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Kyle Orton waived! Do we claim him?


Bears4Ever_34

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Fascinating that Orton would want to come here. He must know there's no chance of keeping the starting job. Kyle should be wanting to get to a new team like KC as soon as possible so that when next season starts he's already broken-in with the new system. For those of you who are talking about him backing up Hanie, that's totally unrealistic. You've maybe only been reading headlines from his time in Denver, but keep in mind the situation there in Denver is 'special' to say the least.

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Some compelling points to consider, none of which prove anything by themselves, but I think taken as a whole you can get a better idea of what position Orton and his agent really think he's in:

 

--During preseason I read an NFL pundit who said KO statistically is ranked in the upper echelon of the league's passers over the last couple of years.

 

--Even before he left here, he was the best QB we'd had since Erik Kramer in the 90's.

He had a slow start this year, but remember Denver changed head coaches in the offseason. And he hardly played terrible. Going into the game where he got yanked at halftime, he had an 81 QB rating. Cutler's rating was lower at the time for crying out loud. In fact, in that actual game (game 5), he was 6/13 with one 'hit as he threw it' pick at halftime before he got yanked. But Denver's D had allowed 24 points at halftime (Denver's D--minus the Detroit game--has played far, far better since Tebow became starter for some reason) so the mood was low. Tebow was put in to maybe be a spark. 99 times out of a 100 you don't bench a QB like that, but then 99 times out of 100 Tebow Mania isn't a factor.

 

--In the two years since we traded QBs with Denver, Orton has outperfomred Jay in most of the ways that you measure individual success for a QB. Even with respect to the beloved long ball, which people were hyping Jay over when we first got him (and I was urging hopeful realism), Kyle completed a higher percentage of passes in every category: 21-30yds, 31-40yds, & 40+yds...both years. You might think "well, I bet Jay completed a greater quantity at least". Nope. Save for 31-40yds in '09. See for yourself.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/id/...2010/kyle-orton

BTW, as my post history surely shows, I like Jay. I only use him as a comparative example we can all identify with.

 

--Anyone remember when we traded Kyle people talking about how he'd improved his QB rating every year he'd played so far...well, after two years in Denver, that's still true, which means no one truly knows his ceiling yet. And he just turned 29 last week.

 

So you can see why this is not a guy who's going to consider warming the bench for some QB he's maybe never heard of. If you think it seems hard to believe he was benched for a guy who wins games by going 2 for 8 for 60 yards passing and 60 yards rushing, I guarantee you he (and his receivers--they're reported not to be happy campers over Denver's new 55 rushes in a game offense) feels the same way.

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Guess I'm still not done :bang .

 

After more thought, here's my theory. Kyle is a confident dude (if I'm right, too confident) who thinks that he'll be able to reassert himself as a prime aquisition for some team in need of QB this offseason and he feels the Bears organization would be a great fit because our offense is capable (hey, he believes in us at least!) and he'd get comfortable quicker since he already knows the Bears' organization.

 

IMO, it's foolish to assume you can come in here without knowing the system and perform in a way that puts you back in position to demand big bucks. I'm not even sure he'd outperform Hanie, but Hanie is still kind of an unknown to me so I'm hopeful. Of course if Hanie sucks next Sunday, that changes things quick.

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How does the waiver thing actually work. If KC or Houston claim him can he refuse?

 

Techinically? No. He can refuse to report - but he wouldn't get paid and it would not be a good thing going into free agency. However, he can threaten a virtual hold out where he basically shows up and acts like Haynesworth doing the absolute minimum just to collect a paycheck. There is barely enough time left in the season for a player to come into a new team and play QB at a high level much less getting an unmotivated one up to speed.

 

I realize that someone might be tempted to bring up Palmer, but he had the benefit of a bye week in there to work on stuff other than just the next week's gameplan.

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Techinically? No. He can refuse to report - but he wouldn't get paid and it would not be a good thing going into free agency. However, he can threaten a virtual hold out where he basically shows up and acts like Haynesworth doing the absolute minimum just to collect a paycheck. There is barely enough time left in the season for a player to come into a new team and play QB at a high level much less getting an unmotivated one up to speed.

 

I realize that someone might be tempted to bring up Palmer, but he had the benefit of a bye week in there to work on stuff other than just the next week's gameplan.

So, did Kansas City claim him? I just read they had until 3:00pm to put in a claim.

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Guess I'm still not done :bang .

 

After more thought, here's my theory. Kyle is a confident dude (if I'm right, too confident) who thinks that he'll be able to reassert himself as a prime aquisition for some team in need of QB this offseason and he feels the Bears organization would be a great fit because our offense is capable (hey, he believes in us at least!) and he'd get comfortable quicker since he already knows the Bears' organization.

 

IMO, it's foolish to assume you can come in here without knowing the system and perform in a way that puts you back in position to demand big bucks. I'm not even sure he'd outperform Hanie, but Hanie is still kind of an unknown to me so I'm hopeful. Of course if Hanie sucks next Sunday, that changes things quick.

IMO Orton played in what looked similar to what Martz does at Purdue under Joe Tiller and with himself Brees and Painter all having been starters in this league its safe to say that they all can pick up an NFL offense given time.

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IMO Orton played in what looked similar to what Martz does at Purdue under Joe Tiller and with himself Brees and Painter all having been starters in this league its safe to say that they all can pick up an NFL offense given time.

It's just my philosophy that people tend to underestimate how hard it is to play QB well. Even though they say things like "hardest position in sports", they don't keep that in mind when they evaluate QBs. My philosophy on developing a QB is "throw them in the fire, then coddle them, rinse and repeat...back and forth". In practice, it's tough to implement that.

 

But you bring up a good point I hadn't thought of. Maybe I'm too conservative, but I'll put my thoughts on it like this. No offseason, no bye week even...I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Brady came here and struggled with our offense over the next month or so (heck, every rare now and then, he struggles with the Pats). By then it's too late.

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I've continued to follow Kyle, so it would've been interesting to have him here, sure. But it's better for him that he not be here. Once gossip turns nasty, it's hard not to be stuck with a reputation, and that's the case here in Chicago. Kyle needs a fresh start. As for us, Hanie would've started anyway for at least a game or two, so Kyle would've only have played 3 or 4 games (assuming Lovie's timetable for Jay). If this was Madden Football, it would absolutely make sense, but real life is more complicated.

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I've continued to follow Kyle, so it would've been interesting to have him here, sure. But it's better for him that he not be here. Once gossip turns nasty, it's hard not to be stuck with a reputation, and that's the case here in Chicago. Kyle needs a fresh start. As for us, Hanie would've started anyway for at least a game or two, so Kyle would've only have played 3 or 4 games (assuming Lovie's timetable for Jay). If this was Madden Football, it would absolutely make sense, but real life is more complicated.

Completely disagree. He wanted to come here, the Bears wanted him. He's a grown man and makes his own descisions. That's what was best for KO. He's done nothing to warrant bad gossip anywhere.

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Completely disagree. He wanted to come here, the Bears wanted him. He's a grown man and makes his own descisions. That's what was best for KO. He's done nothing to warrant bad gossip anywhere.

Not in my opinion. Just my opinion though. And I'm a grown man also. If only that meant every decsion I made was the right one for me.

Also, Kyle's found out the hard way that not doing anything to warrant a bad rep unfortunately doesn't always matter much in the end. The great thing about free agency is that you get to take more control of your destiny and I encourage Kyle to do it.

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