AZ54

These signings are also shrinking St. Clair's job market.

Oher for reasons I've already outlined but here goes again: Reason #1.. He is strong enough to play RT and he's good enough to be our backup LT. Reason #2..we need a good RT.

JA won't go there.

I wasn't trying to imply we need to copy Denver's ZBS nor the RBs who are successful in that scheme. The point is to run whatever scheme you want but draft or sign the Oline players that fit the scheme. Then behind that line you can fit in a good RB who fits that style of play. Would it be better to use the Giants as a reference? The lost Tiki Barber after he had a great season, at the top of the league, and the next two years afterwards pretty much every guy that has run the ball for them is playing "great". In 2008 -- Jacobs 5.0 ypc, Derek Ward 5.6 ypc, Ahmad Bradshaw 5.3ypc. Either all 3 of these guys are elite stud RBs or the Oline gave them some nice holes to run through.

Payne has played in 16 games I can't help but wonder why so many are throwing this kid under the bus. We just never give players time to develop. Speaking of developing players. Keeping a roster spot for Mike Brown once again means yes we'll have a nice backup SS who can play 3 or 4 games for us but it won't allow us to develop another guy behind Payne if as you predict he never improves. We'll be in the same spot next year. If I felt our D was at an elite level and Superbowl was a realistic goal I say stick with Brown. But this D is on the decline and if we stick with veterans like Brown who year after year are slower and play less games due to injury we'll never get out of the hole.

I agree with Nfol that he'll go in the tank after visiting the bank with his big bonus. Plus we invested heavily in Harris and we have a promising young second year player in Harrison that I feel we need to develop. You only develop if you play. Then we have all those other needs where we must spend money.

I'd rather just find a young RB in the draft or pick up a younger FA RB. Fix the Oline and as Denver showed for years (among other teams) anyone can run behind them.

Everything I've read lately says Peanut is staying at CB. McAlister is tempting but I don't see us spending more big money at CB with needs at DE and RT.

I don't buy that theory anymore. Many teams line up their best pass rusher on the right side. Some line them up on the left or right throughout a game. 3-4 defenses move their best pass rushing LB around a lot. If Oher joins the Bears and plays RT for us I think it will be great with Williams on the left. For sure you have the option of moving Oher to LT if Williams doesn't cut it but more likely is that you'll have your backup LT playing RT for you. That means your backup OT can be more of a RT which is easier to find not to mention cheaper. You may even have your backup RT be your starting RG. In other words I'd really like having that flexibility and it's one of the reasons we signed John Tait years ago.

That might be true but you have to average in the time he was off the field with injuries as a zero. His net production drops when you do that and also the defense net production drops too because he takes away practice time from the guy who had to sub for him, or conversely he wasn't practicing. Part of being the best player is staying on the field. He's only getting older and those calf injuries are chronic, they are never going away.

Let me check my notes...Urlacher chronic back problem that will never get better - yes. Anquan Boldin chronic back problem that will never get better - no. I like Urlacher (wear his jersey every Sunday) but as a Captain he's not all that good IMO. Do you see him bringing the level of others performance up to a higher level? I don't and calling plays and alignments isn't the same as being an emotional leader. He's a quiet, lead-by-example player. That's not all bad but on the flip side I don't know that from a leadership standpoint we'd be losing that much. Now as far as performance on the field. He's a good MLB, sometimes very good, but I haven't seen anything great out of him in two years. Do I want him on the team, sure but is the team better off with Boldin and without Urlacher? At this point in their careers I say yes. Our defense with Urlacher isn't consistently stopping teams. There are serious concerns at safety, CB, and Dline right now that likely won't change the situation quickly this year. Will the D be better with Urlacher, yes but not that much versus an average MLB. Yet it's not all on Urlacher's shoulders--we need other players to step up back to their former level of play (Harris, Ogun, Vasher, Tillman). If those guys play improves then it mitigates the loss of Urlacher, if they don't then keeping him around won't matter much. Before you switch that thought around on me, I don't feel Urlacher is going to significantly improve his play from here on out. I think his back injury has him on a downhill slide one that he can only slow down but not stop. The offense on the other hand has legit pieces moving forward if Kyle Orton can return to his performance in the first half of the season. We have the RB Forte, TE Olsen/Clark, Hester emerging as a WR threat. We need to add a WR (Boldin) and upgrade Oline which is very possible in FA and draft. Orton is the big IF here. If he's not our starter then for sure we are wasting our time giving up picks. But if OTOH the team believes he can progress with an improved Oline and WR corps At this point I'd make this trade.

Reed = cut or at best practice squad ditto Balogh Metcalf...OMFG (borrowing a term from my daughter) why are we still having this conversation I prefer to sign a starting RT in FA versus the draft as that is the best way to get our Oline good again. If that doesn't work out we'll be drafting one in Rd 1 or 2. Grab another OG in Rd 3/4.

What loyalty did Urlacher offer the club that gave him a record setting contract years ago? He came in bitching and moaning about needing more money last offseason. The Bears gave it to him and what did they get in return? About 50% of what they paid for. Translation...make the deal if it's on the table.

Show me the statistics from last season where Brown in the game versus out of the game made a big difference. I like the guy and admire how he played but our D gave up long drives all year long. They also could not close out a game when we were ahead all year long.

Do what you feel is right. I look forward to your mock draft updates and appreciate the effort you put into them.

We may not have offered a contract to St Clair knowing we want to be aggressive in FA or the draft going after a true starter for years to come. It seems clear JA wants to let him test the waters to see what he gets offered. St Clair says he wants to be a starter but if nobody offers that to him he might find Chicago as his best situation and return. His experience in our system at both tackle and guard might be his best shot at becoming a starter if Lovie is willing to let him compete for it. In anycase I agree that we should not settle for St Clair as being our future at RT for the next year or two. We need to seriously upgrade this position. That means spending money and/or high draft picks.

I'm sure he'll be on JA's stopgap list of QBs who can backup Orton.

I've always been a fan of how Mike Brown played the game but he's just too slow anymore. He was not good at all playing FS for us. It was amazing how many railed against the backup CB who gave up the 20 yd play against Atlanta yet nobody blasted Mike Brown for not protecting the one play that would lose the game, especially knowing he had a player new to the team. Once we finally admitted that problem we put him back in the box where he played well but then as usual he got injured again and started missing time. I will miss the player we had back in 2004 but I won't miss the player we had last year. We had a bad defense last year, one that could not make a stop when it needed to. It's time to make some changes and we can't afford a roster spot for a guy who always forces us to carry an extra safety on the roster.

I'm somewhat surprised but he hasn't played all that well lately and I won't necessarily miss that since afterall I was pretty much in the club wanting to cut him once we sign someone else for RT. My biggest gripe about this is that it would have been nice of him to not make this public until after FA opens and the draft. That would have helped the club. As it is now we may have to make a strong push to get St Clair back in the fold, something I advocated right after the end of the season. Now we've lost a bit of leverage but then on the other hand so has St Clair because now we definitely need a starter on the right side and we might prefer to go after someone with a better resume.

We don't need Chavous. He was never very good with the Cards and was on the Vikings D the entire time we laughed at their inability to stop the pass. We might as well go with DManning, at least he's faster and has a better chance of recovering when he makes a mistake. On a side note, expect to see Chavous on TV as a draft analyst for somebody. Since he was a kid he's always loved the NFL draft and has great knowledge of draft history.

I agree we'll probably be rumored going after every single WR available in FA or trade. Especially now that we cut ties with Booker (6 months too late IMO).

No way. Ced was cut for discipline issues and you don't go back down that road as management. Since we're now looking for a complimentary RB not a starter we definitely have no need to deal with the issues re-signing Ced would bring to the locker room.

I can't imagine we'd have to give up a 2nd Rd pick just to swap two spots in Rd 1 (18-16). I'm sure someone smarter than me can find what was given up in past draft day trades like that. What did we get from Buffalo that year we traded down with them?

I am starting to feel the DHB hype is a smoke screen. It's a little too much too early. Not that we shouldn't have interest in him as we should with anyone who can actually catch a football it's that the hype is starting to become centered on if he's our 1st Rd pick.

I wanted to cut Booker after camp last year and was voted off the island. I certainly don't want him around this year. There's no benefit. Give the reps to Bennett we need to know if he can play or not and go get someone else to fill out the roster. Lloyd can go too IMO but depending on who we pick up this offseason I can see us giving him another 1 year deal with no bonus and seeing if he ends up in our top 5 WR.