AZ54

Yes

The Bears had him as their top target last year until he re-signed with Oakland. If he is let go there is no doubt we go after him even with a new GM (the need hasn't changed). He should be a lot cheaper since he only had 7 sacks last year. I think he'll perform better as the secondary pass rush threat opposite Peppers than he did as the primary threat.

I like Aaron Ross at CB. Laurent Robinson at WR. possibly Mathis at DE but I prefer to get some more speed off the edge than he has that may have to come through the draft.

I tend to agree with this assessment and would probably put more stock in how much a player can squat than bench press. However, I view the upper body strength as a factor is how hard a player would have work throughout the game and less strength can lead to more fatigue late in the game. Even so, I feel better about drafting a LT if his one weakness is lack of strength versus poor technique. In both cases if a guy is lazy and doesn't want to work you won't be fixing his deficiencies but the weight room would seem to be more straightforward in fixing. It's routine for teams to grab LTs in rd 1 acknowledging they need to add strength. New England agreed when they drafted Nate Solder last year and there was talk about the Bears drafting him. I really want to know if Adams has the quick feet needed to play LT.

Just because he ran well at the combine teams have not forgotten Floyd's past misdeeds. Also, many have said he does not play as fast as he ran and in fact the word is that was the case during the receiving drills at the combine. I expect he'll still be around in the middle of the first round. While Floyd moved up with respect to the other WRs, with many DT and DE players performing well, and pass rushers are considered at a higher premium than WR, I think the chances of Floyd falling to us improved overall.

Even when WRs were open Hanie was so hesitant to throw the ball it didn't matter.

We cannot count on Knox this season for the simple reason that he can't workout. Being in that body cast means he has atrophied quite a bit and if he is able to return to football getting his core strength back will be key to preventing a similar injury in the future. IIRC he starts working out sometime in April. I just can't see him getting it all back together in a four months. At best he ends up one of our reserve WRs and he sits inactive for the first half of the season as he gets back in shape.

Take Burfict off the draft board at least until the late rounds: He ran a Rich Eisen-like forty at 5.09. Then there's this: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/moving_.../140613323.html Meanwhile, Burfict didn't help himself, clocking the worst time of the 29 linebackers who ran today. "He's a guy that flashes two or three times a game with big hits, but his run-pass instincts, ability to get to the football on an every-snap basis, to me, are below average," Mayock said of Burfict. For the record I agree with Mayock after watching Burfict the last 3 seasons. and this: http://bruce-feldman.blogs.cbssports.com/m...626208/35006810 He still has a lot of growing up to do.

We made the top article of CBS Sports draft coverage: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/story/1...ir-no-1-wideout

I give him his props for the athletic ability but I agree his production should match the ability so you have to wonder what's missing upstairs....desire, heart?

Agreed, Hill and Wright both need to be on our list. The question on Hill is can he be a #1 WR but even if he ends up a #2 WR that's better than where we are today. Regarding Wright, I don't want another shorter WR but if we add a big target in FA (becoming harder to do) then he'd be a solid addition. We can't ignore his playmaking ability and the fact he ran slow at the combine doesn't correlate to what I've seen and heard about him on the field. He will likely run faster at his pro day. The way things are shaping up now at WR I agree with DBDB that a trade down in Rd 1 is the right thing to do unless someone like Jonathan Martin is sitting there. There are a lot of WRs stacking up in the second half of the first round to early second round. IMO Cutler has already proven he can tear up a defense with a below average WR corps. That's even without a good Oline blocking for him. Just give him time to set his feet and read a defense and we'd be hard to stop with a solid group of #2/3 WRs. NE has had lots of success with that plan for years.

I'm pretty sure we can find someone that tall who can't catch for less money. More than that, what is the point in having a WR who can't catch at any price? Use the roster spot for someone with upside.

I agree, he was a good player for us but it's time to move on with Melton and Paea and likely one more guy added to the mix this offseason.

Cliff Avril is still out there. Lions said they don't want to tag him but that doesn't mean they won't. I think his speed off the edge is exactly what we need but he's not a 3-down DE IMO. No doubt the Lions see it the same way. http://www.profootballweekly.com/2012/02/2...g-franchise-tag Posted Feb. 25, 2012 @ 2:14 p.m. ET By Mike Wilkening The Lions and DE Cliff Avril have something in common: Neither likes the idea of the franchise tag. At the NFL Scouting Combine, Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said the club wants to sign Avril to a multiyear contract and to avoid giving him the franchise tag. "I think it's the best thing for him and the best thing for us," Mayhew told reporters.

I think Colston will see this and realize he heads to the top of the FA class and that means $$$. I'd be very surprised if he didn't test the FA waters.

Finally some good news about our Oline.

Seems to me Ruben Randle should be on our short list of WR in the draft. He ran well and has posted solid numbers at LSU. His college QB wasn't that good either.

I can see it if that's the way the draft unfolds (i.e. all the LTs are gone when we pick). I don't think there is anything wrong with having the vet WR anchor the corps now with the young guy developed to be that anchor in the future. Todays 40 times of Floyd and Wright may shake things up a bit.

$!5 million for 2yrs that's awesome. Glad to see the Packers reward him for that key play in the Packers playoff win.

But but but Hester is a #1 WR. What a horrible assessment Lovie and the organization made with that assumption. I truly believe they felt they had the next Steve Smith and that kept us from investing what we should have at the WR position. Hester is Az Hakim (sp?) who was good at filling the big gaps between Tory Holt and Isaac Bruce's routes. Take away those outside WRs (which we never had) and he disappears when coverage tightens up. Add those outside WRs and I think we'll all be happier with Hester at WR.

Is he awful at evaluating WRs or is he awful at expressing himself on TV? I'm thinking he understands a few things about what it takes to play WR in the NFL and can see that on film. If he can't express his reasoning in a straightforward manner I'll just take the list. Again, he is not the only one I've heard critique Bowe. Let me be clear Bowe would instantly be the best WR on the Bears if we signed him and I'd be very happy with that.

I might be the only one on the forum who gets that joke.

I think Louis was ahead of Williams at times and behind him in others at least through the first 5 games. I wish he'd have had a full season at RG so we could better compare, or at least lasted longer before moving to RT but it is what it is. IIRC Louis had more pancake blocks early on but he also had more whiffs. It's still a bottom line business and if you needed the cap space to add a top FA WR plus a good second tier FA WR (or FA CB) would you take Louis over Williams? I don't think there is that big of a difference between the two OGs and we have to start looking at net gain for the team overall.

Biggs numbers include Omiyale at $2.8mil and Anthony Adams at $2.7mil. I cant' see Omiyale staying around at that salary (or any salary) and really don't see a reason to pay a backup like Adams that much either. Let's just stick to Oline budgeting. Omiyale $2.8 mil Chris Williams $2.5mil Chris Spencer $4.2mil Edwin Williams $700k Lance Louis $1.2mil Carl Nicks wants at least 7 years $60mil (or in his words a lot more than Jahri Evans got which was 7 yr $56mil) but figure a typical structured deal puts his cap hit this season around $7-8mil. Among Chris Williams, Chris Spencer, and Edwin Williams someone can go. Cut Spencer and with Omiyale gone we have opened up $7mil in cap space. That leaves us with a starting lineup of Webb, Nicks, Garza, Louis, Carimi Then what do we do with Chris Williams? Kick him back out to LT? I don't like the idea of Webb protecting Cutler's left side again, he just didn't progress the way you'd like to see during the season. We have to assume Tice is not going to put Chris Williams back at LT since he's the one who moved him inside. I figure he competes with Edwin Williams for a backup role which he should win but then we have no backup C on the roster and I can't see the Bears doing that. The other scenario is the Bears asking Chris Spencer to sign a longer term deal dropping his cap hit and then trading or cutting Chris Williams. Spencer might not want to go along with that if he wants to start again. Then you go after a LT in the draft and kick Webb to backup OT. Our starting lineup could be Mike Adams, Nicks, Garza, Louis, Carimi with only a few more million of a cap hit than we have today. This week we'll find out if Mike Adams has good enough feet to play the left side but reports coming out of the Senior Bowl were positive and he seemed to improve as the week went on. In mock drafts he is shooting up the boards and Kiper now has him as our first round pick. Pull this off and we'd have plenty of cap space to go after the FA WRs we want and CB.

Wallace is not worth the 1st Rd pick and the high contract. It was interesting to hear Jerry Rice rank the FA WRs: 1: Vincent Jackson 2: Desean Jackson 3: Wes Welker 4: Marques Colston 5: Dwayne Bowe I've heard other pundits say Bowe is a good WR but not someone you need to worry about when drawing up a game plan. It seems there might be more love for Bowe here on the board than there is around the league. The positive with this is that it might make it less likely for KC to use the franchise tag on him and if KC lets him hit FA then his price tag might not be as high as speculated.