AZ54

We're going to be in a 3-4 40% of the time, and a 4-3 60% of the time. I think with McDonald and Jenkins we've addressed it well enough to cover the 40% with our existing players. NT for the 3-4 front is a bigger concern of mine right now.

I like it up to the point you take Jay Ajayi. I'm not too big on him, he goes down too easily and doesn't seem to offer much more than a RB we could take later. Why do you want to move Fuller to FS and replace him with a 3rd Rd draft pick? I get that we need help at FS but we need just as much help at CB especially if Fuller isn't there. I highly doubt Randall lasts until Rd 7. He's had far too much positive press lately. If you go to CBS Sports they have him listed as #2 FS overall, Rd 2-3 grade. If he made it to the 4th Rd I think he'd be a good pickup for us because he has the athleticism and mentality to play FS, meaning he's more likely to hit somebody than Vereen, but needs time to learn the finer points of how to play the position. Keep in mind he took two years off from football before getting back into it at ASU. That's where Antrel Rolle comes into play. Lacking the athleticism to stay at CB, Rolle has had an excellent career at FS through his work ethic, smarts, and leadership. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players...marious-randall

Agree on this but I can't rule out a CB as a possibility with our first pick even if it doesn't seem like the value is there. If we truly go BPA then it will be either the pass rusher or WR. I like Wilson but there's no way I'd pass up the option for White or Cooper just to have him get a chance to improve. Wilson can still beat out Royal for snaps. He could even beat out the rookies if they struggle to learn the offense early on. Just gotta compete.

I am spending some of my weekend researching WR for the draft and I'm wondering why this guy isn't on our radar? 4.35 forty, 45" vertical and he's 6' 2". Clearly he's got the measureables to compete and he's got the one thing we need on offense and that is long speed. I watched some film of him and he looks like a good prospect. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/chris-conl...s-arkansas-2014 At Walter Football he's not even listed among the top 30 WRs. CBS Sports has him as #18 WRs and at DraftTek he's #22. I realize he's not one of the top WR but when we talk about mid to late round prospects I like what he can do better than anything I've seen out of Nelson Agholor (who plays soft). Plus he's a high character guy. If we don't go WR early I think he should be on our radar in the 4th Rd. http://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/...2015-nfl-draft/

He's competition for one of the roster spots but your point is likely the most key. I don't know this guy at all but it points toward moving away from the Lovie-style of smaller quicker DBs who sit back in zone coverage and more press coverage at the LOS.

Before the biggest job interview of your life that is just pure stupidity.

If fixed means being able to handoff left and handoff right then I say... yes he can! While I say that somewhat jokingly I believe it is correct. I think the key to Cutler being successful is that he must know he isn't "the man". He's not built for that. He just doesn't respond to pressure well because he always wants to prove himself. But I'm not talking about 4th quarter come from behind pressure, rather it's the media/fan/GM "he's a franchise QB" pressure that he can't handle. I don't really have data on this so it's subjective but why is Cutler so prone to early poor play in games, yet in the 4th quarter he's on his game? Just seems like he's always pressing early on, and if the previous game was bad then he struggles even more to get in the flow mentally. Get late in the game and it's as if he says I have nothing more to lose now. Yes, he's overpaid considering that limitation but that doesn't mean we can't win with him. Put the weight on someone else's shoulders, be it the OC, HC, RBs, WRs, and I think Cutler can play more than well enough for the team to win. That's the challenge for Fox and Co. Make Cutler a JAG (for those Parcells fans out there), both in his mind and in the offensive scheme.

100% prospects. Every single player is at a position we've all identified as a need. Some this has changed a bit with the recent FA signings but these are not all 1st Rd picks.

Yet you are comfortable without knowing the facts first-hand to declare him guilty.

I'm well aware of the many issues in domestic violence. My daughter works with the D.A. in Chicago helping to prosecute domestic violence cases. You might be surprised to learn how often the Chicago Police refuse to help prosecute people for this despite overwhelming evidence. I agree about not wanting serial abuser on the roster, or in my household for that matter. I just think we need to trust the legal system and give these men their fair chance to defend themselves before we find them guilty in the court of public opinion. We're not even talking about McDonald being guilty. If the D.A. can't come up with enough evidence within 4 or 5 months to even bring charges then it is over unless the NFL can find evidence to the contrary as there was with Ray Rice. Evidence of a fight is pretty much there at the moment or it's not so it's not clear why it should take them so long to find it, and that is with an accuser who wants to bring charges.

Mason Foster is a good signing. He's not going to be an elite player for us but should fill a role at ILB that we really needed to take care especially with a draft short on ILB talent. Reportedly Foster can call the plays as well so that takes something off the plate of Bostic who really needs to just focus on his job, whatever that ends up being.

Vet min deals count less against the cap. This is done as an incentive to keep the veterans around. So a vet min salary of $800 might only count something like $650k against the cap. I know the cap discount increases with the years the vet has in the league, of course the vet min salary also increases with the years in the league.

Absolutely amazing these days to see people go over the deep end on a mere accusation. When in our society did we decide to give someone so much power over someone else's life by merely making a statement, some of which turn out to be lies? Take it all the way back to the Duke lacrosse case where everything was all lies including a District Attorney who has since been disbarred. So I don't like Gooddell's practice of suspending players at first "accusation". Complete an investigation and find that Ray Rice punched his wife (after she hit him a few times by the way) and then you suspend him. Clear evidence of AP abusing his son? Fine, suspend him. These days there dozens of men falsely accused rape on college campuses and the universities do not even give them a trial, no hearing to defend themselves, and just kick them out of school. Maybe there are a lot of people here who would like to be fired from their job, or kicked out of school, because someone walked into a police department and said they did x and x. I'm not one of them, I want a chance to defend myself in court. I'm also one of those crazy people that believes in 2nd chances in most situations. I know nothing of Ray McDonald except this below. He's paid a heavy price for two events that have led to zero charges against him. http://espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/story/_/id/...an-ray-mcdonald "McDonald was released by the San Francisco 49ers in December after law enforcement officials in San Jose, California, said he was under investigation on suspicion of sexual assault. McDonald hasn't been charged in that case, which remains open." "McDonald also was implicated in a domestic abuse case involving his fiancee last August. It was announced on Nov. 10 that he would not face charges in that case. The 49ers stood by him at that time."

I love that fan's quote after the Jets took Ken O'Brien: "Everybody said if Marino is there you take Marino. Obviously the Jets know something nobody else knows."

If anyone signs Michael Bush they are only going to expect (or hope) that he can run 4 yards while dragging a body or two. A guy like Felix Jones who built his game on using speed and now he doesn't have that has no other attribute to help him find work.

This scenario is very realistic and if it fell that way I like Beasley or White. I'm not enamored with any of our edge rushers on the roster and Beasley helps that immediately. White fills the void from the Marshall trade. My third choice is to reach a bit and grab Waynes because two good press corners will help the defensive front 7 and, perhaps more importantly, help our safeties quite a bit. (yes i include Fuller in that assessment). Cooper is a very good receiver who will help our offense but I don't think he'll be an elite WR. He is not exceptional going up on contested catches. OTOH White could be dominant, he can make the tough catch in traffic and i much prefer throwing to him in the red zone than Cooper, and I don't see his floor being much lower than Cooper's. I'll take the upside. Please don't take Collins at #7. I think with the Bears signing Rolle it makes this far less likely as there is no great need to give up a shot at a blue chip player just to fill a roster hole. I'll disagree with Terra on Gregory being too small and if he's there for us I like him as an OLB. He has the frame to get to 250lbs or more without losing a step and his movement in open space is exceptional as is his ability to get off blocks. He is not as fast off the snap as Beasley and Ray are but he may be the better player in space even if he didn't line up there in college. While he's not as quick off the snap he's better when the play comes right at him and I think he'll match up better with TEs in pass coverage than Beasley or Ray but that remains to be seen as it isn't on film. I don't like Fowler much either and I'm hopeful he'll be off the board before we pick (so somebody I like is still there). At least what I've seen in Fowler is a guy who just makes the easy plays but can't get through other players to create the exceptional play. Not enough bite in that dog for a top 10 pick IMO.

Good writeup, thanks for the link.

I know we need help at Safety but there is little talent in the draft this year. In other words I'm not subscribing to the Lovie/Angelo theory that you must draft a safety every year. If we don't trade down and grab one early (i.e. Collins), or one of the other mid-round talents, I really don't care that we draft a safety on day 3 just to fill a hole. I prefer to just stick with BPA and grab whatever talent falls to that round that fits our needs. If it happens to be a safety so be it but if not, I can live with another vet FA filling the backup role as a stop gap for 1 year. I don't think the depth on the roster would be any worse and might be better having someone with experience. We'll still have Vereen on the roster so there will still be one young player to develop. I'm sure there will be some other vet backups cut after the draft too.

I still don't like either of Petty and Hundley. Even in his Pro Day workout you can Petty's passes falling short and I don't like that lack of arm strength. His arm may be strong enough for the NFL but too often he throws the football 20 yards as if it only needs to go 20 yards so most of his passes tend not to have the velocity you need to see when coverage is tight. Hundley… If he reads NFL defenses like he reads college defense (Pac 12 isn't that stout of a defensive league either) then he'll fail.

Excellent post. Interesting point on the NT position. The question I haven't seen answered in the media (maybe I missed it on the board) is with the smaller NTs does that mean Fangio runs more of a 1-gap 3-4 as opposed to the traditional 2-gap setup with bigger Dline players? He did say he'll have a 4-3 alignment about 60% of the time (passing defense) so that might also be why he doesn't value the 2-gap NT. I think your point about Borland is valid as it relates to Perryman and Dawson although I think both those guys will be available in the 3rd Rd and there's no reason not to grab a higher rated player in Rd 2. Dawson wasn't in shape at the combine and has a lot of character questions. I like Perryman to fit in our 3-4 alignment and he can come off the field when we go 4-3. Fangio had a Hall of Fame caliber player in the middle of that D. We don't. We all know how our D looked when Urlacher was on/off the field. That type of LB

I'm not a fan of Scherff in the top 10. I do think our draft may be balanced between offense and defense but something we all should be considering is Kyle Long moving to LT. That puts Bushrod at RT where he should be more effective and leaves a big hole inside.

With a defense like ours having so many holes there are many ways you can go about fixing the defense. Obviously safety is going to be an issue for at least another year but hopefully it's serviceable this season. I think Fuller will be better this season than last and I've read where he's much better in press coverage than in zone (i.e. cover 2). Knowing that and adding another CB who is good in press coverage gives you two guys who can take away the outside, at least for a few seconds. That means the rest of the defense focuses on the inside game, including the safeties, and that should open up all sorts of options for zone blitzes. That reduces the need for an elite pass rusher off the edge. So I can see the argument for this but OTOH there is no Revis in this draft, quite the opposite actually to where some CBs might get drafter earlier than they should. My preference is still to grab one of the top edge rushers in the draft with #7 because those guys are more of a game changer than a CB. After that it's BPA and with all of our needs that could be NT, DE, CB, ILB. Among those positions at least one, if not two, are going to be left for next year to address, and we'll grab one of the FAs still hanging around as a stop gap. I can't rule out us taking a WR among the 1st four rounds and possibly a RB, and dare I say a RT. The Bears community has been silent on Mills this offseason but he was far from effective last year and there's no guarantee his foot holds up as those injuries can linger. We need more action in FA to address some of these needs.

YYEEESSS! I always had faith Pace could pull off this deal.

I was surprised at how little guaranteed money we gave McPhee relative the size of the overall contract. Pace may be trying to keep the guarantees lower but annual salaries higher so he has more flexibility in the future. OTOH Royal's contract went the other way.

First off, everyone is created differently and some can handle the rigors of a physical game like football. Borland could not for whatever reason, sometimes physical and sometimes it's more the mental aspect. It's not that uncommon for players to quit in their prime although most certainly go more than 1 year in the NFL before calling it quits.