DABEARSDABOMB

Again...solid depth signing. Good use of our cap space, imo.

Jaquizz Rodgers is at Halas Hall today.

Man...this would be a really fantastic move if it happened. I would hope if things panned out with some of these guys, we'd be able to potentially use some cap room and extend them in season (i.e., if Stefen proves he is healthy, you extend him sometime during the season for a few years, get the benefit of sprinkling some of the impacts over this years cap + knowledge of knowing you don't have a million free agents at the end of the season).

Also, from a football perspective, everything Fox talks about from a "support of Cutler" perspetive makes total sense and is what all of us have preached for the however many years he has been with the franchise. We've just been too stupid to ever actually do it. Hopefully our current regime can do it and it will allow us to get the best out of Jay (what the "best" is can still obviously be up for debate).

In terms of Hurd, I presume that was us releasing him?

Interesting blurb regarding Cutler and Jeffrey. Fox is calling out Jeffrey and I think that is fair given how Alshon disappeared at times last year, this is a good thing. It will be curious how Cutler handles himself with the new coordinator and having a more vocal and forceful guy in Fox. Personally I think having Marshall out of here is a good thing as I think Jay probably found himself in quite a few difficult situations where he didn't want to call out B due to their friendship but B ultimately needed to be called out, etc, probably pretty often.

Biggs - Fox says lot of soft tissue injuries last year with #Bears and there will be changes in weight room and conditioning etc

@patrickfinley: Interesting that John Fox today said Alshon Jeffery was overweight at times last year. @ianrappaport Jay Cutler met with #Bears personnel without his agent as deadline approached for guaranteed money in 2016. Team left convinced he’s the guy and are now considered fanboys @adamjahns #Bears coach John Fox said Shea McClellin will get first look at inside linebacker in 3-4. He said he was high on him coming out in draft.

I don't recall the Bears being in "cap" hell as a result of Angelo. Angelo had his own issues but our cap situation at the time was not one of them. Emery's value signings tended to be ST type guys who never even ended up being good ST players. That said, I was probably always the person most skeptical about Emery on this entire site (but remember...while I might have been right about that, I also was more pro Lovie / Angelo than most).

What about this signing makes no sense? What would you have done different? This seems to be the exact opposite of the approach Bears have taken past few years (which bit them in the butt). Goal isn't to win the offseason from a headline perspective, it is to make lots of good football moves, including ones that put your team in a position to improve, but also in a position to manage the cap. The thing I like about this signings are is there is very little downside and still plenty of upside. They also fill positions of need and none of the guys we are bringing in will prevent us from having a young player who steps in (which is where if we do things right, we should get back to focusing on the value related signings in FA vs. ever having to make the major splash moves, other than say filling a particular need when the time is right). Did you want him to just go spend like crazy. If we add Wiz, the way I see it, we added quite a few players who are varying degrees of upgrades to our previous team, all while ensuring we can comfortable go BPA (knowing we at least have serviceable players who can fill various spots on the roster). A lot of holes still exist and I think everyone acknowledges that but the roster was extremely devoid of talent.

I presume at the time the pay might not have been equal? The other question is whether Wiz was interested in returning to the Raiders.

I believe I read someone say we have enough money for about 6 vet min signings + 2 more long-term signings (at 3-4M per year). I presume if we do some structuring we could create some additional room as well.

I actually much prefer the more meticulous process Pace has done vs. the spend spend spend approach Emery went with. Both have addressed needs but I think this value based approach gives us more upside and poses us to less long term risk and should allow us to put significant money into keeping internal players (this of course presumes he can draft and our staff can develop those keepers). Right now we have so few long-term pieces.

I presume at the time Wiz was asking for a price similar to Hudson so they opted for Hudson. Market conditions differ now and the pool has dried up leaving Wiz realizing he has to get more realistic?

Would appear Mason Foster might be next and than I presume we are keeping very close eyes on Wiz at C.

I did read where apparently there is video evidence that proofs Ray is innocent of the charges. I haven't followed the story much just heard the national coverage from a while back (during the season) but I would presume the Bears feel pretty good about that and will have a pretty strong response regarding those charges and why they were comfortable signing him. From a pure football perspective, I presume we are talking vet minimum and or close to it and he's a pretty solid fit on the line.

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 4m4 minutes ago Bears are signing former 49ers DE Ray McDonald, per @mortreport.

If that is what Wiz is looking for, than I would have to think at some point, the Bears and Wiz could work out a long-term deal. At 26, he would be a significant upgrade in the middle of our line and I am more than fine paying a C 4M per year longterm.

I would too. That is great value.

I presume there is a good chance he is one of our starting 3-4 ends. He seems like he profiles as a good fit given that his job is really to take up space, hold the point of attack and allow our OLB's to make plays.

I don't think you really take a DE @ #7 in a 3-4 defense. They just aren't the impact players on the defense like they are in a 4-3, imo.

What McDonald allegedly did was disgusting. As a football player, clearly he would be a great signing, but I don't blur the lines and Bears need to do their homework. Do people deserve second shots, sure, but McDonald had multiple issues, correct? Like I said, he is due his due process though.

In a heartbeat. I am a firm believer in acquiring as many round 1-3 picks as possible. I think it is a misconstrued notion that the value of the potential "elite" player outdoes the value of the very good (and better quantity). Plus there are plenty of elite guys that come out of the non top 7 picks. My only exception is if a potential franchise QB is there, than I think twice about moving down (if I am in need of a QB). Any other position, freak it, I'll take the extra picks.

I think part of moving Bmarsh had to do with a belief that Jay will actually be a better QB without his safety net and won't fall back into some of his bad habits. That said, I don't know how much of that is the case and while Jay has his issues and isn't the leader you expect out of a QB, he also isn't a guy that you don't want to play for (which in Marshall's case, I can definitely see where a lot of guys don't enjoy playing with him).

I was probably one of the people most willing to move Bmarsh on this entire site and nothing of his quote was offensive to me.