BRING BACK BOOKER!!!

[madlithuanian]

Not counting McBride and Graham, who were called to duty basically because of injury...it' took a darn while for Olsen and Wolfe to get decent looks. Granted, Olsen got hurt early...but I just didn't get why he wan't on the field more. I guess I simply don't trust our coaches in this area.

 

The ony 2 young players that did not play this yr were Beekman and Haas so I don't get where you get a "number of young players' unless that number is 2. McBride, Graham, Olsen, and Wolfe all rookies and all played.

 

Peace

[Connorbear]

Not counting McBride and Graham, who were called to duty basically because of injury...it' took a darn while for Olsen and Wolfe to get decent looks. Granted, Olsen got hurt early...but I just didn't get why he wan't on the field more. I guess I simply don't trust our coaches in this area.

McBride started over Manning Jr. Says alot to me. Graham obviously got playing time do to injuries at the bottom of the roster. But they both played and they both contributed at a fairly high level. The coaching staff could have asked for vet FAs to be brought in (e.g. Tony Parrish) but did not.

 

Also, we forgot the impact of Toueani at the end of the yr at DT. Obviously we were extremely thin at the position but they did bring him in and he also contributed.

 

Peace

[Alaskan Grizzly]

I also think that bringing back Booker would be an awesome idea. He actually did pretty well considering the "team" he was on before with the Bears. I also think keeping Muhammad around for another year or so would be also good. Those other guys; Bradley, Hester and Davis are either too fragile or too valuable to ALWAYS be available at WR. Booker and Muhammad at least are durable.

 

Secondly...what about bringing in someone like Zach Thomas to take over for the loss of Briggs...or perhaps *gulp* when Urlacher becomes unavailable?

 

Last...Faneca is probably worth the money he wants. The Bears won't pay it but he's still worth it.

[Controlled Chaos]

The ony 2 young players that did not play this yr were Beekman and Haas so I don't get where you get a "number of young players' unless that number is 2. McBride, Graham, Olsen, and Wolfe all rookies and all played.

 

Peace

Oakley and Rideu are two other guys I would have liked to see, but yeah Beekman and Hass are the big ones and guess what...Oline and WR are two of the biggest question marks we have. It would have been nice to evaluate those guys in some meaningless games at the end of the year.

[nfoligno]

Agree on Hass, but I do not think it is so simple when talking about young OL. If you play Hass, and he sucks, no one is really "that" hurt by trying to develop a young WR. If you play Beekman or Oakley and they suck, your QB might get killed. If the staff felt Beekman and Oakley were so bad toward the end of the year that they could not protect the QB, then they have no business being on the field.

 

OL may be the only position on the team I would argue you can not simply throw out a young player just because you want to see him. To play OL, the coaches should have some level of comfort w/ the player. Any other position on the team might hurt the teams chance to win, but and young OL that isn't ready can get your QB hurt.

 

There is no question about Hass, but it is harder to knock the staff w/ regard to the rest last year. A BIG part of that is because we played a lot of guys due to injuries, but I am not sure Lovie avoids playing young players. Payne was getting PT prior to his injury, and supposedly was even the reason we traded Harris. McBride may have gotten on the field due to injury, but it also says something that we played him at CB and not nickel, thus the staff put him ahead of a fairly high priced veteran. Wolfe got in the game here and there, and then when we were "mathmatically" done, Angelo saw to him getting more reps. Olsen was on the field most of the year, but that is Turner not drawing up plays for him IMHO, as opposed to Lovie holding a young player back.

 

I have MANY gripes about Lovie, but playing young guys I don't think is one of them. Yea, there is Hass, but IMHO, that is about it.

[Controlled Chaos]

Agree on Hass, but I do not think it is so simple when talking about young OL. If you play Hass, and he sucks, no one is really "that" hurt by trying to develop a young WR. If you play Beekman or Oakley and they suck, your QB might get killed. If the staff felt Beekman and Oakley were so bad toward the end of the year that they could not protect the QB, then they have no business being on the field.

 

OL may be the only position on the team I would argue you can not simply throw out a young player just because you want to see him. To play OL, the coaches should have some level of comfort w/ the player. Any other position on the team might hurt the teams chance to win, but and young OL that isn't ready can get your QB hurt.

 

There is no question about Hass, but it is harder to knock the staff w/ regard to the rest last year. A BIG part of that is because we played a lot of guys due to injuries, but I am not sure Lovie avoids playing young players. Payne was getting PT prior to his injury, and supposedly was even the reason we traded Harris. McBride may have gotten on the field due to injury, but it also says something that we played him at CB and not nickel, thus the staff put him ahead of a fairly high priced veteran. Wolfe got in the game here and there, and then when we were "mathmatically" done, Angelo saw to him getting more reps. Olsen was on the field most of the year, but that is Turner not drawing up plays for him IMHO, as opposed to Lovie holding a young player back.

 

I have MANY gripes about Lovie, but playing young guys I don't think is one of them. Yea, there is Hass, but IMHO, that is about it.

We'll agree to disagree. Metcalf was fricken horrible....and Fred Miller was overmatched 50% of the time. Beekman and Oakley are professional football players getting paid to play. What can they do...blow their assignment?? hahaha....it happened every other play last year. IMO this team would have been much better served with St Clair taking over for Miller and Beekman playing for Brown/Metcalf. That would have taken some balls though. Lovie would have had to bench Miller and Metcalf, in essence laying some accountability on their shoulders. But we can't have that....nobody is held accountable on this team. Drop passes. Cut off your routes. Quit on your block. Quit on your tackle. Make boneheaded play after boneheaded play.....go ahead...Nobody is going to punish you for it. This team lacked discipline like none I can remember and it didn't seem to matter to anyone.

 

Oh and I'm not saying they should have thrown them in there cold. They should have been splitting practice time. Metcalf and Miller both should have been told their play was unacceptable and put on notice. This could have happened with 5 weeks left and the first major freak up they had they should have been pulled. If whoever came in was clearly overmatched throughout their time in there...well then the team has something to go on.

 

Same goes for Hass. Moose, who is in direct compeition with Khabibulin for the biggest ripoff in Chicago sports, should have been forced to split time at the halfway point of the season. I would also argue Berrian should have been in the same boat with Bradley gettin a shot.

[Connorbear]

We'll agree to disagree. Metcalf was fricken horrible....and Fred Miller was overmatched 50% of the time. Beekman and Oakley are professional football players getting paid to play. What can they do...blow their assignment?? hahaha....it happened every other play last year. IMO this team would have been much better served with St Clair taking over for Miller and Beekman playing for Brown/Metcalf. That would have taken some balls though. Lovie would have had to bench Miller and Metcalf, in essence laying some accountability on their shoulders. But we can't have that....nobody is held accountable on this team. Drop passes. Cut off your routes. Quit on your block. Quit on your tackle. Make boneheaded play after boneheaded play.....go ahead...Nobody is going to punish you for it. This team lacked discipline like none I can remember and it didn't seem to matter to anyone.

If you remember, the offense line looked much better when Metcalf was replaced with St. Claire. They recognized that Metcalf was not doing the job and sat him down. I would have loved to see Beekman or Oakley get those reps but I think the coaching staff was trying to prevent Orton from getting killed.

 

Peace

[lemonej]

Disagree with bringing in Booker. At least at this point. I just don't see how he fits in with this team. Booker does not have the speed that Turner craves, which is why Terry Shea wanted to dump him to begin with. Booker is a good possession type receiver with great route-running ability. He doesn't have much size or speed, and he'll be 32 by the time the season starts.

 

Reading the above posts, I get the impression that it's "dump Moose & bring back Booker." Is Booker any better? Seriously I doubt it. Don't speak lightly of dumping Moose. Yes he's been a dissappointment overall, but he's a team captain, a team leader, and he's a pro. His cap value is 3 million this year (thanks LT!) which ain't bad. He'll be back.

 

Looking at the receivers next year, I genuinely believe we'll bring back Rashied Davis to be our 5th receiver. He's great on special teams & he's a solid WR. He's restricted and I can't imagine him getting many offers.

 

Mark Bradley is back for one more season. Hopefully he can turn it around.

 

Hester is expected to see his WR role expanded this season.

 

Moose will be back IMO.

 

That leaves room for one more. Hopefully Berrian returns, but if he doesn't, I'd bank we'll either draft or sign a burner that can stretch the field. Either way, I don't see Booker fitting in with this group.

 

If we did bring Booker back I expect we'd be dissappointed the same way we've been with Moose.

 

 

Bradjock size is not Booker's problem and he does own the Bears single season record for receptions.He does lack speed but, there have been many receivers in the NFL who lacked speed but could get open for TD's.When Booker was traded for Oguleye I didn't like it because he was the Bears leading reciver the previous year and I thought he could work well within the WCO that Turner runs because if we go back to when Turner was first here his WR's were Jeff Graham and Curtis Conway with Keith Jennings and Ryan Wetnight at TE.Thre was no real speed burners in that bunch bit they managed to help Erik Kramer to a Bears' passing completions and yardage record.The main person in this organization who covets speed is headcoach Lovie Smith.

[Mongo3451]

We'll agree to disagree. Metcalf was fricken horrible....and Fred Miller was overmatched 50% of the time. Beekman and Oakley are professional football players getting paid to play. What can they do...blow their assignment?? hahaha....it happened every other play last year. IMO this team would have been much better served with St Clair taking over for Miller and Beekman playing for Brown/Metcalf. That would have taken some balls though. Lovie would have had to bench Miller and Metcalf, in essence laying some accountability on their shoulders. But we can't have that....nobody is held accountable on this team. Drop passes. Cut off your routes. Quit on your block. Quit on your tackle. Make boneheaded play after boneheaded play.....go ahead...Nobody is going to punish you for it. This team lacked discipline like none I can remember and it didn't seem to matter to anyone.

 

Oh and I'm not saying they should have thrown them in there cold. They should have been splitting practice time. Metcalf and Miller both should have been told their play was unacceptable and put on notice. This could have happened with 5 weeks left and the first major freak up they had they should have been pulled. If whoever came in was clearly overmatched throughout their time in there...well then the team has something to go on.

 

Agreed. You can always grade them while trying to put them in a position to succeed. You can can play to their strengths, against NFL talent, for short periods of time. If their strengths don't grade out so well, you have a problem.

[Mongo3451]

Bradjock size is not Booker's problem and he does own the Bears single season record for receptions.He does lack speed but, there have been many receivers in the NFL who lacked speed but could get open for TD's.When Booker was traded for Oguleye I didn't like it because he was the Bears leading reciver the previous year and I thought he could work well within the WCO that Turner runs because if we go back to when Turner was first here his WR's were Jeff Graham and Curtis Conway with Keith Jennings and Ryan Wetnight at TE.Thre was no real speed burners in that bunch bit they managed to help Erik Kramer to a Bears' passing completions and yardage record.The main person in this organization who covets speed is headcoach Lovie Smith.

 

Nice history there. I always have been a booker fan. At this point, he IS an upgrade over Moose. I'd also like to see the, younger, Hass get a shot to see if he can get open. If we could sign Booker and cut him if he wasn't much better than Hass, that would be ideal. Reality is, he's dumb enough to sign a contract that would enable a team to do that.