AZ54

At this point in his career Forte already has to start thinking about his next contract. One good season and one subpar season does not turn into a huge signing bonus. Now I feel he has a legitimate threat to compete with too. While I don't view Taylor as a full-time RB he could end up with the majority of snaps if Forte doesn't get his act together.

another thread about how the Bears ownership is cheap or too cautious to pull off big deals. Two years in a row we have gone after and signed the top players available. In that span we now have acquired a top tier QB and top tier DE plus today they went after the best RB and TE available who fit Martz's system and got those two deals done before I even sat down to eat lunch. Peppers was signed before I got to the afternoon coffee break. Wow! You can argue over the quality of the players, bad decision etc. but to say they are cheap I just can't see it anymore.

Thanks for making my point. If Rolle is that great as a FS he wouldn't have to have a premier pass rush in front of him. He's better than what we have but I don't even think he's worth the $6mil/yr the Cards offered him.

You are saying we should pay Boldin $9mil/yr (that's what he wants) and give up a very good player who still has upside for him? That will make our team better? Boldin can't run away from anyone but he can still break tackles with his strength. Once again I will state that while I love the way he plays the game he has only had ONE FULL SEASON in this league. He has missed the majority of the last two playoff seasons due to injury. At some point for $9mil/yr you would like to have the guy working for you late in the year. He's just not worth trading for. If he was a FA that might be worth discussing but he's still not worth the $9mil/yr he wants.

That statement goes way beyond smoking. I'm not sure what it takes to be that enamored with all the drag routes Boldin runs but I'm pretty sure it requires a chemist to make it.

If Rolle wasn't happy with $6mil/yr I don't want him. I've seen enough missed tackles from him.

These are good times to be out on the Western side of the country. I'll be surfing the rumors at 10pm.

Release him in June and who has money left to sign him to a big deal? Then the Bears turn around and try to sign him to a lesser contract. It could be a cost savings move. Of course it's an uncapped year so there would significant risk to it but they could try it. It's not like Harris fits into everyone's scheme and his play and attitude has been really poor the last couple years. How big would his market be that late in the summer?

Excellent point!

Mays would be better at OLB than FS. He's a freak athlete but coverage is not his forte. With all that athleticism if he wasn't covering that well in college there is no reason to think he'll get better in the pro's. I'm sure some coach will think he can coach him up at FS.

Perhaps all that was said was "can I call you at midnight Friday?". 'Yes, you can".

If we trade Greg Olsen for Boldin it should be the end of JA and Lovie, and I'd pull that trigger now before the draft. Olsen for Brandom Marshall I can agree with but it'll take a lot more than Greg Olsen to pry Brandon Marshall out of Denver.

I'm very curious to know what Tice thinks of Omiyale. I know he said he liked him when he first came aboard but where does he think he belongs? We won't know that until after the draft or it would give away our intentions. After the initial press conferences it's clear the team has gone into lockdown in preparation for FA and the draft. Even the potential signing of Ruskell to run the personnel department is not getting much PR. Is there a job search to replace DePaul or not?

Peppers could easily be great for another 5 years IF he wanted too. I suspect he's just after his last big payday and then it's time to kick back and wait for retirement.

Just to clarify: Rolle as a FS is often late to the play, and as Bears fans we know what that's like. Most of his INTs are the result of tipped passes not from him reading a play and jumping a route. He's more consistent that DManning for sure but he's also not nearly as athletic so he can't run with the faster WR. Did I mention that he oftens completely misses on tackles? Would he be an upgrade for us seeing as we don't really have a FS right now? Yes, but only if it's for a reasonable salary for a mid-level player. He is not anywhere close to the long term option we'd all like to see at FS. I tend to think he's asking for way more money than I feel he's worth and that fact the Cards aren't even trying to negotiate with him seems to validate that. If he's hanging around weeks after FA begins then he'll come down to earth and might accept a more reasonable contract.

I understand that but it's part of my point. If he was that valuable to the Cards they'd be seeking to sign him to a longer term deal, if Rolle was asking for reasonable money. That's why I feel he's asking for the high end of salary and they'd rather not waste their time and take the ir $4mil cash and give it to someone else. To answer a question from defiantgiant: ex-Bear front office man Rod Graves is behind the Cardinal contracts. They don't always get hit with huge escalator clauses though. However, he got screwed when he put the huge escalator in Fitzgerald's contract for making 3 Pro Bowl's. How often does a WR make 3 Pro Bowls in his first 4 years? OTOH they have had more contract issues with guys they've been good too and re-did their contract after just two years. Anquan Boldin (twice) and Darnell Dockett (twice) and both of them do nothing but bit** about their contracts.

Please say it ain't so. Ok I have to admit Rolle is better than any FS we have on the roster (we don't have one) but after years watching him miss tackles (easy tackles and I'm talking about a complete whiff) I have absolutely no desire to see him in a Bears uniform. I know he's gotten some INTs over the years and that's because as someone stated above he's a gambler. You know what happens when those gambles don't pay off? Whisenhunt does. There's a reason Arizona has had to outscore opponents to win games even when they are putting up 30pts in a game and Antrell Rolle is part of that reason. If you want to know what it's like to watch Rolle play FS watch some highlight film of Danieal Manning except Rolle is much slower. I don't want to go too far because Rolle is better in coverage than Manning until his lack of speed let's WR blow by him. I just think he is far from deserving the apparent FS-saviour status awarded him here. The two players who make the Cardinals secondary go are Adrian Wilson and DRC. There is no coincidence that Rolle looked better as DRC got better and single covered the other teams best WR and left Rolle to shadow the other side of the field. We don't have that ability on the roster so Rolle will have to go back to playing centerfield and reading the play. He's slow to react there. To his credit, Rolle did mentor DRC on how to watch game film and learn tendencies so he has the professionalism I like in the locker room. I think Rolle would be a good stopgap option for us but that depends on the money he's asking for. It appears his desires are much higher than the Cards are willing to pay and that's a concern for me because they have other holes on D they need to fill...pass rusher, LB (replace Dansby) before dealing with FS and this just opens up another issue. I would think they'd re-sign Rolle if it could be done for a decent cap hit. I think keeping Rolle and trading Boldin makes more sense from the overall team benefit for the Cards even though Boldin is the better player. Cutting Rolle outright nets them nothing but cap space.

Let's hope this was the result of having an Oline coach who couldn't teach these guys how to block.

Not enough time to answer the questions posed in detail but I'll summarize it all by saying it's a matter of which way the arrows are pointing. WR: arrow up on Knox, Hester, Bennett, DA. arrow up but not confident: Iglesias arrow down and out: Davis DL: arrow up on Gilbert but didn't see enough to have confidence. arrow flat: Brown, Harrison, Adams arrow down: Harris (this is the one that hurts especially since that's where the money is) OL: arrow up on Williams, and to a lesser extent Beekman arrow flat: Omiyale (suspect should be back at OT), Shaffer, arrow down: Kreutz (hope he can return to form but got ???), Garza (hear good things about him but on gameday he never stands out one way or the other) FS: don't have one on the roster SS: arrow up Afalava, Steltz (but less athletic ability) arrow flat Payne

On Nance: short yardage move the pile - nope short yardage burst to the hole - nope short yardage speed to get to the corner - nope

Not sure at all on what coverage GB ran in that second game. I want to say Woodson was moved around and covered different WR, perhaps even Olsen.

You have something of a false premise (if i'm using that term correctly) in that you assume if we are pass heavy we will have more 3-and-outs. I've seen plenty of running teams call 2 running plays and then a 3rd down pass and still go 3-and-out. I think the Bears under Jauron proved that quite well. Again, to me it's not about how you get the first downs rather it's just about getting the first downs. I really don't care how you do it as long as you do it. You just have to be successful. I'm not necessarily defending Martz' system just that I think it's wrong to assume pass oriented offenses can't be very successful. I gave what I felt were two solid examples in New Orleans and Indy and you can even go back to teams like the 49ers with Montana. OTOH the Vikings put up lots of points with a run-first mentality this past season. While I disagree with the premise that too much passing means too many 3-and-outs I definitely agree with the questions about whether Martz knows the right time to run the ball. An offense doesn't have to be perfectly balanced to be effective, one side can be stronger than the other (pass vs. run) but you must be able to do both if they take away one aspect from you. No offense will be successful in the NFL if it's effective in just one-dimension. As far as our defense I don't feel it's designed to be a true bend-but-don't-break scheme because our players are too small for that. I think that was clear in Herm Edwards comments the other day when he said in Tampa they never wanted the D on the field for more than 800 plays in a season. That article stated that we've averaged over 1000 in each of the last 3 seasons. I think our D is much more predicated on generating turnovers and big plays for losses (i.e. sacks, TFL). Those plays give you enough breathing room so the "break" part of the D doesn't give up a first down. We're just not very good at all in sacks and TFL unless we overcommit players to it. Naturally that leaves too many openings in the "bend" part of the D. Without the TFL the soft nature of the D makes it too susceptible to 3rd and short. What's so bad for us is that we even gave up 3rd and 10-15 all year long.

I guess it depends on what you considered the question to be. For me with both of these guys it was simply did they even belong in the NFL and could they make plays. Both proved they belong and IMO have shown enough to be potential starters. If the question was are they legit starting WR then no they haven't proven that yet. I think they showed enough potential to deserve a legitimate opportunity to earn those roles. That means lots of practice reps with the first team. Lovie is simply too short-sighted to know what's best for his future. If Iglesias was showing up in practice he should have had playing time late in the year. If special teams was an issue for any of these guys (it was a legit concern) then how were they going to learn to cover kicks if you don't get them on the field to do it?

Now you have: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_...?urn=nfl,135311 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not content to just have a screaming match with the offensive coordinator on the sidelines (which landed him on our list of five least valuable people of Championship Sunday), Anquan Boldin carried his hissy-fit to the Arizona Cardinals postgame celebration, too. While most of the other Cardinals were still on the field being showered in confetti and picking up their NFC Championship trophy, Boldin had already bolted out of the locker room. The behavior prompted CBS's Mike Freeman to call him a naughty word. He tried to ruin the Super Bowl celebration with his childishness. In the game, Boldin got into a heated argument with offensive coordinator Todd Haley. After the game, instead of celebrating with his team, Boldin abruptly left the field, then abruptly left the locker room. It was awful behavior. [...] I have to say in nearly 20 years of doing this, I've never seen a player more concerned about his arguing with a coach over making a Super Bowl. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 seasons....3 Pro Bowls which by the way is pretty damn good but it doesn't change my opinion of the fact that he's slowing down and isn't the same WR he was a few years ago. I'd be more than happy to have you show up out here and visit with some of my friends and coworkers who are die-hard Cardinal fans so you can hear it from them too but that's not practical. The Cardinals still have 3 (if not 4) quality WR or next year including Boldin but out here with Warner gone everyone seems to be saying they'll be a run first team next year because Leinart is a lot closer to Orton than Warner in what he can do on the field. Boldin's trade value will not be nearly as high next year as it is right now. Did Boldin put up good numbers last year? Yes, but so did the other WRs in the Cards offense. Boldin had more yards than Breaston but Breaston, Boldin, and Doucet all averaged over 12yd/catch. (Boldin 12.2, Breaston 12.9, and Doucet 12.6). Boldin is a very good WR and yes he'd make our WR corps better but not nearly enough to offset the cost of his contract and the loss of a 3rd or even 4th Rd draft pick. I still think the Cards would like to keep Boldin around if they could get him at the right price (perhaps $7mil/yr?) but I don't see them breaking the bank for him. Boldin is no dummy, he knows his numbers are likely to go down next year with Leinart so he will push his leverage this year as far as he can. Yet if the situation starts to stagnate you will hear him open his mouth and start demanding more money. Before you criticize the Cards for being cheap with him keep in mind they have twice torn up his contract and given him more money (after 2 yr on his rookie deal, and again just two years later in 2006). That's very generous for any organization yet still Boldin has continued to whine about his money.

Last I checked neither of those guys were demanding $9mil/yr, even after earning $5mil/yr. We haven't made the playoffs but none of the three you mention pissed off their teammates by being a locker room cancer during the playoffs. Again, I'll state my position that I like Boldin, he's a good NFL WR, but our 3rd Rd pick and an extra $9mil in FA directed somewhere besides WR will make our team better overall. Last year I'd have been willing to give up a 3rd Rd pick for him but after watching him this last year and seeing our WR I don't see him helping us that much.