AZ54

I agree on keeping Cutler as there are just so few options in the draft or FA. I expect to see Clausen as our backup again this year and another player brought in to compete with him and Fales for a roster spot. I do not care for Jake Locker as I watched him all through college and while he's a phenomenal athlete he just doesn't read defenses well. RB…don't see us spending big money in FA here. I don't know what Ingram's market will be, I know it won't be huge but he should be in enough demand to put him beyond the price range I want to spend. I wouldn't rule out a FA RB, perhaps Vereen, but avoid the big expense and keep that cash for defense. Draft a RB in the 4th or 5th Rd to fit in the mix. Carey is an inside runner, he's very quick and that's where he can be most productive and as far as I can tell that fits what Fox likes to do. He should get a chance to compete for the #2 role in camp. WRs…there is no way I see Marshall getting cut. He's still a very productive receiver and, equally important to this new coaching staff, he's an excellent run blocker. Running is going to be a big part of what we do next year. We'll continue to pair him with Jeffrey on the outside but will add a speed guy to compete with Wilson. I actually wouldn't mind some spending some FA cash on this position because I think it's key to getting our offense less predictable. Randall Cobb would fit in well but he's likely getting a huge payday and he's not coming here to be a #3 WR. Eddie Royal fits the bill IMO…2nd tier FA money and different skill set from Marshall/Jeffrey. If that doesn't work out there isn't another good FA fit for what we need so in that case this would likely to be a Rd 4-6 draft pick. Colleges run spread offenses everywhere now and good speed WRs are now available late into the draft. Backup TE: Likely a FA pickup as you state. OL: I don't think they move Long to LT. You have a guy who has been a Pro Bowl player at OG 2 years straight. Why mess with success? We don't know how he'll handle the transition back to LT. I do agree he can play out there just not sure how well he'll do. I don't think De LaPuente returns as a starter, maybe as a backup. Pace was in charge of pro personnel in NO and had to be one in the front office with the most input to letting him test the open market. Yes, NO wanted him back once he had trouble finding work. Again, he had trouble finding work last year so I think we're over-valuing one of our players. I think we're fine at OG with Slausson and Long. OC can be ok even with Garza but wouldn't be surprised to see us go after another FA here. I am totally open to grabbing a LT with #7 overall. Love the idea of Bushrod at RT and someone like Peat at LT, a big man who is mobile and a nasty run blocker. Not sure his value is there at #7 but I don't think Mills is starting material. Either way it happens, many here see a need to do something at LT and these are players you have to get early in the draft or not at all.

All I remember is once he decided where he needed to go he got there in a hurry and people knew he had arrived. He was clearly thinking a lot early on and reacting late, or very late. Late in the season I focused on him sometimes and his pass coverage was good, clearly would get better as his play recognition improves. This coaching staff will know where to put him and I won't argue either way. If he goes to OLB and we draft Shane Ray for the other side I'd be very happy. I certainly wouldn't worry much about any team running a two TE set against us because either of these guys can get around the blocks or handle the pass coverage. Bostic is pretty fast too, if only he knew where to go. ILB might help him by reducing the scope of what he needs to do but I don't think he'll be able to get off blocks well enough. Cornelius Washington and even SMC have speed and they figure to be in the OLB mix as well which could give us a decent rotation if at least one of them progresses.

I liked Louis-Jean. He didn't play that well but he didn't that poorly either. Considering the huge jump up from his college competition he still looked like he belongs on the field but needs another year or two to hit his full potential. Many forget he came out early and he's just 21. Pace put him on a contract for 2 more years.

Why have one of the best RB in the NFL if you won't run it in from the 1yd line? 3 tries to go 1 yd with Beast Mode. I'm liking the odds. One of the worst offensive play calls I've ever seen.

A new GM is thinking on a 3 year horizon and he's going to want to get his young players out on the field for experience as soon as possible. Fox might be thinking on a little shorter horizon. If Tillman wants to be a starter that will make bringing him back tougher. He might earn a starting job in camp but if he wants it guaranteed up front I would see that as a sticking point with this new front office and coaching staff.

I liked Mariani too.

Right now from what I've seen in highlights it's between Shelton and Shane Ray. Edge pressure is harder to get versus finding a guy who can command a double team at NT so I'm taking Ray. I was searching the web for some more feedback on Ray and came across this from Bucky Brooks. He's not saying anything different from what most here think but at the end he compares him to Junior Galette of the Saints. So once again we have to consider Saints draft history and how that relates to our new GM evaluating players. Size wise they are similar but Galette ran a 4.86 forty, Ray supposedly will run 4.5-4.6. http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-draft/0ap300...rison-Shane-Ray Some of what I've seen from Scherff makes me wonder if he'll handle elite speed off the edge in the NFL. Why isn't Leonard Williams on this list? He's a top 5 player on any list I look at and we have zero difference makers on our defense right now. I have no reason to think to our new GM, who says he goes BPA, will be swayed by the fact we drafted two DTs last year. I don't think it matters if we're in 4-3 or 3-4 this guy can play. He's young yet people talk about him being a perennial Pro Bowl player. Or is the assumption that he'll be gone no matter what? http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/big-board 1. Leonard Williams, DT, 6-4, 290, Jr., Southern California: Strong, athletic and passionate, the Trojans star is earning comparisons to everyone from Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt to Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy for his ability to dominate the line of scrimmage while alternating between defensive tackle and defensive end. He's too quick for guards and too strong for tackles, wreaking havoc along the line of scrimmage against the run and pass.

I like Shane Ray. He's young and gets moved around a bit but his burst off the edge is excellent. He seems to have the arm length needed to get off blocks but doesn't have any apparent counter moves that I saw. Nothing new there for a young guy just coach him up. If we were in 4-3 D I'd say he's not big enough to play DE but if we're going 3-4 he seems like a very good fit and could do for us what Matthews does up in Green Bay. Here is one thing I love about him. At the end of this game his team is winning 42-13 with just 27 seconds left in the game. Watch him hustle and block the extra point. It's hard to find guys who will hustle on a meaningless play like that. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/shane-ray-vs-florida-2014/

Tillman didn't find much on the market last year although he had some suitors. I respect him a lot and I don't think he's BSing with his statements but he's also looking for a job after two seasons ended up on IR. Briggs was horrible for us last year, moody and petulant, the same traits the people criticize Cutler for endlessly, yet he's looking for a job too. Years ago his market was far smaller than he thought it would be and he ended up back with the Bears albeit with a really good contract. What coach is out there saying he really wants Briggs in his LB meeting room for the leadership he brings? Tillman is a very risky decision but he'd get vet min offer from me. In his 13th season that should still be a good paycheck and gives Bears a lower cap hit. Briggs would get nothing.

…and here I thought you'd count us all in as part of your scouting team.

The only thing I get from this is that Pace sees that our WR corps needs a speed element added to it. So in just two weeks he's caught up to the level of what the TalkBears message board says we need in a WR. Have we got any other advice for our new GM?

Bring back the guy who admitted he blew off film study? Don't want him in the room with the young guys at all. If he can't even focus on that given the team sticking with a similar scheme in part for him then why would I think he'll put the effort into learning a brand new system? The team has the perfect way out with the likely transition to 3-4 and they should take it.

I haven't seen anyone anywhere on the planet say the Patriots beat the Colts because of the football pressure.

Belichick is often trading back because he's picking 25-32 in the 1st Rd. Talent grades from there through mid-2nd Rd usually don't vary much. When you are picking #7 overall you should have a shot at a blue chip player and simply trading back just to get more picks doesn't make sense if it takes you out of the range of the elite players in the draft. The one draft this clearly wasn't true was when we draft Benson and that may have been the worst year ever to have a top 5 pick. We don't have a single blue chip player, much less a Pro Bowl player, anywhere on our defense so IMO if Pace has Shelton ranked as BPA and he's grading him as a blue chip player then we should draft him. We can figure out the other pieces later. None of this is to say that I think Shelton is or should be our pick. I'm watching his film against Hawaii and he's not that impressive but what he does on this highlight film is pretty good.

I will wait to hear the physics professor explain why there was no similar loss of air pressure on the other side of the field.

I started using Draftbreakdown last year and I like the site. Full game tape, not just highlights so in 5min you see 60 plays. That makes it's easier to see beyond the player's numbers and hype and get the rest of the story.

Collins is ok as a safety but there will be better players available at #7. Then I see Bryce Petty in the 4th and that was it for me. I just don't like Petty at all. I can't see his game transitioning to the NFL and I think Fales is better and far more accurate so there is no need to draft Petty. I still like that Terra was able to use the word fantastic in a positive way.

Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice… I agree this is a big deal. What we know: 1) Brady admits for every game he is very picky about which footballs he wants to see on the field during the game. He's so picky about which footballs he likes he spends about 20min going through them beforehand but then he has no clue when a football is 2psi less than standard. Anyone who has ever played backyard football knows when the ball is light on air but Tom Brady who does this for a living had no clue. 2) The start of the 2nd half was delayed for 1 min while they searched for a legit ball. Brady and Belicik says they had no idea why there was a delay. The masterminds of clock management weren't even curious why the officials delayed their first play? 3) A week ago after they barely beat the Ravens, Brady and (to a much lesser extent) Belicik were bragging about how well they know the rule book. Bill Belichick as Sgt. Schulz is not believable when he says he knows nothing about how footballs are maintained and what the rules are. Neither is Tom Brady. 4) Many current and former NFL players, Hall of Fame players I might add, have been very outspoken that it would be impossible for someone to make a 2psi change on a ball and for the QB not to notice. 5) I'll skip the physics lesson on PV=nRT but temperature changes from mid 70s (i.e. indoors) to 51 degrees at game time do not reduce the football's air pressure by 2psi. This was proven by the fact the footballs just 53 yards away had no discernible decrease in pressure. 6) It is statistically improbable that 11 of 12 footballs were exactly 2psi below where they were 2hrs 15 min earlier simply by chance. 7) Altering the air pressure on the football not only gave Tom Brady a better grip on the football it did the same for the RB, WRs, and TE. This reduces the likelihood of a fumbles and dropped passes. That is a big deal when a game against the Ravens was won by one scoring drive. 8) Lower air pressure on a football the Patriots were using had nothing to do with the fact the Colts cannot tackle. 9) The fact the Colts cannot tackle has nothing to do with the Patriot's cheating being acceptable. 10) Tom Brady is staring at his entire legacy going down in flames. So is Bill Belichick. Both want us to believe they had nothing to do with this. Despite all they stand to lose neither has called for their owner to conduct an independent investigation into who would set them up for failure like this. Both are content to sit back and see what the league says about it. They are so infuriated that someone would do this to them that neither has even spoken with the league to demand quick resolution. I highly doubt there is one member on this board who, if faced with a coworker who set them up to take a hit on their career like this, would just sit back and not demand HR and their senior managers do a thorough investigation into what happened. Remember, one week earlier Brady and Belichick were the smartest men in the room. Now we have an equipment manager setup by two millionaires to take the fall for this cheating. That is even more despicable. ---------------------- The uproar from so many former players and coaches has clearly caught Goodell by surprise. He was expecting to let his buddy off with a simple fine by the end of the week, and maybe a loss of late draft pick. He is now between a rock and hard place because of all his pontificating about the integrity of the game and the NFL when handing out punishment to players. He has many HoF players and coaches watching very carefully what he does. This at a time the league is trying to celebrate the Superbowl teams. He just pivoted and decided that since he cannot get away with a light punishment for his friends he will now delay the process. He brought in an outside firm to investigate and doing this gives him time to get past the Superbowl. Yet his inaction before this game will forever setup his legacy. He better hope Seattle wins because the optics of him handing that trophy to the Patriots owner, coach, and QB won't be good at all. I want to see a similar punishment as was handed out to the Saints organization, if not worse, because this is the 2nd event where this organization has been caught cheating. They can't run and hide the video this time.

There is enough film on Ego and Sutton for coaches to get a feel for what they can do. Nonetheless they were rookies and still learning on the job. Having watched Sutton his entire career at ASU I can tell you that the dramatic weight gain, and sudden weight loss for the Bears before camp, hurt his quickness. Let him stay around 290lbs and put him at DE in 3-4 and he'll be a good player for us. Ego went to the draft very young and still has a lot to learn but I think he'll be a solid player for us. He doesn't move well but that's a plus when he's at NT in a 3-4 should we go that way. FWIW I see us being just fine in a 3-4 with existing Dline such as Paea/Sutton at DE and Ferguson at NT. Need to add more talent of course but they can all play those positions well enough to be effective.

Yes, have to think this is one that can get done very quickly. What is there for Fox to ask him about? I'd say this is more about Gase coming to interview the Bears and see what the environment is like versus the usual Bears interviewing him.

If we're going to a 3-4 scheme then sitting at #7 provides a couple good options for OLB. Better options IMO than what we'd see for 4-3 DE at that pick.

This is Elway's upgrade?

Having anyone who can hit on our defense would be an upgrade, even if some cross the line.

Always injured his body seems to be saying his time in the NFL is over. If we keep him that's ok but at this point I prefer we move on because $2mil is a lot for a part time player. I expect the Bears will be slow to make some decisions on who gets cut as to not tip our hand on what we are doing heading into the draft.

This is very surprising to me.