AZ54

Carimi deciding to stay in Arizona (a nice play to stay IMO) and keep rehabbing his knee is a bad sign that the knee is not ever going to be right. This guy has been working on his knee since the end of the season so it seems there is more to this injury than we ever expected. I know we have new coaches and they aren't always wed to the former players but now that we can view the majority of the offseason as a whole it's obvious they moved away from Carimi very quickly. I'd say they were willing to give him a chance that the knee would be ok they most certainly weren't going to rely on that hope. Labeling him as the next Marc Columbo may well be appropriate now.

You said Kromer's opinion wasn't valued in the draft process. I disagree and feel the fact he spent so much time with Kyle Long indicates he played the key role in Oline draft decisions...not the final vote but a key role. Don't you think if Trestman was keeping this decision for himself he'd have put more time into the interview with Kyle Long? My experience has been that when managers want more input in hiring decisions they invest more time in the interview process.

Remember, we (the board) have just chosen an OG in the 1st Rd so for building our team who do you want to pick in Rd 2? I'm listing Warford because it was entirely possible Long was chosen to be an OT. As we build our team for the future which player best fits our remaining needs and/or BPA as you see fit. For me the pick is Arthur Brown. With the board having gone OG in Rd 1 I feel we must get best talent available to bring youth to our LB corps. I was against taking him in Rd 1 because I don't think he has what we need to play MLB, but at this point in the draft Brown represents very good value and fills a need.

I expected some votes for Long but based on the initial debates around the pick I felt there would have been a lot more votes for other players. I stuck with my desired pick in Ogletree. Then again it is those of us most disappointed with a pick who tend to raise the issue while those who agree may not post as much in the discussion. I did have Long on my wish list had we traded back to late 1st Rd or early 2nd Rd so he was not a huge stretch IMO. I didn't see any different names requested for the Rd 2 poll so I'm going to put up the poll now.

Gracious even in victory.

You might want to read the stories about Kyle Long's visit to Halas Hall and who he spent the most time with. I think Kromer's opinion on Oline prospects was extremely important to both Emery and Trestman.

Other than getting Marshall's name in there as a former teammate, or alum, of UCF I don't see much connection to Marshall.

Now that we're done with Rd 1 we need to setup our board for Rd 2. We will have our pick of course: Jon Bostic To start off with the board I'll list some of the more prominent names who were chosen after our 2nd Rd pick, and excluding positions we don't need like RB: David Amerson (CB) Arthur Brown (LB) Margus Hunt (DT) Jamar Taylor (CB) Aaron Dobson (WR) Robert Alford (CB) Larry Warford (OG) went 3rd Rd. Any other to put on the list? Any of the above we should remove from our list? Remember I want to target 5-7 for the vote. Again, if it's undecided we'll do a runoff vote.

Ok after a few days I'm calling it. Our official 1st Rd draft pick is: Kyle Long We hit nearly 50% for Long and any subsequent poll with the top two will have Long as the winner, because if nothing else I know I'll be voting for Long over Floyd and that would be over 50%. Next up to build the draft board for our 2nd Rd pick.

I'd like to hear that Cutler is throwing the ball in 2.0-2.5 seconds and players are in the right spot to catch it.

Rookies often sign waivers (i.e. insurance) with the team guaranteeing them to get paid something if they have a serious injury in mini-camps. Not sure how the details all work out on that but it's low risk since there is no contact, just a bunch of guys running around in shorts.

I viewed Ogletree as our SLB starter this season, giving him a year to learn our defense, the NFL game, and bulk up a bit for him to take over as our MLB next season. The Bears could sign DJ Williams to a new deal next year if he's plays well and behaves and put him at SLB.

Hard to believe anyone even considered taking Warford at 22. This was definitely not a typical draft for OG.

First time I ever setup a poll so if this doesn't work right I apologize. I will leave this up for a couple days to collect the votes. If there is not a clear winner (i.e. one player with 50% of the vote) I'll post a final poll with only the top two or three vote getters. From that the winner will be our draft choice. Pixote will be the honorary GM for this. He gets to vote as well but if we have a tie at the end, as GM he will make the final decision on who we draft. On draft day I'd have taken Alec Ogletree and that is where my vote is.

We've been through this many times before. Occasional use of marijuana does not have long term effects. Use it daily and it's a proven medical fact it has side effects that affect judgment and the crystalline structures embedded in the brain tissues can be seen in a scan of the brain. Whether or not half the league uses it, or 90% of the NBA uses it, or any other justification one chooses to use, does not make the people doing so smarter or better players. That's what we're talking about here at the original post calling him a moron. When a players job is on the line and he was not doing all he could have done to improve it's relevant. This is how the example of Lomas Brown played the game: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.thenewsstar.com/usatoday/article/1787107 Ryen Russillo set up Brown by saying he didn't call out his quarterbacks much. But Brown did say there was something he'd do to send a message. "Just let the guy hit him. Just let the D-lineman get a shot on him," Brown said. "I'd make it look good. I had some actor in me." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No matter how bad Scott Mitchell was I would never want that jackass Lomas Brown, or anyone like him, blocking for my team. His issue was really with the head coach who was playing Mitchell over Kreig. He should have had the balls to run over the head coach himself.

A little bit off topic for this but : Has any heard rumors if Dallas traded down with SF with intentions of taking Kyle Long? That scenario makes a lot of sense given their needs, Long's abilities and draft rankings from the pundits, and who the Cowboys ended up drafting with the 31st pick. I'll say that's a typical Jerry Angelo deal there...trade back expecting your guy will be there and then someone grabs him ahead of you then reach a full round early to get some other player just to fill that need. Given what Howie Long said about him going before the 29th pick we can't assume he would have been there for the Cowboys either. I'm really just wondering if perhaps Emery is more in tune with what other teams are going to do than what we saw in the past under Angelo.

Webb has a job solely because of his potential. That's about it. Webb trying to clean up his act is a good thing. We only know his words not his actions. Going to church means nothing to me, especially his choice of one, however it is a valid indication that he is taking different actions in his life. Then again I've known many people who have used going to church as cover to making themselves appear to be better people. Which is why I first stated it means nothing to me. Knowing Webb has had his addictions, or perhaps it's better to say he has abused marijuana and alcohol, fits in well with his performance problems on the field and his attitude off it. An attitude he has been very open to publicizing on his own. What we'll probably never know is if there were signs of this on the field or in practices. It's not hard to know when someone comes to work hungover. Missed blocking assignments, lack of study or focus in meeting rooms, etc. Maybe we now have some insight into why Cutler snapped at him in the Packer game? If I kept getting run over because a guy couldn't get his head on straight enough to do his job at a basic level I'd be pissed off too. I'm going to add more to this: Tice was the head coach during the love boat saga. He always took a meat-headed approach to things like this in Minnesota, or perhaps a frat-boy acceptance of "boys will be boys" fits better. Based on his history there is reason to think Tice ignored signs of these problems with Webb instead of confronting him as he should have done.

It is simply because we are the Bears and we don't know Oline. If Belichik, or even New Orleans where they know (knew) how to grow Pro Bowl talent, had taken him this early it would be lauded as a team, one that knows what it is doing of course, targetting the player they wanted and going after him regardless. Recall the Colts trading up to reach for Dwight Freeney..... much to our dismay. They were already a playoff team so they were a "smart team" grabbing the missing piece. I don't worry about analysts because I believe exactly what someone wrote....they rank these guys and then try to find a home for them in the range they have them ranked. But it is their ranking not the teams' rankings. Long was no more reach than half the other taken except the others were ranked their by the pundits. Or the pundits moved them up to that ranking based on the rumors they heard around the league about where they'd go (best example Lane Johnson). Which means they don't stick to their own evaluations either. I like this board in part because I like the evaluations from the fans. We're not all experts but we know football. Now it's time to setup our poll and decide who the board would have chosen in the draft. I need someone who knows how to setup a poll to assist. Right now I need to get some sleep.

Consider what our new coaches have told us, sometimes in very few words: No committment to Urlacher, he got offered a market value deal and he's gone. No committment to Webb, he's kicked to the RT position and Bushrod brought in. No committment to Carimi, all sorts of speculation he'll compete with Webb for RT or backup OT job. Then coach comes out before draft and says he's a guard. People still think it's a smoke screen before the draft to hide our intentions of taking an OG. Then they draft an OG in Rd 1 and a decent OT prospect in Rd 5. No committment to Lance Louis, our best lineman from last season, he gets what appears to be a modest or low offer and takes off for warmer climate. No committment to Cutler and...still pending Hester will be our returner. Then he goes out and doesn't do anything at all with the offense while they practice 300 different plays. Skipping the entire initial installation of a brand new offense for a guy who has never mastered the WR role makes no sense if they feel he's still going to play a key role as our 3rd WR. I don't see it and I have no reason to believe these coaches are lying about Hester's role. I have every reason to think every player on the roster knows they have to earn their job this fall. I think that includes Hester.

I know the intent of this is likely players but I believe the biggest offseason acquisition is Aaron Kromer. If we had to look around the league and could only get one guy who could fix our oline who would we have chosen? From a player perspective it is Martellus Bennett. He can block that's a given. Can he run routes and catch? He's had one good year doing so and I believe that continues. We finally have a TE that can do both and this finally gives our offense true play calling flexibility without having to change personnel. It's been a long time since we've had that.

Our LG was horrible last year but let's be clear on Webb...he cannot handle stunts and delayed rushes. He has other deficiencies too and is very susceptible to double moves especially outside rushers who then come back inside. Whatever he deems as his first assignment he goes after it. Dom Capers knows this and abused him left and right last season. You watch highlights of Long and he already gets this, in fact I'd say he's very good at keeping his awareness of the pass rushers all around him despite his limited experience. I suspect, but haven't seen enough of him yet, that Bushrod handles these things far better than Webb even if Bushrod doesn't always have the athleticism to get out wide enough to make the play as well as the elite LT can. That's the whole issue with our oline last year. Nobody knew who on a given play was going to completely whiff on a block. Cutler could have 1 sec to throw or he could have 3 sec to throw but he never knew. If we can stop letting one guy go completely free at the QB then life gets much better overall for the passing game. When speaking of continuity this is the continuity I want to see.

I totally agree with the other risky picks in the top half of the draft. I was very happy when the Lions to Ansah. He could develop but a mere 4.5 sacks in college is not worrisome to me but hey Kiper loves it. Likewise I was happy when the Vikings took Patterson.... a developmental prospect at WR when they needed a good consistent player at the position now. Outside our division....Lane Johnson skyrocketing all the way to top 5 was amazing as three months ago everyone figured he'd there for our pick. This was a draft with no high end blue chip players so teams went with athletic developmental guys early hoping to strike gold. Many will be wrong. Of those I'd say Lane Johnson is one of the safest risks.

You either have the instincts and desire to hit people like that or you don't. It's not something you coach IMO. I prefer having a guy who can and will hit like that and then having to coach him to be a little more cautious than the player who won't tackle like that head on. That's what it takes to prevent the first down on 3rd/4th and short, or TD at the goal line. Show that clip to Aaron Rodgers, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson etc. and they will remember to look around when they try to run, that means take their eyes off the receivers, especially with that kind of closing speed. In the Seattle game it was clear Wilson wasn't worried about Urlacher catching him.

1) Give McCown a little credit for his leadership as his GM has done: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/chalk-tal...d5-70b4159de8fa Emery praised McCown Tuesday, saying: "The thing that I've gained an appreciation for him is how deep his influence is in this building of helping other people get where they want to go. He's one of those guys. He's a glue guy. Tebow has had supporters in the locker room but he has also had equally as many detractors. See the Jets comments when he arrived a year ago. The media circus may not be entirely his fault but the fact remains it impacts other players in the locker room who do not like constant questions about Tebow. 2) Every year Tebow has worked with a QB guru to fix his mechanics and improve his accuracy. That includes starting all the way back to the spring after he was done playing college football and was getting ready for the draft including our own Marc Trestman. Trestman already knows how well he responded to his coaching and what he's capable of. 3) At this point, 3 years into his regimen to improve, Steve Young says he's still at least a couple seasons away from being serviceable as a QB but that he could improve if given the right environment. Given all the facts in his career there is no reason to think he is a capable #2 QB. There is only reason to think he might one day become one. I prefer to go after someone like a Nick Foles, whom the Eagles want to get rid of before embarking on a what everyone admits, even his proponents, must be a multi-year journey for him to become a #2. I wouldn't give up a 3rd pick for Foles though.

I agree with the this: If he earns a starting job in week 1 then it was not a reach. We have enough reasonable competition at the OG spot, albeit not strong competition among Carimi, Slauson, and Britton, for him to have to earn a starting role.