Mike Wahle available

[bradjock]

He turns 31 in March, but he's a damn good Left guard. He's no spring-chicken, but he could be an upgrade to Ruben Brown who turns 36 on Wednesday.

 

IMO, we'll sign a guard and draft a tackle early to develop for next year. Angelo likes and trusts older offensive lineman. The team seems to be happy with Fred Miller at RT. Wahle, depending on how much he'll cost, would be a good fit for this team. He'll be one helluva a lot cheaper then Faneca.

[AZ54]

I was in agreement with the whole post until I ran into the "team seems to be happy with Fred Miller". I know given the way Lovie and Co. spread the love around for the Oline I'd say you are right but it still bothers me to see it in writing. I don't see Miller being worth his 4.5mil price tag and I don't think there's a cap hit if we cut him. Lovie's not real big on accountability for performance like he was in his first year so I can see Miller being back at the RT spot on opening day.

[brletich]

I can see Miller being back at the RT spot on opening day.

 

OH HE** NO! Not even this staff can be that stupid as to put the turnstyle back in there...he was terrible.

[adam]

Kruetz, Tait, and Garza should be the only 3 starters returning. Pick one up via FA, and draft at least 2 others. It might even be time to draft a Center.

[madlithuanian]

One word: "smokescreen". Why tell everyone we're in the market for a tackle? Best let them think we're hapy as pie with the matador.

 

I'm for bringing the guy in...

 

I was in agreement with the whole post until I ran into the "team seems to be happy with Fred Miller". I know given the way Lovie and Co. spread the love around for the Oline I'd say you are right but it still bothers me to see it in writing. I don't see Miller being worth his 4.5mil price tag and I don't think there's a cap hit if we cut him. Lovie's not real big on accountability for performance like he was in his first year so I can see Miller being back at the RT spot on opening day.

[BearSox]

Wahle is overrated and he was terrible for the Panthers this past year.

[bradjock]

OH HE** NO! Not even this staff can be that stupid as to put the turnstyle back in there...he was terrible.

 

That's easy to say, but who the hell do we replace him with? Last year the Cowboys signed LT Leonard Davis from Arizona for something like 60 million (that's not an exact figure but I know it was a huge amoung & profootballtalk.com made a big deal out of it.) Davis was so bad, he was moved to RG, next to Marc Colombo who played tackle.

 

Travelle Wharton is the top LT available, and Carolina's line was terrible last year. How much will that cost?

 

You cannot count on a rookie to step in and start. We'd be nuts to do that.

 

So are choices are:

a) Pay out the ass for an average tackle, or

Draft a tackle and keep Fred Miller around for one more year.

 

As bad as he was, we could do MUCH worse then Fred Miller.

 

I just don't see what other choice we have at this point.

[BearSox]

That's easy to say, but who the hell do we replace him with? Last year the Cowboys signed LT Leonard Davis from Arizona for something like 60 million (that's not an exact figure but I know it was a huge amoung & profootballtalk.com made a big deal out of it.) Davis was so bad, he was moved to RG, next to Marc Colombo who played tackle.

 

Davis never played LT for the Cards and was their RT. And when the Cowboys signed him, they signed him as a RG. In fact, he made the pro-bowl and was actually very good.

[bradjock]

Davis never played LT for the Cards and was their RT. And when the Cowboys signed him, they signed him as a RG. In fact, he made the pro-bowl and was actually very good.

 

Leonard Davis did spend his last 3 seasons with Arizona as their starting Left Tackle, and while he wasn't great, he was good enough that they did consider putting the franchise tag on him. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2769535

 

Going into free agency last year Len Pasquarreli (who's probably an idiot) ranked him as the #8 overall available free agent saying, "he is the only viable left tackle availble" (in free agency) http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...&id=2784159

 

The Cowboy's signed him to a 49.6 million $$$ contract with the intention of playing him at RG or RT depending on what happened with Marc Colombo (I just assumed that if you spend that much money on a guy, you'd want him to play tackle . . . he's not better then Colombo???)

 

Yes he did make the pro-bowl, but christ almighty that's expensive for a RG, the weakest position on the offensive line.

 

Either way, getting back to my original point, to sign a tackle in free agency who's not completely worthless is going to cost the Bears one helluva a lot of money.

[nfoligno]

You ask what our options are?

 

Well, while I would agree that if we draft an OT, even if we take one w/ our 1st pick, he may not be ready to start at LT. At the same time, I think it is legit to believe he could start at RT. I would further argue that if we take an OT w/ the 14th pick of the draft, it is not only reasonable, but expected, that he would start.

 

So then you are talking about Miller being a backup. I could accept that if he were cheap, but he is FAR from cheap. He is far too expensive to be a backup, which is what i think he would be if we draft an OT in the 1st. Further, I would argue that St. Clair didn't appear to be a dropoff from Miller, and to me, that is as much a testament to Miller as it is St. Clair.

 

I guess for me this is a no brainer. This is a very good draft for OT. We draft an OT (1st or even 2nd round OTs should be capable of starting). If that rookie can get it done at LT, awesome. If not, he starts out at RT and Tait sticks another year or so at left. Depth is an issue, but Miller is too expensive for depth, and is released. St. Clair is our primary backup, and then we look to FA/draft for a 4th OT.

 

Final point. Not only is nearly $6m ridiculously high for Miller, but the $3.4m we can save against the cap is simply too much to make this even a question. If we had to eat cap dollars to cut him, then maybe you suck it up and keep him another year, but that is too much savings v what you get (and at the price to get him) to keep.

[Connorbear]

Final point. Not only is nearly $6m ridiculously high for Miller, but the $3.4m we can save against the cap is simply too much to make this even a question. If we had to eat cap dollars to cut him, then maybe you suck it up and keep him another year, but that is too much savings v what you get (and at the price to get him) to keep.

You nailed it. He is worth more to us gone than on the team. Plus, he sucks.

 

Peace

[bradjock]

I've honestly believed some of the hype coming out of Halas that Miller was horrible this year because of injuries, and the team still has a ton of faith in him. Maybe that's all B.S., and as you've pointed out previously, Miller wasn't great in 2006 either.

 

I am curious as to why this team has a lack of faith in St. Clair. Miller was benched mainly because he was flat-out horrible, and couldn't quit jumping off sides. St. Clair was not great, but seemed better then Miller. Then after 2 or 3 games, Miller was inserted back at RT. At this point in the season we were pretty much out of it. I wondered then why the hell we didn't just let St. Clair finish out the season at RT to see if he could get it done on a consistent basis.

 

Then we moved St. Clair to LG. The offensive line seemed improved with him there. That might have been because Orton doesn't get sacked 9 times a game. I was thinking we might keep him starting there.

 

I'm still skeptical, but you're right, that is one helluva a savings to dump a bad RT. I'd have no problem dumping Fred Miller as long as we annoit St. Clair our starting RT, and make any rookie win the starting job.

 

You ask what our options are?

 

Well, while I would agree that if we draft an OT, even if we take one w/ our 1st pick, he may not be ready to start at LT. At the same time, I think it is legit to believe he could start at RT. I would further argue that if we take an OT w/ the 14th pick of the draft, it is not only reasonable, but expected, that he would start.

 

So then you are talking about Miller being a backup. I could accept that if he were cheap, but he is FAR from cheap. He is far too expensive to be a backup, which is what i think he would be if we draft an OT in the 1st. Further, I would argue that St. Clair didn't appear to be a dropoff from Miller, and to me, that is as much a testament to Miller as it is St. Clair.

 

I guess for me this is a no brainer. This is a very good draft for OT. We draft an OT (1st or even 2nd round OTs should be capable of starting). If that rookie can get it done at LT, awesome. If not, he starts out at RT and Tait sticks another year or so at left. Depth is an issue, but Miller is too expensive for depth, and is released. St. Clair is our primary backup, and then we look to FA/draft for a 4th OT.

 

Final point. Not only is nearly $6m ridiculously high for Miller, but the $3.4m we can save against the cap is simply too much to make this even a question. If we had to eat cap dollars to cut him, then maybe you suck it up and keep him another year, but that is too much savings v what you get (and at the price to get him) to keep.