DABEARSDABOMB

Hayden is visiting the Bears today. He seems like a really good fit.

Knox has a lot of upside, but he absolutely killed our offense at times last year. He put our QB in some bad positions by being in the wrong spot or just out-muscled on quick slant passes. That type of stuff is inexcuseable, imo. Now that he's a year into this offense and continuing to get stronger, I expect him to make strides in that area and hopefully take his game to the next level. I still expect him to get the 2nd most snaps out of our wide-outs (ahead of Hester & Bennett).

So Chris Williams will be on the bench, correct?

The Bears have always done a great job taking care of there own under the JA era. Look at all of the extensions we've handed out to our own guys. Whether it was Vasher, Tillman, Tommie, Urlacher, etc.

I'd love Umenyiora, but I'm not trading 1st or 2nd rounders for him. If they want 2 3rd's, I suppose I'd do that. However, one of those 3rd rounders is likely to be an early pick (given that the Panthers suck). And those picks could easily help us address the oline (potentially a center or guard that falls) or LB/DT/CB, etc.

To be honest, I think we have to give Williams a full year at one position to see what he can do. Whether that is tackle or guard, I think after investing a first round pick in him, you have to fully see what you have. I think our line will be better than a lot of people believe. I don't think it will be elite though, but much much better than the crap we ran out last year. Carimi is an upgrade, Spencer might be an upgrade, and our other young players all have a season under there belts.

Lovie has made a couple comments on Olin being gone. Originally, I wondered if Spencer was more of a backup move or potential guard move (as he has played there in the past). But management talked about Olin being gone and multiple players have been tweeting the same. $4M was a lot of money the Bears offered up for him, given what the typical center in the NFL gets paid (its under 2M/year, let alone 4M). My guess is Kreutz might end up retiring/taking significantly less money (2.5 to 3.5M) than the Bears offered.

Given the Bears have handed out a lot of short-term deals this year, I expect the team to have a lot of money to dangle around next off-season as well. Of course if other guys develop (e.g., Roy Williams/Knox play well; Forte, etc), a lot of that money could go into signing our own guys to extensions.

Lovie, Angelo, and Urlacher were all huddle together having a heated moment. The speculation was that it was in regards to Kreutz not being resigned. From the early appearance of things, it sounds like the coaches and players wanted Kreutz back, while upper management (e.g., Angelo and company) didn't necessarily want him back.

Great signing. Didn't expect it at all and I assume it spells the end for Taylor. Of course it might be Unga or Bell on the way out instead. Not like Taylor is making a ton (1.25M or so).

This is a nice move. Bringing in Paea, plus bringing back Adams, and now adding two talents like Okoye and Gholston is nice. Add in Idonijie, Peppers, Melton, etc, and I really like the depth and potential of our line.

They had about 14M prior to the Spencer signing. Not sure how much Spencer is getting, but I'm going to assume no more than 2M. Which means the Bears have about 12M in current year cap room and people need to remember that some of that money will go to signing Forte to a big money extension.

I'd be on board with the signing of Blalock. I think now that the Bears have solved the center position they will look to addressing the guard position.

Olin you were the man. Always loved you on the Bears and will do nothing but root for you in the future. Best of luck Olin!!!

This is tough. I love Olin and will always appreciate what he did, but at the same time, I know he has been declining over the years. But you are losing the leader of the offensive line. My hope is Spencer can come in and lead this line early, but given the relative inexperience across the line, it was nice knowing you had a true vet who knew the system, etc, like Olin. On the flipside, Spencer is younger, more athletic, and brings nice size to the oline. He has had some injury problems though. Yet another former 1st rounder the Bears are bringing in.

I really like this move. Williams struggled being a secondary option in Dallas and kind of gave up. That isn't a great indication about his attitude, but it also isn't going to be a problem in Chicago. He's going to get a lot of passes thrown his way and will have every opportunity to be a safety blanket to Mr. Cutler. Add in the fact that he won't have to spend too much time learning the playbook and this move could turn out to be very beneficial. Williams is a pretty freakishly gifted athlete and I think he's very motivated to prove that he's an elite wideout (which is what he was in 06 and 07).

Bears still have room to add an impact lineman or tackle. This move makes sense. Very little risk and he's super quick and talented. Bears are banking on the fact that him going back to DE will be beneficial to him. Remember, he was a DE in college who the Jets tried to utilize in a hybrid 3-4 role. That didn't work out. Whose to say it wasn't due to the system. Lovie mentioned that they are looking forward to seeing what he can do once he gets his hands back on the ground (e.g., in the 4-3). I'd still like Cully.

Once the Bears added Williams and Hurd, there was no room for him. I really like the potential for our receiving corps this year.

Jets have pretty much cut ties with Braylon. So both Braylon and Roy are potential possibilities for the Bears, even though it sounds like they won't be making any major WR signings.

New reports indicate Colon is a back-up plan. Bears are targeting the Saints tackle, Jermon Bushrod, whose a FA. http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears%20

Rumor on the ChicagoBears.com message boards is indicating that the Bears have agreed to terms with Brad Smith on a deal. Smith would act as a slot wideout and would provide the Bears with another special teams weapon. Additionally, he'd also provide an added threat out of the backfield in wildcat/trick plays.

The hard part is some teams need to spend 60+ million. When you have all that available money that needs to be spent immediately in a CY, I won't be surprised when players get ridiculous contracts handed out to them as a result of all the teams needs to get above the floor.

The hard part is the Bears have a lot of valuable "depth" guys who will be free agents as well. This is going to be really interesting to see how quickly teams can pounce when FA starts.

I think this thing is going to get done in the next couple weeks and by and large, the lockout will ultimately have had a very minor impact on the fans. But if it doesn't end, I'll be upset at both sides.

Haha. I haven't been coming around as much since there is pretty much zero news. I guarantee activity picks back up once stuff starts to happen. NFL is such a long off-season and with a good chance of there being no football, its been an even longer off-season.