AZ54

I was also very impressed with Corey Wooton. On a few plays he made Clady look like Webb beating him to the outside forcing Clady to hold him (literally grab him around the body). On another play he beat him on a good inside move to get early pressure on Manning who had to release the ball early. He played better than Izzy and if this continues I can see him challenging for playing time at Izzy's expense.

Blew out his hamstring and needs surgery. They also have trouble at LT and are now testing a few different backups at the spot including Andrew Datko.

I think if he were done for the season we'd see more activity in terms of bringing in more FAs to camp in the hopes of uncovering a decent LB for depth. I can't believe we'd be that satisfied with the depth on the current roster to sit back and do nothing. The fact we're not doing that tells me Urlacher's issue isn't that serious. I tend to think he's had some minor procedure, perhaps removing scar tissue makes sense, or something along those lines, and he'll be back to work in a few weeks. If true then I hope he's ready by the Packers game in week 2. IIRC every report in training camp said he was moving well and if he wasn't they couldn't have covered that up, it would have been a big story from day one.

Did you really say he has to compete with Cindy Rice? Among other problems, Rice's non-stop injury parade is the reason they have to go out and drag WRs off the street into training camp last minute.

After seeing the recent highlight video of practice and watching Peppers pancake him in three steps I am highly doubtful. I was going to post that link for Jason but then I figured it would fall under cruel and unusual punishment.

I was surprised to read that quote too. Bodes well for our future if this trend with good young talent continues. Even our late round rookie CBs seem to be doing well. Next up....can Emery draft a good LB?

T.O. will fit perfectly into that 3-man rotation/competition they have at QB in Seattle. I can't imagine a better scenario for us to sit back and enjoy.

If SMC puts up 8-10 sacks this year he's not going anywhere but DE next year. We'll be drafting a LB in Rds 1 or 2 next year. We'll be drafting a safety too because we always do that.

Davis equals cheap insurance policy. Why not bring him in and let him compete for the last roster spot?

I said it in the offseason...it is going to be much harder for teams to leave CBs solo covering either of these guys just because of their ability to break tackles. Add in Hester running around the field too and it becomes a big challenge.

We have a tall TE in Davis who can either be an inline blocker or come off the line (now that Tice is willing to throw to the TE) and need to be covered too. I would think that forces a LB and/or S to read a key before reacting and anything that causes hesitation by a defender will help goal line runs.

Yes, gotta give them the generic email address so they can spam you. I forgot about that.

McClellin makes eye-opening plays at Bears' practice http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,4607155.story

You only make that move if Webb has the upper hand in the competition.

Can't wait to give GB a dose of their own medicine.. "In a live goal-line drill Tuesday, Cutler rifled a perfect back-shoulder touchdown pass to Marshall" In other news Jennings is having a very good camp showing much better ball skills than last year. His competition, Hayden, has also done some good things against Brandon Marshall. Even Frey has looked good in coverage. Could we finally have some depth at CB this year? http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=8935

I think the article was written because it is what is happening in practices. I agree with your statement on Urlacher, another talented player forced to switch positions in the NFL and it took him time before he settled down. If SMC is a situational pass rusher this year then I'm ok with that. If he's a situational pass rusher 3 years from now then I'm not. We've only had three practices in pads so far and zero games. It's obvious SMC has the work ethic to improve and I think he will, and well before 3 seasons have gone by but it won't be right out of the gate. Why isn't there as much hand-wringing about Alshon Jeffrey getting manhandled in press coverage? Because we expect WRs to take time to develop and get used to the pro game.

link http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82ae...leading-rookies

Keep stirring...

Nope, I fully expected he'd struggle in run defense. What I was hoping for is that he'd show the quick burst and ability to turn the corner and that reportedly has been apparent to everyone at camp. That burst is something we didn't have on the roster and is not something you can coach into a player. Knowing he can secure the outside edge is enough to keep a guy like Rodgers from rolling out of the pocket to his right which he loves to do to extend plays. Of course that means he was rolling away from Peppers. I think this will also give the guys on the inside another half second or more to get to the QB as well. What else I like is SMC's work ethic. During interviews it is obvious how hard he was working, plus his honesty is his performance and expectations for himself. With no expectations of having anything handed to him, he'll improve as the season goes along.

Otah hasn't played much in the last 3 seasons and still can't pass a physical. I know we need Oline help but I don't see how he helps us this season. Or do we sign him to a contract, pass a physical and then put him on IR with intentions of letting him rehab for a year and then compete for a job next season.

One of the reports I saw yesterday (can't recall where) said historically Tice has made decisions on Oline early in camp. We might not be waiting that long to find out who our starters are.

I read somewhere he is still running with a limp because his leg muscles are not all firing correctly. I don't expect him back at all this year, if ever.

I'm ready. Questions: Does Shea McClellin have enough speed and quickness to get around the corner? Can our safeties play? Can Webb or Williams standout enough to flat-out win the LT spot? Where will Alshon Jeffrey fit in among the WRs and how well does he know the playbook?

Cutler will be at least $15mil/yr probably more but he won't get extended this offseason as he has a deal for 2 years. I think the money goes elsewhere first. Urlacher is a tough call. If he's playing well this year I'd like to see the Bears given him a 2yr extension mid-season. I can't recall how much cap space we have left but it would be nice to roll his bonus into this year. Melton is the other player I'd like to see the Bears lockup early (assuming he's playing well). Even if he is playing similar to last year's performance I still think we must have him around for depth the following years. In that case his extension shouldn't cost too much and if it does demand big money it will likely be best to get it done earlier than later. I don't want to go into next offseason with big Toe and Paea as our only DTs on the roster. How much leverage will Melton have then if he's played well?

It's the reading comprehension thing I guess I missed on in grade school but these words were in the original post which you agreed with: ----------------------------- "They’ll compete for a wildcard this year if all these things go well for them, but they are NOT a threat to the Packers in the NFCN. GB wins the division this year by 3 games. At the very least." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All things weren't going well for us last year and we competed very well for the division title until week 10. In week 1 we started Webb at LT. Then we lost Carimi for the season. Then we put Omiyale at RTurnstyle which then forced us to put our still learning RG at RT. In week 2 we lost our best WR Bennett for something like 6 games. In week 5 Peppers almost blew out his knee and was never the same the rest of the season. Clearly it all went downhill once Cutler went down but until that point we were competing despite some very significant losses on a roster with no depth at many positions. We still have holes at starting positions and spots with little depth but we have improved in many areas. I think we can tolerate losing Cutler for a few games much better than last year. We can lose Earl Bennett for a few games much better than last year. With Alshon Jeffrey we could probably survive losing Marshall for a few games too. I don't see Tice having to be a perfect play caller to be better than Martz was. As if that's such a high threshold. Packer fan says we are ZERO threat to their team and I disagree. They are the better team but 3 games better? I haven't even gone into their weaknesses and in typical Packer see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil style neither did he/she.