AZ54

I agree too. We must be in hot pursuit of Faneca and we must overpay for him because of what he will bring to the team overall, not just his position. It was a similar concept when we went after Moose and I think to revamp the Oline we'll have to do it again. My guess is we'll offer him a 5 year deal with the 5th year setup in a way we can get out of it with minimal hit.

Not sure if this is from the Bears fan perspective or NFL fan perspective. Bears fan perspective it's draft this year because beyond one or two Oline FA I don't see much exciting opportunity out there for us. Not that adding Julius Jones wouldn't be a good thing but I don't see that as a major acquisition. My NFL football fan perspective, it's far and away the draft. Free Agency might be key for the Bears this year but it takes place over several weeks. It's exciting to see who makes the big acquisitions and talk about the implications. Yet because of the salary cap and other factors not every team makes a big splash in FA so league-wide impact isn't as great as the draft. For the draft there is far more buildup to the big day, the drama of the surprise early picks and the drama of who drops drastically. It happens every year. On top of that the draft typically affects every single team in a significant way. Debate after the draft is fun too. Talking about what a FA can do to help a team is ok but post-draft chat is better. How many posts went back and forth on drafting Hester in the 2nd Rd? What were we going to do with a guy who has no position other than returner? I'll take the emotional highs and lows of the draft over FA any year.

I was in agreement with the whole post until I ran into the "team seems to be happy with Fred Miller". I know given the way Lovie and Co. spread the love around for the Oline I'd say you are right but it still bothers me to see it in writing. I don't see Miller being worth his 4.5mil price tag and I don't think there's a cap hit if we cut him. Lovie's not real big on accountability for performance like he was in his first year so I can see Miller being back at the RT spot on opening day.

Mike Brown our starting safety? You might as well list his backup alongside his name.

If we pick up Flacco with our first pick I'll throw up. If starting LT talent is there in the first round (it should be) you go get one of them.

No to the Devin Hester trade. You don't trade players that are special, you build around them. Only one year in the offense and yes it was a bit rough but give him another offseason to get fully integrated with at least 5-7 plays and I think he'll be fine. Just don't make any of those plays 1) reverse 2) WR screen. We need him off the LOS running a route so he can catch the ball on the run. Once those plays are working then you can come back and run the reverse or screen. On field position: not only does it make the offense more likely to score it also makes our defense better since it makes the other team's offense drive further to score. When he's in at WR he's almost assured of drawing a double team or at least enough other players keeping an eye on what he's doing that it should give the rest of the WRs or RB a better chance to make a play.

He might be a good option for us but if he's cut you have to wonder why. Injury worse than we know? Attitude or practice habits worse than we know? Or is it simply a salary cap move?

If Clark is playing well next year I think he's a good candidate to get a contract extension midseason. I agree there's no reason to do this now but if he's still playing well next season why take a risk he leaves via FA? Or take a risk that his market value ends up higher than what you wanted to pay but end up matching anyway. TE is the most injured position in the NFL and it's worth it to have two guys who can play well. There is no logical reason for Turner not to have used two TE more often last year. He found himself inside a box with 8 or 9 men and had no idea how to get out of it.

Most impressive at a Pro Bowl practice when this afternoon the guys on NFL network were laughing at how lazy everyone was at the practices. Maybe Anderson is trying to show off his talents in order to get out of Cleveland. That's not a good situation for him with Quinn on the bench.

After last season you can bet Moss is expecting to break the bank. I thought he had an agreement with NE that they would not tag him but I could be wrong. If they tag him he's gonna be pissed because he wants that huge signing bonus so he can go back to being lackadaisical on the field.

Neck surgery is never a good thing so I wish Urlacher the best and hope he recovers quickly. Since only the Bears organization will know the severity of this issue it will make other teams wonder what the Bears draft plans are now. With Briggs leaving and Urlacher possibly at/near the end of his career is LB now one of our top needs?

On Bryant Johnson: While he's been the #3 WR in Arizona he's had plenty of starting playing time due to injuries to either Fitzgerald or Boldin in the last two years. He's known for dropping some easy balls and not always running great routes. He was also wasn't the model NFL player in his early years. I don't know if he's matured or not but what little I've seen of him in a couple minicamp type practices (and it's very very little) he doesn't put much effort into running his routes or making the difficult catch. In contrast Fitzgerald looks crisp and focused on every route and will still layout to catch a bad pass. As compared to what we saw from Berrian last year I don't see much difference in what we'd get in productivity on the field. If Johnson ever grows up and gets focused on his job he's got talent and size that could make a first-rate WR. You would have thought that would have happened last year with him needing a new contract and maybe it did because he did make some great catches last season.

As an Iowa State alum I've been watching Blythe for years. He is basically Mike Hass in a bigger body but doesn't get in/out of cuts as well. No great speed, won't run away from anyone but he knows how to use his body and will go after the ball even in traffic. He goes up high and makes great overhead catches similar to what you've seen from Olsen. He'd be a good late round addition to the receiving corps, one that could really help out our redzone offense. Line up Blythe 6-4 with Olsen 6-5 and you have two guys who can go up over defenders to get the ball.

I could see them going after Berrian but Rex I'm not so sure. From a different perspective, the PR hit the team would take would be brutal. I'm also not sure Rex would head up there if he had other suitors offering similar money and opportunity. He'd have a shot at competing for the starting QB job in Minny but he'll likely get that in other places as well. If Rex is gonna "get out of Dodge" I expect he'd prefer to just leave the NFC North behind as well. Otherwise, why not stay in Chicago where he knows the system and he'll be able to compete better against any new QB.

Berrian has a pretty poor injury history too. He also gator-arms passes at times if there's gonna be a big hit, and doesn't fight the CB to prevent an INT very well, and how many routes does he run over the middle? I understand the argument that he's had poor QB play hindering his stats but on the other hand when you consider our other WR options he's by far been the best (at least last year) and should have had the lions share of receptions. The fact he didn't get 1000 yards might be a better indication of his ceiling. In the end I don't think any of this matters because the FA market is so slim at WR. It he's offered huge $$$ it might be in our best interests to let BB go and find a cheaper alternative like Stallworth or Bryant Johnson. I don't think the dropoff would be that great if any.

I don't remember Michael Bennett running a 4.13 forty, thought he ran a 4.3 at the combine. Coles running a 4.16, maybe in his track days back in college but not these days. Galloway still has a lot of speed after two knee operations but sub 4.2? Ahman Green might be on a couch watching football next year. Regardless, I agree Hester can be caught by some of the elite speedsters but they need to within striking distance of him. Many of those guys (offense) will be sitting on the bench when he's on the field so it leaves a very small group that can catch him and the odds of it happening get even smaller when you consider that we have to actually be playing that team for them to get the opportunity to do so.

I would not be on board with picking Henne in Rd 2.

A sleeper is Danieal Manning in Rd 2 when I say who the heck is that and can't even find the guy listed on any draft sites.

Pass on LB Larsen from UofArizona. Too slow for what we need and doesn't have very good instintcs on the field. He'll hustle and work hard but he's always chasing the play after yards have been gained unless it comes straight at him. Pig Brown S Missouri I could see some interest in except that injury is a huge question mark so he's a 7th Rd pick or UDFA. The injury probably means he'll be on IR his first season. Sam Keller QB Nebraska (formerly at ASU) just say no. Holds the ball far too long doesn't read defenses very well. Does have the measurables though and he'll get a chance by some team with a late round pick (my guess Rd 4-6 depending on what he does at the combine). I'm more interested in his old backup Rudy Carpenter when he comes out. Rudy still has a few things to learn though. Franklin WR Missouri definitely worth keeping on the draft list.

This is no longer an argument. The 85 Bears pass rush was twice what the 07 Giants had. Brady would have been dumping off to Welker all game long and Moss would have been running the same 5 yard in routes that he ran in the second half yesterday. The only difference was our tackling was a heck of a lot harder than what the Giants did yesterday. Moss would have been using his gator arms by the second quarter and possibly gone back to his Raiders route running days in the second half (i.e. jogging so as not be open). As stated above when you look at this years Patriots team they didn't dominate in the playoffs the way the 85 Bears did. Discussion over. Now we'll wait to see if there's evidence they cheated before the Superbowl against the Rams. What kind of a penalty do you give the team for that? Especially after they were already penalized for the same thing afterwhich they said those 6 games were the only time they'd made the illegal videos.

Patriots completely knocked out of all discussions about greatest team of all time. 85 Bears still leading the discussion. Bill Belicik forced to give an interview after leaving the field early. It's all priceless.

Why not tag Berrian and work out a trade involving him? That would certainly make it easier for the Bengals to make the deal. I'm sure we'd need to give up something else like one of the ten DTs we have on the roster and/or picks. I think it would be worth it to secure the #1 WR spot for a few years. For the first time Chad would be playing on a team that had a good defense where the offense didn't have to play great throughout the game to win. It might tone down some of his frustration. But let's be honest here, Moose hasn't been quiet throughout all the QB strife so if I have to put up with some of that crap I'd at least like it to come from a guy who can make a game changing play.

What I read out of all the smoke and mirrors is the one thing never mentioned....we'd really like to draft the best safety.

I didn't see any highlights, I watched him play against DSU in the playoffs. I watched specifically to see what he could do. His slow release was the first thing I noticed and my sons both agreed with me. Once he starts to throw it takes a long time to get rid of the ball. A little You Tube clip in which everyone appears to run a 4.3 forty isn't enough to change my mind. The guy has enough talent to get drafted I'm just not sure he's the right guy for us but I'll watch what he does leading up to the draft.

First time I've ever heard of a draft pick being better because he was out the league faster than a player taken in the same round. With that concept you'd think JA would get more positive press for some of his Oline picks.