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AND THE FIRST NEW BEAR IS ?


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``We told him that we wanted to look at him at guard first,'' Angelo said of Omiyale. ``But we're not going to limit him in terms of reps only at guard. ... We'll expose him to tackle, which is where he's been predominately playing. But we want to expose him to guard as well.''

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....e-at-guard.html

 

Anyone care to remind me the last time a position switch worked for this team (besides Devin Hester, when they technically just corrected their original position switch mistake)? This is so GD stupid.

 

I think that's actually good news. From the article:

 

"Angelo said Omiyale's immediate future is at guard. The team is not pleased with the performance of right guard Robert (sic) Garza, so Omiyale might have a chance to compete for a starting role there."

 

I can't imagine they'd be unhappy enough with Beekman's performance to make him compete for his spot: he looked just fine at LG, and it's not like he had even a league-average tackle next door to help him out. So if they're unhappy with Garza, they've now got two guys with starting experience, Omiyale and Buenning, who can compete for his job. If Omiyale's good enough to beat out Buenning (who's got 23 starts under his belt) then good, otherwise we've got a decent backup LT in case Williams' injury isn't history.

 

Remember that we have (including Omiyale) three tackles on the roster, one of whom is a practice-squad guy. I would guess that Metcalf is history, which leaves us with four guards, one of whom is a practice-squad guy as well. The Bears need to add two more linemen, even after signing Omiyale, just to have adequate depth, so there's no reason to think that he's their only answer. If they want to try him at guard, that makes them even more likely to draft/sign/trade for another tackle.

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``We told him that we wanted to look at him at guard first,'' Angelo said of Omiyale. ``But we're not going to limit him in terms of reps only at guard. ... We'll expose him to tackle, which is where he's been predominately playing. But we want to expose him to guard as well.''

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....e-at-guard.html

 

Anyone care to remind me the last time a position switch worked for this team (besides Devin Hester, when they technically just corrected their original position switch mistake)? This is so GD stupid.

 

 

Dude. Calm down. From OT to Guard is not that big of a switch.

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Mully mentioned that 4 other teams were in the bidding for him. He said they signed him to an estimated 4 yr, 10 million dollar deal.

 

Peace :dabears

 

An article on the Sun Times site says 10 teams were seeking him as a FA. Actually a nice little article.

 

Bears one of 10 Teams trying to sign our new Free Agent OLman

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With the Angler working on resigning St. Clair and Omiyale brought in to compete for a G spot, I fear we will have some upset posters coming April 28th. The writing on the wall is telling me that the Bears probably won't be drafting an Olineman on the first day.

 

The best thing that can happen is for some team to sign St. Clair and leave the Bears no choice but to trade up and grab a day 1 starter quality RT.

 

Here's our Offensive Line 2009:

 

St. Clair - Omiyale - Kreutz - Beekman - Williams (Buenning backup G, 3 or 4 RD draft pick as backup T)

 

I really like the Omiyale signing and commend JA for winning him over 10 other NFL teams.

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I was reading a Panthers board and they are pretty high on him. There aren't many guys who could get playing time when Jordan Gross and Jeff Otah are in front of you. He has a fairly high ceiling and I'm anxious to see what he can do. I'm not stoked on the money we gave him, but maybe he'll earn it.

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This is a pretty good pickup which could turn into a total bargain. We knew what we had in a lot of these guys. Garza and St. Clair are mediocre and this guy is younger and versatile and at least mediocre and some experts thinks he has the potential to actually even turn into a solid left tackle (let alone a right tackle or a guard). This is a fantastic signing. I still will be livid if the team doesn't add a good FA vet WR plus a WR via the draft.

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This is a pretty good pickup which could turn into a total bargain. We knew what we had in a lot of these guys. Garza and St. Clair are mediocre and this guy is younger and versatile and at least mediocre and some experts thinks he has the potential to actually even turn into a solid left tackle (let alone a right tackle or a guard). This is a fantastic signing. I still will be livid if the team doesn't add a good FA vet WR plus a WR via the draft.

I agree. He's young and versatile and, based on what's going down elsewhere, not taking a big chunk of cap money. I now want JA to get a OT in FA and then add some young OL via the draft. If we don't solidify the OL we are never going to function offensively.

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``We told him that we wanted to look at him at guard first,'' Angelo said of Omiyale. ``But we're not going to limit him in terms of reps only at guard. ... We'll expose him to tackle, which is where he's been predominately playing. But we want to expose him to guard as well.''

 

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....e-at-guard.html

 

Anyone care to remind me the last time a position switch worked for this team (besides Devin Hester, when they technically just corrected their original position switch mistake)? This is so GD stupid.

Thayer, Boone, Tait and many more.

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With the Angler working on resigning St. Clair and Omiyale brought in to compete for a G spot, I fear we will have some upset posters coming April 28th. The writing on the wall is telling me that the Bears probably won't be drafting an Olineman on the first day.

 

The best thing that can happen is for some team to sign St. Clair and leave the Bears no choice but to trade up and grab a day 1 starter quality RT.

 

Here's our Offensive Line 2009:

 

St. Clair - Omiyale - Kreutz - Beekman - Williams (Buenning backup G, 3 or 4 RD draft pick as backup T)

 

I really like the Omiyale signing and commend JA for winning him over 10 other NFL teams.

 

I think Buenning will be starting this year, He came in late last year and really did not know the scheme. He may win out in camp. What I would like to see is this:

 

St Clair- Omiyale- Kruetz-Buenning- Williams (Beekman as back up guard with 2 and 3 RD draft picks.)

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With the Angler working on resigning St. Clair and Omiyale brought in to compete for a G spot, I fear we will have some upset posters coming April 28th. The writing on the wall is telling me that the Bears probably won't be drafting an Olineman on the first day.

 

The best thing that can happen is for some team to sign St. Clair and leave the Bears no choice but to trade up and grab a day 1 starter quality RT.

 

Disagree. St. Clair is 32, and in training camp he began as our starting LG. Even if we sign St. Clair, we could easily draft or sign another top o-lineman. The key is that St. Clair and Omiyale can play in or out. That, and neither Beekman's job or Garza's job is safe right now.

 

Beekman works his ass off but the talent simply is not where we need it to be.

 

How about an opening day line-up of Williams, St. Clair, Kreutz, Omiyale and Khaleef Barnes? That'd be one helluva a line-up IMO. We'd be bigger, more athletic, and more versatile.

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Disagree. St. Clair is 32, and in training camp he began as our starting LG. Even if we sign St. Clair, we could easily draft or sign another top o-lineman. The key is that St. Clair and Omiyale can play in or out. That, and neither Beekman's job or Garza's job is safe right now.

 

Beekman works his ass off but the talent simply is not where we need it to be.

 

How about an opening day line-up of Williams, St. Clair, Kreutz, Omiyale and Khaleef Barnes? That'd be one helluva a line-up IMO. We'd be bigger, more athletic, and more versatile.

 

I would love a Barnes signing if only for competition purposes, but unless the market fails, I don't see JA ponying up the cash for both St Clair AND Barnes. And it looks like we are still focusing on St Clair so I don't see Barnes as a Bear next year.

 

Did he suck in Jax last year too? Maybe he won't be worth the money...I don't really know.

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I would love a Barnes signing if only for competition purposes, but unless the market fails, I don't see JA ponying up the cash for both St Clair AND Barnes. And it looks like we are still focusing on St Clair so I don't see Barnes as a Bear next year.

 

Did he suck in Jax last year too? Maybe he won't be worth the money...I don't really know.

 

I think we offered St. Clair something like 3 years and 15 million. I'm guessing Barnes will sign a deal for 6-7 years 50 million, which seems to be about the going rate for good starting o-linemen. That's really not that much for a starting tackle and a starting guard, especially when we still have 30 million to spend even after we signed Frank Omiyale.

 

The nice thing about Barnes is that he's only 26 and he's been extremely durable. It's tough to tell how good or bad he was last year since Jacksonville's o-line was flat out devastated by injuries.

 

The key thing IMO, is that harsh reality of how bad our guards really are. It's always tough to tell how good or bad o-lineman are, but I've never gotten the impression that we like Josh Beekman that much. He's ok, but realistically he's better suited to be a back-up. This is the first time I've ever heard our organization say we've been unhappy with Garza.

 

To make matters worse, St. Clair is a down-grade from a healthy John Tait. If we sign St. Clair, on paper, our o-line is immediately worse then it was at the start of training camp last year.

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To make matters worse, St. Clair is a down-grade from a healthy John Tait. If we sign St. Clair, on paper, our o-line is immediately worse then it was at the start of training camp last year.

Excellent point bradjock. Tait's retiring means we've got a big hole. While he seemed like he didn't play up to his level last season, he still represented an experienced RTwho knew how to get the job done. This really does mean we need more than one FA and resigning to fix our disgraceful OL.

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For some reason I can't help but feel that Barnes is a younger version of Fred Miller. That's not all bad as long as he signs for a reasonable price but on the other hand it's not quite the line upgrade I'd like to see us get by grabbing a guy like Oher in Rd 1.

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I hope he's just for depth/competition. From what I've heard from Carolina fans, he's a pure left tackle. When the Panthers lost their right guard, they kicked Otah inside to RG, then moved Gross over to the right tackle spot and put Omiyale in at LT. Apparently the reason for moving two starters out of position was that Omiyale can ONLY play the left side. I don't know, though. It could also just mean that he's a worse run-blocker than Gross or Otah: no shame in that, both those dudes are beasts.

 

Still, we've got a quasi-rookie coming off back surgery penciled in as our starting left tackle. It can't hurt to have quality depth behind him, and I'd be surprised if Omiyale is as bad in pass protection as St. Clair. I guess we'll have to wait and see with him.

IMHO it is easier to play the RT than the LT spot because most teams are right handed and line the TE up on the RT side, so he has help. The defense usually puts their best rusher on their right side over the LT

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