AZ54

This is likely a no-risk signing or at least very small risk in terms of guaranteed money. No reason not to do deals like this with players who showed potential. Remember we traded for him right before the season started so he missed all of training camp. A full offseason to learn the offense should help him but I'm not very high on his potential. I expect he will find some competition for his job when he gets to training camp.

With the recent change allowing for lower cap hits for veterans than what their salary is we can more just as easily secure backup Oline talent via FA. Not saying I wouldn't like to see a couple young guys waiting in the wings but it isn't mandatory to get it via the draft. Regardless, I think we need to keep exploring both options to build the Oline depth. First time in a decade all we're worried about with the Oline is depth.

I like the signing, 1yr deal fits both team and player's performance IMO.

No. Too much talent in this draft to do that and we have too many holes. Clowney hasn't impressed me this year at all in the few times I watched him on the field. Whether that is due to injuries or not, he just looked average or even lackadaisical. Plus I don't like all the reports on his lack of work ethic either. Would I take him if we were holding the 5th pick, absolutely. But not giving up our draft for him given all the holes we have on D. This is also in part due the highly unusual fact that our offense is ready to win now. If our window of opportunity were further down the road I might consider the deal. In this case I want the best D we can get on the field in 2014 and 2015. I think Clowney won't grow up and realize his true potential until he gets closer to the end of his first contract. A guy like Donald, Jernigan will (since we're usually talking DT with our first pick).

I'm good with either Donald or Jernigan in Rd 1. I think we will have at least one of them there, if not both, when we pick. Different style players but the positives with either are something we can build around. I consider Jernigan more of a NT in the way Ratliff was in his prime. Regarding Michael Bennett: If the cap savings we get from cutting Peppers (assuming we cut him) only net us enough to pay Michael Bennett then we need to go another direction with that money. I'd rather get two or three good FAs versus just one very good one, and rely on the draft to bring in the very good talent. Bennett is a not elite enough to get that much money and having just won a Superbowl usually entices some team to overpay. I hope it isn't us.

If he ever learns how to play DE we could have a pretty good one in Washington. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/nfl-dra...ays-from-monday The best time this century for a defensive end at the combine came in 2002 when UAB's Bryan Thomas, at 6-4, 266, was clocked in 4.47 and was the 22nd overall pick (New York Jets). Clowney's 10-yard split was 1.56 seconds. Three others had a 4.53 -- Lawrence Sidbury Jr. (6-3, 226, Richmond, fourth round, 125th overall to Atlanta); and two in 2013 -- Margus Hunt (6-8, 277, SMU, second round, 53rd overall to Cincinnati), and Cornelius Washington (6-4, 265, Georgia, sixth round, 188th overall, Chicago).

http://walterfootball.com/combinerumors.php Chicago Bears: I gushed over Aaron Donald's performance at the Senior Bowl and have been told to expect much of the same during his combine workout on Monday. Donald, a 500+ pound bench presser, is expected to total in the mid 30's on the bench then run his forty somewhere in the 4.7's after tipping the scales in the low 290-pound area. I'm told Donald will also put up some pretty spectacular times in the agility drills. Where could Donald end up in May? After the combine we said teams late in the first round would have to start giving the Pittsburgh lineman consideration but recent rumblings have the Chicago Bears very interested in his services with the 14th pick of round one.

I agree … if we want a run stuffer go with Jernigan. If we want pressure up the middle go with Donald. In many ways Donald reminds of Dwight Freeney. Undersized and everyone kind of said great athlete but too small to be successful, then he just blew away the combine. Then he went after NFL QBs relentlessly. I saw some comment that Jernigan was often the last man off the snap so no shocker to see his 10yd split. Yet he's a beast to move out of the way even when he's double teamed and there's a lot to be said for having a guy like that in the middle. I went back and watched some highlights of Donald. He's a beast even when double teamed (see plays against Miami that almost went for a safety). It is almost comical to see what happens when teams pull the OG in front of Donald.

Been saying we need to add a speed guy out of the backfield. Mentioned D'Anthony Thomas as one target for the late rounds. Archer is likely going higher that a 4th Rd. DAT only ran a 4.5 forty which will only make him fall to the late rounds but I've seen him too many times blow past people and know he's faster than that. However it shakes out would love to see us add some serious speed to our offense.

…. with two Olinemen hanging on him.

I used to think I was the only one stunned that Urlacher didn't get any interest from any other team, then I listened to Urlacher on TV and realized he too was surprised. 32 teams, none of which got better with Urlacher. It is interesting that we look back at a MLB who was known for not being able to get off blocks by Olinemen and think he would have somehow been able to do so with street FA DTs playing in front of him. Had Urlacher been subjected to all that abuse he'd have wished he retired. We'd have been better with him than Bostic in the middle but not much.

http://www.chicagobears.com/team/roster.html Wootton per the team's site and I hate the fact that I always have to look up how to spell his name. I have no issues if Ealy is our pick at 14. It's hard to find pass rushers off the edge but if Jernigan is there too I think I'd take him. It's harder to find inside pass rushers and if you don't get any pressure up the middle then pressure off the edge is easily defeated.

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. ------------------------