DABEARSDABOMB

Lol...wowzers, so excited.

I'm speachless, most exciting move in franchise history. Wow, unbelievable. I want to buy his jersey now, like right now.

Olsen might just become one of the best TE's in the league after all. Bennett's ability has improved, Hester just got a QB who can take advantage of his speed, Forte has someone who can help open up some ground holes from him as teams can't stop the line (plus we got Pace to protect). Wow, freakin wow. Please sign Holt. Maybe pick up Lucas and than try to trade one of our CB's for a mid round pick.

It might have been pricey, but freak yes. Single handedly this is the greatest move in franchise history in terms of excitement. I've never been so pumped up about a move in my life as a Bears fan (albeit I'm only 25). But wow, a franchise QB, sure he has some things to prove but he threw for 4500+ yards and made a pro bowl and is not even in his prime yet. And if Lovie shits the bed this year, hello Shanny, hello Shanny. On top of it Pace signs and now I have to think the Bears become players for Holt to go with whomever they draft. Unbelievable. Someone link me, I want to buy his jersey right now. Oh my god. WOW. Upon finding out about the move, I called all my friends who talked shit on the Bears QBs and told them to freak off cause Cutler is the shit and than went on to run up and down my street yelling woo wooo wooo. And no, I'm not a Cubs fan so it takes a lot for me to go woo wooo wooo.

I don't think that is proof that Maclin is going to the Brown. I find it hard to believe that the Browns would tell so many people that it would get its way all the way to the web people.

This is awesome, an extra 3rd will be real nice to have given the clubs needs and the fact you can definately have at least a shot of finding a quality guard in that range.

I get most excited with Maclin, Britton, and Sanchez. Those are my three guys.

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).