AZ54

We have players hitting players in training camp and I couldn't be happier. We'll have to see the results but after a decade or so of watching lousy tackling and less than physical play in the first few games of the regular season because Lovie and Trestman didn't like hitting in camp this is very welcome news. We have already had one fight and they weren't even in pads. So while I'm not promoting fights I am promoting the fact that you need to work hard to beat the guy on the other side of the line and that means taking it right up to the limit. There is only one way to test that limit. I can't wait to hear how the pads were popping in practice today. While he has casually dismissed this as part of camp I'm sure Fox is working to set the tone early in camp on how he wants his team to play and he'll reel it back in as needed later when guys are wearing down. Plus our GM is right there with him saying you can't find out anything about how tough a player is until they start hitting. Players have received the message. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0731-story.html

Thanks for fixing the link. Great article on Pace with good insight into how he is running the organization. While it sounds like he's able to capture the human element to running an organization I like the fact that he hasn't lost sight of the accountability aspect. Accountability side isn't covered much in that article but it's in his words every time he has a press conference. I think accountability is, in part, where Trestman failed. With Trestman there was a whole lot of nothing nothing nothing then something big like a suspension of Martellus Bennett from camp for several days. Ultimately it will be talent evaluation where he succeeds or fails but he at least knows he must have the scouting side of the organization in lock step with the coaching side. I like his first draft and his first foray into FA which wasn't spectacular by any means but also didn't put the team into a bad spot with the cap in future years. No desperation here.

Supposedly day to day on White. The coaches said he needed a month off to let his shin heal and that they would bring him along slowly to build up his conditioning before putting on the practice field. If that's true he'll be running on the sideline today. If he's not running then it's a much bigger concern.

Here's the appeal decision, all 20 pages of it. http://static.nfl.com/static/content/publi...00000504265.pdf Brady is a jackass and a prima donna who is surrounded by those who would suck up and coverup for him (hello Mr. Kraft). After reading this I have zero respect (wasn't a big drop anyway) for him and the entire Patriots organization. I hope he goes to court so we can hear all the witnesses. He refused to bring the two Patriots employees who are now indefinitely suspended from their jobs to the appeals hearing because, despite their direct involvement with the game-day footballs and Brady-signed gifts given to "The Deflator", apparently their testimony isn't relevant to what happened and not needed to clear Brady of involvement. They did nothing wrong but are suspended by Mr. Kraft, a brave move by a cowardly owner. Mr. McNally (aka The Deflator) made at least one statement "I haven't gone to ESPN yet" that may indicate we haven't heard that last of his story.

On the Bears website is a 3-part discussion with Pace about the upcoming season. I think it's worth listening to as he gives his insights on shaping the roster. A couple things caught my attention: http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...da-806eb0d2fc1b 1) He wants to see physical players on this team. You better not shy away from contact if you want to make this roster and he expects to see that on display in camp. I've never been to a training camp practice but it soundsl like there will be more contact than we've seen in years past with Trestman. 2) He knows this roster has some significant gaps and he's still looking for players to add. Of course that's a standard answer from any GM but Pace indicates he has a couple roster positions he knows need attention but left out specifics. 3) Adrian Amos played well at Safety in OTAs and coaches and staff were pleased (he had most recently played CB in college so there was concern how he'd handle the transition back to safety). When you are rebuilding as we are at nearly over level of the defense this is encouraging news. I wasn't happy with how Brock Vereen played last season but being a rookie I hope he improves. Having some good competition for the backup role at FS behind Rolle is sorely needed.

Yes, I got the wrong link too. I don't even like Potash's top 5. 1) Kyle Long is far from one of my top people to watch perform in camp. I think the battle for our starting Center position is more important to our future Oline success than Kyle Long. 2) Neither is Martellus Bennett although I suspect he knows he won't get away with pushing around his new OC and HC as he did with Trestman before he eventually took it too far and got himself suspended from camp. Desperately seeking $$$ from the new GM he will be out to impress early and often this season. 3) SMC definitely is one to watch, but really it's the competition for both ILB positions. 4) Potash lists Jared Allen as one to watch. However, we have already been told Allen is a part-time player and I think in this role he'll do well for us and will likely be used on passing downs. I'm more curious who ends up earning the rest of the snaps on that side, and how well they are playing. Is it Houston? Acho? Depth at OLB is a concern for this roster. 5) John Bostic....part of the battle for ILB and I'm not optimistic about him. More important than Bostic's status is who ends up at the CB spot opposite Fuller. We spent $3mil on Alan Ball and he hasn't been healthy enough to do anything all offseason. We don't even know if he's ready to practice when camp starts. I don't even know what his injury was/is. Rarely does a $3mil acquisition in the offseason fly under the radar that well and that's not exactly the warm fuzzy feeling you want after spending that money.

I watched a lot of Carey and Rodgers in college. I haven't seen much of either in the NFL but my preference is to see Carey win the job. He's a tougher inside runner and neither of these players has outside speed so there isn't much difference outside the tackles. Carey certainly has to improve his pass protection to stick around. One thing I hope is that Carey gets enough carries to show what he can do. He was never a flashy big play guy, he's one of those 20+ carry guys who grinds and grinds then starts hitting 10, 15, 20 yd plays as the D gets tired. You wouldn't expect that given his smaller stature. While I'd like to see him win the job, Langford is not a given to be our 2nd RB early on. He was reportedly a good pass blocker in college but he has a similar learning curve for pass protection in this new offense so we may want to be patient in the preseason. For sure his speed will stand out among our RBs and I look forward to seeing him on the field.

No matter what he does this year there's no way I'd pay Forte $10mil next year. You give that money to Alshon Jeffrey and Kyle Long who are entering the prime of their careers. That doesn't mean I don't want Forte around, but not anywhere close to that price.

Character was clearly a factor in our draft picks.

Character was clearly a factor in our draft picks.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0720-story.html Forte has recorded more than 1,400 yards from scrimmage in each of his first seven seasons, a feat only two other players have accomplished. The others in that fraternity: Hall of Famer Curtis Martin and Tomlinson, a likely Hall of Famer. -------------------------------------------- That is very impressive and he's done this rather quietly considering the star attention that the others received. Forte keeps himself in outstanding physical condition so I expect he'll do the same barring an early injury. If he does perform similarly it will be interesting to see if we give him a new contract next year.

We're just more than a week out from the start of training camp. Scout.com has a good article on potential surprise cuts. Some on their list I'd say wouldn't be a surprise and have been discussed here during the offseason (i.e. Carey). http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15632...-cut-candidates I think Bostic is on the bubble big time. I don't know if he's healthy yet but he has a lot of catching up to do. Aside from that when you go back and recall who Fangio said he felt he could build his defense around Bostic name was pushed aside for players like SMC and Jones. Missing an entire offseason of practices is not helpful for a player like Bostic who does not play with good instincts and play recognition. There are already depth concerns at IBL but if he doesn't make the roster we're even thinner. I won't be surprised if Ducasse is cut, in fact I'd be happy, because he is not a consistently good blocker and having someone else beat him out should be a good sign for our Oline depth. I'm not sure why Willie Young isn't on their list of candidates. He's coming back from a tough injury and being forced into a new role for which he's not well suited.

I'm glad we didn't chase after this guy and a 5th Rd pick is way too high for him. Gives me a little more confidence in our new GM and his staff.

Given his measurables an argument can be made that he has underachieved so far. Watching the video of his JUCO coaches talking about him and how raw he was as a WR made me realize how far he had to go to get where he is. It wasn't so much that he wasn't noticed, he didn't know how to play the game. Yet he never quit on the dream. Nor does he take it for granted that it will continue as he is down in Tenn working out with Cutler. I'm not a betting man but if I were I'd take this "not top 10-15 WR" bet over the next 3 years. Cooper is going to be a very good Pro WR and will be top 10-15 but I'll stand by one aspect of his game I don't like at all: Cooper's run blocking is horrible. That will never show up on a stat sheet anywhere but White will help our running game a lot more this season than what Cooper will do for Oakland's running game. If White's numbers get anywhere close to Cooper's down the road his run blocking will be the difference putting him ahead IMO.

Much ado about nothing IMO. We always want to scrutinize every decision a player makes but for Jeffrey the reality is working out with Marshall has helped him get to the Pro Bowl and even in a bad year helped him get 1100+ yards receiving. They've become friends and there is nothing wrong with that. Jeffrey has attended all the mini-camps and been around Halas Hall often enough to get credited by his new coach as having an impressive work ethic. This is from a veteran NFL coach who has coached a lot of Pro Bowl players. OTOH Cutler is down in Nashville with ....not Forte, not Jeffrey but Bennett who skipped all minicamps, White who is new to the NFL, and Royal who is new to Chicago and reuniting with Cutler. There's logical reasons those players would want more (or any) practice reps with Cutler and logical reasons for Jeffrey, having already put in a lot of time with Cutler and the new offense, wanting some time working out with Marshall because Brandon has helped him improve his WR skills. I think Jeffrey has done enough to prove his work ethic will pay off for him and the team and I trust he knows what he needs to work on to become a better WR. He deserves better from the media and than crap rumors like this. Flip over to the NY media....are they wondering why Brandon Marshall went back to Chicago to help a Bears' WR instead of staying in NY to help his new QB or his new WR corps?

That's lot of wishful thinking. Defensive questions aside, the key here is that Cutler finally plays within the offense we have and we are able to establish a successful running game. If we have to go find our next QB in 2016 all bets are off because no matter where you draft it's a crapshoot. No matter what we do over the course of the next 12months our D will still have question marks but there are pieces in place for the offense to be the strength of the team...depending on Cutler. We could add a couple pieces to strengthen the Oline or TE positions over the next year.

I'm curious why you feel so positive about Langford. I like the pick but steal of the draft is pretty lofty praise for a guy who was ranked as the 4th best RB in the draft from the Big Ten. I'll be happy if he can step in and be a solid 2nd option behind Forte. Fourth best does put him behind Ameer Abdullah and Tevin Coleman and I think there's room to debate those rankings if you start to compare overall game play including things like pass protection. I don't watch much Big Ten football so I really can't compare these guys.

I'm not nearly as optimistic as Jeremy Stoltz is regarding our running game. I'd love for him to be right and I do agree that the pieces we have on offense are not that bad. We know we can't protect the edge of the pocket on med-to-deep passes and Cutler will never be a good quick-release short-route QB so if running up the middle works have at it. If running anywhere works keep going there. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15601...d-for-a-rebound

Before we give up a draft pick, any pick, I think here the issue is where does he fit in? If this guy does not project to make the final roster and looks more like a practice squad player then I keep my pick because we can't protect him later in the season if another team wants to sign him. The front office has to factor in how much they know about this guy. Leading up to the draft teams do a ton of work on the players but what would you really know about a guy that you did no research on? Film is just one aspect there is also the character work and if he was essentially kicked off the team that's not a good sign at all especially one year before he's a potential NFL 1st Rd pick. I watch some very short highlights here and don't see anything I like about him at all. At least nothing here that says he'll help the team this year, or even next if he makes the practices squad. If he really does weigh just 275-280lbs he is not playing LT this year in the NFL. There are already college players pushing him around. http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/cfb/5493...h-isaiah-battle http://draftbreakdown.com/video/isaiah-bat...-oklahoma-2014/

Many newbies to choose from. I'm going with Kevin White. This is a good kid with a strong work ethic and he hasn't forgotten what got him to Chicago. Add in that we now have a solid and fast slot receiver in Royal to keep the underneath coverage busy as well. Jeffrey is out to earn a big new contract and we still have Martellus who is a solid 4th option, not to mention Forte. What all that means is that White doesn't have to be the man, nor will he be asked to fill that role. Add in part 2 of this... for years defenses have relied on hanging back off our slower WRs. There wasn't much of a deep threat anywhere on our roster. Sure Marshall and Jeffrey made big catches downfield but they are almost always done with defenders hanging on them. With the combination of Royal and White there is no more catching up the WR if you make a false step. In short our offense just hasn't challenged defenses this way in a long time and I don't think Green Bay will be ready for it. The combination of multiple threats now with speed and White being the 2nd or 3rd option means he'll get some solid 1on1 chances and he'll make good on them.

It's hard to say what he has left physically but as far as leadership in our secondary we haven't seen anyone like him since we lost Mike Brown. Even if he's lost a step or two keeping everyone on the same page will pay huge dividends compared to the crap we saw last year with players wandering around not knowing their assignments. http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15574...bears-secondary

I assume we'll keep 9 LBs, 5 OLB and 4 ILB. For OLB I still think Allen will be ahead of Young in those 4-3 situations, so will McPhee. If we're building a roster then as we get toward backup players versatility becomes a factor in who stays. Acho seems to be fitting into the system well so assume he makes it based on his experience. Houston can play OLB in 3-4 and, as stated by others, could probably slide inside to 3-4 DE or stay outside at 4-3 DE in passing situations. That means we can better disguise the D when Houston is on the field. I don't see Willie Young having that versatility so he drops to 5th on the depth chart behind McPhee, Acho, Allen, and Houston. There he competes with a younger and healthier Bass for spot, a role that likely requires a player to be good on special teams. Without an injury to someone it's hard to see where Willie fits on the roster. ILB: right now starters are SMC and Jones. I expect Foster and Bostic will compete and somewhere among the 4 two get anointed starters. Whatever happened to Cornelius Washington? I expected him to compete for an OLB role but he's listed as DLine. He played well on special teams last year and flashed some potential a few times mid-season before he got hurt. I was expecting to see him in the mix at OLB.

http://www.scout.com/nfl/bears/story/15574...-olb-david-bass This scheme might fit Bass' skills better than the last one so we'll watch for this in training camp. Reportedly Acho has looked good as well but some of that could just be his familiarity with the 3-4 which gives him the advantage up front. I'm not too keen on Willie Young's fit in this scheme, especially coming off that achilles injury. If Fangio wants OLB who can get to the passer that's not Houston's forte but I can't see us cutting Houston this year. I think Jared Allen can flourish in this new scheme as a backup player focused on the 3rd and long, or obvious passing situations. Last year I felt he should have had less reps to keep his quickness for the pass rush. Allen of course felt he should be on the field all the time. How many OLB will we keep on the roster? Five? Six if one is a special teams ace? Once you get past McPhee there is nothing guaranteed.

Funny statement there because anyone who has Rosenhaus as his agent always (reportedly) "has quite a few teams looking at him."

Mathis is an option worth looking at for sure but we shouldn't be paying his price. I don't like Ducasse and Mills is very suspect. Unfortunately, but maybe not surprising given his lack of experience, I haven't heard any positives about Fabaluje. I still think long term Fabaluje will pan out but we can't wait for that nor can we force him into action before he's ready. Other than Leno getting reps due to injuries he hasn't impressed too much either. (All this with no pads on) That leaves a door open somewhat at RT, or at a minimum backup OT. I'm content to wait things out bit and see what shakes out. I liked some of what Groy did last year and think he deserves to be in the competition for an OG backup roster spot along with Ola. OTOH, I haven't heard one whisper of this new coaching staff moving Ola to OT....a definite change in how players are evaluated. IIRC, OLA is a smaller quicker type of Oline player and these coaches might want more power up front. Jason will educate me...