adam

It has to be WR as the 1st priority with OL right behind. If for some reason you can't get a top tier WR in Free Agency, then you go for OL.

You mention Royal, but then say "and a corps of Johnson, Bennett, Criner, Garcon, and Hester is pretty damn good."

Mock drafts are funny as very few actually get any picks right after the top 10. One odd pick and it affects almost every pick afterwards.

The Pats defense was under-rated (they allowed less pts than the Giants during the regular season). Also, everyone talked about how hot the Giants got at just the right time. That is funny because they went 3-5 in the 2nd half of the season and were outscored for the year. After the 10th game, we had as good of a shot as anyone to win the SB. With an impact FA signing or two, and solid picks in the first few rounds, we are going to be looking pretty solid. You have to figure at least one WC will come out of the North for the foreseeable future (CHI, GB, DET). In response to Jason, there is no way we will not draft Defense in the 1st 3 rounds (4 picks). If we go FA route completely on D, we don't get much younger. We have to inject some youth in there at some point so the transition is not so severe.

Here is a cap space article, says we will have about 20-24 mil in cap space, 9th best in the league for available space. A bunch of teams need to make huge cuts to get under the cap (Pittsburgh and Oakland). http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_footb...012-season.html

Interesting looking back at that game now, if Barber doesn't do that and we win, we might have finished 9-7, missed the playoffs and had a worse draft position.

Great hire for the Bears. Bates could easily be an OC somewhere else. This plus the loss of Martz is really going to improve the offense. Now lets get Forte locked up and start zeroing in on WR and OT free agents! I get a kick out of wikipedia, his info is already updated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bates_...rican_football)

Picture of the hit, still looks brutal: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,7798460.story Per Rotoworld: The brace: http://lockerz.com/s/180054663 I doubt he plays in 2012 or ever returns to form after something like that. Ouch, video:

6 have been picked in the first round since 2005 (last 7 years): Mike Pouncey Maurkice Pouncey Alex Mack Eric Wood Nick Mangold Chris Spencer and another 8 selected in the 2nd round since 2005. That is a lot higher than I expected.

Yep, he was on the radio today, you can listen to it here: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=7533309 and http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=7476945 Basically he wouldn't mind the tag if it was used just to give more time to work out a new deal. However, he is opposed to it being used for a 1-year deal. Doesn't seem too different than the normal view of players.

Yes, you are correct, I stand corrected. Hell, from what I have read, some are now putting Adams higher than Reiff and Martin.

Then what about DeCastro at G?

Yes, that would be nice, Nicks from Saints, Bowe from KC and we are looking sweet.

Yes, I would take Welker, Colston, Bowe, V. Jackson, and Wallace over him.

Never drafted another? Hester is a shoe-in HoF, and Briggs is well on his way. I think JA was middle of the pack in drafts, he actually did better in later rounds, but essentially flopped in the 1st round picks where we should've had impact starters almost every year. You also have to give him credit for bringing in Cutler and Peppers. Those were two nice acquisitions. In the same breath, you have to chastise him for Manu, Chester, and Roy Williams. I thought overall he did decent with the defense acquisitions, but failed on the offensive side of the ball. I would've given him an overall grade of C+, but for the Bears franchise, we cannot accept the middle of the road.

Thanks, I love http://www.pro-football-reference.com/

Made two small changes: Moved Floyd up to #3 and put DeCastro in there in place of Adams. Is Adams even projected for the first round?

Yeah I questioned those picks too, but he does have a better track record on the defensive side of the ball: Tillman (2), Briggs (3), Conte (3), A. Brown (4), Steltz (4), DJ Moore (4), M. Anderson (5), Z. Bowman (5), C. Harris (6).

That was from the article, I think JA did a great job on defensive talent.

So scouting and recommending Rex Grossman is seen as a good thing?

How many QB's did we start during his tenure? Just like in Tampa Bay, Angelo was always good at finding defensive talent, but was completely inept at finding offensive talent, especially at QB and WR. He was decent for the most part, but I believe he needed to be replaced a few years ago. About the Super Bowl appearance, 14 different teams have made a SB appearance since 2001 (almost half the league). 10 teams have had multiple Conference Championship visits during that timeframe, with 5 of those teams winning it all (6th will be this year). Only the Eagles (5), Bears (2), Jets (2), and Panthers (2) have multiple Conference Championship appearances without a SB victory. For a franchise ranking during Angelo's reign, it would go something like this (giving 5 pts for SB win, 3 for SB loss, 2 for Conf loss, 1 for winning season): 1. Patriots (3 SB wins, 1 SB loss, 1 Conf loss, 11 winning seasons) *Pending this year (31*) 2. Steelers (2 SB wins, 1 SB loss, 2 Conf Champ losses, 9 winning seasons) (26) 3. Colts (1 SB win, 1 SB loss, 1 Conf Champ loss, 9 winning seasons) (19) 4. Eagles (1 SB loss, 4 Conf Champ losses, 8 winning seasons) (19) 5. Packers (1 SB win, 1 Conf Champ loss, 8 winning seasons) (15) 6. Giants (1 SB win, 6 winning seasons)* Pending this year (11*) 7. Saints (1 SB win, 1 Conf Champ loss, 5 winning seasons) (12) 8. Ravens (2 Conf Champ losses, 8 winning seasons) (12) 9. Jets (2x Conf Champ losses, 7 winning seasons) (11) 10. Buccaneers (SB victory, 6 winning seasons) (11) 11. Bears (SB loss, Conf Champ loss, 5 winning seasons) (10) 12. Seahawks (1 SB loss, 6 winning seasons) (9) 13. Titans (1 SB loss, 5 winning seasons) (8) 14. Chargers (1 Conf Champ loss, 6 winning seasons) (8) 15. Falcons (1 Conf Champ loss, 6 winning seasons) (8)

I know some might be franchised and/or re-signed, but here are a few: Welker, Colston, Bowe, V. Jackson, Wallace, Wayne and then the next tier would be guys like: Lloyd, Simpson, D. Jackson, Meachem I would say Johnson is somewhere in between those two groups, and his antics are on par with Ocho and TO.

He is not even a top 5 FA WR option, I'll pass.

Licht would bring some fresh new perspectives into the organization, and he definitely knows what a perennial SB contender looks like. Like some others have mentioned, if Emery was that good, why has he not been offered a GM position before? According to this guy, Licht is in his top for 10 GM Candidates (#7): http://blog.therazzreport.com/?p=270

No one guy is going to make a huge impact, but I believe anyone will be better than JA at this point. Just by removing him and Martz, we gained 2 wins.