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Hmmm, big guy who covers well for his size but isn't the quickest...could be used at safety...stressed by smaller, quicker receivers. It certainly occurs to me that Hardin sounds similar to Peanut Tillman. Probably faster top speed actually, but without the forced fumble skills or experience obviously. But maybe could develop into just as good of a tackler.

Gotta give you credit for keeping your word and not bitching, even after the Bears took the one guy you said would set you off. Hardcore.

To be fair to Mark, he did just sign a 4 year contract for $7mil/yr. I imagine he wouldn't agree with using his name as a pejorative. I think it's well-accepted that he still doesn't play the run though.

...and if he drafts Brandon Weeden at #19?

Thanks guys for letting me know the slowdown must be on my end. I may have some setting for security purposes or flash or something that causes my PCs to have problems with the NFL's site.

Off topic but I've been meaning to ask this for awhile...Does anyone else find NFL.com to be extremely slow? ...and its been this way for at least a year. In 2012, having my PC lock up for 10 seconds every time I change pages is unacceptable. But its so egregious that I'm thinking the problem must be worse for me than others or else everyone who works for NFL.com would be spending a half-hour a day just waiting on page changes. No quality control needed, there's no way they could miss it.

That's got to be partially because the success of these draft picks is not determined soley by the talent they possessed on draft day. Teams that are perennial losers squander their drafted talent. Also, your point about awards being a popularity contest I agree with, though it could be reworded more as name value (and reptutation...even some that follows you from college) gets you more of a chance at awards, and the higher you're drafted, the more opportunities you'll be given. That said, it's hard to make the pro-bowl or get an all-pro award, so I like the idea of requiring 2 of them, but couldn't some of those players gotten 1 of each during the same fluke (or overhyped) year? For the Top 10...almost double the chance of landing a player who picked up at least 2 probowl/allpro awards is eye-opening though. Recently up until this year , I thought the exorbitant amount of $ required to sign these guys negated much of that. Once you're that set for life, what's the motivation? For some guys, there's not any.

Wow, that's a lot of leaking. Maybe some people feel there's a kind of statute of limitations. After 10 years, who cares? sort of a thing.

Random question...how long have Wonderlic score been confidential? I've seen long lists detailing thoroughly NFL player's Wonderlic scores, so I'm confused. Google isn't helping.

Wow, Briggs went from threatening to never play for us again to signing...and then signing and extension after that!

That's the opposite of what I've seen. He may "one cut and go" when he doesn't need to do anything else (I remember one such return; the blocking was that good), but in general he's a bit of a 'dancer'. He'll make multiple unpredictable moves if necessary while watching how individual guys on coverage respond...to see if an opportunity develops. Well...maybe that's a bit strongly worded. I guess the better way to put it is that he'll do multiple cuts more often than most returners. All returners tend towards minimizing cuts and trying to get upfield. They're taught to. Hester just does it less than most because he's got the skills to warrant it. If I'm a coach, my punt returner is going to have great hands. For the KR, I don't really care about that. Fortunately, now that Hester's been moved to WR, he gets constant practice catching.

To actually answer your question, balta, (at least partially)...the main difference in my mind has got to be the catching of the punt. A punt returner has to be able to know when to catch the ball and when to let it bounce, be able to wave a fair catch at the last second if necessary, never muff the punt catch, hold onto the ball after getting drilled immediately afterwards, and be able to 'dance' just a bit to maybe cause a lane to open up. He also has to play deep saftey if the punt is a fake (be able to tackle, basically). Seems to me punt returning is harder and anyone who can punt return should be able to kick return, but I don't know.

Just as much, why, with his abilities, would he not be superb at kick returns? A return man needs to have speed, balance (to stay on their feet while being bumped or grabbed, even at very high speeds), agility and acceleration (for juking and then regaining speed afterwards), vision (where the lanes are and where they will be), a creative unpredictability (anything to get the opposition to make a false move that can be exploited), and a sense of timing (when to follow blockers and when to just go full tilt towards the goal). Devin should be just as awesone at kick returns. The only thing I can think of is that coverage teams are so well-practiced in this day and age that good kick returns are maybe more dependent on unforced errors...often resulting in a one-move-and-he's-gone scenario. ...whereas there are more variables in punt return coverage, meaning a guy with Hester's talents has more opportunity to make somethig happen. And he is kind of a 'dancer'. Are there returners with the opposite problem, that is, they are clearly better as kick returners? Kick returns probably wear you out more too, which is a factor for a guy who has to take the field on first down.

With Whitney and Lovie, it'd be too bad we no longer have Danieal and Marion. Monsters of the Midway!!!!!

Everytime I hear about a player of ours and weed, I think of Rashaan Salaam. No thanks. I don't want any of our players habitually smoking something known for making people lazy.

Just to tie it all together, and in case anyone has forgotten, Daniel Snyder tried to trade two firsts, a third, and Jason Campbell to Denver for Jay Cutler, but it didn't work...well, because of our own Jerry Angelo.

Favre was old when they got Aaron...not the same. The problem with drafting QB in the first round when you've already got one is only one can play at a time, and paying two QBs starter money is tough. How did pushing Cutler into the lineup over Plummer work out for Denver in the end? Then years later rather than supporting Orton with a position of need, they pick up a project like Tebow? Now they're on yet another QB. Denver's not a good example because they've continually squandered their relatively good fortune at QB since Elway. I don't want us to do the same. This time...I think we'll have the sense to appreciate what it means to not have a question mark at QB.

Caleb beat you to the punch. Even he doesn't care.

I'm going to admit I've never heard of Coby Fleener so I can't vouch for his talent, but I do know his name is totally awesome.

Can we get Forte's daddy to help out? Just seeing his pops start to unbuckle his belt should send him running back to Emery to sign on the dotted line.

I remember after his sophomore season here having to defend him from people suggesting he wasn't a long-term solution. He's only averaged over 4ypc these last 2 years. He's a huge part of this offense, but that also has to do with us not having good pass blocking or WRs; it's not all him. He tailed off after the middle of last season and then got hurt. So I think Forte is overstating his case, though I don't blame him for trying, but I'm not fond of athletes playing the disrespect card either. And frankly, franchising is a an option, so the Bears would be foolish not to use it. We can do it 2 years in a row, after which he'll have 6 years on his legs. If he can keep up the production over that period then he'll have more than proved his worth, but for now, we dont' have to assume the risk of injury, nor do we have to pay him that much more by franchising. This is exactly why the owners negotiated to have franchising in the CBA, might as well use it.

Just curious. Is his retiring somehow better than if we'd released him...salary cap-wise? Seems better because imagine for example that a player signs a 6 year 50 million dollar contract with 25M guaranteed, then after one year retires. Clearly in that case the team would not have to pay or be held against the cap for some of that 25M signing bonus, and the player would have to return some of it for not completing the 6 year contract. Seems that's what's happening now with Marion but with smaller dollar amounts and years.

According to Raider fans, Michael Bush's big drawback is pass protection. But I'm sure our outstanding Oline can pick up the slack for him. Being serious though...Other notable comments were that he is a suprisingly (for a big man) capable pass reciever but also has a bit of a needy ego. I didn't see anything particularly impressive on him when I youtubed him. We'll see, anyway.

Now the Seahawks fans get to enjoy slapping their forehead, then exclaiming OH MY ALE! whenever he makes a blunder.

!!! You could fail a drug test for cocaine, punch a prostitute, go on a verbal tirade of racial slurs, and don a mustachioed disguise to sneak into another locker room to steal their playbook ...and not get as much punishment. I like it though. I think the players' suspensions should be that they're forced to play for Cleveland.