scs787

I think Peppers is a lock to be gone. I know they can and probably will dip into the Cutler/Jennings/Slausson contracts and they have other little ways of getting cap space, but I just can't see how they can field a competant team without getting that 9M from cutting Pep. If they run a hybrid then they would still need a DE for when they play 4-3 formations. I love Kony Ealy as the other DE. His versatility would allow him to play DE in 4-3 formations, then stand in 3-4 formations.

Lol you must have missed the Smallwood jokes that popped up on the board when Paul P was hired. Maybe we'll draft him but I still remain skeptical on them moving Bostic to OLB...It could happen, but what happens if SMC beats him out for the job? are we really gonna sit our 2nd round draft pick from the previous year?

At this point? yes. CBS has him ranked above all the guys you listed sans Dennard, and CB is so deep that I think you could wait a round or 2 and still get a starting quality player. I don't think SMC being drafted 2 years ago should hold any weight, esp. since he's apparently switching positions Dix would be the biggest upgrade yes, but a guy like Ed Reynolds would also be a huge upgrade, whereas after Ealy(and Clowney) I just don't think there's a guy who will be a huge upgrade over SMC. As for the style of defense, I actually like Ealy no matter the defense they play. He's big enough to play 4-3 DE, and he's explosive enough to play 3-4 OLB. If they run a hybrid then I think having a player like him would do so much for the D in the Rob Ninkovich role.

IMO, at this point, DE is thinner. A ton of the guys in bold are viewed as 3-4 LBs....IF they need a starting DE, and Ealy is there, that's my pick. (Yes, I've moved on from Donald after looking deeper at both the DE and DT class)

I'm gonna hope it's David Bass or Cornelius Washington, but I too think it'll be Bostic.....All 3 of those guys should benefit from working with Joe Kim.

Man, could you imagine the Bears doing those trades and then the draft plays out like the WF mock..... http://walterfootball.com/draft2014_2.php Look at what's left in the 2R....Yuck...Not a single impact DLmen left....I suppose if they filled their starting DL out in FA then it wouldn't be that big a problem.

Meh, that may be true, I just keep coming back to the 2012 team where the Bears were able to hide Conte/Wright enough that pretty much the whole board here, sans Terra, who just hates everyone, was on board with them returning as starters. Perhaps I'm just over analyzing based on past results. I saw how shitty the team looked with a garbage DL in 2013, and saw how a good DL in 2012 made the rest of the team look better.

Sadly there hasn't been any news about the D other than they wanna be "more aggressive". That and the speculation of a 3-4 hybrid with the signing of 3 guys who ran 3-4 type defenses in the past.

My whole stance on this was if they need to fill 2 starting DL spots though, as I've said before if they only need to fill one(or none) then I'm cool with drafting a safety in the first. If they need 2 DLmen I would hope they go DL back to back(hoping the draft shakes out so they can do so) because after those guys are gone you don't have any starting quality guys left. And again I think it's much easier to "hide" a 3rd or even 4th round safety than it is to hide a 3rd or 4th round DLmen. Esp if they plan on playing a lot of 2 deep safeties again where they're impact would be lesser felt than the safeties for a team like Seattle where their safeties played up more and obviously made a bigger impact. There are plenty of guys that could be pretty good FSs who are not highly rated ATM. I really like Kenny Ladler, Dontae Johnson, and Marqueston Huff who all looked really good at the senior bowl. Tre Boston looks pretty good, he had some off the field issues but I've seen him drafted in the 3rd in some drafts even though right now CBS has him projected in the 7th. Another guy projected to be in the 7th round, which I think is way off, is Jonathon Dowling. The ratings right now are sure to fluctuate, hell I remember when Ty Zimmerman was ranked as the 2nd best FS, and now he's ranked 14th. My main points are in the first 3 stanzas.

That's pretty much what I've been saying, but according to Kiper the slim pickins are at the DL position and not in the secondary. Really after Clowney and Ealy there are a bunch of question marks at DE. Tuitt is probably better suited at DT, Critchton is better served as an OLB, Murphy could be good, but looked bad at the Senior Bowl, and is also being called a 3-4 OLB. DT is a little deeper with guys like Ego Ferguson, Anthony Johnson, and Will sutton all probably being there in the 2nd.

Wow, AZ has been one of the most level headed posters on here in my time posting here....Surprised this is whats ticking him off..... I think he did the right thing. He didn't want to be outed. He didn't want rumors to affect his draft stock or standing in the locker room. He didn't want to be what is essentially a ticking time bomb in the locker room, where he'd risk calamity after letting it out in the middle of his career.

I do as well, but the absolute need to go with 1 in the first is no longer there.

Uhh, the hells the bold comment supposed to mean lol.....You went from saying I'm smarter than Mel Kiper, I don't think I am, but thanks, to bashing me lol. Interesting take AZ. People over on soxtalk are calling it a courageous move. I don't think it's necessarily a "Look at me" I'm selfish type of move, esp since chances are it's a move that's gonna hurt him in the long run. I also don't buy into the whole sideshow derailing the chance of a teams success angle. Hell, look at the sideshow Sherman created with his comments after the NFC Championship game. Did that derail Seattle? At the end of the day if the guys good, the guys good. The media should have no bearings in how a team performs.

He just came out of the closet....Wondering how you old school guys feel about this. Some quotes from anonymous NFL front office people think this hurts his draft status. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-f...am-draft-stock/ There WILL be meathead fans that will get on him if he struggles, and the media is sure to be all over him for awhile....As long as he has thick skin I think he'll be just fine. I think he can hang at DE but would be more of an ideal fit as a rush LB....If the Bears run some sort ofhybrid, I really wouldn't mind drafting him if he ends up falling to the 4th round. He can back up his teammate Kony Ealy as the hybrid DE/OLB lol.

As you can see by my previous post, if we bring back/in the guys you suggest (I see all 4 starters FA DE-Melton-Ratliff or Paea-Wootton) then waiting is fine by me.

Gonna need to bring back a lot more than Izzy to avoid going DL early. We all have our opinions here, and I'm gonna hold on to mine, DL or bust in the first....Me and my boy Mel Kiper know whats up lol.

I'd really be shocked if he went for that low. There was concern that he was a one year wonder?? He had more sacks in 2011 than he did in his 2012 pro bowl season. If they resign him it will be as a starter.

Call it what you will, but I agree with Mel Kiper. Now maybe if we only have 1 hole to plug on the DL then I'm ok with waiting till the 2nd to draft that guy....But if we have multiple spots to fill on the DL I think it'd be a mistake not to grab a guy in the first.....What happens when there's a run on DL in the 2nd or 3rd and because of the lack of depth we're stuck with rotational players starting???? Looking at the 13 teams ahead of us there are a lot of teams that are gonna go offense, so we should have a pretty good crop of defensive talent to choose from. They won't have to reach to take a DL piece, the guys they have to choose from will be all ranked about the same.

I'll just have to agree to disagree with you guys and go with the Mel Kiper on this one.....Esp. if they end up needing 2 starters on the DL. Right now they need at least 2, 3 if you think Peppers is gone, all 4 if you think we need an upgrade over Paea as well. Like your signature says mongo, it all starts up front! Def not going offense. We saw what one of the best offenses ever did against one of the best defenses ever.

Melton is still get a pretty good sized contract. If the sign him, and draft Donald that'd be really, really dumb.

Meh, picking at 14 we should have a choice of a few pretty good players...Ha Ha, at this point, is the 20th overall prospect, whereas Donald is the 22nd.....When you throw in the fact that there are more good safeties then there is good DTs I think it makes sense to go after the DT. I think there's something in this thought process about supply and demand, I just can't put it into words.

Eh, I know what you're saying but the DL depth in the draft is so thin that I don't think they could wait to upgrade the line. Here's what Mel Kiper had to say..... “I don’t think the defensive line is something you can really wait on,” Kiper said. “There’s not a lot of depth at end or tackle. There is more depth in the secondary that you can get guys down the line, particularly at corner. There’s apt depth at wide receiver. “So if you look at the Bears’ needs, I would say get the defensive linemen early, wait on those other positions just a bit because the defensive line, both at end and tackle, is just not that deep.”

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't hate Tuitt, or Hageman, or Jernigan, as long as we go DL I'm happy. I just so happen to think Donald is the next Geno Atkins/Kyle Williams, aka a pro bowl DT....

Are there multiple guys that do big boards for NFL Draft Scout??? Or are you using an older version? The one on CBS, which is run by NFL Draft Scout, has different rankings. 2. Clowney 8. Mack 9. Denard 11.Barr 16.Mosely 17.Ealy 18.Ford 19.Nix 20.Dix 21.Gilbert 22.Donald 23.Jernigan 26.Hageman 28.Pryor 33.Shazier 34.Verrett 39.Van Noy 40.Roberson 42.Tuitt Tuitt is a 2nd round draft pick on this big board and Hageman is behind Donald. When we talk about hybrid Ds I like Donald (3T in 4-3 and 5T in 3-4) and Ealy (DE in 4-3 and OLB in 3-4) more than I do Hageman and Tuitt.