balta1701-A

Both this draft and this FA Crop seem strong in the O-Line category. I think the Bears must use either a first or a 2nd on an O-Lineman, and need to draft at least 2 guys. I want at least 3 new bodies in the O-Line rotation next year; either draft 3 or draft 2 and sign 1. It will not help this team to draft a QB, RB, or WR if the O-Line can't create holes for any running back or if the QB is on the ground. Tom Brady would look terrible behind the Bears line right now.

Well, I was commissioned as Balta1701 over @ Soxtalk. I signed up here 2nd, so this one received the 1701-A. I'm Balta1701-B over at TalkBulls.com.

Even if the Bears find an O-Lineman in FA, I think their O-Line has performed so poorly this year that they have to target at least 2. If you grab 1 in FA and draft another one highly, and then maybe consider picking another one in round 4-5, you might at least have some hope of rebuilding that unit. Beyond that, I would go with WR if Berrian walks, simply for numbers. I actually put QB 3rd, but I jump it up to 2nd if Grossman walks. Right now, if the Bears want to compete in 2008, depending on injuries, it can still happen if they rebuild that O-Line and hold onto Grossman or have Orton perform. But if they stick a rookie QB in behind an O-Line that hasn't been overhauled heavily, they're going to get thrashed on offense next year because they still won't be able to run. And with veterans like Urlacher, Tait, Clark, etc., not getting younger, giving up a full year or two to try to redevelop a QB just doesn't seem like a valid plan to me.

Too late. I've already been convinced that you're a big loser. Nice to meet ya and welcome to the site!

So, what you're saying is, Grossman will be playing in Tampa next year.

The Bears are to some extent in the same boat where they were last year. Except for the D-Line and Linebacker positions, the more players the Bears get, the better. Everyone here knows that it's hard to project things perfectly in the NFL draft, or in any draft. Brady in the 7th, Briggs in the 3rd, yada yada yada. People have noted our specific needs on the O-Line, WR, QB, and Safety. The best way for the Bears to fill all of those needs is going to be to have a good draft and nail a few spots. Especially on the O-Line. If the Bears sign one and draft 2-3, then throw in a safety, a WR, and a 2nd or 3rd round QB into the mix, then they might be able to get lucky and actually have enough picks work out to turn the whole bloody thing around in a year or two.

I bet it was Archuleta.

I can certainly see going for an O-Lineman in the first round, but the Bears have been week at QB as long as I can remember. Occasionally they'll get good play out of a guy for a half season or so, then something will go wrong. With the way their situation is overall, I could certainly see how you would rank a QB as their #2 need right now, esp. if Grossman doesn't return for whatever reason.

Even with all the injuries, I still think it's crazy to let Brown go. He's just so good when he's in there! I can just imagine the Bears cutting him and the Patriots signing him and having him finally go through a season uninjured.

IMO, there are few stupider things you can do than hire a first time NFL head coach and then give them less than 4 years to put in place a quality system and develop/sign some of the players they want. But then again, what intelligent decisions have the Fins made in the last 8 years or so?

I am more than happy to go out on a limb and say that whichever team got Rowand was going to find itself being really disappointed when the .270 hitting, .750 or below OPS Rowand of 2003, 2005, and 2006 re-appears. I swear...Rowand goes out in a contract year and puts up career numbers. How many guys cash in on those and never put up the same numbers again? If Juan Uribe went out and put up a .320 batting average and a .920 OPS next year, would you guys all suddenly forget about the year after year after year after year of mediocrity and disappointment with the bat and want him signed to 5/$65?

No matter how good he's looked, he's looked as good as he has in a very solid running system, behind a good O-Line in S.D., as a change of pace back for the best RB in the league, with probably the best Fullback in the League in front of him. On him, I'll just point out how great guys like Cedric Benson or the duo that Oakland signed from the Colts and Jets, Jordan and Rhodes, looked as change-of-pace guys in good systems behind good lines before they were put in a different position.

How would you poison pill a receiver the way the Vikings did with Hutchinson? No one's going to make him the highest paid player on their team, and he probably would be the highest paid WR on our team, so that eliminates the clause style they used. I'm curious as to what else might be used.

Here's a random thought, not sure how well it would work with how Minnesota treated it last time, but 2 potential words to consider, transition tag.

With the way Minnesota's O-Line has been playing, saying that a team needs to force Jackson to beat them is easier said than done. And while I haven't seen a minnesota game recently to judge for myself, the press folks have been saying repeatedly the last few weeks that Jackson is getting better and better.

This just makes the Sox better. Significantly

Looks to me like Griffin was clearly working on Metcalf when he flew around and hit Grossman. The announcers think that Metcalf may have stepped on Kreutz's foot causing him to fall down.

Franchises are bigger than one person. The sooner the Falcons realize that, the better they'll be. They have to admit that they have no shot to win now, and build for a few years down the road.

My problem with that statement is...we don't know how our receivers would be without him. For a couple reasons. First, we have had no running game this season, so our WR's haven't had great opportunities. Second, we haven't seen much of Hester at all. Third, our O-Line has performed so poorly, it's hard to actually tell how any of our receivers would play, because our QB's have spent half their time running for their lives or throwing from their backs. I could understand using the Franchise tag on Berrian if you were desperate, but usually it's really hard to find receivers that are worth that and is probably going to be a lot easier to find other WR's.

Anderson will be a RFA after this season, and hence, the Browns will be able to literally ask for the moon for him.

Is a DT in the 2nd round really that hard to believe for Angelo? (Btw, green text = sarcasm here in case the new folks didn't use that convention)

But we are an annoying bunch. And a few of us smell. I won't tell you which ones.

Atlanta is no more f***ed than any other team that needs a multi-year rebuilding process. They need to dump everyone they can to open up cap room, bring in someone with the expectation of sucking for 3-4 years while slowly rebuilding, draft well, and let a system grow in place. Someone who didn't have a good shot or someone who's been in the line for a head coaching job for a while, some NFL assistant, would probably work well. Maybe Rivera if they found a good O-Coordinator, or they could just do what everyone else does and hire New England's current O-Coordinator. They need to move on, dump, lose for a couple years, and rebuild. No way around it.

Wow, he lasted less than 1 year there. Between him and Saban, why in the world would anyone in the NFL hire a big time college coach for a big time salary again?

Given how Bad Orton was as a rookie I understand saying that, but on the other hand, what I saw of him that year did at least seem like he made use of Moose as a safety blanket. He couldn't hit him a lot of times, but he still used him as his only real weapon in the passing game. The problem was that Orton wasn't that good and seemingly couldn't hit the broadside of a barn on 3rd down even if his guy was wide open. Even with that, Moose put up more catches in 05 than in 06 with Rex at the helm, even though his average YPC was longer in 06.