AZ54

For those lucky few who can make it to training camp, or tonight's practice at Soldier Field, there are some question marks on the roster that I haven't yet heard much about. TE…. is there anyone looking like a decent backup to Martellus Bennett? I haven't seen or heard much about Rosario or any of the others at this position. Backup RB…seen some news here and there about this competition but it doesn't sound as if anyone has stood out yet. Most of the practice highlights I see of Ford are because someone is forcing him to fumble (i.e. a defensive highlight). I've seen enough that it's a concern for me even if nobody has mentioned it yet. Carey has been quiet as well. For sure this is one position where the preseason games with real hitting give a better indication than practice. It's also why I think that is where Ka'Deem Carey will begin to show why we drafted him. Despite his stature he is a physical runner. Safety… of course there's been non-stop discussion about this position. The recent rotations mean either nobody is standing out and they are shuffling things around hoping for someone to step up or they found a gem in a Dallas castoff. I go with the former.

Ask and you shall receive... http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...ml#.U9ulUFY8icM Very impressive to see how quickly Sutton is adapting and learning how to succeed against one of the better OGs in the NFL. There's a reason he got time with the 1's instead of Collins when Ratliff got a day off.

How would that be different from what he did when he took a high school football coach and helped him earn a $10mil contract with Tampa Bay after starting just 6 games and winning 3 of them? Of course it is different in that McCown had more years of mediocrity and failure than Clausen. You just don't see a guy out of the league like that come back in one season and then get that kind of a contract.

He has ability and a mean streak and shows it even in practice. Welcome to Chicago young man.

Thanks Grouchy…I always trust the board member's feedback from training camp. This explains some of Mills' frustrations and poor performance. Last year he was going up against Wootton and SMC. Now you throw in Houston who is a better athlete and stronger with that won't quit attitude and you get a young OT learning he better step it up.

If you watch the video attached to that link you will hear Adam Jahns state how lost Palmer is on many plays while Clausen is looking pretty good.

Kid is doing what he needs to do to improve. He's going to be a good player for us but it will take some time. He sees it now though and understands what and where he needs to improve. Identifying that is the first step. http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/bears-want...t-dts-gave-them

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/grizzly-de...-269126341.html Hopefully he gets back into shape soon. He struggled with speed off the edge last season and if he's already starting out being last year's performance that's not a good sign.

He's more athletic than I thought. http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/eye-perfor...-bears-football

When you read the comments of NO fans you find they don't miss DLP at all because he couldn't run block and wasn't all that great in pass protection either. Now with Kromer out of NO how much of that had to do with possibly a new approach to blocking last season? DLP tested the market and when there wasn't much out there for him he had no hesitation about returning to Kromer's system and tutelage here in Chicago. NO got back in the talks and likely would have taken him back for what we paid him and he said goodbye. We also know that with both centers available in FA the Bears (and Kromer) clearly chose to go after Garza first. Given all that (few bidders on the FA market) and his home team luke warm on keeping him I'm not sure what we have in him. I like having him on the roster for his experience in our blocking scheme and C behind Garza was a big question mark. Our OG depth was/is still somewhat of a question mark too. I think signing him to backup Garza was a great move and maybe he'll play well again and we end up signing him next year to a longer contract.

It's too early to get any inkling of how linemen on either side are doing. Pads go on today and that'll start to let us know what we've got. I had no worries about Sutton from a professionalism standpoint and so far so good there. The surprise for me has been Ego. In the summer when they went to the Hall of Fame he promised to study and win the competition on the knowledge test among all rookies…and he did. That in itself means nothing about football but it does show a man who is willing to work to succeed even in the little inconsequential things. Now we find out he's been taking yoga classes because the coaches told him he needed to improve his flexibility. All told everything he's done so far this offseason has been more than I expected. Now it's time to see how he does on the field but even if the early returns aren't great if he maintains this work ethic I think we'll have a good player down the road.

The bigger question in my mind is what will it take for the coaches to bench him if he's playing poorly. We're a long way from that point because the young players haven't shown anything yet but if it happens it will be a pivotal moment. First step in that process would likely be to see him end up as a 2 down player. If this is a possibility we'd likely some of that (Briggs not on the field) on 3rd downs in the 3rd preseason game. Coaches would certainly want to see the others (whoever they may be) on the field against the 1's.

Why would we want to invest anything in a guy who is willing to give up millions of dollars so he can retire? We cannot give him a contract anywhere close to what he walked away from with the Cowboys. I'm sure Emery has not forgotten his lesson from last season when that DT (Ellis?) quit on him the first week of camp.

Very disappointing to hear Briggs looks slow. He's has proven he is not a workout warrior and at his age it is much easier to go over the cliff in terms of athletic ability. We'll see if he picks it up as camp moves along. I also realize he's a veteran who is not going to put out much energy early in camp but this is something worth monitoring as we go through the preseason.

I always liked AW and while he did slow down and lose some of his edge during his last years in AZ he could still play in the box. I, sadly for the state of our roster, agree with your assessment. Maybe a year off might rejuvenate the body a bit and perhaps we get a little more than we bargained for. I'd love to have his experience on the roster.

The battle for LB is clearly going to be the most competitive position battle in training camp. I put the battle for safety spots right behind it because I think the talent at LB is better overall. We have Briggs as the only player slotted to a role. After him we have D.J. Williams, SMC, Bostic, Greene, and toss in UDFA Christian Jones. Reggie Herring was very complimentary of SMC and Bostic when he recently stated either could have started for him at MLB in Dallas or Houston. DJ says he's not going to the bench without a fight. ESPN's Michael Wright doesn't even have Greene making the final cut with the team preferring Jordan Senn's special teams abilities. http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/bears-camp...n-out-among-lbs http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/post...rojected-roster

That would be a surprise indeed as Houston is a solid player but if he somehow steps up to the next level opposite Jared Allen we could be in for some great pass rushes.

I'm still fighting off the boredom of July so it's time to ask about what folks are expecting out of our players who didn't contribute much last year or who weren't even on the roster. Given how bad our D was there are plenty of opportunities for someone to garner attention in training camp. On offense it's a different story but there are some spots such as backup RB, 3rd WR, that figure to see some serious competition. I'm going with Kyle Fuller. I was very impressed by his highlight videos (game film not just highlights) and I think he's an excellent football player with outstanding instincts and smarts. I think he shows up early and often in camp, even against our WRs, and again during the preseason games.

The passing defense was decent only because teams could handoff all day long against us. If players weren't bouncing off Eddy Lacy all game long I'm pretty sure Rodgers would have thrown a few more passes for completions. Rarely do I thank the Cowboys for anything but at least last year they saved us from being the worse defense in the league. I like what we did this offseason to replenish the ranks on D so I know we'll be better than we were in the second half of 2013. However, I need to see some people getting the snot knocked out of them before I can feel like we have a proper defense again.

We have too many question marks on defense, new scheme included, for me to be confident we'll go far in the playoffs. I can see us winning the NFC North but to go beyond that I'll have to wait to see how the team is coming together mid-season.

I don't know that he's a huge upgrade. Of course the standard for upgrade is set very low in this situation but Wilson's last year in AZ wasn't great. He's older and coming off an achilles tendon injury, which most athletes say takes well beyond a year to truly recover from, is not going to help. I will be happy if he makes the roster but I don't even know that he'd be our starter. Then at the very bottom end of the roster he has to compete with the guys who will play special teams. I don't see him doing special teams but who knows what he's agreed to. If he were our starter I don't know that he can last a full season and the fact he beat out the other players would make me even more nervous about our backups. Signing a guy with the hope he can make it halfway through the season isn't an ideal spot to be in. I love having him in camp and I certainly hope for the best. I just think we need to temper expectations for his level of play even if he ends up our starter. His last season in AZ he wasn't even used in Nickel situations.

Adrian Wilson was a phenomal athlete and player for the Cardinals. Certainly he has lost some of that explosive athleticism displayed in the video but he is likely as good an athlete now as the other guys we have on the roster. On top of that he has a ton of experience and leadership which, if he makes the final roster, will help the entire group even if he is not on the field. He was always a class act here in AZ and I think this is another good signing by the front office to add competition to a weak area.

I've been watching this series. Most are nice to see how they transition the rookies to the team but there's not a lot of substance. However, part 4 has some good video of Pascaloni in the class room. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/vid...2d-7fee93bbc874

Izzy was a class act and really had a great career. I suspect he will be around the Bears organization for a long time to come.

Very true. At this point all I'm looking for is that guys look the part. Meaning they are in shape and have been working on their weaknesses, as well as focused on learning their position if they are a young player. Wilson appears to have done both.