DABEARSDABOMB

I also agree on the overall idea of no trades since the reality is you'll only have a couple in the first round or two of the draft.

I'll be Detroit and if you need a second team, I'll do the Giants.

Now that St. Clair is gone it looks like Omilaye will be the new starting right tackle.

Here's a recent rumor:

He could profile nicely in the guard category and I'd assume he'd be a really good run blocker given his massive size.

My guess is that you'll see the Bears quickly match the Browns offer and we'll have St. Clair signed by Friday. Even if you went 3yrs 9 million I'd think that would be a steal for a guy that can backup at either tackle spot or be a more than solid guard. I still hope we bring him in and than make a move to grab a tackle in the draft and ideally in a year we might have Omilaye and St. Clair at the guard spots and two young tackles plus Kreutz in the center spot. Beekman will be a backup to the guards and Kreutz with Garza gone and Buenning in the mix as a backup as well (maybe even a starter) and than in the case of an injury either of your guards could swing to the tackle spot and you'd slide in one of the backups. Age wise you'd be relatively young with St. Clair and Kreutz being the only older guys and you'd have plenty of versatility for injuries.

Where is Herman Johnson slated to go in the draft?

I think the fact that the media is harboring on this and blasting them for there inactivity might be a good thing. I don't always think the fans or media are right, but in this instance I think there is good reason to bitch. Clearly upgrades need to be made and the Bears have the financial resources to do so or should and if they don't, they need to sell a portion of the team to someone with the ability to put in the salary necessary when options are out there. I'm not saying to be like Daniel Snyder and I'm also not going to ignore last off-season where they spent an assload, although I think some of those signings were mistakes and felt so at the time. The media complaining will get fans ticked and that will put pressure on Phillips, Angelo and Lovie and I think thats a good thing cause a little bit of pressure can be pretty motivating at times.

Mortsensen and Clayton have both reported that they believe the Bears have some interest, but I think it was Clayton who said the Bears might not have the ammo to get the deal done (ie, enough draft picks).

Oh, I'm not implying you use him as a QB. He's not as quick as Vick, nor does he have the arm Vick has, but he's a very good athlete as a whole and I think he could make some nice things happen.

In fact, last season, Matt Jones played in 12 games (I believe he was suspended for at least a couple, if not 4 games) and put up over 700 receiving yards. Over a 16 game season he would have had just over 1000 yards. The guy had his best season last year, and I realize he was just released from jail but he would be a hell of a weapon for Orton (6-6 WR with good athletism). Him and Olsen would be matchup nightmares and you still have the speedy Hester and the steady Clark, plus Forte.

Ya, I se the Trib saying 3yrs 4M but that just doesn't make sense. There is no way another team in the NFL wouldn't offer more than that for St. Clair. I have to believe that it would be 3yrs 12M, but maybe I'm wrong. 3yrs 4M would be an awesome deal for a guy that could provide such great depth at both guard and tackle (both tackle spots).

I thought long and hard about Harris. I know the Broncos were kind of interested in Haynesworth so they might very well be interested in Harris. Clearly Harris is one of our better players but at the same time, you build your franchise around QB's, not defensive tackles and Harris play has clearly dropped since his injuries happened. I love Harris attitude but as a whole would be completely down with moving him if it got the Bears Cutler. Not certain about the cap rammifications for trading Harris (how much that would hinder the Bears from being able to pick up guys that could semi replace him via FA or the draft this year) but Cutler's salary is small so that wouldn't be an issue (although the Bears would clearly have to sign him to an extension).

This is a guy that a lot of people had pegged at points in his career as a guy with star potential. He never truly emerged into that and he had some off the field problems this past season, but as a whole he's the opposite of any WR's we have. The guy is a beast of a target with good hands and he seems to be a very good red zone target. He clearly is a step down from Holt, but again would be a significant upgrade over anyone the Bears had at the WR position last season. He's also still young enough that he could in fact have a few 900 yard plus seasons in him.

White is a very versatile player who might turn into a pretty nice playmaker. He won't necessarily be a star, but he's a guy that you could give reps at Wideout and in a wild-cat type of role as kind of a guy that people had to game plan for a couple times a game.

The Broncos have Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, I don't think they'd have much interest in Hester. If you are going to trade a player plus picks, it would have to be one of our defensive players, plus high draft picks. I personally would give up a 1st and 2nd this year or this and next years first no problem.

That's a pretty good haul.

Lyman wasn't a high pick though, I think he was a 3rd rounder at the earliest. They liked his athletism and gave him a shot there. In the case of others, you could make a case that the position changes might have been due to them not being able to pick it up at a more difficult position or the more needed position and than they moved them to another similar position. FOr example, at the tackle spot, its not that difficult for a tackle to become a guard so I don't see that as being an issue. You typically start guys at tackle and if they don't make it move them to guard, however, in certain instances you already have enough tackles so you'll start a guy at guard and if things go well and the tackle spot opens you might ultimately move them to guard. Omilaye probably fits better or projects better as a guard so the Bears will use him there unless they have to use him at tackle (clearly a plan B or C at this point). Idonijie could play both positions. The Bears ultimately felt it was best for him to be able to play on special teams and the line and to do that they felt he would be best suited as DE, imo, as opposed to a DT since at that size it was tougher for him to really be a valuable special teams player and regardless he's a bench guy. In the case of Bowman, there isn't a huge difference between CB and Safety. Sure there are tackling differences and obviously CB is the tougher of the two positions, but if a guy can tackle, there is really little reason that a CB couldn't transition over to FS. Bowman is far down on the depth chart but the Bears like his ability enough to try him at free safety, not a big deal, imo. As a whole I think the Bears have done a pretty good job and there has typically been a pretty good reason for the switch, imo. CLearly you'll have failures but I can't think of a ton. Heck, look at Haynes, you could say that was a failure, but the Bears tried to move him to another position when the first one didn't work to try and save face (obviously neither ended up working, but you can't blame them for trying to get him in at multiple spots).

Roosevelt Colvin and Brian Urlacher are two good examples of moves. I know you had mentioned them but its hard to ignore both of there successes following the change. Azumah was a darn good CB and probably wouldn't have made it as an RB. Hester was primarily a CB in college, yet in the NFL he looks like he'll be a pretty solid WR and the Bears weren't cheap by giving him big bucks with the hope that he'll fully develop into a top flight WR. I actually think its a credit to the scouts and coaching staff that the team is able to identify guys and turn them into a successful player at another position. These are guys that probably wouldn't have made it in the NFL had they stayed at there original position.

Looking back, I don't really know that you could make the case that Minny's offer for Berrian was a brain fart. The guy contributed more than any of the FA wr's last year and overall did a very good job despite having no one to throw him the ball.

I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that Orton wasn't able to practice that much during the 2nd half of the season due to his ankle injury so it would have been difficult for him to develop much of a rappore with Bennett as well. In general I think it is pretty typical for WR's to have problems adjusting to the NFL speed and its a position that typically has a 2-3 year development window compared to other positions where players are more likely to make immediate NFL impacts. I'm excited to see what Bennett can do, but I also want to see the Bears get a very good vet and another talented young WR so that we can finally say the Bears WR corps at least has talent, maybe it won't have production, but please give them some guys with the talent to develop into playmakers.

Rumor is Cutler's list of teams include the TItans and Bears with the Bears potentially being his preferred destination. He's worked with Williams and Bennet in the past as well so I really think Cutler would be a tremendous fit. A 26 year old QB whose about to enter his prime is a very valuable asset. Plus, if Lovie sucks this year the Bears can go out and spend the money on Shanny. Cutler instantly becomes the best QB since Luckman and clearly has the best abilities of any QB in franchise history. I"d give up this years and next years first rounder to get him too. The Bears have money to pay him as well and than still go out and target a veteran WR like Holt or to go after a guy like Matt Jones whose a solid WR that would be a nice compliment to the other WR's the Bears have. I realize we would lose a top pick, but man, Cutler could be taking snaps in Chicago for the next 10 years and thats a pretty damn valuable thing to have.

I"ve changed my stance, I want Jay Cutler and Holt and I'll be a very happy camper. Potential franchise QB's don't grow on trees and one is available and we are atop his list. I don't care if we had to give up two first round picks, I would be all over Cutler.

Damn, I would be very content with that draft.

Tell me about, everyone was pushing public out of college. I opted for Pulblic and just finished up my first full year as a senior at Deloitte, but today was my last day. I left for a position in private, which will start in three weeks and am going to go back for my MBA in September at USC (going to do the part time program, which will enable me to take classes in Irvine, which is where I live, for the first 1/2 years of the program). I heard all about the job security but right now its been ugly, all I've seen are severe layoffs since I started but luckily I was able to survive them and still ended up finding a good job to leave for. I'm hoping to go back to Deloitte though after my MBA but on the consulting side. I definately agree with you on the experience aspect though and I look forward to getting to work with two major systems at my new gig (going to be a senior analyst right now, but they told me that they have a manager spot groomed for me in 6 months, who knows whether thats true or not).