What does McClovers return mean?

[nfoligno]

Okay, so most have seen that we have re-signed McClover. Question is, what does this mean?

 

Right now, Williams is dealing w/ a foot injury, and if McClover was simply added to compensate in the short term for an injured LB, than his addition means absolutely nothing, and he will be gone by September cut downs. If this was not the reason he was added though, the implications could be interesting.

 

One, at the LB position, we kept 6 last year. Urlacher and Briggs are pure locks, and Pisa I think is a virtual lock as well. Williams would seem to be the next more secure. You then have Roach, Hunter and Freeman. If we keep McClover, I have a hard time seeing us keeping all three (Roach/Hunter/Freeman).

 

Freeman would seem safe due to draft status, but has easily shown the least in camp. I am not sure I can recall mention of his even really being in on a play in camp that stood out. Roach is a player the staff really likes, was promoted over Hunter last year, and is a special teams ace. Then there is Hunter who many thought was on the way out, but IMHO seems to have worked himself back into the mix. There were times in the last game we went w/ 4 LBs, and it was Hunter who was our 4th LB (w/ Briggs, Urlacher & Pisa). I think Hunter is also viewed as the most capable backup MLB, thus adds versatility.

 

So the question is, was McClover added to replace Roach, special teams ace for a special teams ace, or was he added to replace Hunter and give us two special teams aces. Obviously, if we "res shirt" Freeman, that would change everything, but w/o that.....

 

Two, Does this have any implication for our WR debate?

 

When we talk about what WRs to keep, there is no question special teams comes into play. If two WRs are equal, the one better on special teams has the advantage, as WR depth is expected to play teams. Question in my mind is this. Does the addition of McClover imply (a) the importance of special teams or ( compensation for the potential loss of a special teams player elsewhere?

 

If you believe A, Davis would seem to have a huge edge, as the team by that argument places so much value on special teams.

 

If you believe B, then the staff may be looking at Davis not being on the team, but adding McClover to replace his special teams play.

 

Then again, maybe I am just bored at work and reading too much into a low tier roster move

[BearFan PHX]

nfo,

 

Great analysis. It's posts like that that keep me coming back here.

 

Playing Clue with the roster - great.

[nfoligno]

I'll take Brandon Rideau, in the locker room, with metal spike cleats.

 

The murder victim by the way was Rashied Davis.

 

nfo,

 

Great analysis. It's posts like that that keep me coming back here.

 

Playing Clue with the roster - great.

 

[ChileBear]

I'll take Brandon Rideau, in the locker room, with metal spike cleats.

 

The murder victim by the way was Rashied Davis.

Good questions and analysis Nfo.

IMdO, Hunter has an edge simply based on his backup role to Url. McClover is probably seen as insurance in case Williams cannot come back. I does raise questions about STs and Davis's chances to stick. Right now I'd say Davis should be concerned.

[nfoligno]

To further complicate the question is the coaching factor.

 

Toub is considered among the best special teams coaches in the league. For years we have seen considerable turnover, and yet the level of play has remained high. Over the years, we seen offseasons where our special teams aces departed, but another player always seemed capable of stepping in. I think Toub deservedly gets a lot of credit in this regard.

 

So, w/ a coach like Toub, do you worry a tad less about losing good special teams players believing Toub is capable of making more?

 

Maybe a reach, but look at the OL turnover in Pitt over the years. They had some of the best coaching along the OL (Denver would be similar). It seemed like player after player would leave Pitt (OL) and they would rarely appear to miss a step. Scouting is a big part, but so is coaching. I wonder if we have a similar situation in Chicago on special teams where we worry less about turnover due in great part to the belief that we have a coach and system in place that makes players a tad interchangable.

 

Think about it. Just in the last year or two, we have seen some changing of the guards. Where AP was once an ace, Wolfe has surpassed. Where Ayenbedajo was once an ace, other LBs like Roach, McClover and Williams have taken over. Where Hester was all time, Daniell Manning stepped in.

 

Will we next be saying, "where Rashied Davis was an ace, Iglesias (or pick your young WR) has now taken over.

 

Good questions and analysis Nfo.

IMdO, Hunter has an edge simply based on his backup role to Url. McClover is probably seen as insurance in case Williams cannot come back. I does raise questions about STs and Davis's chances to stick. Right now I'd say Davis should be concerned.

 

[bradjock]

[b]Freeman would seem safe due to draft status, but has easily shown the least in camp. I am not sure I can recall mention of his even really being in on a play in camp that stood out.

 

After last year, I don't think we can count on his draft status helping Freeman make the team. The same is true with Knox. Don't forget that last year we cut 5th round pick Zack Bowman. He was even the 7th pick of the 5th round. Thankfully we re-added Bowman after we had injuries after week #1. We also cut our 2nd & 3rd round picks from the year before, Bazuin & Okwo. I'm just saying, draft status ain't what it used to be.

 

Roach is a player the staff really likes, was promoted over Hunter last year, and is a special teams ace. Then there is Hunter who many thought was on the way out, but IMHO seems to have worked himself back into the mix. There were times in the last game we went w/ 4 LBs, and it was Hunter who was our 4th LB (w/ Briggs, Urlacher & Pisa). I think Hunter is also viewed as the most capable backup MLB, thus adds versatility.

 

I don't know about this. Hunter's a back-up who sucks on special teams. Not to mention we'd save money by cutting him.

[nfoligno]

After last year, I don't think we can count on his draft status helping Freeman make the team. The same is true with Knox. Don't forget that last year we cut 5th round pick Zack Bowman. He was even the 7th pick of the 5th round. Thankfully we re-added Bowman after we had injuries after week #1. We also cut our 2nd & 3rd round picks from the year before, Bazuin & Okwo. I'm just saying, draft status ain't what it used to be.

 

But Bazuin and Okwo did get their rookie season. I am not saying a drafted player gets a pure free pass, but at the same time, I don't recall Bowman doing jack in OTAs or camp last year. Knox has. I honestly don't know where this idea that Knox could be cut is coming from. Knox was, per the staff, tearing it up in OTAs. He has looked good in camp, and while he hasn't looked great in the two games, is in line for a potential return duty job. This is a WR the staff has spoken about quite a bit.

 

Honestly, I think Rideau and Aromashodu are more in jeapordy than Knox. While those two have become fan favorites, how often have we (fans) fallen for a guy in camp who didn't end up making the cut. Hell, Rideau last year would be an example.

 

I don't know about this. Hunter's a back-up who sucks on special teams. Not to mention we'd save money by cutting him.

 

One, how much money do we save?

 

Two, while the staff loves special teams play, they also love versatility. Roach is strictly a SLB. Hunter is viewed as not only a SLB, but also still considered our 1st backup MLB.

 

Three. Williams was the man in OTAs, and Roach was a player the staff liked (at one point) last year, but neither have been healthy this camp. Hunter started out hurt, but has come on since. Timing is everything in life. Just ask DM who could lose his starting FS job due to the timing of his injury.

[selection7]

So, w/ a coach like Toub, do you worry a tad less about losing good special teams players believing Toub is capable of making more?

Think about it from this perspective. If you have a great coach, but give him crap, you'll never get to see what he can really do. How much are we paying the D for mediocre results? At least with Toub's squad if you give him the players and pay to keep them around (I believe) you're gonna get bigtime results.

 

And obviously everybody wasn't so interchangable or Hester's returning wouldn't have dropped like a rock. We're not talking about from great to good, we're talking about 2 years straight of "without a doubt the best in the history of the NFL" to pretty good. An enormous drop off. I was glad to see Manning have some success but he didn't play enough to convince me that all our ST blocking prolems were fixed/Hester was the whole problem. That Bears coaches aren't going back to him as double duty returner, says they feel the same way. Remember, Hester's been returning kicks his whole football life. If someone with Gale Sayers' return ability was on our team but he was only a decent upgrade over the 2nd string at his offensive position, would you sit him on ST?

 

As an aside, think about it, it wasn't that long ago we had the best D and the best ST in the league, now it looks like we've got an O but the ST is back down to earth and the D is questionable.

[AZ54]

I wouldn't say we fell apart last year, we were still ranked 8th overall. If only we could say that about either our offense or defense. Hester called out his teammates last year for poor blocking. I'm sure to some extent it was not as good as the prior year but if he's just going to run out of bounds like he was doing instead of heading upfield the blocking doesn't really matter. Danieal Manning proved just how bad the blocking was when he came in on KR midway through the season and immediately led the entire league in return yards and held that over the last 7 games. They should have put him in there a couple games sooner so everyone could be talking about how great it is to have two guys on the Bears who went to the Pro Bowl as KR.

 

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