong with pass protection. They're more in the mold of a road grader. That's fine and all, but not for a left tackle. The DE group all have concerns that are worth being concerned about. I don't like Coples lack of explosiveness, Upshaw and his 4.7 forty, plus his lack of ideal size for a DE, Mercilus looks to be more of a 3rd down specialist and has issues playing against the run..

If we trade down, I hope it's for Stephen Hill. I'd even contemplate picking him at 19 if he's there and Floyd is gone like he probably will be.