AZ54

Few thought Emery would fix the Oline in one offseason but he got it done. We have a ton of cap space, something like $50mil, just a lot of positions to fill and Cutler just took up a big chunk. I see no reason we can't replace Tillman's $8mil/yr salary by signing Jarius Byrd, if we want to. I agree, we won't get 6 defensive starters out of the draft but two is a realistic possibility. What we will have is more youth and hopefully better talent in our depth. That's where the previous GM fell short…lack of drafting good talent that could fill out our depth chart. The youth movement also includes players like Bass, Washington and our two LBs from last years draft. Who are the old guys on the defensive side of the ball? The 30 and over crowd includes: Tillman, Jennings, Briggs, Peppers, Ratliff, Hayden, DJ Williams, and Anderson. Bowman is 29. I've made it well known that I would cut Peppers. We reportedly eat $7.5 mil in dead cap space depending on when we cut him but we also free up another $10.5mil. I would like Tillman back by the way but for a lot less money. Emery might be ready to move on from Tillman although he didn't sound that way in his press conference, and he also sounded very positive on DJ Williams but I'd say both are on the fence. Players like Anderson may be gone as we move SMC and Bostic around. Hayden won't be back. Ratliff? Briggs will be back. Realistically the two main players we're talking about are Tillman and Peppers. What happens will depend a great deal on what scheme we transition to, if we change at all.

I finally got a chance to watch the Emery press conference, at least part of it. He has a lot of conviction in terms of building this team and how we came up short this year (not just that we did). If you work for him there is no way you are not uncomfortable about your future. Trestman's generally a quiet guy but got the same sense from him too. We'll see how that translates this offseason. As far as the 3-4 or 4-3. This is what I see that gives us some insight but no detail: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...04-1960071e0fa6 --------------------------------------------------- Moving forward, Emery wants to build a "physical, fast, playmaking defense that causes disruption," something he says he saw in the first three games of the season when the Bears intercepted five passes, recovered six fumbles and scored three defensive touchdowns. "The No. 1 thing is score. The No. 2 thing is to create turnovers. No. 3 is to cause disruption to the opposing quarterback," Emery said. "We have to create more confusion pre-snap and more disruption post-snap on the opposing quarterback." --------------------------------------------------- Not clear that the Lovie 2 defense is gone but seems to indicate he wants a more diverse scheme. If I asked football fans what defense causes the most disruption to what offense's want to do I don't think anyone will say Lovie's scheme but you'll get a lot of "Steelers 3-4" in those answers. One thing to note is the value he places on having the defense score. Something to keep in mind as we head toward the draft because Emery might go after the playmaking DB first. We are now a week after the season ended and no word on Tucker…so he is still getting "evaluated".

Not at all but that doesn't change the evaluation and the business decision.

In a league where FGs win most games I'll be happy to keep Mannelly around for another season for vet minimum. Vets his age get a reduced cap hit that makes it easier to keep them around. We're not going to save much money so might as well keep him. Hester can go. Hasn't done much at all this season and he does not have the short area quickness that he used to have to break tackles. He's not a bad returner but he also takes far too many fair catches on punts that should be returnable for someone who prides themselves on being an elite returner. My other reason for cutting him is that he's one dimensional (returner) and I want to add a speed WR to our roster to mix in with the big boys. I think Jacoby Ford (or someone like him) can fill this role for us and do KR/PR as well as Hester. Ford is a better WR than Hester ever was but we only need him on offense for maybe 7-15 plays a game. He hasn't done much in his career in Oakland and this past season was a complete disaster. He should be cheap as a FA as long as he understands he's not a #1 or #2 WR. I expect Marquess Wilson to step up next year and with him and Ford out there we become much more explosive. For the rest of the FAs listed in the OP the real topic isn't so much who should be brought back as who should get long term deals. I think we should bring back a guy like Steltz because safety for us is a big need and he plays special teams. That does not mean I wouldn't also like to see us draft some competition for him or sign some other FAs to compete for his role. If he got cut in camp on a contract that had no signing bonus (or very small one) I don't really care. If we don't sign them and go after another similar FA I don't care. Players in the category: Collins, Costanzo, Britton, Garza, Anderson, Wright. Players I'd like to see get long term deals: Wootton, Ratliff (only for 2-3yr because I think he can help solidify a huge need), McCown (2yr). I'd like Melton back but he may end up with a 1yr prove it deal.

It could be argued that paying him $18mil to play next year would be dead cap space. I'll take the $7.5 mil in dead cap space and use the $10.5mil in change to sign a DE and two DTs.

Yes, your a right but we're going to have a youth movement on defense and that means lower cap hits on that side of the ball. Take the cap hit early on Cutler's deal and then in 2-3 seasons his hit drops significantly. I assume with this structure on the salary guarantees if we cut Cutler after two seasons we don't have a lot of cap hit.

I don't think Shea needs someone to light a fire under him. I think he's a hard working straightforward hustle-type player who is stuck out of position and will be better used in space more often than not. I like the guy and I like how he works on the field. Kudos to Emery and Trestman for being willing to admit they have not put him in the right spot (and really shouldn't have drafted him). I don't know if we're going to a 3-4 defense but it sounds as if we're heading toward using some 3-4 concepts next year. Other teams have mixed these concepts albeit none that were dominant. OTOH, if we drop the Tampa-2 style defense I'm not so sure Shea couldn't play MLB for us. There are other options besides just switching to a 3-4.

1) No more excuses for Peppers bad play. Cut block or not he was pushed around most of the day by the Packers and not with double teams. He is not the same player and we don't need that level of play from anyone on our roster much less someone making $18mil. Perhaps I'm the only one who noticed how teams like to run at Peppers this season. It wasn't that way before. Of course they like to run at anyone on our Dline but you'd think if Peppers was anything close to what he's been in past seasons they'd just go take the easy pickings up the middle or off RT. Yet they didn't. Wootton is more than capable of replacing Peppers production (46 tackles, 7.5 sacks) for a lot less money. 2) LT2 has corrected me in the past on this and I'm sure he'll do so again but I'm pretty sure at this point we don't have much of an option on restructuring Peppers deal. Maybe we could do something by extending his deal but after what little he's done this season why in the world would we want to cripple our salary cap 3 or 4 years down the road by doing that? Cut him, take the cap hit and replace his production with someone who makes a few million. Extra cap space freed up goes to fix DT, or even add another DE. Or two because with SMC moving out of DE we need 3 DEs added to our roster unless one of the young guys steps up.

Very interesting. We paid more for Cutler than I wanted, especially in the first 3 years but after reading this I think I understand why. By making Cutler's contract no bonus he skipped getting his big paycheck all at once but is guaranteed that cash over only the next 2 seasons as of Mar 2014. Essentially we have a way out albeit an expensive one. As of Mar 2015 we must guarantee the third year of his deal. Compared to Flacco's deal....Flacco got $30mil in year 1 versus Cutler $22.5mil. In year 2 Flacco gets $21mil Cutler $15.5mil. Hard to say that's not the market where Cutler fits in. I'm sure more clarity will show up on this soon but it appears Cutler has taken some risk of getting cut and losing money with this deal. In exchange for that little bit of escape clause we end up paying more money per season for his services in the first 3 years. Both sides give up some of what they wanted. What stands out most to me is that by avoiding the massive signing bonus we should have more cash on hand to give out some significant signing bonuses to some FAs. Need to see what we did with Jennings and Slauson and tally all this up but I'd say by going this route the Bears paid Cutler more than they wanted per season in exchange for having some money available to fix the defense this offseason. The Bears are a family run organization that does have the deep pockets some other owners have.

There has been a lot of silence out of Halas Hall regarding coaches so far. I know Trestman had some statements in support of Tucker during the season but what else could he do? Ok, he could have fired the guy and promoted a guy like Hoke to finish up but that doesn't appear to be Trestman's or Emery's style. Both will evaluate a body of work. That tells me this is not settled (that he's staying) because they'd have to come out with strong statements by now supporting him if they were. I'm not saying he's gone either just that I believe Emery and Trestman are undergoing a process of deciding where they want to go. If so, that process should include looking at who else is available. Fingers are crossed we get good news.

This is Detroit we're talking about. When asked if he would work with a QB coach this offseason to improve his mechanics Stafford bluntly stated: “Probably not,” Stafford said. “It’s not something that I feel would be my style or beneficial to me.” Their arrogance is not going to change in one offseason.

Not sure what we save by getting rid of Podlesh but it should be about 10 yds net on each punt.

When you look at how best to stabilize the backend of the defense I think adding Byrd makes the most sense. I don't know if Tillman will be back but even if he is at his age we have to think missing games due to injury is likely. I believe Jennings and Bowman will be back. Bowman should be back, he (finally) played well for us and having him around next year will give us solid depth. Tillman has been one of my favorite players since all the way back when most Bears fans didn't like him because he was too slow to cover the smaller quicker WRs that were the trend at the time he started his career. The league transitioned to his better matchup with bigger WRs. Nonetheless, if a reasonable contract can't be done and he wants a home town bonus ala Urlacher and Kreutz it is time to move on. If it's a question of paying Tillman or Byrd I'd take Byrd and draft a rookie to replace Tillman.

It will make no difference whatsoever to sports because nobody I know gives a d*** one way or the other. Back in the 1970's it was news for those of us old enough to remember. In 2014 it's a little late to the scene unless someone, or some people, just want attention for themselves. Just win football games, eh?

It seems a little high for a kicker, even one with Gould's talent who knows how to kick in Soldier Field. When you look at points/$ spent he has put up 78pts as compared to Brandon Marshall with 77pts for about 1/3 of the money. Granted Marshall does the grunt work getting the team in FG or TD range so he earns that extra cash over Gould. Compared to Peppers's $$$$/sacks he's a huge steal.

One thing in our favor for the defense: Everyone is down on the Bears right now after the showing at Philly. We've already played the Packers, and in fact we've played against this same offense for years. When you consider Briggs was in his first game back at Philly he was against an offense he had never seen before. Yes he was rusty but he was also among the lost out there. He has played Green Bay and knows exactly what they will do. I expect Briggs to have a much better game and also to have a much better impact on the rest of the defense in terms of alignment and assignment. The others, having been run over multiple times by Lacy should also be fully ready for what's coming. I'm not saying we'll shut them down. That's not possible with this group. I do think we'll be more competitive than everyone is expecting and this will give our offense a chance to win it for us but it will still take at least 30pts to do so. That's territory this offense is capable of.

The best near term scenario is keeping Cutler. He is not going to command a huge contract. For one thing he is still one of the most hated players around the league among fans. I still hear crap about him every day at work from Cardinals fans of all places. The translation here is that a new head coach and GM on the bottom 10 teams, among those needing a QB, is more likely to hitch his wagon to a young rookie QB and/or the mid-tier vet FA QB rather than go down the rabbit hole with Cutler. I don't think Cutler's value will be as high as some might be thinking among FAs. Now he's still starter material in the league and will attract some attention but it is more likely with the middle tier teams that can compete for the playoffs if they have a decent QB. Teams like Minnesota fit this scenario. Yet these teams, like the Bears are more likely to hedge their bets on the "iffy" vet QB (Cutler, Schaub) and won't offer a top tier contract. They are going to look for the same thing the Bears should want: ~3 years of production and time to find the next QB. If Cutler pans out you pay him early and keep him. Quality backup QBs are always a valuable trade commodity. Even if it were a bottom 10 team that went after him, like the Jaguars, I can't see them throwing $17+mil/yr for 5 years at Cutler thinking he'll fix all their problems when they know he might cause just as many as he fixes. That's where I see the market for Cutler. I also believe Cutler knows his best chance to have elite success in the near future is with the current system and players he has around him. I believe he wants his name "cleared" far more than people realize. They will get a deal done that works for both sides because it makes sense for both sides. If in 3 years it hasn't worked out Cutler will still be young enough to get another decent deal and opportunity elsewhere.

I agree but what worries me most is the lack of progress. Bostic, Greene, No-name DTs continue to make the same mistakes. Nobody expects things to be great with this roster but somewhere in some aspects we should be seeing some progress. I can't point to anything that has improved from 8 weeks ago when Briggs went out.

I agree on Bostic. He has not progressed at all in terms of his reads, and even if he does read the play correctly usually overruns the play allowing the cutback. Very disappointing season from him.

I agree with that. It's why I preferred we get Wootton out of the DT business as soon as possible. Better to have one or two weak spots up the middle on run downs than three across the entire front.

Well said. Not sure if it was Tucker, Trestman, or Emery who decided to continue with the Lovie 2 because of our veterans. Likely it was all 3 on board with the decision, and I did not disagree with it. We got burned by injuries and age and so the gamble failed. Tucker may have been technically able to coordinate that D but he was not a disciple of it and so can't be expected to teach the nuances as well as a coach with years of experience in it. We gambled on our defensive veterans and it didn't work out. As soon as our season is done Trestman needs to decide on what defense we're going to run. Tucker is not the right coordinator to run Lovie's D. Then what is Tucker's preferred defense? Don't know, but if he's not the right man for the D Trestman wants to run let's move on. I don't care if we go 4-3 or 3-4, one-gap or two-gap. Either can be successful just get the right talent and the right coordinator to run it. Some 3-4 defenses use cover 2, some use man on the corners. I don't so much care about the backend as I believe it all starts up front and there is where we are getting killed on D. Contracts forced Emery's hand on this because he couldn't commit to long term new deals, or at least he stayed away from it by avoiding restructuring aside from Peppers. Regardless, we are set up for a major transformation on D this offseason let's get after it.

Yes, just take care of business in Philly and then again next week.

Why not? Because I don't think we need to sell out the defense to improve our offense in the ways mentioned. As stated, with Garza at C we're the leagues 2nd best offense in pts/gm and 7th in yds/gm. Would I like to see an upgrade over Garza? Absolutely. Can Kromer find that guy late in the draft or in FA? I believe he can. Speed WR? I'm thinking like Jason here: Find another Johnny Knox in Rd 4/5. 2nd TE? Same thing, grab him in Rd 4 or 5. We don't need a stud here, not even a guy who is a good blocker but one who can go out and catch some passes and occasionally hold a block on the edge. The edge blocking in helped dramatically by guys like Marshall and Jeffrey so we have wiggle room here in terms of player capabilities we need. Again, of those 3 needs I believe at least one will be filled by a vet FA. Jacoby Ford will be a UFA. He's fast and he's also been a very poor performer as a WR. He's also been injured. I don't watch Raiders games so I won't say he's what we need but his 4.3 speed would look great in the open field underneath some deep routes run by Marshall/Jeffrey. He can replace Hester as a KR too. I'd say goodbye to Weems too. There will be options for us without a huge investment in either money or high draft pick and with this offense we now have a place for WRs to come to if they want to succeed in their career. That doesn't hurt the recruiting process. In doing this we keep the big money and high draft picks available to rebuild the D.

We need both another WR option as a TE and a speedy WR for the slot. One or both should be something we can address in FA for a reasonable cost. I should say we need to fill a couple needs via FA, it could be either the above or DL, CB, S. Phil has to figure out the best balance of FA talent versus draft talent.

That would be a bend but don't break defense combined with an offense that struggles in all aspects.