AZ54

Also mentioned was trying to sign Hayden. I like that idea. While we don't know how well he'll come back from the injury he is going to be 1) cheap 2) carry a vet contract discount against our cap 3) easy to cut if he doesn't outperform his competition. If he makes the roster it will likely be as backup and it won't hurt having his experience at both nickel and outside. We will bring in some young players to compete for this spot as well. Downside here is likely lack of special teams ability. FWIW I also would like to see Bowman re-signed. Items 1 and 2 from above apply here as well plus I thought he played well filling in for Tillman. He's not great but as a backup player, or possible starter early in the year while a rookie learns the ropes, we could do worse. Has the advantage over Hayden on special teams, loses advantage on nickel position. I'm expecting Frey to continue as our starting nickel.

With Shea competing with Bostic for MLB snaps and the Bears already stating they want DJ Williams back I doubt they go after those FA players. At least not at the start of FA. Maybe if DJ signs elsewhere. If Mosley is the BPA when we pick I don't see us ruling that out. While SMC might find a home at MLB, I'd say he's most likely the SLB/pass rusher. Bostic is more or less slated to be Briggs replacement. That leaves an opening at MLB. I really don't think it matters what position the leader plays. I'd take a DT to be our leader, DE, or even a Mike Brown type at S. Being Bears fans we're accustomed to great MLB so we lean that way naturally. I wouldn't mind to see that tradition get started again. I view fixing the D as a two year project so I prefer we absolutely grab the best players available this season and then fill the remaining holes next season (needs are everywhere). That may not yield the best possible defense this season but should give a better result 2-4 years down the road. In other words, if they have Mosley rated that high I don't care that we spent two picks on LB last year and now have SMC competing there as well.

Not so fast. He did say the base defense is a 4-3 but then he added this: --------------------------- http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-wide-open.html “To lock ourselves in and be so narrow-minded that this is what we’re going to be when we don’t have the players to get it done would not be [wise],” Trestman said. -------------------------- A year ago they were saying the same thing about the offense… they need to evaluate the players and devise the scheme to fit the talent. If you read the article it's clear that 3-4 alignments are not out of the question. I can only hope we have similar results with the D this year as we had with the offense last year. I don't see that happening simply because of the turnover at all three levels of the D so I'd be content if we can just be average on D this year.

I'm with you on this. Rare to find someone be honest on the miss. He's right, SMC does not have the length to get off blocks at the LOS. In space he should be able to use his quickness advantage a little better to help get in position to make a play. We'll see how that goes.

From a budget standpoint finding our outside edge rushers in the draft is a lot more cap friendly. FA DE's command a big salary. Might be worth it like Peppers deal where he played very well until last season. Someone like Michael Bennett is not elite. He won't command an elite salary either but he won't be cheap. With cap space challenging Emery once again I think he'll do just like last year. Target a couple 2nd teir players early (i.e. Martellus Bennett) and overall go for quantity of good 2nd tier players versus seeking the FA diamond plus a bunch of 3rd tier FA's. Michael Bennett is no doubt on our list but I expect we won't aggressively pursue him but will let him find where the market is at first. If it's in our range then we talk. If someone throws 1st tier-type money at him then adios. We can't save $10mil from cutting Peppers and just end up with one DE to replace him. We need at least two good starters out of that money, if not three, or four.

Nothing at all to be optimistic about him returning. I'd say Tillman's agent has put out some contract parameters to the Bears and Emery basically said thanks, go see what's out there and let us know, but likely didn't even counter with his contract parameters.

$7mil increase, I'd heard about $3mil. Yes, that helps a lot but it also helps all the other teams. That might be enough space this year to get decent FA players while guaranteeing them a large bonus in 2015 when we have more cap space. …and I bookmarked Over the Cap, thanks for the link.

Free agency begins March 8th, a little more than 2 weeks away. We need $$$ space. Looking at the numbers on this site: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/chicago-bears/ Aside from reworking Cutler deal, I see the following options: Cut Peppers: dead cap space $8.3mil, Frees up $9.8mil I've said I'm in favor of this and not changing now. Cut Michael Bush: dead cap space $2mil, Frees up $1.85 mil More than enough to sign a replacement capable of getting 3.1 yd/carry and leave at least $800k for other players. Cut Podlesh: dead cap space: $800k, Frees up $1.8mil Find a Punter for closer to minimum salary and we should have ~$500k in change. Cut Weems: dead cap space $500k. Frees up $1.1mil He's not that effective and we should be able to find a replacement for closer to minimum salary and leave a $500k in change. Cut Earl Bennett: Frees up $2.45mil. While I hate to see Earl go he's injury prone and if Marquess Wilson develops as we expect this should be non-factor. Plus we have others in the wings like Anderson who should be able to provide similar depth now in their second year in Trestman's system. We've discussed all of these options before. It seems at best with this approach, after finding replacement players for P, RB, ST/WR we will have ~$14mil to spend in FA. That's likely not enough to get back our own players such as Melton, McCown, Garza, Britton, Ratliff, Scott, Bowman, Wotton, etc. and the rookies. (I'm assuming the rookie pool fits into that budget as well). Something else will have to be done if we're going to upgrade any position on defense. A couple other options I see are extending Brandon Marshall's contract. Extending Briggs contract. Briggs was still playing at a very high level last year and should be able to continue through 2015 as an effective player. If the price is right I'd do an extension, if he wants $5mil/yr I'd get ready to say goodbye after 2014. I certainly wouldn't mind keeping Marshall around a few years beyond 2014. Change is coming... http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/pat-ki...s-again-are-not

I have always liked Peanut going back to times when he wasn't well liked by everyone on this board. Those who go back that far will know what I'm talking about. He does have an injury history but he has always tried to play through them and gives 100% of effort at all times. Can't ask for anymore than that. While I agree with your last statement for THIS season, the evaluation IMO must go beyond that. I don't know what salary Tillman is seeking but I don't think it's going to be low, I also expect he'll be looking for more guaranteed money of the sort he'll get in a 3yr deal. I don't know, it's just my uneducated guess. The question for me is can we find another CB and DT (or CB/S) for that money that yields a better overall defense than we'd have if that money is used solely to sign Tillman? In this evaluation I consider the quality of the players for length of the contract so at least 2 and maybe 3 years. We don't have a lot of cap space. We do have depth issues all over the field on defense. If his demands are too high for our cap space (even if his expectation is realistic based on the market) and force us to give up on signing another quality player then I'd have to pass. First priority for me right now is fixing the Dline. Having said that I don't think the market for Tillman is going to be very strong but he is going to get some attention especially once the first wave of FA is over. Teams looking for veteran leadership among their secondary and defense overall should see him as a great fit. I'll keep my fingers crossed we can keep him but I'm not optimistic.

Here you go: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...ba-b720f5e730d8 "It's a matter of being able to utilize the people that we have and be ready to do whatever it's going to take with a system that's flexible enough to do it," Trestman said. "It's making sure we have a scheme that can utilize our players and bring the best out of them." Tucker is looking forward to better results in 2014. "We want to be very stout and physical in the run game and then in the passing game be able to pressure with four guys," Tucker said. "Our pressure packages will fit our personnel and be dynamic enough where we can play to guys' strengths and be unpredictable." ------------------------------------------------------------- I have no concerns over us using a 4-3 as our base defense. I wouldn't really care if we went 3-4 as the base. Either way we have a lack of talent and need to plug a ton of holes. I still see us modifying what we do depending on the opponents strengths and weaknesses as per Tucker's statement above. We'll just have to wait and see how much of the Lovie 2 remains. They also haven't said if they are scrapping all the old terminology. I would do that, get a fresh start on everything.

Offseason fluff piece but insight into just how close Long and Mills are as friends. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Bears-...ing-blocks.html

Not sure where you found his forty time at 4.58, everywhere I checked he was around 4.8. Given his size 6'6" and previous weight around 275lbs I'd say he fits the tweener role Tucker is now looking for. In other words he will have a shot at DE from either 3-4 or 4-3 alignments. I enjoyed his article so best of luck to him because we certainly need Dline help.

I thought D.J. Moore was in Lovie's doghouse. I'm also surprised to see him sign Maneri so perhaps he is gong to revise his "Run First" offense in Tampa. I'd say this indicates he'll make a strong push to sign Tillman. If the price is high I think we let him go. ------------------------ http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/rumors The Buccaneers have signed former Bears D.J. Moore and Steve Maneri. The team announced the moves. ------------------------

A scan of the rumors on Walterfootball indicates franchise tags will be placed on: Michael Bennett, Greg Hardy, and Brian Orakpo. I could see the Redskins making that call but Seattle and Carolina both had cap issues so it won't happen without some other decisions.

I like this. Kromer is a perfectionist (or "picky" if using Kyle Long's words). If this coach came in from the CFL and in one season got settled into coaching Kromer's system well enough to get the Oline job full-time I think that means he doing very well. I don't think they'd do this just for show as the guy would have likely stuck around anyway. Having two guys on the staff who can successfully teach Olinemen how to block is a very good thing compared to years past. Key word there being successfully.

Too early, need to see who is putting in the work first. If I had to guess right now it'll be Marquess Wilson. He has the natural talent and has already committed to working out with Marshall, Jeffrey, and Cutler. On top of that he will be in the same scheme as last year with the same players and coaches, On defense we are A) getting a new scheme and likely getting new players at all 3 levels of the defense. I just don't see how that comes together early enough in the season for Bostic to standout. Hopefully in the second half of the season we'll see it. Bostic needs to learn how to stay in his lane. Should be an easy fix and it would be great to see

I stand with you Jason, although I dared to step out and say I disagree with Sam's media blitz approach to something that, in his own words from the Senior Bowl "everybody knew". If everybody knew but nobody cared one way or the other why the problem? I don't know why we are supposed to welcome diversity yet as soon as you disagree with something someone of one group or another does you have turned into a racist or bigot of some sort. I disagree with my wife everyday on something, sometimes on many things. We're still together after 25 years AND I don't hate women. If I didn't want to read diverse opinions of topics, Bears related of course, I wouldn't visit this board daily. If I want to hear nothing but my opinion I'd go talk to myself but it's really hard to get an appreciation and respect for other people and their beliefs when you live in an echo chamber. Unless you are outright harming other people, I can accept those who are different but can't accept those who demand others subscribe only to their way of thinking. If I really don't like what you promote or how you promote it I won't associate with you. That's my freedom of choice and yours as well. Yet it's through the debate over time where an understanding of the other side's views allow one to accept the other, even if they still disagree. Silence the debate through misguided assumptions of motives, harsh rhetoric, and personal attacks and you lose that.

I will add a few thoughts. Last year when I said I didn't want Tebow because of the media circus the word bigot never came up. I know and count among my friends and coworkers many who have a variety of lifestyles ranging active swingers to lesbians and devout religious couples who want nothing to do with either. All visit my house regularly. To my knowledge none of them want their personal lifestyle to be considered as a factor in their employment. I was not against Tim Tebow having and exercising his beliefs anymore than I am against Michael Sam having and exercising his. I just don't think either belong in discussion about how well either can perform on a football field yet that's what this will be as witnessed in the discussions in this thread.

Back to the field and his ability to play and help the Bears…right where the conversation belongs.

I found this article and thought it worth posting. The Bears have been very quiet regarding FA and with their recent contracts have put us in a spot with no cap room. There is no way that is the long term plan so much will be happening behind the scenes starting, as the article states, at the NFL Scouting Combine. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/How-NF...works-2784.html

The fact he had already come out means the scouts and every team already knew he was gay. Yet here we go with the media circus despite the fact it was no big deal for his teammates and coaches. For some reason simply being accepted as a good teammate and for how well he played the game, which was pretty good, was not enough for him. Just like T.O.'s annual circus act at the end of his career I'm done with it. http://www.gbnreport.com 12:01 AM): Top prospect comes out … If the 2014 draft wasn’t already interesting enough, former Missouri DE/OLB Michael Sam has announced that he is gay. Sam reportedly informed his Missouri teammates prior to the start of the season and played the year without incident. Sam had been considered either a late second or early third day prospect for the upcoming draft so it will be interesting to see what impact if any his announcement will have on his ultimate grade. At the same time, expect the league to encourage somebody - anybody - to select Sam in that range to avoid the embarrassment of having the first openly gay draft prospect to be either not selected or to have his grade fall because of his orientation.

This board is not for political discussions but I have to say it is absolutely ridiculous, and really an ignorant statement, to associate the racial bias blacks fought through to how gays are treated today.

I prefer to work with people who want to judged based solely on their performance, not on what they are. My concern is why he feels he must seek out the public spotlight for something so trivial. I think the same about guys like Chris Johnson who is so flamboyant with all his women. He didn't impress me at the draft the day he was chosen and I think despite his talent that focus has hindered him. Maybe it has maybe it hasn't, just giving my opinion. It's a point where the individual is making it more about them than about football and the team. Now if this guys falls in the draft it will be all about how he was discriminated against instead of people evaluating his abilities against other players. If he gets cut it will be discrimination. If he wants to bring this into the locker room with the media I don't want the distraction.

On that I agree except I enjoy researching beyond even the top 100 prospects. There are always players in the top 32 or top 100 I like and dislike. Then on draft day there is always the Bears with their "who" draft pick. Ultimately it's the process of sorting out the talent pool that I enjoy along with seeing how they end up performing once they are in the league. The mock drafts just give me an idea where people think players talent fits into the mix along with some insight into team's needs and draft tendencies (i.e. Raiders' Al Davis liked tall fast WRs even if they can't run routes or catch that well).

Makes sense because everyone re-writes their mocks after the workout results, including the NFL teams. We often see massive changes in players stock both up and down. There's a former Notre Dame LB playing in San Diego who can attest to that. You go with what you know until you know what you didn't know.