Bears waive Mark Bradley

[Bears4Ever_34]

Cedric Benson!

[ASHKUM BEAR]

There seems to have always been something going on w/ this kid. Doesn't it seem like he has always been in the coaches dog house? I mean, he has a big game, only to ride the pine after that. We are desparate for a WR last year, and how many snaps did he get. Now this. Lloyd has stepped up, but Davis has been making key drops, Booker has been invisible and Hester is injured. So we cut Bradley?

 

I really wonder if there isn't something we have yet to read about. Bad practice/workout habbits. Questionable locker room kid. Slept w/ Lovie's daughter. I don't know. But he has always seemed to be in the doghouse.

 

Thats what Hub was saying also on the Score. Hub was thinking JA and Lovie had differences on Mark Bradley. For some reason Lovie would not give Bradley the time of day so JA just gave up and cut him. With the Bears picking up Hamilton, the Bears may be looking for a nickle that can step up.

 

I have a feeling that JA's "feelings' toward Lovie may be shifting. A lot of moves Lovie has made are not working out either. Lovie is not developing draft picks (Grossman, Benson, Bradley, Bennett, Olsen, Hester, examples) , making coaching changes that may not have been favorable with management (Rivera) and told everyone to trust him. Lovie's Club Med training camps seem to Not have our players in shape to finish a game.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Here's a Commentary I wrote on Bradley's release:

 

The Bears on Tuesday released wide receiver Mark Bradley. Following the release, the Bears claimed cornerback Marcus Hamilton off waivers from Tampa Bay. Hamilton, a 2007 7th round selection, made his NFL debut last Sunday in the Bucs win over the Bears, and is expected to add depth in the secondary.

 

Bradley’s release shouldn’t shock anyone. He was one of many of Angelo’s poor first day selections, and worse yet, one of the final members of the 2005 draft. QB Kyle Orton is now the only remaining member of the “vaunted” 2005 draft class.

 

Angelo has now released 4 recent first day picks: Benson, Bradley, Bazuin, Okwo. This makes me ask the question, Why have the Bears missed on so many 1st day picks? Has Angelo just been unlucky or were these picks destined to fail? I broke down each of the 4 failed picks based upon the logic of the move (ie, team needs), other players on the board, and where the player was slotted to go.

 

Benson:

Benson was the biggest bust on the above list, but also the only selection which made sense. Yes, the Bears did have Thomas Jones, but the Bears offense was in flux. Terry O’Shea was fired and Ron Turner was brought in. Thomas Jones was not considered a good fit for Turner’s system, which required that “power running game”. Benson was expected to be just that. He was a prolific collegiate running back, who would get stronger and stronger as the game wore on. Everyone expected him to do more of the same in the NFL and no one could have predicted his eventual hold-out and unwilligness to play with the team.

 

Mark Bradley:

The Bears made a statment selecting Bradley early in the 2nd round of the NFL draft. The statement wasn’t a good one either, it was a bad one. No one expected Bradley to jump off the board this early. Sure he had physical potential, but his collegiate production was non-existent and he had injury issues. The above was why experts had Bradley projected to go somewhere between the 3rd & 4th rounds. So why take the chance on a project like Bradley? Especially when the Bears WR corps was in need of immediate help. Remember, Berrian had yet to emerge and the belief in Chicago was that the Bears needed to get a WR whom could be groomed by “Moose”. Roscoe Parrish, Vincent Jackson, and Chris Henry were all available and had much better collegiate stats and plenty of “athletism”.

 

Dan Bazuin:

Of the 4 players above, this was the worse pick. The Bears selected Bazuin in the 2nd round, when they already had three above average defensive ends on the roster (Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, & Adewale Ogunleye). The move screamed “luxury pick”. The problem was that the Bears weren’t in a position to make a “luxury” pick. They had a poor WR corps (Berrian and an Aging Moose), no depth at safety (Brown always injured and no one else had emerged), and an aging offensive line. So I ask why pick a defensive end out of Central Michigan? Instead of nabbing Bazuin, the Bears could have taken tackle Ryan Harris out of Notre Dame or WR James Jones. Heck, had the Bears not traded down in the first place to get Bazuin, they could have selected tackle Tony Ugoh.

 

Mike Okwo:

I can see some logic in the Okwo selection. The Bears were looking for insurance on Lance Briggs. The problem was the Bears already had a LB they loved, Jamar Williams, who was capable of stepping in for Briggs. Another argument could be made that the Bears were to get depth at MLB, but if Urlacher were hurt, Briggs would have slid into the middle with Williams/Hillmeyer cover the OLB’s. Bottom line there were far more pressing needs on the board than to use the selection on an under-sized, un-athletic linebacker from Stanford. RB Michael Bush would have been a tremendous value pick, but the Bears had just made another horrendous pick prior to the Okwo one (Garret Wolfe). Factoring in Wolfe’s selection, the best pick would have been safety Tanard Jackson.

 

Based on the above it’s hard to give Angelo a pass on three of the four failed picks. It’s one thing when a player busts or gets hurt, it happens (see McNown/Benson/Columbo). But it’s another when the pick was doomed from the get-go. In fact, When you look at the the list of Angelo’s failed selections, you see plenty of them which fall into the “no sense” category and its those picks that Angelo will have to get away from. When Angelo’s picks make sense, they pan-out. It shouldn’t come as a shock either as Angelo is one of the best talent evaluators in the game. So Jerry, please, lets learn from the past and do a better job addressing team needs via the draft. It worked in 2008 when the majority of the picks adressed needs, had value, and flat out made sense.

[madlithuanian]

Great read!

 

Man, does that depress me though!

 

Here's a Commentary I wrote on Bradley's release:

[nfoligno]

Benson:

Benson was the biggest bust on the above list, but also the only selection which made sense. Yes, the Bears did have Thomas Jones, but the Bears offense was in flux. Terry O’Shea was fired and Ron Turner was brought in. Thomas Jones was not considered a good fit for Turner’s system, which required that “power running game”. Benson was expected to be just that. He was a prolific collegiate running back, who would get stronger and stronger as the game wore on. Everyone expected him to do more of the same in the NFL and no one could have predicted his eventual hold-out and unwilligness to play with the team.

 

Expect Jason to be all over you for this, as he (a) said TJ could be a great back in our system and ( said Benson would be a bust from day one. I agree w/ you though. Benson was considered a top 5 pick, and while not all agreed, TJ was not totally proven and was a bust w/ two prior teams. The pick "made sense" but turned out to be a bad pick.

 

Mark Bradley:

The Bears made a statment selecting Bradley early in the 2nd round of the NFL draft. The statement wasn’t a good one either, it was a bad one. No one expected Bradley to jump off the board this early. Sure he had physical potential, but his collegiate production was non-existent and he had injury issues. The above was why experts had Bradley projected to go somewhere between the 3rd & 4th rounds. So why take the chance on a project like Bradley? Especially when the Bears WR corps was in need of immediate help. Remember, Berrian had yet to emerge and the belief in Chicago was that the Bears needed to get a WR whom could be groomed by “Moose”. Roscoe Parrish, Vincent Jackson, and Chris Henry were all available and had much better collegiate stats and plenty of “athletism”.

 

Agreed. Not only did this turn out to be a bad pick, but was an illogical pick from the start. WR was a need. That is not questioned. But Bradley, while talented, was not even good enough to crack the starting lineup in college, and it wasn't like there were elite WRs in front of him. Bradley was a player Oklahoma couldn't develop, and I always questioned why we took him. We needed a WR, but also one that could step in right away. Bradley was very raw as a WR, and most felt that he would need more time than normal to develop. We didn't have 3-4 years to wait for a WR to develop.

 

Dan Bazuin:

Of the 4 players above, this was the worse pick. The Bears selected Bazuin in the 2nd round, when they already had three above average defensive ends on the roster (Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, & Adewale Ogunleye). The move screamed “luxury pick”. The problem was that the Bears weren’t in a position to make a “luxury” pick. They had a poor WR corps (Berrian and an Aging Moose), no depth at safety (Brown always injured and no one else had emerged), and an aging offensive line. So I ask why pick a defensive end out of Central Michigan? Instead of nabbing Bazuin, the Bears could have taken tackle Ryan Harris out of Notre Dame or WR James Jones. Heck, had the Bears not traded down in the first place to get Bazuin, they could have selected tackle Tony Ugoh.

 

I hated this pick, but would point out this was done at a time when Alex Brown was crying about his deal and seeking a new deal or a trade/release. We ended up re-signing Brown, but that was a total unknown at the time. So I think we drafted Bazuin w/ the expectation Brown would be gone before too long. I still didn't like this pick though. Anderson was looking awesome for us at the time, and Bazuin was a #3 DE, assuming Brown was out of the picture. While I realize we use a rotation, I would still argue a 3rd DE is a luxury compared to starting OL needs at the time.

 

Mike Okwo:

I can see some logic in the Okwo selection. The Bears were looking for insurance on Lance Briggs. The problem was the Bears already had a LB they loved, Jamar Williams, who was capable of stepping in for Briggs. Another argument could be made that the Bears were to get depth at MLB, but if Urlacher were hurt, Briggs would have slid into the middle with Williams/Hillmeyer cover the OLB’s. Bottom line there were far more pressing needs on the board than to use the selection on an under-sized, un-athletic linebacker from Stanford. RB Michael Bush would have been a tremendous value pick, but the Bears had just made another horrendous pick prior to the Okwo one (Garret Wolfe). Factoring in Wolfe’s selection, the best pick would have been safety Tanard Jackson.

 

Yea, there was similar logical reasoning here as w/ Bazuin. While we were set w/ Briggs/Urlacher/Hunter, it was unknown whether Briggs would remain w/ the team, and this was a move to shore up the depth. But, as you said, we had just drafted Williams who the staff really liked. Anyway I slice it, this was a luxury pick, and again, w/ such glaring needs at starting positions on offense, simply not a good choice.

 

Based on the above it’s hard to give Angelo a pass on three of the four failed picks. It’s one thing when a player busts or gets hurt, it happens (see McNown/Benson/Columbo). But it’s another when the pick was doomed from the get-go. In fact, When you look at the the list of Angelo’s failed selections, you see plenty of them which fall into the “no sense” category and its those picks that Angelo will have to get away from. When Angelo’s picks make sense, they pan-out. It shouldn’t come as a shock either as Angelo is one of the best talent evaluators in the game. So Jerry, please, lets learn from the past and do a better job addressing team needs via the draft. It worked in 2008 when the majority of the picks adressed needs, had value, and flat out made sense.

 

I have felt for years his drafts lack logic. We have starting positions open, and yet he drafts guys who are expected to rate no better than 3rd, 4th or 5th on our depth chart. Further, I think another mistake is all the defensive players he continues to take when our defense is strong, and our offense stinks.

[CubbiesFan07]

Chicago will regret this decision.

 

Flame on.

[madlithuanian]

I swear Angelo likes to be clever for clever's sake. Ever since landing Hester where we did, all of a sudden it seems like every pick (other than Olsen) has to be some obscure person out of nowhere that we'll shock the world with!

[madlithuanian]

You may be right...but I doubt it.

 

I can't think of one Chicago WR that has gone on to such success that it is truly a regret. Booker to MIA? Gage to TEN? Berrian to MIN? Nah...I trust our drafts not to know what they are doing drafting WR's... We can't even keep the sure hands guy, Hass, when the other "gem" Davis keeps dropping more balls than...well, I won't go there. I digress...

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago will regret this decision.

 

Flame on.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Benson:

Benson was the biggest bust on the above list, but also the only selection which made sense. Yes, the Bears did have Thomas Jones, but the Bears offense was in flux. Terry O'Shea was fired and Ron Turner was brought in. Thomas Jones was not considered a good fit for Turner's system, which required that "power running game". Benson was expected to be just that. He was a prolific collegiate running back, who would get stronger and stronger as the game wore on. Everyone expected him to do more of the same in the NFL and no one could have predicted his eventual hold-out and unwilligness to play with the team.

 

Expect Jason to be all over you for this, as he (a) said TJ could be a great back in our system and ( said Benson would be a bust from day one. I agree w/ you though. Benson was considered a top 5 pick, and while not all agreed, TJ was not totally proven and was a bust w/ two prior teams. The pick "made sense" but turned out to be a bad pick.

Jason also was the guy backing Mike Williams. I realize the case that players will play different in other areas but its pretty evident that Mike Williams had just as bad of a work ethic as Cedric Benson and had even less NFL success than one Cedric Benson.

[Da Bears 88]

Chicago will regret this decision.

 

Flame on.

Damn, i'll miss his blazing "speed".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait, he has to stay on the field for that to happen.

[nfoligno]

You may be right...but I doubt it.

 

I can't think of one Chicago WR that has gone on to such success that it is truly a regret. Booker to MIA? Gage to TEN? Berrian to MIN? Nah...I trust our drafts not to know what they are doing drafting WR's... We can't even keep the sure hands guy, Hass, when the other "gem" Davis keeps dropping more balls than...well, I won't go there. I digress...

 

Personally, I still think Gage and Wade were fine enough picks. They were taken in what, the 5th or 6th round? Gage has become a solid starting WR for Tenn. Wade is a nice depth WR. But I think, for the round they were drafted, they turned out to be decent enough values.

 

I doubt Bradley makes us regret the decision, but it would not shock me if he looks better elsewhere then he did in Chicago, though that isn't saying much.

[Ed Hochuli 3:16]

He is a dumb ass GM. Wow, he got Hester and Forte.

 

Props to him. Doesn't take away his history of stupid picks.

At the time, Bradley fit best for our team. Sure, you can look down the list of that draft and say how we could have taken some current Pro-Bowl player, but maybe on the Bears that same guy wouldn't even be a good player. It could just be the system.

 

The Bears right now have tons of 2nd round and on players who are starters- both Brown's, Forte, Hester, Dvoracek, Briggs, Tillman, Vasher, Orton, and Kreutz, and even Berrian was our #1 in the year we went to the Super Bowl and he was a 3rd round pick. And, don't forget Anderson, who could have easily won DROY in 2006. but yeah, what a f***ing moron JA is. Tell me another GM who has had that much success drafting in the later rounds.

 

Forte has looked good, but its been 3 games.

 

Hester was drafted as a CB. I hope you remember how bad he was the handful of times they had him play corner. He hasn't had much of an impact on offense yet.

 

What good picks, aside from Forte *possibly*, has Angelo had on offense?

Which is why I said "so far".

 

He was, but while I think they expected him to be a better CB, I think another reason was to be a KR/PR for the Bears. And, who said we're discussing offensive players taken by JA? Nobody ever said "just offense".

[madlithuanian]

Sad...but it isn't saying much!

 

Personally, I still think Gage and Wade were fine enough picks. They were taken in what, the 5th or 6th round? Gage has become a solid starting WR for Tenn. Wade is a nice depth WR. But I think, for the round they were drafted, they turned out to be decent enough values.

 

I doubt Bradley makes us regret the decision, but it would not shock me if he looks better elsewhere then he did in Chicago, though that isn't saying much.

[BearFan2000]

You may be right...but I doubt it.

 

I can't think of one Chicago WR that has gone on to such success that it is truly a regret. Booker to MIA? Gage to TEN? Berrian to MIN? Nah...I trust our drafts not to know what they are doing drafting WR's... We can't even keep the sure hands guy, Hass, when the other "gem" Davis keeps dropping more balls than...well, I won't go there. I digress...

 

 

I can think of one. Bobby Engram. We let him go and he went on to have a fine career with the Seachickens

[madlithuanian]

Good call! I forgot Bobby! I guess the exception makes the rule!

 

I can think of one. Bobby Engram. We let him go and he went on to have a fine career with the Seachickens

[Da Bears 88]

I loved Bobby Engram when he was here and still do.

 

The man caught everything thrown to him. He was a joy to watch here.

 

I was sad when he left.

[Connorbear]

I can think of one. Bobby Engram. We let him go and he went on to have a fine career with the Seachickens

He was drafted well before Angelo got here and Angelo actually cut him I believe. He signed Marcus Robinson to a big contract then ended up letting him go as well.

 

Bobby Engram will always be one of my favorite Bear players. He could catch anything. I watched him one year at Platteville practice catching with the jugs machine. He started out about 10 yds away from the machine and kept moving in closer after every catch until he was standing basically in front of the machine and catching the ball right as it was coming out. It was amazing!!!!

 

Peace

[Bears4Ever_34]

I was always a big fan of Colvin. I can't remember, why did we ever let him go? Was it the money? Same with Warrick Holdman. That linebacking core IMO was better than what we have now. Colvin, Urlacher, Holdman > Briggs, Urlacher, HH. Imagine if we added another great linebacker to this team to replace Hillenmeyer! Colvin was such a good pass rusher, I remember Drunk Bomber talking about that; it's something were missing.

[Da Bears 88]

Colvin and Holdman are better than HH. IMO, Briggs is better than both of em.

[GrizzlyBear]

you gotta love the Divorce comment from Lovie though, It was classic.

[Bears4Ever_34]

Colvin and Holdman are better than HH. IMO, Briggs is better than both of em.

 

I agree but with Colvin, your getting a pass rusher that the other team has to gameplan for. Briggs is probably better than the two of them but he isn't a good pass rusher and like I said, if we could just add that one other guy to line up next to them, we'd have a dominate front 7!

[nfoligno]

Colvin and Holdman are better than HH. IMO, Briggs is better than both of em.

 

Sorry, but Hunter is a much better LB than Colvin ever was. Holdman was better, but at a totally different position.

 

You think Hunter was weak in coverage? I think you forget how bad Colvin was. Colvin was not a good LB. He was a great pass rusher, but I think fans forget, he did that as a situational pass rushing DE. He got very few sacks from the LB position. Most all of his sacks came w/ his fingers on the ground.

 

Hey, I liked Colvin too, but he was never a very good LB. He was a great pass rusher, but from a down position, not as a blitzer. We have Anderson for that role.

[nfoligno]

Here is what I recall.

 

Colvin was allowed to walk purely due to money. Angelo tried to re-sign him early, before he was a FA, but no go. He ended up getting a very large (relative for the time) contract from NE. Something like $25m maybe.

 

It didn't bother me nearly as much we let him walk, due to the coin, but that we did so little to replace him. I think his replacement was Knight, who was not good as a pass rusher, or as a LB.

 

Holdman was another story. We actually slapped the transition tag on him. KC tried to sign him to a poison pill offer sheet, which we then matched. I think the poison pill was a first year roster bonus of $4m or greater. Again, you have to remember that was a big cap hit at the time. So anyway, we kept Holdman, but I think he dealt w/ injuries soon after, and was never again the same level LB.

 

I was always a big fan of Colvin. I can't remember, why did we ever let him go? Was it the money? Same with Warrick Holdman. That linebacking core IMO was better than what we have now. Colvin, Urlacher, Holdman > Briggs, Urlacher, HH. Imagine if we added another great linebacker to this team to replace Hillenmeyer! Colvin was such a good pass rusher, I remember Drunk Bomber talking about that; it's something were missing.

[DABEARSDABOMB]

Here is what I recall.

 

Colvin was allowed to walk purely due to money. Angelo tried to re-sign him early, before he was a FA, but no go. He ended up getting a very large (relative for the time) contract from NE. Something like $25m maybe.

 

It didn't bother me nearly as much we let him walk, due to the coin, but that we did so little to replace him. I think his replacement was Knight, who was not good as a pass rusher, or as a LB.

 

Holdman was another story. We actually slapped the transition tag on him. KC tried to sign him to a poison pill offer sheet, which we then matched. I think the poison pill was a first year roster bonus of $4m or greater. Again, you have to remember that was a big cap hit at the time. So anyway, we kept Holdman, but I think he dealt w/ injuries soon after, and was never again the same level LB.

The Bears actually lost Colvin because of the Holdman check box fiasco. That fiasco with Holdman meant that the Bears had to give Holdman a long term deal with more guaranteed money than they ever intended to. This left the Bears unable to offer Colvin the contract he was looking for and he inevitably hit free agency and got the fat deal from New England. Colvin was a tremendous linebacker but injuries obviously got the best of him in New England.

[nfoligno]

I don't agree at all.

 

The check box fiasco was embarassing, but I do not believe it had an effect on Colvin.

 

(a) We lost Colvin one year after signing Holdman to a new deal. Holdman's contract had the poison pill aspect, but it was in the first year. After the 1st year, his contract became more reasonable, thus did not prevent us from signing Colvin.

 

( Urlacher was more likely a deterant to signing Colvin than Holdman. Urlacher was only two years into his deal, but it was obvious he would need a new deal before long, and it would be a big one.

 

© Holdman got DE money from NE, which was simply way too much for us. His role in NE was simply a greater one than in Chicago, as they played a 3-4 which more utilized a player like him.

 

I disagree he was ever a "tremendous" linebacker. I always liked him, but IMHO, he was never more than average, at best, as a LB. He was a tremendous pass rusher, and as a 3rd down pass rush specialist, few were his equal, but as a LB, he was no more than average, and probably below average in terms of pass defense.

 

The Bears actually lost Colvin because of the Holdman check box fiasco. That fiasco with Holdman meant that the Bears had to give Holdman a long term deal with more guaranteed money than they ever intended to. This left the Bears unable to offer Colvin the contract he was looking for and he inevitably hit free agency and got the fat deal from New England. Colvin was a tremendous linebacker but injuries obviously got the best of him in New England.