scs787

The more I really think about it, and the bigger the league salary cap gets, the more I think the Bears will have the money for Michael Bennett. Bring back Wootton and Ratliff, then either sign an under the radar guy like Matt Shaughnessy or spend a mid round pick on another DE to compete with Wootton and the DL could be looking really solid Bennett-Donald-Paea/Ratliff-Wootton/Shaughnessy/Rook.

Even after his "great" combine WF has Kareem Martin going in the 4th...I don't get it, what am I missing here with him...I know the draft is supposed to be one of the deepest in years but still, if the Bears got him in the 3rd that'd be phenomenal.

2 years ago the Rams traded their 6th pick to the Cowboys for the 14th and a 2R pick....The article mentions that usually a 4th rounder is also needed but hey, it's the Cowboys. For a player like Clowney you're gonna need that 4th rounder more than likely....So in a year where we lack a ton of depth I don't think it's wise to go into the draft with just a 1R, 3R, and 2 6R. If it was a move to "put them over the top" ala the Julio Jones trade then ya, I'd do it.

At this point I just want Aaron Donald. The new WF mock has the Bears taking him and notes that he should be taken anywhere between 13-16, which sounds about right(I don't think he'll make it past Dallas), so I'm not sure they can really trade down to get him.

Depends what they do in free agency honestly. 1 man, no matter how good he may be isn't going to turn the defense around. This is supposed to be a really good draft, a 1st and a 2nd probably makes a bigger impact than Clowney alone.

Did a mock on fanspeak that looks very unrealistic but would be just fantastic..... I'll wait till tomorrow or so to try to find a more realistic post combine draft. Sign Whitner, Ratliff, Wootton, Bowman, Hayden and Matt Shaughnessy(under the radar signing), Draft 1R- Aaron Donald DT Pitt- Until we sign Melton or another 3T DT this will be my pick. 2R- Stanley Jean Baptiste CB Nebraska- Big, lanky, adequate speed, huge hops, takes over for Tillman 3R- Kareem Martin DE North Carolina- Here's where it gets unrealistic, probably no way Martin drops to the 3rd but hey I'll take what they give me. He competes with Wootton. 4R- Ed Reynolds FS Stanford- Another guy who probably doesn't fall this far. Competes and probably beats Conte for the FS spot next to Whitner 5R- Deandre Coleman DT Cal- 6'5" , long arms, could be used as a Red Bryant type DE. 6R- Jordan Navjar TE Baylor- Big 6'6" TE who was recruited by TE U but transferred to be more playing time, ironically was under utilized at Baylor too 6R- Tyler Gafney RB Stanford- Bruising back who actually ran a 4.49. He takes over for Bush. That's just ballin right there. Battles everywhere. DE has Wootton, Shauhgnessy, Martin, Lane, Bass, and Washington. Could get creative and use Coleman outside too. DT has Donald at the 3 then Paea, Ratliff, and Coleman competing for the 1....Could also add in Collins for more depth Whitner locks in at SS while Reynolds and Conte compete at FS. Jennings-Bapitiste-Frey-Bowman-Hayden is solid.

Lol I'm sure they'll use all available cap room....they usually do.

Wonder if the price of FAs goes up as well....If not the Bears should be in good shape.

I'm surprised I even remember him to be honest lol he was nothing special....mainly was just a joke though.

I'm bummed he didn't participate in the combine because of "An injury from 2 years ago"....I'm still not really sold he's a 3 down 4-3 DE.

@ProFootballTalk Source: Salary cap will exceed $132 million this year, possibly by a few million . Throw at least 2M more into the pot.

Brock Forsey disagrees lol

No way as in you wouldn't draft him??? Or no way as in there's no way dude is out running DEs.

Lol touche.

I wonder that myself. According to this article ( http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200000028...or-all-32-teams ) The Bears are the first team with DT needs. Though the article notes that St. Louis might target another pass rusher, which would be scary as hell with Long and Quinn on the edges. I think they grab a WR though. So unless a team views him as a can't miss type guy like Clowney then he should fall to us.

DB evaluating isn't my area of "expertise" but we need em, so I think we need a thread about em. Justin Gilbert ran the fastest 40 at 4.37, he's 6 foot even but has some of the longest arms in the draft at 33 1/8, only Keith McGill has longer at 33 1/4. If the Bears fill out their DL in FA Gilbert looks like he could he has the length and speed to hang. Announcers are raving about him. Darqueeze Denards measueables don't look that great, an inch shorter than Gilbert and his arms are 3 inches shorter. He ran a 4.51, which announcers say was good enough.I loved him early on, for the most part just because a nickname like "Mr. No Fly Zone" makes it sound like you're really good...and he probably is, but I want a guy with more length to combat the Johnsons and Nelsons of the NFC north. The before mentioned McGill ran a 4.44 at 6'3" with the longest arms in the draft. Announcers said he looked a little stiff in drills. Kyle Fuller has good length at 6'0" with 32 7/8 and coupled it with 4.40 speed. Stanley Jean Baptiste at 6'2" with 32 3/8 arms jumped a 42 inch vert and had a 4.53 40, which I guess is fine if Denards 4.51 is good enough. I like the size, length, and vertical to combat some of the big boys in the league. Pierre Desir has nice size and length at 6'1" with 33in arms ran a 4.53 Clinton Dix and Pryor both ran 4.58, which the announcers said was fine. Dix is 2 inches taller with longer arms. Dontae Johnson, a guy I kept bringing up as a mid round safety I like is 6'2" with a 4.43. Kenny Ladler, who I thought looked good at the senior bowl ran a 4.72 which is awful Marqueston Huff, another guy I liked at the senior bowl ran a 4.47. Jonathon Dowling, another big ol safety, ran a 4.50 at 6'3" with arms as long as Gilbert, 33 1/8. Deone Bucannon ran a 4.50 at 6'1" with 32in arms. At this point, if they don't sign a safety in FA, I think they can double up in the mid rounds and go with something like Bucannon RD3 and Huff RD4.

That's what I like to hear. Spend Meltons money on a DE.

Ya he destroyed the field in the 3 cone drill, which is an underrated drill, at least among fans. He ran it at 6.83, next best was some guy named Cassius Marsh at 7.08....Right behind him, surprising no one at this point...Aaron Donald at 7.11. Jernigan sadly didn't participate for whatever reason.

Both 1 year deals. Not surprised, keep hearing good things about Boggs and I think he's a quality backup for Garza(if they resign him) Martin's a real goor special teams player, perhaps has an outside chance at putting up a fight at either safety position.

Donald also has a higher vertical (32in vs 29) and broad jump (9 foot 8in vs 8-6).....Dudes a freak. We were talking about how he MIGHT be available in the 2nd, then we were talking about how we should trade down for him, but at this point I honestly wouldn't be shocked if he's not even there at 14. His highlight tape isn't a mirage, he's backed it up today.

Ya, Ealy, even with the underwhelming performance here already has to be up pretty high on the draft board, and I'd say Martin shot up at least a little bit.... Warren Sapp on the most impressive DL....Donald and Jernigan, if you a 3 technique then Jernigan is your NT(1 technique), if you already have your 1 technique then Donald is your guy......That's pretty much what I've been saying all along, and what I saw on tape. Jernigan is more of a run stuffer while Donald is the QB disputer... Sapp loves Donald. All the announcers called Donald the most impressive guy....Calling him "Best in show", all things considered better than Clowney.

That sounds fantastic, I think that's where I'm at right now too. Clowney's 40 was officially 4.53....which is surprisingly only 6th among DEs in the last 10 years....Wonder who the top 5 are.

Ya beat me to it ASHKUM. But ya Martin helped himself a lot, he was expected to run in the 4.9s so I wasn't a fan, but after running that 4.78/1.53 I really like him. I kinda discarded him after seeing that projected 4.9 number so I'm gonna have to do a little more research on him to see why he's not viewed as an early pick. Back to Donald though, my goodness....I love Melton, but at this point I hope we pass and Donald is there cuz the dudes a beast. Spend Meltons money on a DE.

Donald continues to look freakish. Just for comparison here, Clowney ran a 4.47, his 10 yard split was 1.56...Donald ran a 4.65 but his 10 yard split was a 1.59. So for his first 10 yards Donald was just .03 slower than Clowney. The 4.65 is tied for 6th among DLmen with everyone ahead of him being DEs. Jernigan ran a 4.93 with a 1.72 10 yard split. Ealy a 4.83/1.66 split, which is real disappointing. Jeffcoat ran a 4.60/160 which is impressive but he's undersized and weak, wouldn't reach for him in the 1st Kareem Martin ran a 4.68/1.53 so he's looked REALLY impressive.. Quicker 10 yard split than Clowney Marcus Smith ran a 4.63/1.57, and he played for the new coach from Clint Hurtt.

I don't think Archer goes higher than the 4th, I've never even heard of him before today (CBS doesn't even have him listed).....Last year Onterio McCaleb posted the highest 40 time, albeit a bit slower than Archer at 4.34, and he wasn't even drafted. Don't hate the idea of a RB though. Back to the DL.... Donald had the 2nd most bench reps among all DLmen with 35, some scrub had 36. Jernigan had 27. So Jernigan is just an inch taller than Donald, but Donald has longer arms and is stronger. Ealy had 1 more rep than Clowney but both were "underwhelming" with 21 and 22 respectively. Last year the average was 24 for DLmen. Kareem Martin also had 22 reps. Critchton had 24. Michael Sam had as many reps as Jay Cutler had, 17. Jeffcoat had just 1 more than Sam Murphy had 1 more than Jeffcoat. Hageman had 32 which is impressive with those long arms. Dee Ford, who claims he's better than Clowney, didn't participate.