AZ54

Don't misconstrue all the hype about DHC and his special teams success blocking kicks. He's a good safety prospect. While I expect him to be successful on special teams for us those blocked kicks were all done at a much lower level of competition. The media, being what they are, won't watch the game films that show how good of a safety prospect DHC is.

There's always talk of wanting/needing an inline blocking TE but last year Zach Miller was often used as an H-back or FB. Braunecker is far better at blocking than Miller and I can see him playing in that role for us.

By the 2nd half of the season I expect this guy will be the one sharing snaps with Miller, if not sooner. He's not great at anything but he's good all-around from blocking inline, blocking in space, good hands, enough speed and mobility to work the deep middle of the field (ran 4.66 at Pro Day, 4.73 at combine). He's not going up against great competition to earn that #2 role but still I think he can be productive on the field. Among TEs at the combine he was top 3 in every category except 40yd where he was 5th but 2nd-5th were separated by just a couple hundredths. He ran a 6.90 3-cone so he has the quickness in/out of cuts to get separation. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/ben-braunecker-vs-yale-2015/ https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=braune...D&FORM=VIRE If not for the level of competition concerns, and the fact he's just 6'3" he'd have been drafted somewhere in the last few rounds. I'm still surprised we took Braverman in the 7th and not Braunecker given our TE need. Getting them both is great. A good team fills out the 2nd tier of their roster with players like these two.

Worth noting is that last year everyone viewed the lack of a true speed rushing OLB in the new scheme the biggest missing component to Fangio's defense along with a NT. Reality is NT are much easier to find than good edge rushers. Last year we took Kevin White in the draft at #7 (relatively deep draft for WRs) and immediately after us Vic Beasley was taken. Later in the 1st Rd Bud Dupree was taken at #22 and Shane Ray at #23. In the second round we passed on Randy Gregory for the second time (thankfully). Among those four players we could have either taken Beasley at #7, traded down and picked up Dupree/Ray and still taken Goldman in Rd 2, or taken a 2nd Rd shot at Gregory. Point is that we didn't do any of those things last year. I would say our OLB group played well enough in the 2nd half of the season to make OLB less of a need this year. Obviously we still needed to mix in a speed edge rusher. This year we traded up to get Floyd so it seems there must be something much better we see in him than the crop of edge rushers we bypassed last year.

Perfect, send Jordan Howard his direction early and often.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to see DHC beat him out for a starting job. But at a minimum Bush is going to be a good special teams player for us while he learns the job.

One thing this bodes well for is that Grasu is likely doing well in the offseason gaining strength. Even with the rumored health concerns having Slauson as a backup and for competition in camp would have made more sense if they were concerned with Grasu.

He's not a LT. As OG with his excellent use of hands and feet to get the proper angle on the block he should do well to seal off gaps for the RBs. If he handled LT in college adequately he'll be ok in pass protection too. I read somewhere that he needed to get stronger. He might not win the starting job so easily.

Jason, you really like how Derek Henry runs with his physical style, you should be very happy with this pick in the 5th Rd. Definitely not the same long speed as Henry but if you wanted a beast-mode to complement Langford we got one. The Michigan game is not one that I watched prior to the draft. What Howard did there was very impressive, and he showed great patience at times to let the play develop, at other times he was shifty enough laterally to find the gap, more than what I saw in other games. Keep him fresh in a rotation and DBs are going to have a long day if he can get to the 3rd level. I also saw him catch the ball, which might not be a strength of his, but he's capable of handling some easy outlet passes. He also had some good blitz pickups. He'll work well with Langford.

Bush is a very hard hitting safety so we have that. He's not an in-the-box type like Cash is and given the 2 (or perhaps 3) players we drafted at S, if we wanted Cash we'd have taken him. As near as I can tell, Fangio wants his defense is built to have the Dline and LBs take care of everything in the box with the DBs providing the coverage over the top. Amos had to make far too many plays in the box last year because ILBs either couldn't get off a block, ran to the wrong gap, or they over-ran the play (Christian Jones). The first thing we're all going to notice in game 1 is that our ILB actually make tackles around the line of scrimage.

If I'm not mistaken your original statement was: "Hoyer and Cutler are pretty close in skill set" From an athletic standpoint I just don't see it. I show highlights of passes that Cutler can make that Hoyer will never be able to throw. You have morphed the discussion from your original statement to one now where we talk about decision making. I didn't watch a single Houston game last year. I have seen Hoyer is several Cardinals games and Browns games. None of them impressed me at all. Hoyer is now on his 5th team after being a starter for 3 teams. As a backup he is better than anyone we could have drafted. He is not better than Cutler. You know this to be a fact: John Fox will start the best players. If Hoyer is better than Cutler he'll be our starter in week 1 and for the rest of the season.

Very surprised to see Slauson cut at this point. Rolle I expected would go sooner or later but Slauson I expected to at least compete for a roster spot. It feels like there is something in the works but it's impossible to know what.

I highly doubt we go this route. We've said all along we want more team speed, better athletes, and at this point in his career Whitner is nothing more than a in-the-box safety. If we wanted a mentor we'd have just kept Rolle.

But 1 year of Hoyer does? A year after which he was fired and couldn't find work to compete for a starting job? Anyway, I only put up the video so you can see the difference in the tight windows Cutler can put passes and Hoyer cannot. You can also see the arm strength difference on the first passes in each of their highlights.

Me too, but on the flip side opening up this extra cap space now could mean we have plans. That could be an extension for Long, or just some more players they want to sign.

Drafting 101: Would you rather have Tavon Austin in 1st Rd http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/04/25/ram...on-austin-at-8/ http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/tav...stin?id=2539336 .... or Daniel Braverman in Rd 7? http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/dan...rman?id=2556144 Austin is a little quicker and faster but neither of these guys will ever be a #1 or #2 WR.

I realize this draft wasn't loaded with WR talent but Detroit did not address the WR position at all in the draft. That's shocking to me and I think this will show up on game day. Packers overall I think did well in the first few rounds. There's a group of players in Day 3 I never really scouted. Their 4th Rd ILB Martinez from Stanford sounds slow and not decent in pass coverage but will lay the wood in the box. In today's game I much prefer Kwiatkoski who can cover very well and is still a good tackler in the box. The 4th Rd DE Lowry out of Northwestern was rated as 7th Rd pick or priority FA. He has 31" arms and he's 6'6" tall...how is that possible? 5th Rd Trevor Davis WR out of Cal...listed as mostly just a returner despite his 6'1" frame. Runs poor routes but he's fast with a 4.42 forty. I like their 7th Rd pick OT Kyle Murphy out of Stanford. I'd say the Vikings had a good draft especially on day 3. 4th Rd Willie Beavers could develop into a solid starting OT. 5th Rd Kentrell Brother LB, he's ok in the box but offers little versatility. They landed Boehringer in the 6th Rd and even though he won't be ready to play for a year or two I like the guy and I'm glad he's got a shot in the NFL with his favorite team. 7th Rd Stephen Weatherly seems like a good DE prospect. Last they took Jayron Kearse in the 7th who I liked as a prospect.

2min of highlights from last season. Where are the line drive throws on the 20 yard out patterns? That's why I was wondering how many of his games you have watched. I saw him when he arrived in Arizona and there's just no comparison in arm strength between him and Cutler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tepWXInsQ04

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/pete-p...-but-only-one-a http://www.walterfootball.com/offseason2016chi.php

RB: Carey could be cut if Rodgers is healthy unless they really want to keep 4. TE: Braunecker gives us some options on how to shape the roster but most likely Housler stays as the blocking TE and Lee/Braunecker compete for a spot. WR: I agree with you on WR. I've given up on Wilson and would really like to see us pickup a solid vet FA. OL: Love the fact we have too much interior talent to know who makes the team. At OT I liked Tayo coming out of college and judging by his last video he's slimmed down. Last year they kept him on the roster all season long instead of the practice squad. They must have seen something in him. At a minimum I think he'll be ok at RT. All the OTs we've signed in UDFA indicates they want some competition here. DT: I think Will Sutton's career with the Bears is done. Bullard offers far more as an interior pass rusher. Since Ego beat him out last year for a starting job I expect he'll win the battle for a roster spot along with Unrein. Cornelius Washington will be the most interesting to watch because he started out doing some good things in camp last year. Now with a full year under his belt at this new position and weight I'm very curious to see what he can do. OLB: We're going to keep at least 4 on the roster. Right now we have McPhee, Houston, Floyd, Young, and Acho. If you cut Houston who takes his place? Floyd is not going to handle the running game so I think Houston stays with the Bears. That leaves Houston and McPhee as starters on the edge. Willie Young is definitely the odd man here but he was still productive in our 4-man fronts and he's cheap so I see no reason to get rid of him. If we get a good trade offer then ok. Acho is likely odd man out and if the UDFA Robertson-Harris is doing well I can definitely see Young being cut but I don't expect that. In the end Floyd replaces Acho. ILB: Trevathan and Freeman locked in as starters. Kwiatkoski makes the team. 4th spot likely goes to Timu IMO who out played Anderson at the end of the season. CB: I think we are set and neither of the UDFAs impressed me that much on games I watched to make me think they'll challenge for a roster spot. S: Does Antrel Rolle stay? For now yes. By the end of training camp? These young guys can play. I think DHC will stand out sooner as he seemed to have better instincts in the games I watched. One thing with all 3 of the DBs (Hall, Bush, and DHC) I think our special teams are going to be much better. Bush in particular said he played on all 4 special teams in college and he likes doing it, and he likes to hit people.

I don't see Hoyer as being anywhere close to Cutler in terms of talent. I'm not sure which or how many of his games you have watched but there are a lot of NFL throws Hoyer cannot make. I'll be surprised if Mariani makes this team. Deonte Thompson and Braverman offer more in terms of speed/quickness and have comparable hands. Unless Cam Meredith has made some big strides this offseason I expect or hope we'll be signing a vet FA WR to fill out the depth at WR (at the expense of Wilson).

Watched Calhoun against LSU and Alabama. He has a chance to develop in a year or two but he needs to get stronger and learn some better technique.

I hope not because that should be Floyd but I can see him becoming a good starter for us in a couple years. Right now he is better than anyone who started for us last year. I think we've seen the last of Anderson and Timu makes the team.

Getting Braunecker as a UDFA is very good. He has a shot at making the roster. Nobody would have been upset had we taken him in the 5th or 6th Rd.

That's BPA and impressive just from talent perspective in the late rounds. I felt for sure we'd take a TE in the 7th Rd.