Pixote

Yep, I agree, he has had far greater success on defense than offense. I think every GM has their strenghts and weaknesses. JA has done an excellent job picking up defensive players, resigning our better players to extensions, managing the cap, day two draft picks, ..... He has done pretty bad drafting first round and developing offense. He did however take a team that really really sucked and got us to the Super Bowl. We lost, but we got there and I have no doubt we will return. I feel last year was more of an abberation than reality. I do not think I have ever seen the Bears suffer so many injuries to starters on defense as we did last year. Our offensive line all of a sudden went from being a very strong unit in 2006 to crap in 2007, something I do not think any of us expected and I am sure Angelo & Smith did not either. With the OL playing as bad as it did there was no way we were going to have a successful running game. We could also not expect our QBs to play very good while getting killed by pass rushers coming through in many cases untouched. If a QB has no protection, guess you can not expect WRs to look great as far as numbers go either. I think if we can stay reasonably healthy and fix our OL, we are in a lot better shape than many believe. We are no where near as bad as we looked in 2007.

It would appear we have some posters here that should change their username to "Chicken Little". Man, we have so much time before the Draft, FA has just started, teams will be making trades and cutting players, we have what, 6 - 7 months left before the season starts? Bears fans, rest assured, the sky is not falling, Jerry Angelo & Lovie Smith are well aware we need to pick up some WRs, and know all the weaknesses of the Bears that need filling, they know which players they need to keep on the team through extensions, they know what our salary cap is and I am sure are going to do everything they can to get us ready for the 2008 season. Maybe we should give them a chance to do their job. We will have plenty of time to judge their success later.

I am amazed we got a trade done, period. It was obvious to everyone in the league we were going to cut him before the 300K bonus came into effect soon. We need to open up a spot for a QB in the draft to develop behind Rex & Kyle. Hopefully it turns out to be higher than a 6th or 7th but if not, well, something is definitely better than nothing.

I agree about St Clair. As a tackle he sucked IMO. However, it seemed that when he played at OG he found his calling. He was actually very impressive in that role and if given the reps at OG in preparation for 2008 he could be an excellent player for us in that position. I am not sure on Starks. If he is only an option at ROT then I question the move because even though Tait is "ok" at LOT, his age is catching up to him and it might benefit him to move back to his natural position at ROT. The draft has some outstanding LOT prospects. I would hate to see the Bears pass up on one of these hard to find Gems. I think to get Starks we would have to give him "starter" money, and if he started at ROT we would have Tait at LOT and if we drafted a stud LOT he would be on the bench for awhile, something you would not normally do with a top draft selection. I know it would give him time to develop. The other option would be, I guess, to trade Tait. He should fetch a decent return and good OLT/ORT veterans even at his age are valued by teams looking for solution to OL problems. Is there a team in need of a player like Tait who is looking to trade a WR or RB that would be of interest to us?

Not really knowing the guy I went to FootballsFuture.com and clicked on Combine Results, then on the link for Defensive Backs and found that Zbikowski was timed, on a fast track and ideal conditions, 4.52 for the 40. I know nothing about the guy. Maybe he just had a bad day. If this is his typical speed, sounds like more of a strong safety for a traditional 4-3 defense. However, Mike Brown when healthy is a kick ass safety and he was never accused of being a speed merchant! (4.52 is not really that bad when you look at the times of all the other safety prospects. He also had 24 reps, again, impressive for a safety.)

In the Chicago Suntimes Article about the Briggs deal it gave a lot of interesting information. First, Briggs accepted very close to what we originally offered him: The Chicago Tribune Article gave a different number on the contract: It also appears according to the SunTimes we will also see some more contract extensions for the Bears in addition to working out a possible deal for Urlacher: WR, yep we are still interested: Bottom line, now that the wait to see what JA can do to keep Briggs/Berrian is over, I think JA will now be able to move forward.

During the 2007 season every time he dropped a pass, and he dropped as many passes as his "wow" catches, everyone was screaming how we should get rid of the bum. When he missed blocking assignments there were posters wanting us to cut him. Now that the season is over the same posters want to give him #1 WR money or franchise him and make him a king. The stupid thing would have been to overpay the guy. To be honest, I thought the Bears offered him too much as it was. When we traded Booker many were pissed. What did he do in Miami? When we lost Marcus Robinson to the Vikings many thought this was the end of the world, what did he do for Minny? Both Booker and MRob were damn better WRs than Berrian. If JA was, as you say, freakin stupid, for not franchising Berrian, thank God for stupidity, for I agree with JA all the way on this one, he was not worth a franchise tag and certainly not worth any where near what he signed for in Minny.

If he were 25, 26, 27 years old maybe, but to pay that much for a 31 year old guard, well, some have said he is a kick butt OG and surely has 4 or 5 more good years left in the tank. Isn't that the same mentality that got the Bears into the pickle they are in now with their OL, ignoring age and thinking they were all just going to continue to play as they did in the past even though we had the oldest OL in the NFL?

Yep, the press has been very harsh and I feel unfair in their coverage of the Bears, but I could make a good argument that some posters on this forum make the press look like they are blowing kisses when you listen to how they perceive the Bears. I am sorry, I just do not see the reason some are so damn negative about everything the Bears do or do not do that is not exactly what THEY want them to do. There are days I think I could visit forums for our division rivals and find more positive statements about the Bears than I read here. The old adage about is the glass half full or half empty does not apply here to many, it is not just half empty, it is empty and dry as a bone.

Yes, I had the same knee-jerk reaction when I saw he was going to visit MIN but then Deja Vu - remember when we all panicked when Marcus Robinson left the Bears and went to Minny? Many of us, including myself, were bummed out thinking OMG how could the Bears have let this happen? I would of loved to have Berrian back but have to agree with others who have posted, he wants far more than what he is worth. He may get it from another team who is willing to over pay for him, but I like the fact that the Bears are "cap" smart and we will need the money we have pooled to fill all the holes we want to resolve this off season.

Great to see you, welcome aboard!! Looks like this will be a very interesting off season. Happy to see you join us to discuss FA, the draft, contract extensions, etc...

Reading the article link of the original post it would appear that if a team came to terms with Vilma with a contract to his liking, the Jets might take a 3rd round pick. Maybe we offer them our 2nd 3rd round selection for their 4th round selection (simular to the trade for T Jones with us, LOL). Or, since the Jets run a 3-4, would M Anderson fit their scheme? I would love to see Vilma in a Bears Uni but suspect that JA is more than happy with Williams and Okwo replacing Briggs.

Let's not forget that Dez Clark is considered a stud blocker and with the way our OL performed last year and our need to revamp that unit I am happy we kept Dez around for that reason as well as his being very willing to help tutor G Olsen. With us revamping our receiving corps, I can only assume our TEs may play a bigger part in our passing game as well so having two solid receiving TEs will certainly be of benefit to the Bears as well. I can not see why anyone would think this is not a good solid contract extension. He earned it and we need him to stick around.

I did not mean to say all these attributes are not important. I just think many can be developed but some can not, such as football intelligence, character, arm strength, and height. If you have those 4 attributes, there is no reason you can not learn to refine other mechanics necessary to be a top NFL QB. If you lack those 4 attributes, those 4 critical points can not be taught and will be necessary to develop other mechanics needed to succeed.

So who do we draft as a QB to develop if Rex and Kyle fall short of expectations? Everyone seems concerned about QBs in the draft who have problems with mechanics, speed, agility, athleticism, quick release, Big School competition, etc... There have been many QBs drafted who had all of these attributes that flopped as NFL QBs. Ryan Leaf, drafted #2 in round 1 of the 1998 draft. Cade McNown drafted #12 in round 1 of the 1999 draft. How can we forget Rick Mirer drafted #2 of the 1993 draft. All of these QBs had all the qualities we have discussed necessary to become an NFL Star QB. But there have been QBs who lacked these attributes that succeeded. QBs who were too small, too inexperienced, had poor mechanics, etc... and therefore were not well thought of when they were drafted. Johnny Unitas drafted in the 9th rd of 1955 by Pittsburgh and then cut, playing for $3 per game for a semi pro team before Baltimore picked him up for $7,000 in 1956. Joe Montana selected in the 3rd round in 1979 by SF0. Tom Brady selected in the 6th rd of the 2000 draft by NEP. These three were passed over because they did not have these "required attributes" to make a successful NFL QB. Well, it seems to me we worry too much about mechanics, footwork, quick release, Big Game competition, etc... I could care less if the QB runs a 4.0 or a 4.7 40 yd dash. I could care less if the QB comes from a run and shoot college system or a "Pro" system. I could care less if he throws over the top, 3 quarters, side arm, hell, he can throw underarm as far as I am concerned. I could care less if he dances the mash potato, fox trot, 2 step, or waltz, hell, he can have 2 left feet as far as I am concerned. To me there are few things you look for in an NFL QB that are important when deciding if he is worth a risk to draft. These characteristics do not guarantee he will be successful but in my opinion are the most important things to be evaluated before drafting him. 1 - Intelligence. Can he learn the playbook. Can he study film and learn to read the defenses he will face. Can he pick up where the blitz will come from, the coverage the defense will use, etc... Will he know when to gamble and when to cut his losses? Will he do what it takes to prepare for the game? 2 - Attitude / character - Is he a team player more concerned with the teams success than his own statistics. Will he throw himself under the bus when the team struggles or will he blame everyone but himself? Will he share the credit with his team mates when the team succeeds or try to take all the credit himself. Will he be able to shake off a mistake, learn from it and keep a clear head or will he let it dwell on him and cause him to regress as a QB. 3 - The only physical attribute I worry about is arm strength, something that can seldom be developed, unlike many of the other attributes we seem to use as measuring sticks of a prospect. Most mechanics can be taught, arm strength, even with a good strength and conditioning coach, is more of a gift than an attribute that can be developed. 4 - If you want to throw in a 4th item, although it certainly is not a requirement, but could be argued as a big plus for a QB in todays game, is height. It does help to be able to see the field. So if you ask me, we are looking for a player who has football intelligence, a great "team" attitude and personal confidence, a strong arm, and tall enough to see the field. I do not know this years draft well enough to know which QBs fit this mold. You tell me, if I am correct and these are the attributes we are looking for in a QB, who do we draft?

Wolfe could not be put on our practice squad because he has an accrued season of NFL experience. Because another team can sign any player off our practice squad if put on their 53 man roster, we would not put any player drafted to compete with Benson on the practice squad for that reason (and it would be hard to compete with Benson if not on our 53 man roster). (If another team did try and sign a player off our practice squad I do believe we can keep him by putting on our 53 man roster also?) We would never get a 2nd & 3rd for Wolfe and a 4th. Until he contributes more than he has I do not see any team trading for him, period. If we did get a trade for him it would be a late day 2 pick at best. I can only assume we will carry 4 RBs on the roster in 2008 until something develops. Practice Squad Rules

You know what is interesting to me? We look at our needs for the team. We are concerned about our OL, WR, & QB. We will be losing ? Briggs. We have a ? mark at RB, & depth at S. When we go to a site like Football's Future where they rank Free Agents in the order they feel are best to worst I notice that at QB Rex is #2 behind Anderson who likely will stay with CLE making Rex #1, At WR Moss is #1 but Berrian is #2, At OL R Brown of the Bears is listed #1 with Feneca #2, and of course, Briggs is the #1 LB on the list. There are some nice OLmen available. Yes, I definitely like Feneca, but there are some other good options as well. Another interesting note, if we could fix our OL in FA with a LOT & OG, and had the luxury of picking another need at #1 instead of OL, (and before I go further, I do not think JA would do this) how about a RB? I say this only because of this note: If this is true I think if McFadden is on the board when the Bears select you will hear the following announcement: For those who are scrambling for their draft trade value charts that is our #14 (1100 pts) for their #22 (780 pts) and #59 (310 pts) or 1100 for 1090. Jerry Jones is reportedly so much in love with McFadden that he would probably jump all over it. There was speculation that they might even trade for the #1 slot to get him. If they could get him with our #14, wow, they have saved themselves a ton of money and it will cost them much less in trade of picks with us than Miami.

I look at it in a different way. Instead of asking if now is the time to trade Hester, I think it is time to ask if it is time to rework his contract. Hester is a tremendous ST player who "MAY" become an important piece of the puzzle on offense (the jury is still out). If he has a big year in the WR role this year his price to resign him goes soaring. If we can convince him to renew his contract now, we could possibly wind up with a real bargain. If he has a big year as WR we are in a win win situation. We have a valuable WR/KR at a bargain price or, if he becomes discontent knowing he blew it by resigning before emerging as a WR, because we resign him at a reasonable price, we could then get a huge return for him in trade.

1 vote for the smiley, 1 vote against the trade.

And anyone saying Flacco is not worth a first day pick is stupid IMO. I think he is definately worth a #2. I would never draft him in the first.

I also have been a score head since day one. I remember when they shared a wave band with another station and you could only hear the score during the daytime. I was in heaven when they finally went 24/7. Mike North has always been an idiot from day one. At first he was tolerable, IMO, and not nearly as radical and stupid as he is now. Over the years he has become more and more unbearable. I still remember back in 2000. He was crazy over the reports of Sebastian Janikowski. He had him as a guest on the score and went around doing remotes with him at different polish deli locations. When the draft came about that year he crucified the Bears GM, Coach, Ownership, etc... for not drafting Sebastian Janikowski #9 in the first round but instead drafting someone he described as an over hyped player without a legitimate position, guaranteed to be a wasted pick, when they could have drafted the player who would be an instant impact player for the team (Sebastian Janikowski). Of course that wasted pick was Brian Urlacher. I think that says it all about his football IQ. A total clueless jerk.

Done, Bears #1 then reversed the order of the leaders below the Bears.

I came across a new site that really impresses me. How often do you find a draft site that gives a 7 round mock draft with "what if" scenerios and updates it's projection frequently getting readers inputs and adjusting team needs charts as the off-season progresses? That is what I found at Draft Tek Sports Information Web Site. There I found a 7 Round Draft Simulation that rocked. I did not necessarily agree with all the selections but found it to be one of the most credible mock drafts I have come across and am anxious to see the future updates to this mock as we progress through the free agency period and teams needs change as a result. I hope you guys enjoy this site as much as I am!!

I watched very little college football this year do to work, work, work.... I went to a couple of sites looking at the sleepers they have listed that had write-ups on the players (lists without some knd of breakdown on the player is meaningless to me for I do not even recognize the names, LOL). Here are some I found on two sites. Do you guys have any to add I should be aware of? Angelo loves sleepers and small school prospects and has actually done well in this area of the later rounds.