AZ54

I read that Gentry had made some good plays. He must be giving Bellamy the shakes because Bellamy has already had a couple drops.

Hope springs eternal and then reality sets in. Here's my thoughts on who steps up and who steps down. Surprise: Mitchell Trubisky. I think from the first week in camp it will be clear he can play in this league. A rookie practicing against the same team every day and playing preseason games against backups does not make him ready to start in week 1. Nonetheless I expect to hear quite a bit of positive reviews about Trubisky during camp. Disappointment: Eddie Jackson. I was going to put Fuller in here but he's fighting for a job at this point even if it's not in Chicago. I've seen a lot of hype about Jackson after the draft but IMO he was just ok on film and he's not a hard-nosed player. He hasn't been able to practice at this level because of his injury and knowing his lack of physical prowess I expect little from him this year. I think he sticks around because of his athleticism and long term potential at FS. His best chance to play will be as a returner but will he embrace that role after he takes his first big hit?

I got two: Houston-Carson and Grasu I think the numbers at S catch with DHC. We have Demps, Amos, Bush, Jackson, and HJQ and Hall moving over there from CB last year. I think at the bottom of the roster the team picks the player who can fill in both at FS and CB and that's Hall. HJQ and DHC depart although DHC could end up on the practice squad. Grasu has to expand his game into the backup OG and there he has some very tough competition. I like what Kush did last year as a backup and I expect Morgan to earn a spot as a backup OG. Unless we keep 9 Oline where does Grasu end up? If Kyle Long is still struggling to return to form then there is a chance we keep 9. Then again, if Grasu looks good at OC, and he figures to get quite a bit of playing time there in the preseason, then I can see a needy team calling Pace to make a trade. I guess the corollary to this is: Will Kyle Long be the last of Phil Emery's draft picks on the Bears roster this year?

Why we won't make the playoffs: 1) Mike Glennon I actually share much of your enthusiasm for the Bears this year but reality in the NFL is that without a solid QB, or an elite defense that can carry the water for an no-name QB like Hoyer, the playoffs are not likely. Glennon might become a solid QB for us but it won't happen in the first month of the season. Our defense will not be elite either because of all the new pieces in the secondary. Pace has quietly put players who were in key roles last season in competition to where they may not even make the roster. Unrein, Zach Miller, Langford, Kyle Fuller (he was expected to be our starter), HJQ, and even Grasu. While the top end of the roster still has some significant gaps the bottom end depth in many positions far better this year. Couple that with some (not even all) of the 2nd year players showing improvement and we should be seeing more consistent play across the board even if when we have a few injuries. However, there are some key weak spots in the depth such as ILB until Trevathan returns. OT too. I see this as a 6 to 8 win team. Something dramatic would have to happen in our division such as Rodgers and Stafford going on IR early in the year for us to win 10 games and make the playoffs. There is no scenario where I can see us winning more than 10 games.

This will be very interesting. How long before Cutler says of Glennon: "He should have taken the check down."

Found this article on SI.com. It's a good read, and yes, he played "End" at 170lbs. https://www.si.com/vault/1977/12/05/622015/...-woman-under-48

That will help him when Trubisky is giving him a quiz on the offensive plays at night. If Trubisky sees the field this year it will be no surprise when he looks toward Shaheen early and often.

Thought this was an interesting read especially for those of us who follow the draft closely. OTOH this does explain a lot of the head-scratching picks Emery made because I now i know he was too focused on the "athlete" and draft position and not enough on the performance on the field. There is a place for analytics but I like the fact Pace puts more emphasis on what he sees on the field. Yogi once said "you can learn a lot just by lookin' ". http://chi.247sports.com/Bolt/Bears-have-s...n-Pace-53394075

Trubisky says there will be no hold out.. http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/mitch-t...-will-get-done/

Almost all NFL news at this point of the offseason is pointless. If your website's name is Pro Football ANYTHING then you have to find some way to make money in Jun and July. This is why I prefer to ignore all that and watch a few classic games or maybe catch some of the "A Football Life" shows, which are really well done.

And also one of the classiest. http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-...ration-of-fans/

Pace took three shots at fixing the #3 WR position: Wright, Cruz, and Wheaton. Essentially for the price of Alshon Jeffrey, who signed a $9.5mil contract, we signed 3 WRs with the same net cap hit and Wheaton by far has the best contract. I figure Wheaton gives us some versatility (insurance) on the outside with White. He's not very quick in his cuts but does have good speed. Barring an injury to White or Meredith, to surprise us Wheaton will have to win the slot position in order to get consistent playing time.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000081...marquess-wilson Good luck to all because they are going to need it.

I like that we picked up Banks late last year but I'm not as high on him. Nothing wrong with taking a shot a player like this. If he has his act together I think he has a good chance to make the final roster especially with the concerns over Fuller. That will depend heavily on how well he handles special teams. I don't see him as a likely starter but if he were to put it all together I'd put his max ceiling at being able to challenge Cooper to start, not Amukamara. Realistically I think he's competes for the 5th or 6th spot. In terms of surprises it sounds like Shaheen may be the biggest one, both literally and figuratively. I've seen and heard (podcasts) multiple people say that he looks very comfortable on the field (i.e. knowing the plays) and his pass catching has been outstanding. Of course there will be the adjustment when the pads come on but according to Freeman, Shaheen is already playing aggressively and does not appear intimidated at all by the jump from DII to the NFL.

Attendance doesn't mean participation in practice. We do have a handful of players with injuries (Meredith, Sitton) or still recovering from surgery (Long, Trevathan). I haven't really seen anything on the rookie contracts except that Trubisky is not signed.

I'm not sure we've ever seen every player attend all OTAs and minicamp. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...9c-0dcf6884176b

Technically Barkley was the #4 QB since he wasn't on the team until the end of August. Without Shaw's injury I doubt he'd have been signed at that time. Maybe they'd have brought him in when Hoyer went down.

The Tribune has a good article on Jordan Howard and his offseason work. Most notable was the eye surgery and he now has 20/20 vision. I'll be curious to see if this helps his pass catching. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0613-story.html

I've been thinking about this. Our defense ranked top 10 until the last 3 weeks of the season. That was despite the lack of consistency on the offensive side of the ball and the injuries. CBs: Who were we trotting out there in the secondary last year? Hopefuls like Jacoby Glenn and Bausby for some games. A rookie unknown in LeBlanc who played well despite being moved all over the field. Whatever reservations I have for Marcus Cooper he's a far better option than either of Glenn/Bausby. Amukamara is also a step up from Porter. I like Callahan and LeBlanc and think both are NFL quality starters at NB. Both proved capable of filling in outside. Our 5th CB is going to be one of Fuller/Banks/Hall. S: Demps makes this better but not quite where we want it to be. I still like Amos in the box but we're still in a wait and see for Deon Bush. Unlike most I'm not that high on Eddie Jackson although his physical talent fits what we want in the deep middle. Their success will depend on the front 7 but there is no doubt we have more depth here than last year. Bottom line among the DBs is that we are at the point where one or two of Pace's draft picks are going to move to the practice squad or won't make the team at all. Fuller can be added to that mix as well. Overall the competition for roster spots for the DBs is much tougher going into training camp than last year when we all knew the late round draft picks would make the final 53. OLB: I am very encouraged by McPhee's participation in the offseason. He'll never be a full-time player again but if he can handle 60% of the snaps on defensive side we're in very good shape. Willie Young is still a very good player when he's getting about 30-40% of the snaps. Then we have Houston filling in for Floyd at times. Despite the chatter about him being cut Houston is still a good OLB for us especially on run downs. If an experienced Dan Skuta is our 5th option then we have some very good depth across the board. We could certainly use another speed player off the edge in this mix but this is a solid group. ILB: I like Freeman alongside Kwit to start the year with Trevathan working into the mix mid-season. I'd like to see one more quality player here because Timu is too limited in coverage. Dline: If Howard is out there we will have one of the best DT groups in football and two of them (Goldman, Hicks) have the power and quickness to push the pocket. If we had a star player out there people would be talking about this D. We don't have one yet.

I remember a game where he was out partying the night before and played horribly the next day.

Here's a nice video about Trubisky http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-bears/be...ack-first-grade

I see nothing but caution in the quotes from the teams coaches and organization. Goff is a wonderfully accurate passer when he has time to throw. When the pocket closes down in college he always threw off his back foot and it showed on the accuracy and velocity of his throws. Trubisky is not immune to throwing off his back foot either. In fairness, there are times when it should absolutely be done (short route, wide open receiver) and the QB needs just a split second more time to get the ball out. Watch any game and it's clear that every QB does it to some extent but if they try to push the ball into a tight window or further downfield they often end up in trouble. Trubisky tendency is more of what you see here at the 1:50 mark: http://archive.draftbreakdown.com/video/mi...-stanford-2016/ Back to the original topic. The Bears are also being cautious with their words. All I was pointing out is that Trubisky is at least putting in extra time to learn the offense. We've had other 1st RD QBs in the past who did not do that at all. So at least in this aspect of finding a QB willing to put the time in to become good, it appears Pace was right. I expect Mahomes and probably Watson are equally as committed. Kizer I'm not so sure. Nobody knows how Trubisky's effort will pay off. That's about all I'm looking for 6 weeks into his first offseason. If he keeps his focus it'll show up early in training camp.

This was on the Bears' website a few days ago. We can't know if he'll succeed but we can at least feel good knowing that Trubisky is not going the route of Cade and Rex. Neither of them wanted to put the time in nor had the dedication needed to become a good QB in the NFL. I suspect some of his conviction to get the playbook down this quickly comes from when he hit the bench in 2015. He'll wait his turn this year but not without a fight. Training camp might be more interesting than expected. We'll know early on if he's maintained this focus throughout the summer. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...8b-c199b5ee3c59

My wife being from Spain will gladly confirm that there was one woman who did not laugh at him.

This is one way to make themselves look better for their owner. Since at least half the league's execs are on or close to the abyss of unemployment they naturally want to say "but hey at least I didn't do that...".