adam

I am not too worried about the offense. The 1st team offense didn't have Forte or Alshon, and a couple of penatlies (Mills, Montgomery) derailed some drives, which is correctable. For the defense, besides for a couple of long plays, Miami really didn't do too much. The turnovers created, even though they occurred against backups, was promising. With the 1st defense, Miller had a long cutback run when Jenkins didn't set the edge. Cornelius Washington, Sam Acho, and John Timu really stood out on defense.

We had 8 OLinemen on the 53-man roster last year, so the top 8 would seem to be: Bushrod, Slauson, Montgomery, Long, Mills, Ola, Grasu, Ducasse. Weaver and Fabuluje possibly fighting for the 9th spot if they take 9.

Unlike Malcom Butler's INT, most interceptions are not necessarily great plays on defense, but mistakes by the offense. So for Cutler to not have a mistake that has resulted in a turnover, you have to be pretty optimistic about that translating to the regular season. Obviously he is going to have turnovers, but even "Cutting" them in half would be huge.

To me, compared to other years, the lack of turnovers is a tangible difference. I still hold my breath, but I believe Cutler will have his best year as a Bear.

Regardless of the outcome, the team must be pretty happy with the current O-Line to make a move that would reduce our quality depth. Also, I like the fact that Pace is working and making connections with other GM's. In regards to a trade with NE always ending bad, I would be more concerned if we were picking up one of their overpriced vets.

Wow, Wells was the 2nd pick in the 6th round (Pick 178), not bad for an undrafted player. He is comparable in size to Chancellor and has the speed to stay with WRs and TEs.

Pix, it has never been a keeper league or an offline draft, or at least I was not aware of those settings. That is definitely a Commish question.

After Wilson and Wagner deals, Seattle has to clear some cap space. McDaniel will probably sign with a 4-3 team, but he would be a decent pickup to fill the hole made by McDonald (and only a few letters to change on uniform). Could he work as a DE in a 3-4? Just curious because he is only 30, played for SEA the last 2 seasons, and shouldn't cost more than $2-$3 mil per year. On a totally unrelated side note, I did some research (not complete yet) after the Wilson and Wagner signings and found that there are 12 teams that will have over $70mil in cap space tied to their top 6 players in 2016 (basically 6 players taking up half their cap space): SEA, DEN, GB, PIT, CAR, BAL, BUF, DET, DAL, NO, ARZ, and MIA. NE, CIN, and IND were the only 3 playoffs teams that don't fit that mold. I actually find that somewhat interesting. Obviously all those teams have better players (who require more money to keep) but you would think that the bottom of their roster would be weaker with less money. Now those numbers are for 2016, so there is a good chance that many of them won't be next year.

From initial reports, Royal, Ratliff, and McManis have stood out so far.

In the NFL.com interview, I liked the fact that he was aware that it could've easily been him sent packing when the new staff was brought in. He said something to the effect of "I could've been the guy that was shipped out of here". To me I think it a least shows that he shouldered some of the blame for the "chemistry" and also shows that the new staff had some trust in him. Hopefully the balance he displayed in the interview will translate to the field.

That link brings me to Potash's top 5, and none of them are Pace.

Awesome, would hate to lose anyone.

Pretty cool Fantasy Football primer with Hroniss Grasu: https://vimeo.com/129000196 I really like this kid and hope he becomes the next Olin Kruetz and anchors our line with Long for the next decade.

I believe Bowling had mentioned that he would not be playing this year.

Guys, here are the teams from last season, please confirm your teams and then we can determine how many openings we have for new GM's. Some of you use different team names, usernames, GM names so it is not clear who is who. We also have to track down the Commissioners. This is what I am tracking so far, and once I get a few other team/GM names locked in, we can start adding as needed. Keeper - Pay League 1. Grizzled - DJ 2. The Bunny - Ary (Commish) 3. PapaBear - Kam 4. The Mad Lithuanians - Andrew 5. Ravens Party Bus - Brad 6. Crushers - Bowlingtwig - will need possible replacement GM 7. Nopper - Nopper 8. Victorious Secret - Stinger 9. Cali Bears - Sully 10. Domination Inc - Adam TB2 - Free League 1. Ragz to Bitchez - D 2. Jock Rock - Brad 3. Pix Picks - Pixote 4. Legion of Doom - Greg 5. Victorious Secret - Stinger - will need replacement GM 6. Domination Inc - Adam 7. bowling's Okay Team - Bowlingtwig 8. Deathtongue - Lloyd (Commish) 9. Forte yds to Freedom - Aaron 10. TravD - Travis 11. 12.

Ok good, we just need to reach out to the commissioners to renew the leagues to see where we stand with active coaches. I had a team in the paid Keeper league and Talkbears2 (free) league.

Just checking in to see if we will be continuing our TalkBears Keeper and non-Keeper leagues this year? I believe Drunkbomber is the Commish for the keeper league, but I have not seen him on here in a month or so. With that said, are the past managers still interesting in continuing the leagues this year? Any other members wanting to join in?

What do you expect from a trophy wife? I don't even know how she is famous or why they continue to interview her.

You don't know who Mathis is? Back to back Pro Bowls and an All-Pro in 2013. John Fox was his coach in Carolina (where he was drafted), so there is that. He is going to have a lot of suitors.

He listed Allen after McPhee, and I can see Houston rotating in all over the front 7. Young, if healthy can spell either OLB, and Bostic is good depth inside with SMC. To me that is good to have that rotational depth.

Grizz, To me it is about the yards after contact. Langford seems to be pretty good in that category and also makes defenders miss. I would say he is comparable to a younger Forte, but Matt has clearly lost a step or two. Langford is a burner; Carey seems like the odd man out.

Yeah, he was mentioned in the ChicagoBears.com article here: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...95-a90cd165c734 It never hurts to add playmakers.

https://twitter.com/newsdamian/status/602863636873248768

I just like the competiton at all levels of the roster. If he doesnt make the roster, then our backend of the 53 man is pretty solid.

Acho was actually really good 2011-2012 where he started 26 games, had 70 tackles, 11 sacks, 2 INT, 5 PD, and 6 FFB. He broke his leg in 2013 and spent most of the season on IR. He just lost the starting job due to injury and couldn't crack the starting lineup in a really good Cardinals defense. If you are talking to a Cards fan about Acho over the last two years, that would make sense, but he was one of their better player in 2011 and 2012.