AZ54

He'll be back but he won't be lifting weights between now and then. At least not for the next month. That's going to hurt his ability to keep his weight up, and strength. He bulked up for the combine but never played that heavy. That's not how he wants to enter what figures to be the longest football season he's ever endured.

I looked up Bentley's website and read some of his blog posts. Here's the link in case anyone else is interested (or bored). Some of his comments are a bit odd but he does share thoughts on o-line technique. http://www.o-lineworld.com/profiles/blog/list

I didn't read it that way although for sure Bentley has an investment in seeing Carimi succeed. I didn't see any quote on Carimi saying he wanted to be a starter but I agree that should be his goal. Bentley stated clearly that Carimi must return to the Bears as a better player than he's ever been and it's all on him to put the work in to get there. He also said Carimi may not be with the Bears this season. Carimi recognized that himself and he's working to improve. I would prefer it be at the OTAs but it seems he knew he needed some different training to get his technique in order. I have said I think the organization is moving away from Carimi and I still believe that is true. I have also said I'd love to see Carimi earn a starting role. I still feel that way too because if he does come back and do that then our Oline just got better.

He focused on him too much. I still remember him throwing over a wide-open at the 10 yard line to force a pass to Marshall who was in triple coverage. Would Rodriguez have scored? No, but he could have had the first down.

Next I'd like to see Melton sign a long term deal. I wouldn't mind adding a DT to the mix but we'll have to see what is available in a couple weeks.

Again, and you said this in one of your other posts, have they even seen a healthy Carimi practice? According to Carimi the answer is no.

I want ot add that it is not my preference that Carimi gets cut or traded. I said a few weeks ago that I hoped he earned a starting role. I'm just trying to read the tea leaves from all the quotes and facts about what happens in practice, who or what position we drafted, etc. I had one more point that helped me come to my conclusion that the team is done with Carimi... -------------------- I can't find the quote right now but recently Kromer (I'm pretty sure it was him) said that he really liked Slauson because he was strong and had the ability to quickly anchor and set the pocket. He continued with how important that was in pass protection especially up the middle. --------------------- Consider that with what Carimi struggle with the most last year as player after player walked him backwards into Cutler. Further it seems that Job #1 with this offense is the short passing game. Which means the above is what coaches want first out of their Oline. I did find an interview of Kromer's after rookie mini-camp where he stated that he couldn't care less if a guy was drafted in Rd 1, round 7, was an undrafted FA, or had been cut by 8 teams, he just wanted the best combination of 5 linemen to start. He is not bothered at all if we cut a former 1st Rd pick. That comment also was different as most coaches say they want the best 5 players out there. He wanted the best combination of players who could work together to consistently block from the inside out. He also (like any coach) wants versatility in players in case of injuries. Again, if they don't see Carimi as OG/backup OT as I expected he could be then I'd say a guy like Mills who they've already stated can play both OG/OT has the upper hand in getting a roster spot.

We have to give some credit to Emery (and in the past JA) because we don't get these deals done by being cheap. Cliff does a great job of assessing the market and we pay a little above average. I know the slots are all bracketed but there is still some wiggle room and there are quite a few teams the try to squeeze all they can out of that.

After thinking about this some more I'm in agreement...he's gone. The real clue for me is the recent talk of the coaches about how high they are on Mills and (more key) that he can also play OG. I think the club is looking at (look the other way Jason): OTs as Webb, Scott, Bushrod...with Webb or Scott being the backup OT. OGs as Slauson, Long, Mills. Garza is our C and EWilliams backs him up that's the 8 in the box. Competing for backup roles at OG (with some flexibility to play OT) are Brown, Carimi. Toss in Lonergan the UDFA who I believe will give EWilliams serious competition for the backup OC role. Toss in the fact that Kyle Long is being put at RG and Slauson is clearly LG. Carimi flipped back and forth in practices before the draft but look who he rotated with .... http://www.chicagobears.com/news/chalk-tal...d5-70b4159de8fa "Gabe Carimi has been working with the second team at both guard positions, flip-flopping with Derek Dennis" "The No. 1 offensive line Tuesday was comprised of Slauson and James Brown flip-flopping between the two guard positions" The writing was on the wall before the draft. Now add Kyle Long and Mills to that OG mix and you see where Carimi is in the eyes of this coaching staff. If all Carimi is going to be is a bottom of the depth chart Oline player then I'd say we should go after a trade. That assumes we like the long term upside of Jordan Mills more than Carimi, which appears to be the case after Emery's comments http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...07-a034439135c2 "...and Jordan Mills from Louisiana Tech who we like a bunch both as a guard and a tackle." Thus Mill's make the roster because I don't think he would make it to the practice squad before getting picked up by another team. Carimi's best decision is to not risk any injury in practice at all to maximize his trade value and Emery's best decision is to talk him up.

Yes, your statement is correct with respect to Carimi's perspective. But when you consider the team's perspective there is no way this is the ideal situation for Carimi. If his knee were 100% he'd be at camp learning the new offense because that would be what is best for him when he knows he has to compete to earn a roster spot. If what is best for him at this point in the offseason is to rehab the knee then that is not a good sign, but you are correct it may well be what is best for him personally because in his perspective his career is longer than just this upcoming season. Right now with the Bears his career might be no longer than 3 months even if he were at minicamp.

The stat you want to see is average time to QB pressure. The new coaches are focused on making sure we don't give up early pressure on the QB. That should help him get set, read the defense, and find the target.

Or to nobody being able to catch a pass. Cutler does hold onto the ball too long at times but he also had to take his eyes off the WR too early due to pass rush. We can't know now (without watching all the game tape) if he'd have thrown the ball at the 2sec point but had to pull it down and move around the pocket and then pick a secondary target or force it to Marshall as he did far too often. Again, lots of factors and simplifying down to just one or two data points won't tell the whole story.

I would say that is a possibility however, if you are the Bears and are trying to trade why publicize that he is still rehabbing a knee injury from two seasons ago? That makes no sense so I think the whole rehab story is legit and I think Carimi does feel his best chance to get the knee right is here in Arizona (for whatever reason). In other words at this point Carimi is more concerned with the health of his knee than he is with learning the Bears new offense likely because he feels his future is going to be with another team. Not sure if the team feels that way as well but they certainly went out of their way to put new talent at every position on the line except OC.

At the moment he has not been handed a starting job and I like that as I prefer all rookies earn it including Kyle Long. Quotes from the last couple days indicate Bostic is going to compete for a starting job but there's no reason he can't start learning some special teams as well. Charles Tillman plays a lot of special teams for us. Julius Peppers plays a little bit too. I'm certain if Bostic earns a starting role his special teams duties will get reduced.

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.