AZ54

A lot of money has to be moved around to make that happen and it probably makes signing Urlacher a remote possibility.

It's Sunday.... two days before FA signings start. There is absolutely no way the always exceedingly-prepared and mission-focused Phil Emery has not renegotiated some contracts. I'm not expecting any comments but had to put this in writing. If I'm wrong I'll eat a Road Runner (instead of crow because we do have them running around out here).

What we don't know is if Kromer sees something simple he feels he can fix to improve his pass protection. Clearly Boothe has enough athleticism in the video to be good at pass protection. He did well on initial double teams and then quickly peels off to the second level block. Of course that was a highlight video not a lowlight video so I take it with an open mind.

Ryan Swope is worth watching.

If we tender him don't we lock up cap space? I'm thinking the Bears would like to have him back but need space right now to go after their priority FA.

Due diligence means assessing what your competition is going to do. If Phil is smart any info he can glean from agents about who is interested in their client and what type of contract terms they are discussing (even a range) helps us plan in terms of other teams cap space and priorities. If we are content with OG Moore and other teams want him too but their priority is to first sign one of the WRs it might help us get the deal done quicker.

I've been on board with the second tier FA OG for some time. Can't see us breaking the bank for the top guy when we need to fill a lot of spots. If Moore gives us two good seasons, and that's two good seasons for Kromer to find and develop his replacement then I'm good with it. Add in the extra cap space to sign Jared Cook and it's a no brainer. Still gotta draft an OG in Rd 1 or 2.

Exactly why I come to this board every day! I don't care what the pundits say anymore they usually are so far behind what we're covering on this board it's worthless. In fact a few years back we were suspecting someone was writing articles for a major Chicago paper based on our discussions. The only thing I want out of ESPN et al is the latest news on signings and of course some rumors as those guys are often connected to front office insiders. That stuff we always get for free as they can't keep it locked up for more than 5min these days.

The problem the Titans have is that Cook has a choice to make and he might go where he thinks he'll get the best opportunity to be a star.

There is some suspicion the Chiefs might have tagged Albert in order to find a trade partner. Naturally the Bears are rumored to be at the top of that list but with no 3rd Rd pick this season, plenty of Oline spots to fix, several decent FA options, and limited cap space I don't see it. Maybe someone else will make the trade but I don't see the value in it for us.

Read this and I'm wondering if Hester is about to sign a modest contract extension, one that will pay him to simply focus on being a KR/PR? ----------------------------------------------------------- http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears When we last heard from Chicago Bears returner/receiver Devin Hester, he had backed off his threat to retire but was still suggesting he might benefit from a fresh start with another franchise. Tuesday, Hester used a post on his Instagram account to imply he has had a change of heart. Hester The post read: "For all my Bears fan #yes. I'm a bear 4 life.# Beardown!!!!! -------------------------------------------------------------- I've said Emery must be working on finding more cap room. I'm not a cap enthusiast but I'd guess we could gain some room if we gave Hester a modest 3 year contract extension.

Most of the teams ahead of us need help at a lot of positions or they wouldn't be ahead of us. In a deep Oline draft they might prefer to grab from the top 2 of some other positions that are available but there is much less depth behind them and then grab Oline in Rd 2.

I absolutely hope someone takes Austin ahead of us as it makes it more likely one of those falls to us.

Is this a thread for WWLD? (what would Lovie do?)

If you are Mike Martz it's not very important. I think if you are Trestman it's important as I think he understands how to isolate players in better 1on1 situations. Based on the actions we've seen ....Martz was more interested in running "his" offense while Trestman is more interested in running an offense that fits his players and takes advantage of the defense's weakness. How many weeks did Martz spend designing plays to fit his players' strengths? He was more worried about finding players that fit his plays. Add in that Trestman doesn't seem too concerned about hitting the big play. He seems to understand the need to force a D to defend the entire field but isn't concerned about forcing 20 yard plays. Rather he's content to take whatever the D is giving up and he could dink and dunk on a 20 play drive for a TD.

Interesting thoughts, and based on that he seems to be a solid fit for what we need....good OG who could possibly fit at OT in a year. I see concerns over his height but if he's athletic enough I'd think he could have the knee bend to get low enough to make it work.

Can't say I recall DJ's name mentioned too often on special teams. Hard to support that on game day and he was never going to be a good cover guy on the outside. Despite some of his good play at NB, both of those factors impact game day rosters and I think the team decided to go with more versatile players. http://www.chicagobears.com/team/roster/dj...6-f3e71da67384/ ..."Credited with 6 special teams stops"... That covers his pro career!

He could get WR money but if he does it will be a contract similar to what we gave Bennett. After watching what we got from our $2.5-3mil to Kellen Davis I'd say that's ok. Bennett's deal was done with a lot of incentives Cook will probably want more upfront and less incentives but still reasonable. The combination of Cook and Rodriguez should be a good mix especially with Rodriguez already having spent some time in the FB role (poorly used H-back IMO). I think Trestman will take care of that. http://chicago.sbnation.com/chicago-bears/...nnett-extension Grab a good OG in FA and we look good going into the draft. It completely removes TE from the draft needs IMO as we can go with Spaeth, Cook, Rodriguez. I'm not sure we could do much more than this as we need to sign two FA LB -- either Url/Roach or Roach plus another FA LB. Emery definitely keeps a lid on rumors as I can't believe we are not renegotiating some contracts right now.

Surprising. Opens up the early part of the draft a bit.

Of course nobody could catch him in high school and few could catch him in college. That changes at the NFL level. Do you think Austin can handle a lot of hits over the middle? There's a reason Desean Jackson won't go over the middle. I don't see that but if he got 7 touches a game he's able to make a couple big plays. I need to watch some highlights of Austin in college to see how he was used.

How about a little context here: Is this your opinion of where he should be lined up in the NFL? Or a statement of where he played at Oregon? Most of the draft profiles I've read on him have him projected to be an OT because of his athleticism. I could certainly see him starting out in the NFL as a G to gain more experience. I agree Armstead is a more of a project than Long.

That little aspect of the CBA I did not know, thanks. Makes sense for the Dolphins to take a wait and see approach but still I'm surprised they aren't more vocal in stating their desire to have Long return but then again I don't read much news on the Dolphins. Perhaps they are planning to take a wait and match approach but they also have Jonathan Martin so they may not even want to spend much beyond that reported $6-7 mil/yr offer they've already extended. They may view that money as better spent elsewhere for players like Mike Wallace.

I would like to hear some thoughts on drafting him with our pick in Rd 2? One of the mocks on Walterfootball has us taking him there. There's not a lot of game tape on him but he seems to have the athletic skills you need at OT. We need to be talking about the 2nd Rd OTs because if we go best available in Rd 1 as Emery and Trestman said they want to do, then this is a realistic possibility. Also in this area is Terron Armstead who opened some eyes with his faster than Te'o 4.71 forty.

I don't see him as average....as Jason says he's too inconsistent... like most of our Oline. You just can't completely blow a block once in awhile because then the QB can't count on you. If it consistently took him 3 sec to get beat then Cutler can have that clock in his head. Then of course he'd be average.

I still view that as a problem. If you viewed him as a top tier LT wouldn't you pay him the big $$? This is not a situation where they are trying to negotiate. They apparently have made a couple offers and are way off what Long wants but I don't know what was on the table. It's just odd that they have quit talking to Long but like someone else said they are cleaning house down there so maybe it isn't so odd.