AZ54

It ocmes down to special teams for the last couple roster spots. I think we have: FS: Bullocks Graham SS: Payne Steltz Afalava CB: Vasher Tillman Manning DJ Moore Bowman I'm not a big fan of McBride as a CB. His coverage skills are marginal and he's not much of a factor in the running game. McBride played well on special teams as a gunner but we still aren't settled at the safety position so I think Afalava's hard hitting style will catch the coaches eye and warrant keeping his potential around. For Bowman it's more of a challenge. If he stays healthy he's bigger and faster than McBride and I think his athleticism stands out. Yet for both of these players (Bowman, Afalava have to show up on special teams coverage to earn the roster spot. I think they will.

Gaines is a TE, period. If he makes the team I can see him being a FB in a heavy or jumbo package that is used for short yardage situations (i.e. 4th and short) yet if we do that will we insert 3 OT such as we did with Williams at the end of last year?

Results were bad in terms of team performance. I'd have to spend some time thinking back over the last couple seasons for specific player situations. The most clear examples that come to mind quickly for me are Alex Brown (demoted in offseason), Adams not seeing playing time until late last year despite Dusty's rapid decline in performance early in the season. Aside from that, my point was more one of the fact that he was coddling his veterans and they no longer felt challenged to work hard. I think even Lovie himself was complacent after he got to the Superbowl and was handed his huge contract. He seemed to have an arrogance after he threw management under the bus to get it. The last two seasons there just hasn't been much passion on the field and I hold him accountable for that.

Just watched the OTA video and all I can say about Cutler's arm strength is that he makes a 20 yard pass look like a short drag route, that about how long the ball is in the air. I don't know about the WR but as a fan I can get used to it.

I wondered about that too but after giving it some thought I came to the conclusion that the staff did this because Steltz is the only safety with experience at FS. In the drills they wanted the first team defense to be a first team defense so they could get a better evaluation of what we had with our WR and Cutler. On top of that it gave Graham and Bullocks a chance to watch the first team D and see how it's done and then go out with the second team. At least that logic made sense for Graham. For Bullocks and why he got reps at SS I have no idea other than the staff definitely wanted Graham to get a lot of reps at FS yet they still wanted Bullocks to get on the field so he can start learning the D play calls and get accustomed to working with his new teammates. I'd certainly expect Graham and /or Bullocks to slide in with the first team shortly as they get more reps and Steltz to get more looks at SS. Outside of knowing their assignment you can't tell much at SS anyway because no contact is allowed.

Heading into last season I stated the IMO Lovie had lost his willingness to let players battle for starting jobs and simply gave too many veterans the nod. It was that way in 2007 and again in 2008 and the results were bad. This offseason I felt he was going back to the way he started with the Bears and keeping everything open. It would be a shame if he didn't give Buenning a chance to win a starting job, especially with how average Garza has played, but it would be in character for Lovie to do so.

Graham move to FS looking permanent: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-052109.article BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com The Bears didn’t waste any time getting a jump on moving Corey Graham to free safety. That’s where he opened the organized team activity Wednesday, running with the second team alongside Josh Bullocks, while Craig Steltz handled first-team duties next to Kevin Payne. If the experiment goes as the Bears hope, Graham will not be a reserve for long. ‘‘For now, it’s my position,’’ Graham said. ‘‘I don’t know beyond that.’’ Before the switch, it appeared Graham would battle at right cornerback with former Pro Bowl performer Nathan Vasher, but the move makes it clear the team has faith that Vasher will return to form. Graham has better range than anyone the Bears have had at free safety for some time, and he’s a willing participant in run support. It comes down to whether he has the instincts to make the transition. He played safety as a senior in high school and for two games at New Hampshire. ‘‘Once I start to learn what I am doing, I’ll play faster,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s more mental than anything. It’s a lot of different techniques, and there is a lot more stuff going on. You’re involved on the inside core, so it’s a lot different. It’s not only picking up what I am doing, but what everyone around me is doing, too.’’ Vasher has appeared in only 12 games in the last two seasons since his contract year. He was slimmed down in the March minicamp and looked good. He said he feels good, too, which is key after groin and hand injuries derailed him. ‘‘I’m coming out working every day,’’ he said when asked if he expects to reclaim his starting job. ‘‘We’ll just see what happens.’’

Can't answer that many questions but they bring up a few comments: Urlacher looks more ripped than I've seen him in years. He's had a full offseason working out and it shows, hopefully this translates to the field. Cutler, he'll be shaky early on and fans will have to temper expectations. However, we have lots of shiny new toys in the offensive toy box this year and we will see many more exciting big plays this year than in the last two combined. Backup RB, I believe Kevin Jones will prove to be a very capable backup for us. I expect he'll be lighter and quicker this year than last. IMO His willingness to play special teams at the end of last year showed a lot of character from a former first round pick. That type of character usually turns into hard work in the offseason with results on Sundays. editing post I just found this tidbit: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-052109.article • Running back Kevin Jones looked fluid running around with no brace on the right knee that he was rehabbing from a torn ACL a year ago. Hester's playbook will actually shrink this year and he will run more go routes than in the past.

I don't know a single Cards fan who regrets cutting this guy. He'd add experience and depth to our secondary so from that point of view I don't mind adding him but if he's a starter you have to live with a lot of his mistakes.

The fact the Bears brought in Rod Hood FA from Cards for a visit indicates some confidence in moving Graham to FS.

In one article was a comment that Johnny Knox made some impressive catches. Of all the WRs we have he's the one guy I think would struggle with the big change in arm strength and the speed/timing of the throws against NFL DBs. Then there's Greg Olsen: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...-052109.article Earl Bennett was a popular target, and Cutler looked for tight end Greg Olsen often. Olsen bobbled one laser going across the middle and caught it as he fell. He had a drop later. ‘‘Yeah, no [kidding],’’ Olsen said when asked if there was some mustard on the throws. ‘‘Once you get adjusted [to the arm strength], it’s all the same pretty much. You just have to get your eyes around that much faster and expect it.’’

I live in a state where gun-carrying people are everywhere so I really don't care that Plax had a gun. I care that he was stupid enough to shoot himself, doesn't show much in the way of common sense. What concerns me the most about Plax is his lousy attitude toward practice and his teammates. Skipping practices for BS reasons, then when he gets suspended he runs around bragging about how it's no big deal, he's getting some time off. That kind of an attitude with our young WRs worries me.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/corey_graham/ Q: I am glad to learn that the Bears are considering Corey Graham to be the free safety this coming season because I have long felt Charles Tillman or Graham would be the best option on the roster. Why has it taken the team so long to reach this possible conclusion? Sometimes these things seem so obvious. Phil S., Concord, N.H. A: This isn't a revelation the coaching staff just arrived at, the possibility that Graham could fill a role at free safety. Steve Wilks, the defensive backs coach, said during training camp summer that the idea of trying Graham at safety and nickel back had been kicked around in meetings. Graham was actually introduced to safety during December 2007 when injuries were once again making a mess of the safety position. Well, injuries and the ill-conceived effort to revive Adam Archuleta's career. The Bears were short on bodies at the position at the end of the season. But how was the team going to get Graham up and running at safety last season? Remember, Tillman missed the bulk of training camp to be with his family as his daughter went through serious health issues. The Bears had to operate with what they had and that meant using Graham at left cornerback. He showed real strides from his rookie season. It was Trumaine McBride, who was drafted two rounds after Graham in 2007, who started as a rookie that season. But Graham moved ahead of him on the depth chart in training camp and made the kind of strides necessary for him to replace Nathan Vasher when injuries struck early in the season. We've given an awful lot of attention to the safety position--and for good reason--but issues at cornerback can be far more troubling. That's why the move of Graham to free safety will not be a possibility unless the team feels comfortable in Vasher or rookie D.J. Moore manning the job at right cornerback. There is going to be plenty of time to sort this out. OTA's begin two weeks from today on May 20, and this could easily carry into training camp and preseason but the hope would be the coaching staff would have an idea what the starting lineup will look like by then. It just seemed awkward going into the third preseason last summer when Brandon McGowan was benched and they started shifting parts around in the secondary.

As I stated earlier, the Bears typically like second tier FAs to visit other teams first to set the market. We'll see if they offer him a deal when he's here.

Something isn't right if this guy is getting cut so quickly. Pass.

No way the Bears are too cheap to pay a coach that much.

Defenders do have a choice in how to cover Hester because he still struggles with CB who jam him at the LOS. Sometimes all you have to do is upset the timing of the play to force the QB to look elsewhere. And if they have a safety playing over the top it's not a concern about the deep threat.

I dno't see that much for Knox, I agree he might see 25 receptions but not for 500 yards. If he can get on the field I'd say 300-350 yards is more likely. This kid is seeing such a huge step up in competition and complexity of plays and coverages that I think it's going to take him at least a year to adjust. However, I can easily see Garrett Wolfe getting those 25 rec with a 10 yd/rec average. You are only talking about 1.5 rec/gm.

We said the same thing last year.

Somewhat left out of the debate, or minimized, was the value that Wolfe gives us a cover guy on special teams. He made some outstanding plays for us last year. We can debate the value of the third RB but the fact is a good KR/PR cover guy is worth a lot in this game and he will be in for a lot of plays. Perhaps we could have a better pure RB at the third slot but if he can't play special teams like Wolfe then the overall value to the team for 16 games drops. If he did play special teams and couldn't tackle well you'd be giving up yards on returns and that alters field position. As far as AP goes, I think it's entirely likely we could keep a guy on the practice squad that had equally good RB skills. He might not be as good in pass protection since he wouldn't have the practice but as Nfol pointed out and I agree, AP was pretty bad in that role last year. Having a QB like Cutler who can get rid of the ball quicker means we don't necessarily have to go to deep drops, we can also go the other direction and use more of a spread offense. With players like Hester, Bennett, Wolfe, Olsen I think we could make it work for a few games. No matter what, if you lose your top two RBs you are signing players to fill the void.

Standby --- we're going to have more micro-analysis of OTA videos on this board than ever before.

I'd wait and see on both players. Ogun definitely needs to show something during the season. Idonije has some competition and needs to make the team. I think that's very likely but regardless it's best to let things sort themselves out. If he's still playing at the level we need then I suspect he'll get a new deal early in the season if not soon after the final cuts are made.

In the past it has been the Bears style to allow 2nd tier players to visit other teams first and JA let's the agent know they have significant interest and to call them before agreeing to a deal. They can see if they get an offer and then the Bears can choose to be in the game and bring the player in for a visit. If we like him offer a bit more, or if it's too much for us thank them and move on. On the flipside is the visit to the Bears when they don't get a contract offer from the other team. Now at this point we have negotiating leverage and if we like the player we bring them in and if they check out we offer the contract that day and have a good chance of signing them. Ask Michael Gaines about this process. At this time of year players are nervous about having a job. It's a bit of a risky strategy in that you can lose the player if they get a great deal but if we weren't willing to give them a great deal it probably wasn't going to work out anyway.

I like the fact that we've drafted WR who are known for their ability to catch versus the "athletes" we've brought in over the years and then hoping they'd improve as a WR. We still have two of them on the roster in Davis and Hester. It looked like we might be doing that same old thing with Massaquoi who is not known for his hands and to be honest I wouldn't have minded drafting him in the third either.

Wolfe was significantly outperforming AP on special teams last year. With Kevin Jones as our backup RB keeping Wolfe around instead of AP, who is a similar style runner albeit with less ability and who now has less value as a special teamer than Wolfe, makes a lot of sense. Keep another young RB on the practice squad (or raid a guy off someone else's practice squad) in case injuries take a toll on Forte and Jones.