AZ54

I'm not that worried about Broyles. WRs from spread offenses don't do too well early in their career in the NFL. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/939686-...a-major-concern "many of those receptions were bubble screens, quick slants or other short-yardage passes?" He hasn't been a threat all over the field and he'll find things a little bit different with NFL LBs bearing down on him on those quick slants.

The problem is Harris cannot do any more than that so if someone gets injured you are in a bad spot. I see the Bears waiting this one out before calling Harris. Or if they do sign him they will still be looking to replace him if some vets get cut this summer.

I am also very impressed by his words.

You might want to look into some of those legendary players and their lifestyle before making a comment like that. If someone is harassing Cutler, and hanging out in front of his house all day is harassment IMO, then he is right to use his freedom of speech to tell him off....or flip him off. Urlacher had an illegitimate baby with a stripper. Do we burn our jerseys? Briggs trashed his Lamorghini on a freeway and ran off...time to sell season tickets? If you want to go back to the days of the '85 Bears the stories just get worse. Go back further the Bears storied history and you'll find guys like Ditka who was no choir boy when out on the town. Why even think about anything throwback? With that expectation for everyone I think you will find it hard to support any sports team anywhere. t succeed at these sports these are ultra competitive people and there will always be those who carry it over to their private life too.

All of the points in this thread seem to add proof that you are better off focusing on having a really good Dline (less likely to be injured, more talent available to draft, better impact on running and passing game when considering combined) and don't invest a lot in the safety position.

A little Jimmy McMahon in him. Will we have moon shot one day?

This is too easy.

Until we can use that cash to find a better player I don't see us making any dramatic changes. Hester's contract is going to get rewritten by next offseason. He will never see that kind of cash. He is now our 4th WR, brought in for specialty plays and a great PR, rarely used as KR and we signed Weems to do that. I love the guy and want him around long term but not at that price.

3) I wouldn't say we revamped the secondary unless you simply count all the new names. Talent-wise I was hoping for a bit more but we'll see if the two vets hold up. 7) Trade Briggs and that's complete?

http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/ I was watching his highlight tape on the Bears' site (above link) and I have to admit he has one of the most impressive plays I've seen from an offensive player without the ball. On one TD play at the 37sec mark he gets three blocks, falling down on the last one but gets right up and goes after a 4th block but can't quite get there. I am guessing this is what the Bears saw from him, not so much his inline blocking but his open field blocking. Forte should love this and again, it's one more reason to put the contract difference into an incentive because it is now more likely to be earned. I like what Clutts did for us last year but he isn't anywhere close to the athletic open field blocker Rodriguez is. Nor is he as good of a receiver but he might be a better blocker between the tackles.

Lovie stated exactly what I've been stating. We are not a two gap D. Our DE has one responsibility and that is to get upfield and turn the corner. If it's a run hold the edge enough to force the play through one gap. McClellin has the quickness to get to his spot first. Can he hold his ground on running plays we will see. It is my concern too but it's also something that he can work on. I think the limited production is a wrong statement as his production was outstanding, it was just all over the field. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=8786 Perfect fit: Smith is baffled that some observers are convinced that first-round pick Shea McClellin, a defensive end from Boise State, isn’t big enough to stop the run in the NFL. “First off, you have to explain that, how a 6-3, 260-pound guy is going to have trouble doing that,” Smith said. “Weight is one of the most overrated things that there is when you’re talking about a football player. You’re talking about strength and athletic ability more than that. “We’re not a two-gap, hit-guys-right-down-the-middle [defense]. We don’t play that style of ball. We’re get-on-the-edge, maintain-your gap. A defensive end that’s 6-3, 260 pounds can do that easily. So that is no concern at all. Shea, believe me, will be able to hold his own with the big boys that he’s playing.”

Arizona's Oline was good enough to get them to that Superbowl too and they were horrible. Even so they were within 2min of winning that game. That goes back to Jason's argument...fix the Oline and the rest will take care of itself. Yet teams have made it to the Superbowl with some question marks on their line. Pittsburgh made it to the playoffs with a ton of problems on their line last year. Even this past season the Giants Oline wasn't that good. How many sacks did Eli take last year? 28. How many hits? 72 I don't know where Cutler was at in sacks and hits before he went down but the 5 in 5 games (or whatever it was) is a valid trend. The Giants Oline led a whopping 3.5 yards-per-rush. The facts show it is possible to win it all without an elite, or top 10 Oline. Can you get deep into the playoffs year after year without one or will your QB turn to dust? That is a different proposition and Cutler and Big Ben answered that question...dust. Remember, we were in the NFC championship game not too long ago with a weaker Oline than the one we fielded last season. My point is merely that Pittsburgh hasn't always had a great Oline and that isn't necessarily the model for what we should do. Did they address that major weakness..absolutely. How many other major weaknesses did they have to address relative to our roster? DE? DT? LB? S? WR? I'd have gladly swapped our Hback for a good Oline prospect but I don't know if at that point the talent level warranted it (I don't really look at prospects beyond the first 2 or 3 rounds so I literally don't know). This offseason we have clearly added talent at the skill positions. If we can get some improvement from our Oline, just enough to be average we could have a very good offense. That remains a big IF but history says it can happen now that we have solid talent at QB, WR, and RB.

Someone called looking to hear if he was willing to fight for a spot on a roster and was he willing to play special teams. Maybe this was flag from his interviews and it was time to see if he had a change of heart. Even so that doesn't mean he would have been our pick. I expect we target several players as our picks come closer and then take the best of the remaining targets.

I like that with one exception...I don't want to see Alshon Jeffrey handed a starting job as our #2 WR. I'd like to see him earn it.

The Steelers have had two bad years with their Oline and last year got their QB beat up worse than anything Cutler saw. Saying this is why they are always a good team and we should be like them is a little bit off IMO. They shouldn't have let their line get that bad and all my friends who are Steelers fans have said as much. If part of their problem were injuries to Olinemen then it was equally as much a part of our issues. Lack of depth killed both teams Olines last season. Did they address it this year? Yes. We (somewhat to my dismay) chose to address our WR and DE deficiencies this year. Neither are serious concerns for the Steelers. Bottom line is we had many more issues to fix than they did. I think the Steelers are a better example of drafting ability when it comes to their defense. Their D is always a strength and it seems they always have the next young LB or lineman ready to step in whenever a key players leaves in FA.

New thread by TerraTor. I knew Terra wouldn't quit on us. Where else can he go for therapy on his favorite team?

Grew up in Chicago area west suburbs. Became fan as I was growing up and watching Walter Payton run guys over. That and the Bears, even if they lost, would play physical D and I liked that. I live in Arizona now and the 54 obviously represents Urlacher and the Bears great tradition of linebackers...as I said I love good defense in football. I loved Walter because he played RB like a defender and never shied away from hitting his tackler first.

One thing I will say about Emery and his draft...in the later rounds he is definitely drafting guys for longer horizon than Lovie would like. I'm sure Lovie felt that getting some DT help would make his chances of getting a new contract better but Emery grabbed a FS in 3rd Rd that needs time to develop and learn how to play the position and won't contribute much this season. Toss in an HBack/TE in Rd 4, who although he's different than the guys on our roster, doesn't figure to contribute that much this year.

At this point we don't have a choice but to put Williams back out at LT to at least compete with Webb.

Yep they stuck a "T" on his position. Sorry, I had to check this one out. They just updated the roster too with all the draft picks. Apparently if you are a Rd 1-3 picks you get a number and Alshon will be wearing #17. SMC #99 and Hardin #35 http://www.chicagobears.com/team/roster.as...y&sort_by=3 Williams, Chris 74 G/T 6-6 320 Vanderbilt 5 26

C...first off I had three WTF moments in this draft and that is equal to or higher than most JA drafts. We'll get contributions from Rds 1 and 2 but after that I don't see anyone else helping us this year. A 3rd Rd Safety who was a CB and didn't play last year is going to need time to learn his job as in a season or two. When I saw we drafted a FB (now listed as TE) I just put my head down and went back to sleep. Two CBs late ...I don't usually care about anyone after the 5th Rd they are happy to make the practice squad unless it was a former star player who is recovering from an injury. I really felt we had to get 3 players to help out this year at our need positions...CB, OT, DE, DT, and to a lesser extent after adding Marshall WR, and/or add some LB depth.

When he was hired Emery said "it's a big man's game". Aside from Weems he has done nothing but back up his words in FA and the draft. I'm not sure what to make of this pick. Had we grabbed him in the 4th I'd be happy but in the 3rd I felt some DT help would have better served us. One thing that comes to mind with this guy is that we no longer have to use our NB (5'9" Moore) against TEs who split out wide. Some teams like NE are trying to do this more with tweener TEs who can't block lineman or bigger LBs but cause mismatches against nickel DBs in run support, or cause a mismatch against LB in pass coverage. Coby Fleener anyone? With Hardin's size and athleticism we can go with what I'll call a "heavy nickel" ( we did this in the past with 3 safeties on the field) and match up better for either run or pass.

I like the pick and it's hard to believe our WR corps has gone from weakness to how are they going to stop them? I guarantee our division opponents know exactly what they will face. I know QB protection is still a question mark but if teams want to use the formula of press coverage while knowing the pressure will get to Cutler in 3 sec. it won't work like it did with Knox and Hester. Marshall and Jeffrey will get the release they want. Think teams will go 8 in the box to shut down Forte and leave a single high safety? With these two WRs Cutler does not have to wait for them to get separation, he can "throw them open" right as his back foot hits on the last step of his drop because both can track the ball very well and both can go up high to get it. Miss a tackle and look out. I know I'm in the minority on this but I liked Jeffrey's quote about his stats were low due to the team running the ball but it worked as they won 11 games. I'm willing to bet he wasn't thrilled about those game plans featuring the runs early in the season but people grow up and looking back on it maybe he realized it was the right thing to do and it worked. Translation... if he's bought into run blocking...we now have him and Marshall blocking for Forte and that's a whole lot better than Hester and Knox. Forte should just roll up the difference between the contract offers into Pro Bowl bonuses and sign the deal because those are checks he will cash. Jason, you are right. This is going to prove the theory Oline versus skill players. As long as Tice calls halfway intelligent plays I believe the talent we now have on offense can be very successful even with Webb at LT (we can scheme to help him too). Kurt Warner took the Arizona Cardinals to the Superbowl behind a mediocre Oline (remember our former LT who failed here was there at LT) relying on Fitzgerald, Boldin, and average RB. Jeffrey won't be Anquan Boldin but OTOH we have Forte.

What a debate and where to start. First, IIRC, in our scheme our DE first responsibility is to get upfield and have outside containment on running plays thus forcing the ball to the LB or safety (whichever has that assignment based on personnel). If it's a pass keep moving and hit the QB. The physical attributes needed for this as smaller DE's usually in the 260-270lb range. They are not expected to line up mano-a-mano with the OT and cover 2 gaps. We need quickness to get upfield and enough strength to hold that edge without getting washed out of the play. In this case the strength I'm more interested in is leg and core strength versus bench press. Our DE's are trying to get around and underneath the OT block. These physical attributes mirror closely what 3-4 teams look for in their "rush" OLB. PRobably the big difference is the need for a OLB to flip their hips and run without tripping over their own feet when dropping into pass coverage on a TE or RB. I would say though most often these rush ends drop into zone coverages where they are still facing the QB while pressure comes from the other side. Regardless, teams with Tampa 2 and 3-4 schemes need players with the very similar physical attributes. Some of the players are more LB than DE (Clay Mathews) and others are more DE than LB (Suggs - who was nothing but DE at ASU). Many years ago Lovie said he never had trouble finding his lighter DE's in 2nd or 3rd RD because at the time few teams ran a 3-4 and most teams with 4-3 wanted bigger DE's to cover two gaps. Remember the Greg Blache days. Not true today with so many 3-4 teams. Much of that likely linked to the rules changes that opened up the passing game over the last decade. Height...the trend lately has been to have more pass rushers closer to 6' than taller. OTs OTOH are going the other way...taller. Why is James Harrison so hard to block by a 6'8" OT? He gets really low when he bends down to turn the corner and he has unbelievable strength when doing it. Jared Allen at his height can do it too and he's really quick coming out of the bend. SMC has that same ability, I think that's clear on his highlight tapes, and also the quickness needed to get to the edge. Given the level of competition he had I'm not sure he has the strength to make it work against NFL OTs. He'll need that for run support too. If he has the motor and the desire he reportedly has he should have already found the weight room at Halas Hall. One more thing on SMC. One scouting report said he had "quick violent hands". Those of us old enough to remember Bruce Lee know what that means. Not putting SMC in that level but "Power in mechanical systems is the combination of forces and movement" P=F*V (sorry I'm an engineer). Even though SMC isn't the strongest upper body he has enough functional strength with quick hands to get the blockers hands off him so he is free to move. Competition in the draft. I didn't see much of Mercilus breaking off an OT block to make a sack. He usually beat them with his speed and doesn't really bend and hold the edge well. It's why I wasn't so high on him. Not a lot of strength or quickness to get off blocks for run support. Perry. I thought he was quicker getting to the edge than Mercilus and was better at getting around the corner too. I liked him and thought we'd take him. I was dead wrong but we'll get to see him twice a year....against Webb. Late riser Chandler Jones. Didn't see much flexibility in him either. He's taller and fits the mold some on the board were looking for and he did seem to do very well getting blockers off him so he can move to inside or outside. Not overly quick off the LOS and he's a long strider so it takes him a bit to get up to speed when chasing plays. Also said to have fast violent hands, something his brother helped him develop. I think NE will be happy with him after he bulks up in the next year or two. Coples...big, tall, fluid, strong, quick. Seems like the best of both worlds among DEs. I'd have been really happy if he landed in our laps.

Everyone said the OT talent was overrated this draft and now it's matching up with reality. A lot of these guys look like good to great value in Rd 2.