DABEARSDABOMB

A 2014 seventh-round pick, Leno has started 29-of-32 games the past two seasons. He was Pro Football Focus' No. 53 tackle out of 76 qualifiers last season after checking in at 49-of-76 the previous year. The Bears see upside in the soon-to-be 26-year-old and keep in tact the left side of their line. At $9.5 million per year, Leno is the league's 14th-highest-paid left tackle.

I think it is too early to judge this years draft. I like it so far, but that is a very premature statement. In terms of last years draft, it looked very good after year 1 and with Bullard ascending it looks better (and Floyd looks even better)...that said, we are still talking about some preseason games.

I think the reality is Trubisky controls his destiny. We aren't going to not play him when he is ready. The reality is Glennon is here to be the bridge until Trubisky is ready. We didn't invest the #2 pick in Trubisky to not play him WHEN HE IS READY. The key is when he is ready. Until then, we shouldn't put a panic mode on and just throw Trubisky to the wolves because he is the 2nd pick. John Fox has not been afraid to play / use young QB's, just look back to Denver when he made the switch to Tebow from Orton (and of course Tebow went on that ridiculous playoff run).

I think a big difference is the Cowboys were forced to make Dak the guy and even then, it wasn't as if they invested the 2nd overall pick in him (so you weren't as concerned with "protecting" the investment). In the Bears case, they put security blankets in place for a reason.

Adding to your post, I read a list somewhere indicating very few QB's who get benched ever go on to be good players. The moral behind that point is that if you don't think a player is ready, putting him to the wolves too soon can be extremely detrimental. You could argue well, the great players just swim to start, but if Aaron Rodgers sucked for a season and got benched, would he have lost his mojo and just started developing bad habits, etc....because you are just weak at everything, you really can't rely on anything and over press, etc.

I think it is a mistake to rush Trubisky. He's shown a ton...but taking lumps isn't always a good thing and I think it is better for Trubisky to be in a position where he can truly learn from his lumps. I want to maximize his reps in the preseason though, where he is more then prepared to go against 2nd stringers.

I think he needs to move up and get more reps with better players. That said, I don't think he's ready to start and I like the fact that we have Glennon to at the very least take a few games away from Trubisky so he is in a better position to start later in the year. I don't want to send Trubisky to the wolves, so Glennon is a needed piece right now, imo. If we play Trubisky too early, I think you do more harm then good. Maybe he overcomes it, maybe he doesn't. I'd much rather let Glennon go out and play mediocre (I hope he does well, but I think he can be mediocre) for a while until we aren't in contention. Trubisky has had more time to get reps, etc, and then turn things over to him (with lower expectations, etc and more prepared to play and read defenses). Putting someone out too soon could actually mean they regress because they aren't yet ready to learn. Trubisky isn't perfect, that said, he's shown a lot of skills that make you excited. We just need to calm that excited. I do think he needs to get more reps though (he got a ton in that 1st game...not enough in the 2nd). My presumption is he will get more reps in the 3rd game (probably play most of the 2nd half) and then get tons in the 4th game. And if Glennon is bad, then at least we've given Trubisky a few weeks on the sideline (and lowered expectations due to Glennon's poor play). And in the unlikely scenario that Glennon is really good...well I'll deal with that problem. I should point out that we should expect struggles...new system..new offense, minimal playmakers at the wide receiving position (somehow I hope White becomes good but I'm not holding my breath).

Yes...what you say...all of it.

When the blitzes come, etc, I would be very surprised if Glennon wasn't better then Trubisky. I think the speed at which Trubisky is growing is huge though (and it doesn't help that Glennon isn't playing up to his capabilities, which is shrinking the gap). The biggest question when you draft an NFL QB to me is how smart are they and how quickly are they able to develop, learn to read defenses, etc. You think about Prescott and no one thought he could read D's like he did his rookie year...the game film didn't back it up, but there are a lot of stories about how much he worked and just how quick he was and it shined through during his first year (he also was put in a great position to succeed). Trubisky is going to have learning moments and I like the idea of not just throwing him to the wolves and letting him continue to learn the craft...that said, I also like the fact that he is forcing things early with his play...but it was still one half of one preseason game. Excited to see Saturday and please note if he has a massive stinker, it doesn't mean he stinks either. I would expect him to not play as well as he did last week...that said, if he kicks butt again, I'll be super fired up!!!

It seems like Wheaton has a skill-set that will keep him around, which is his speed. We really don't have a downfield threat with his speed. I sure hope Wheaton gets healthy cause it is nice to have someone who can stretch the field, but didn't he have health issues with the Steelers as well? I remember him being one of those guys the Steelers thought was going to emerge into a really good threat, but he was never able to take that next step forward.

I don't really think it is. Aguayo was quite a bit less accurate and his longest kick in the NFL is from 43 yards. He might have more distance on kick-offs, but Aguayo's on field production has been deplorable. He does have potential, so like I said, its more of a bet on the long. Barth is what he is (a relatively crappy kicker with minimal upside). Aggy is the worse kicker in the league with considerable upside. If we thought we could win this year, I'd take Barth over Aggy any day of the week. If you want to bet on long-term potential and take a shot a few years down the road (and run the risk of some near-term losses because of it), then that is fine. And maybe a change of scenery gets him back quicker then we thought. A couple quotes from personnel people were pretty negative on Aggy. Essentially said he has zero repeatability in his kicking form, etc, which would imply this is going to be a project (and that it might be more then just a mental block).

His potential is better then Barth's. He isn't better then Barth now, but it would be good to see if we can somehow fix him. He has a lot of talent.

Yes, it was a bad game for him and a great game for Mitch, but that doesn't mean we should annoit Mitch yet. It was a little bit of football. Mitch looked fantastic (and that was a huge plus). He showcased all the skills/tools/athleticism he has, but he still has a lot to learn, given his limited experience. He isn't as ready as yesterday's game might lead some to believe, but it was better to see him go out and do that vs. stink up the joint. Cohen also looked quite good as did the entire oline (albeit, teams are playing very vanilla in preseason, especially game 1). All in all, that was about as fun of a preseason game as I can ever remember (I didn't even get that mad when our 4th string defense embarassed itself on two 3rd and longs). Despite the poor play from the 1st string offense, there were a lot of really big positives to come out of the game. Trubisky's accuracy and poise were impressive as was his athleticism. He should have had a couple more completions, which is incredible. All that said, if he actually goes out and produces like this is another couple preseason games, Glennon is going to start feeling the heat (and to be honest, based upon his quotes and attitude on the sidelines, I think he is already feeling it). Glennon needs to take a step back because it would be good if he can play solid and give Trubisky time to learn and really be a good understudy.

Gentry continues his practice dominantion

Not certain about this, but I believe this is Kyle Long's first full contact/full speed practice. Great sign.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...#nt=oft02a-1li3 Trib has some good articles on practice. If you don't have access, just take that link and copy/paste it into google and then click on the link and you can read for free. These articles are usually a pretty good summary of some key themes of each days practice. A couple key notes from the article: - Trubisky wasn't as accurate as usual today - Gentry continues to impress as wide-out (will be interesting to see if that holds up in game action..since last year Braverman was the guy lighting things up until the games started) - Fuller ended up practicing (despite being sore) and was torched on a route (still I view the fact that he was practicing through injury a plus) One thing I did find odd...I didn't see any mention of Kevin White today, so I must presume he had a day off?

I figure while Trevathan builds himself up, it will be a great opportunity for Kwit and Jones to showcase themselves and that is a good thing. Injuries suck, but they also create opportunities for new players. With Kush going down, Morgan and Grasu both get a lot more opportunity. I tend to like Kwit...just seems like an instinctual football player (in the limited sample size from last year). In general, I've largely liked a lot of guys Pace has brought in (once I saw them play). Early returns on Cohen/Shaheen have been super positive (and we all have spent a lot of timing talking Trubisky, who ultimately will define pace's draft...right or wrong), which is nice to see (albeit, all we are talking about is practice...but I'd rather people look good then the alternative). Hopefully Danny T and Kyle Long end up getting healthy though, cause both of them are pretty damn good football players when they are (and they both are recovering from some pretty serious injuries).

One of those years (I think it was 2013), the defense was a steamling pile of turd (if it weren't for that, we'd have been pretty good). By 2014, the Trestman wagon had completely fallen apart. Bears did have some really talented offensive personal with Trestman though (and as much as I rip Emery, I will give him credit for that).

Yep. Reportedly he put on 15 pounds of muscle while retaining the same speed. It is key, because Floyd is literally the only player on our D capable of being a game-changer (imo).

To add to the health part, I think I heard Tannehill was the 2nd most sacked QB over the past couple years.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...#nt=oft02a-1gp2 Kush is out for the year with a torn hamstring. Whitehair has reportedly started practicing at guard while Grassu is taking the 1st team snaps at center. Presume we will be looking for a veteran. Morgan (our 5th round pick) should see his practice time increase as well.

If you are lucky enough to have NFL network, you can always watch it on delay (thats what I do). That said, this Thursday is a NFL network live telecast.

His weakness in college (outside of staying healthy) was his ability to tackle, so it will be interesting to see how he plays with pads. If he's healthy though, I think we have a player (but health is a big if, guy really had a hard time staying on the field and has had a couple serious leg injuries).

Having Trubisky around makes preseason pretty interesting (since it is likely the main glimpse we will get of him (at least for the first half of the year). I was listening to ESPN 1000 and it sounded like he had a terrific practice today.

Unrelated, but on an injury front, Fuller (who had looked good most of camp) and Willie Young remain out.