jason

But another early WR? Are there enough balls to go around? I don't think so, at least not until the OL gets fixed.

Yes. Stupid iPad autocorrect. The answer is easy. I think he will be better at the position with which he is most familiar: LT. Go look up how many years he played it in college. That is his position. Add in the injury and no wonder he hasn't lived up to expectations.

A STUD OG MAKES ANY OT BETTER. It's a moot point. I know what we should do, let's sign Andre Johnson and Megatron and that would make Cutler better! C'mon man. And don't fool yourself, if Webb starts as LT it will be a mistake, again, and he will hinder the offense, again. 75%. The only reply is one you seem to really value, but I will add a letter or two: PFFFFT.

You take Austin over Cooper? No way. That would be horrible draft pick usage for the Bears.

Yes. I've long been a proponent of playing people in the pros at the position in which they excelled at college. ,I hate the notion that they were great there before, but don't get a shot once drafted. It's entirely possible he would play better at LT than RT, that he would be more comfortable and confident, and it would be a draft choice worthy of the selection. And,yes, in my scenario both Webb and Scott probably sit the bench.

He wasn't the worst, but you can't use others' failures as his successes. He wasn't good either. And BTW, I would say Garza and Louis easily had better years than Webb. And Carimi, overall, was pretty damn close to Webb...it's just that Carimi was Jekyll and Hyde between tuna dn pass blocking.

Address what? A long, drawn out comment from some one (not sure where the comment originated) whose opinion differs with the vast majority of people who watched the Bears play football last year? I don't give a damn what PFF rating he has. He is not average. At best last year he was below average. And that's at best. This revisionist history shit has to stop. It happens every year. It is almost like we need a separate part of the board that tracks a game by game board consensus for archival purposes whenever we get to the offseason, because this happens every year. During the season? Virtually no disagreement that he falls somewhere between horrible and below average. But afterwards, some schmucks at PFF put out a rating scheme and all the sudden the dude is average? BS. Can he improve? It appears so. But I once worked really hard to dunk a basketball and never got much further than grabbing the rim. All indications were that my progress would lead to a dunk, but it never did. Webb could be at his dunking potential, and I don't like the idea of sacrificing Cutler for a FOURTH year in a row on a pet project 7th rounder just because he didn't suck bad enough to make us literally puke...like previous seasons.

I was thinking more of trading down in the first, getting a mid 2nd rounder. No way Teo goes to the third.

A fourth or fifth rd TE is plenty. I've been telling you guys for years that it doesn't matter who the skill position players are if Cutler is on his ass all game. Give Cutler time, and a late rd TE gets 50 catches. Levitre and Cooper is a start, but if say Barrett Jones is there late second (and he's not actually falling like a rock across the NFL), you pull the trigger. The offense will never improve much as long as the OL is in turmoil.

Yeah, but its ignored year after year after year. But THOSE guys were the "experts." What we should do? Who really knows. But here's what I'd love: 1) Tell Carimi the LT job is his to lose. I really think he wasn't as bad as it seemed, but he lost confidence and the injury affected him. This would be a make or break move. But the team can't just toss out their first rounder just because Tice was shit as an OL coach and Lovie never cared to improve the position. 2) Sign Levitre. He starts at LG, and he helps Carimi. 3) Draft Garza's eventual replacement at Center this year. Jones, Schwenke, either would be fine. 4) Draft the best OL available in the first. If we get lucky and one of the LTs slip, then scratch #1 and hand Carimi the starting RT job to lose. If not, it's probably the kid from NC. He starts day one (assuming he beats out Louis). That's how it happens. A full out attack in one year. If Louis or the rookie OG is a completely lost cause, you move Garza back out to his original position OG, and hand the starting C role to the rookie. That way you have support on either side of the rookie.

I'm sorry, but I don't give a damn what a Packer fan gas to say about the Bears. Especially when it's not true. The "Jay Cutler held the ball too long"-myth needs to die. He RARELY had enough time to actually hold the ball for what constitutes a long time in the pocket, so the point is moot. If looking for your second read is "long" then maybe it's accurate, because that's about all the time he ever had.

I've been an advocate for an all Alabama OL draft in the past, back when there was a very slight possibility of Warmack going later, but now that's impossible. The best we could do is Fluker in the 1st and Jones in the 2nd, which probably wouldn't make many happy because Fluker is being touted as a RT. Anyway, what if the Bears went heavy on Notre Dame talent? Suppose Te'o really craps the bed in his combine workout. What would you guys think about a situation where the Bears traded back and ended up getting: Tyler Eifert, Manti Te'o, and Braxston Cave I'm not sure how it would be completely possible, and the inattention to the OL would bug me, but it's interesting. It reminds me of the years when it seemed like the Bears were specifically targeting Florida players.

OH HELL YES. As soon as I saw the title of this thread my eyes opened WIDE. This dude would do wonders for the offense since he's always open. The defense is forced to isolate someone on him at all times or risk him sitting in a zone for a perpetual 5-yard gain all the way down the field. He'd do more for this offense than any 5th round speed guy, that's for damn sure.

Who's to say the ratings don't have bias? They're still done by humans, aren't they? It's not difficult at all to see the results to be incomplete and questionable when the metrics that constitute "hurry" are unrevealed. Yeah, let's just get the "expert" thing out of the way. They're "experts" as much as this board is full of "experts." For the most part, it's just dudes like us giving opinion. And while I'd say - and have said more than once - we'd do just as good of a job picking players as many of the league "experts," that doesn't make us "experts." As for Saints fans, I'd have to spend more time actually reading a bunch of their thoughts rather than reading one or two cherry-picked comments. With this I agree. At some point, all upgrades can possibly be cost prohibitive. Um...if the nature of the stats are in question, you can't really use the stats to validate anything. And while the human eye from someone who has watched all the games says that he has improved, Stinger has been telling you why it doesn't matter. Improving from worst in the league to horrible to subpar doesn't mean he's good. It doesn't even mean he's guaranteed to keep improving. It's not outlandish, but for all we know last year was his peak. Why keep subjecting the offense, and Jay Cutler's health, to an experiment that may or may not turn out?

Dude...will you quit masturbating to those obviously incomplete and questionable OL stats! I wish they would have never been mentioned by Emery. It doesn't matter what gets brought up, Bushrod is leaps and bounds above Webb.

Agreed...especially the last part.

You're right. It's just you. For his salary, his performance is good. But that's because he's paid next to nothing, so you feel like he's a bargain. It's like buying a car for $200. If it drives off the lot and lasts you a year, you've made a good deal. But that doesn't mean you wouldn't have been better off with a brand new car, or a slightly used car that has been performing well. If the Bears don't end up with a replacement for Webb in either FA, the draft, or if another player on the team wins the job (if actually given a fair shake at the job), then this offseason will be a failure.

Simple answer: no. It's rarely worth it unless we get a Herschel Walker or Ricky Williams deal.

Send paramedics to my house if that happens. I will have nearly incurable priapism.

The same experts who consistently bat about 50% for the draft? The same experts who picked Leaf over Manning? The same experts who get recycled from team to team? The same experts who are responsible for the following? The same experts who thought the Bears' OL was just fine the last 5 years? I don't trust them much at all. Ozzie Newsome? Sure. I can trust his track record along with a few others. Other than that, I honestly think you or I could do just as good of a job finding talent for an NFL team.

Out of all those, drafttek is probably my favorite. I'm not a fan of getting a MLB in the first (partly because I think he'll sit behind Urlacher, but also because I think MLBs are easy to get), but Rounds 2,4,5 are outstanding. Doubtful Schwenke lasts that long.

I watched plenty of Jones in action. I'm not sure why everyone is down on him right now. Barring further injury, he's going to be a good NFL starter for years to come.

RD1: Cooper RD2: Jones Outstanding.

I'm not saying you're necessarily doing this, but I think it's comical that people want to say things like, "Yeah, but the Bears' OL would have been better if they had better blocking schemes!" while downplaying the skills of someone like Jones because Alabama was smart about how they design their blocking schemes. If he's there when the Bears draft in the 2nd, they should take him.

Maybe Richt didn't give a damn about 40 times, and only cared about having a play-maker? Same thing could be said of Te'o. If this league were all about measurables, Ryan Leaf would still be throwing lasers to blanketed WRs and Tony Mandarich would be nearing the year where he'd be elected to the HOF.