DA BEARS BLOG

Thirded.

And could you tryyyyy not to break it this time, MBHaP?

Cute.

I know that you know that I know that you know it was the other MB that was dropping italics. You're just mad that you're the current record holder for broken threads with your crazy markup tags all over the place.

Can you guys stop fighting about tags!

(It's like playing with matches)

Yes, I use markup tags alot, which is why, as a percentage of italics posted, my threads broken rate is the lowest on Da Blog. The way you look at it, you must think Walter Payton was a bigger fumbler than Khalil Bell. That's not right, MBHaP. tsk

But I've never broken them, in spite of using them a handful of times early on...ergo, I have the lowest threads broken rate on Da Blog - 0%.

Sorry, MBHaP, that's a statistical anomaly resulting from too small a sample group. I posted 5 handfuls before I broke my first thread. You need at least that many to qualify.

Watching you post reminds me of the time I dripped pickle juice on a hot light bulb to see what would happen...

I had lots of free time as a kid.

Not for forethought, apparently.

Nope.

Ha!

My parents gave me a chemistry set when I was 5 or 6. Yes, Artoo, things like that were made available to kids back in the seventies. It probably said 'Not for sale to 3 year olds' on the box.

How they imagined that wouldn't result in massive holes being burned in the carpet I don't know.

Chemistry set, bah! My parents had to call the fire department on my account before I could walk, and all I had to work with was an angel food cake pan and my massive baby brain.

Subtle plug?

GOTCHA!

I've posted several mock drafts, but I'm waiting for the FA feeding frenzy to end before I do another. For example, right now we probably need to take Mercilus in round 1 over, say, Mike Adams. If we the Raiders cut Wimbley and we pick him up, well that changes things doesn't it.

Also, right now, we're still candidates to grab a WR in the second round. If we add Eddie Royal I think we look elsewhere.

And if we pick up a veteran tackle in FA, I doubt we'll be reaching for one in the draft as this year's class is thin. If we don't make a pickup, I could see Emery pull the trigger on a reach pick.

Even though we have Marshall and Peppers.

I would be okay if we took Floyd or Mercilus. Depth.. it's what helps teams win games.

correct, and the most critical place we do NOT have it is OL.

Damn it Erik!

Emery is happy with our Oline. Shut the fuck up lol

I agree. We need some more depth there but hey, Edwin Williams, Spencer, and Lance Louis did.. kinda okay.

I felt bad saying that.

Did Emery say he's happy with our OL? I couldn't listen to the press conference, but the tweets I read said he was looking to build the OL in the draft:
--------------
Jeremy Stoltz
@BearReport
#Bears Emery says the team will look very hard in the draft for offensive linemen.
----------------
Right?

Yep.

Whew. Don't do that to me.

The point of my post above wasn't so much that we still couldn't use a Mercilus or a Stephen Hill (of course we can always use dynamic players). My point is that we will truly be able to draft BPA... even if that means getting another QB.

Don't be ashamed Artoo - before those injuries hapeend our shitty OL actually held it together, even with the absolute worst LT in the NFL on it. But that was in spite of fatboy, not because of him. Webb that is, not Tice.

I got a feeling........ bears trades hester for a 2 round pick..... and pick the WR everybody asks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4LvTv_83E

Why couldn't we draft Ming even if we got Wimbley? Look at the Giants line, why have only two good DEs when you can have three?

Well, I don't have a fancy shmancy page, but here's my rough Mock post FA (which is still not over).

These are the players who I think will realistically be available for us in the first 3 rds AND who would fill some holes AND fit our system (for example, Cover 2 Corners, 4-3 LBs, Non-zone blockers...)

1st rd. DE Mercilus, WR Floyd, WR Hill, DT Cox, LB Kuechly, SS Barron, CB Kirkpatrick, OT Adams.

2nd. OT Zebrie Sanders. OG Kevin Zeitler OG Kelechi Osemele, SS Harrison Smith DE Vinny Curry . OLB/DE Zach Brown

Also, pick a WR: Sanu, Joe Adams, Marvin Jones, Rueben Randles, Alshon Jeffrey, Mavin McNutt, Nick Toon,

3rd CB Chase Minnifield, Cb Trumain Johnson, ILB Vontaze Burfict, TE Chase Ford, TE James Hanna, RB Chris Polk, RB Isaiah Pead, G/OT Brandon Washington, OT Jeff Allen, S Antonio Allen,

If we trade down from #19 (which I would prefer)

1) WR Hill
2) OT Sanders
2) DE/OLB Zach Brown
3) CB Trumain Johnson
4) TE Chase Ford
5) ILB Burfict
6) S? (BPA)
7) CB/DT? (BPA)

If we DON'T trade down.

1) DE Mercilus
2) OT Zebrie Sanders
3) CB Trumain Johnson
4) WR Nick Toon/Jeffrey (which ever WR falls to us)
5) ILB Burfict
6) BPA (LB?)
7) BPA (S?)

I know I kinda cheated with the 6th/7th rds, but I was waiting until Sat when FA really settled to fill those out. Eh.

Have at it boys.

Just take Burfict off the damn list. He may not get drafted at all.

You wouldn't even take him in the 6th/7th GP?

If it weren't for Lach, Briggs, Peanut, Pepp, I might agree with you. But I seriously think Burfict would listen to them - esp since Lach and Briggs also graduated from the SouthWest...

Dude ran a 5+ in the 40.

I'd rather go re-sign Brian Iwuh if the Broncos are done with him. Burfict is bust-a-rino, his combine strength also looked poor.

Rumor has it that he didn't even train for the combine.

I know that + his "I'm the greatest" proclamation knocked him out of the first 3 rounds, but he would still be the best LB available in the 5th, esp for SP teams/depth.

Also, I don't totally go by combine #s. Joe Hadyn ran a horrible 40, and he's still one of the best CBs. Kendall Wright ran like a 4.62 but no expert believes he's that slow.

Doubt we'd take a chance on Burfict though esp with this whole Marshall fiasco unravelling.

is Leon Joe still available?

We have a lot of WR's on our team right now and Sazenburger could till come back.

Marshall.. Thank God.
Bennent
Hester
Knox
Weems

If we get anymore then we need to cut Knox.

I forgot about Burfict but he pissed the whole world off.

We can carry 6 WRs, but I think we're going to IR Knox.

And if it comes down to it, yes, cut him.

I'd rather have Alshon Jeffrey, Reuben Randle, Joe Adams instead of Knox.

Marshall
Randle
Bennett
Hester
Weems

Bye bye Knox or Roy.

Cutting Sanzen is a given (hope we can still stash him on the practice squad where he can work on his hands).

Given that Marshall migh get suspended, carrying 6 WRs would be prudent.

I think we still need a #2 WR (Bennett is a #3 in my book).

we need to pick up royal and cut sandenwhatever. When you're a WR in the NFL you don't 'work on your hands'. You either have them of you don't.

the second one sounds better. and realistic. too much for a WR who has never run a rout as a first round pick.

I like both lists, probably the first one better because it gives us a shot at developing a Calvin Johnson type, plus it gives us a pass rusher a CB and Burfict.

Beast, Bennett, Roy, Hester ... we don't need to worry about another FA if we got, say Hill.

I don't think we should give up on Konz though. Garza is not a center and he's near the end - he's a result of Angela's ashes.

I really like SS Harrison too. Despite the protestations of some anti-whitest-safeties on da blog. I hear nothing but good things about him.

We also both like Zebrie Sanders, but I don't think he'd fall to the 3rd. IF he does, that's a no brainer.

You got us drafting a LB in the 5th too, but a different one. Mine is a bit more crazy (Burfict).

You have us picking up a WR in the 7th. I feel we need to take one much earlier than that, esp with a Marshall suspension looming (if he does get suspended for 8 games, we're right back to square 1). We already have our SP teamer in Weems, so we need another possible starter/developmental prospect like one of the WRs I listed.

But that's just my take. Nice mock.

That pass was thrown a little behind too (maybe Cutler didn't think Davis was that fast).

Nice to have the radius of a 6'7 monster.

nice play.

did you see the vid after it? Sir purr... that is so fucking gay.

.............you're missing my point. The idea was to trade the #4 for Forte straight up.

If Richardson is so f-cking great, why trade the #4 for Forte?

It makes ZERO sense for the Browns, hence why entertain it?

I didn't get to read the whole post Mike. I get your point now.

The only reason they would trade for Forte..sigh..is because he is an established running back that can play.

While Richardson with a lot of upside, still has not proven anything in the NFL.

No one would ever give up a first for Forte. No one.

Hey! Now you got it...repeat after me - will not get equal trade value for what he provides to us at the position.

Sigh.. IF the Bengals gave us both their first round picks in this draft..You would consider trading him?

Forte and CedBen together on the Bungles would be da funny

Would be hard not to - 3 first rounders in this year would be a windfall that only crappy teams usually luck into.

And one more time - why on Earth would the Bengals do that?

Why concoct these trade scenarios that make utterly no sense for one team?

The draft value chart would allow them to package the 17 and 21 to move up to the fourth or fifth spot if they want to.

So, once again, it would make utterly no sense unless the Bears were wildly, wildly underestimating the value of their own Pro-Bowl running back and I don't think we do.

I know it doesn't make sense but that is why I am saying we should listen to offers like that.

Let me ask you a question.. do you trade for a QB that hasn't played almost all of the season or did not go to any OTA's... for two first round picks?

Oh he is 32 years old.

That trade fucking happened. Teams like you said, get desperate.

I've used that example before for the same argument, but not every front office is as flat out stupid as the Raiders.

you walked right into that one Erik.

They'd give up two second rounders though. Somebody would. Now when you can save 8M a year by trading Forte and get two high picks on top of the that ... it's got to be considered, and you know Emery is doing just that right now.

Consider this. Forte gets traded.

Who could we draft with a 1st, three 2nds, a 3rd. You have a good chance of getting five starters (at some point in the future) from your first five picks. Package the lower picks into one higher picks, and you have an excellent chance of finding four starters from six picks in only one draft. Plus, you've got the cash saved from Forte's contract to go out and get two decent FAs, or one game-changer.

If we can get two 2nd rounder for Forte I wouldn't even think twice.

I'd trade him, sign Bush/Tolbert for insurance, then pick up a HB in the first 3 rounds to add depth.

But who has two 2nd rounders? Pats? You know they don't give them up. I think the Eagles do to, but they already have a stud McCoy.

The TD catch he makes while Newman is pulling him down by the shoulders is incredible. Newman grabbed him five steps before the ball got there and he still makes the catch.

To quote a wise man, "Me likery!"

For me there's only three receivers in the NFL. The Johnsons and The Beast. The whole Larry Fitzgerald boat always left me on the shore. 20M a year? Please.

Jordy Nelson getting thrown the ball by Matt Moore and Chad Henne - are you serious?

And the year before that, Chad Pennington and Tyler Thigpen. Your receivers would be utter shit with those guys at QB, and that's not because I think Rodgers is great - it's because the Dolphins have had fucking terrible QBs for the last thirteen years.

That's a good point, except that Brandon Marshall's numbers (yards and TDs) with Matt Moore and Chad Henne throwing to him in 2011 are almost identical to those from when Jay Cutler was throwing to him in Denver. Soo.......

That says more about him than it does about the terrible QBs in Miami...and take a look at the receiving numbers around him in 2011 versus 2008.

The guy was the absolute focus of defenses in Miami and he still put up huge numbers.

Nelson is playing in a spread offense with several other very good receivers and a much better QB. Different situations.

It definitely does say a lot about him. What it doesn't say a lot about, is Jay Cutler - if you stand by your argument of QBs making a significant difference.

My only chiding point was that the Packers WR2 (who's getting paid less than half the price) outproduced Marshall last year (and '07, 08 or 09 Marshall). You could make the argument that Marshall outproduced WR1 Greg Jennings however. And you would be correct, but Jennings only played 12 and a half games. You could go ahead and hold Jennings accountable for his availability, but - interestingly enough - a 12 game season is along the lines of what Brandon Marshall is looking at after repeatedly punching women in the face.

look. history is on brandon marshall's side. he only hits women he's involved with. he's not intimate with the accuser, so clearly she's making the whole thing up.

Not Gulity!

Next.

Cutler put up 4500 yards receiving in 2008 with about 1200 of that going to Marshall.

Last year, with Henne/Moore combining for roughly 3200 yards passing, Marshall again went for 1200 yards, or 38% of the total receiving yards, and 300 of the rest went to Reggie Bush alone. Take him out of the mix and 50% of the receiving yardage in Miami went to Marshall.

Sit down.

you forgot to add 'bitch' at the end.

Aaron Rodgers put up 4500 passing in 2011 with about 1200 of that going to Nelson.

Stand corrected.

He's going to punch your girly pecker defense in the face. I mean, peckers can't stop anybody. You think they'll stop Marshall. Wake the fuck up.

I'll give you this - Jordy Nelson doesn't have a rep as a knucklehead and he's younger.
Other than that, I sincerely doubt there is any GM in the league that would give Nelson the edge as head-to-head receiving threats.

besides, this is all moot. The packers fairytale is over. Done. They'll be good again this year, but there's no way they're going to the show again. Sniff.

you remember that time the giants absolutely embarrassed the shit out of them in the playoffs?

I do evan. Good times.

AND he's white... I think. He is, isn't he?

Yeah, I don't know what's up with my no whitey fixation lately either.

Jordy Nelson is.....extremely white.

Almost clear.

Not to mention that Marshall was the ONLY downfield threat on MIA.

Jordy Nelson benefited from Jennings, Finley etc getting most of the attention.

Although I hope Jordy's agent makes the same arguments Cheeze makes when he's up for a new contract.

Are you the Discount Doublecheck guy?

I got your discount doublecheck right here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty3uIupqDZA&feature=related

Nice one.

Unfortunately for you, however, the 2011 calendar year provided Packer nation with a wealth of indefensible counterattacks to their lowly neighbors' futile insults.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/FXH-ZGDR03R/2011+NFC+Championship+Green+Bay+Packers+v/hnWs9rDdcIQ/B.J.+Raji

Unfortunately for you, however, the 2011 calendar year provided Packer nation with a wealth of indefensible examples of their lowly secondary's futile resistance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyenRCJ_4Ww

Wanny. Bwa-hahahaha

Jesus Christ. Forgot about that.

Super Mario will soon find out that life isn't all about $.

I'd poop if we picked up Wallace. We do have the cap space to do it...Knox should probably take the year off to rehab and come back completely right physically and mentally, as much as I think we would miss him as a 4th WR and ST return guy.
Emery is doing his damnedest to make it hard for us to miss him though.

That would probably be the scariest WR trio in football. If we did that and signed Bush and Forte we would have the scariest offense in the NFL. But our achilles heal would still be the offensive line.

Plus, to be honest, I have to wonder how sustainable it would be to have two WRs making $10 million a year. Marshall makes a bit less, but your plan has Wallace making a bit more. That's a lot of money to tie up in one position (Exhibit A: Arizona).

Lovie, admit he was wrong? Never (see Rex is our QB, Hester is our WR, Benson is our RB...). 11th commandment apparently.

he did go back to alex brown after naming mark anderson the starter. but, then again, he did let alex brown go so he could go back to mark anderson a second time.

Lovie logic. I was right in starting Mark Anderson, I was righter in putting Alex Brown back as a starter, and I was rightest in letting both go.

Never wrong.

All of that was for players acting expected to put in effort for the team. Don't confuse refusing to stab a player in the back with refusing to admit a mistake.

I thought Lovie manned up pretty well when asked why they didn't give Bennett more snaps his rookie year.

Gimme Tolbert over our current backups any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

second for Tolbert

WImbley would be a nice pickup.

I want one.. only if I live there.

To be under the water seeing all those cool ass animals.. it would suck if a shark was chasing your ass though.

Nothing like doing barrel-rolls while getting dragged underwater by a speedboat.

How long until somebody gets their hand caught in that strap between the flaps and drowns when they panic?

totally. Did you see the shark?

Nice touch.

damn it. common emery, get us royal. Cutty's begging for him.

We have Eddie Royal. His name is Devin Hester. How about Hines Ward?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1106352-nfl-rumors-eddie-royal-is-a-wanted-man-could-end-up-in-san-diego

devin hester is no eddie royal my man.

Pass on hines, but would accept osgood or wallace.

You want somemore of that jet fighting. Jesus.

You mean eddie royal is no devin hester? Seriously, compare the stats.

Shady, my brother.

Devin hester is a kick and punt returner (and a former DB)

Eddie Royal is an NFL wide receiver

...'sides, Jay wants him. And what Jay wants.... he gets!

I gotta feeling this'll come up during MW3 shortly.

I'm in for some gaming action tonight, I'll be a bit rusty though so you should should have the upper hand sir.

Who was throwing Royal the ball last year?

Agree 100% on burfict in that he's MUCH faster than he timed at the combine.

Don't know what that kid has against money, but he's doing his dandiest not to make much of it. Trust me, he's very fast and very good on the field. The obvious question is... does he give a shit. He's like Jamarcus on D X 10. Might not be worth it unless he falls into the 5th/6th

Shit, if he's around in the 6th, WTF. I mean, what have we done with 5s and sixes? Enderle? La Favor?

Sure. WTF then.

A lot of mocks are giving him around a 5th round grade these days. I could see us making that pickup, but the question is whether we'd take a shot in the 4th or 3rd. Always comes down to who else is on the board.

Does he have a pro-day scheduled?

I think he would be a must-draft in the 6th or 7th, but I would put him at even money to get cut before the end of training camp.

That's my logic GP.

If Briggs, a multiple PB and fellow ASU alumni can't check him, welcome to the Canadian League Burfict.

Best case scenerio. He wakes the fuck up and makes that D mean again.

Remember that, when our Defense was mean?

Whoa man.

Briggs is Arizona. No state.

He's an absolute must-pick inthe 4th or 5th, even if we cut him for insanity next year. He's mean, and you can't teach that. He belongs back in the fifties. No more Nick Roach or Hattie Hillemeyers. Mean, nasty piranha/shark-like mofos.

We have 17 million..and if we made a deal now.. we would have to cut Barber and just offer 12 million to out bid the Steelers.

The Steelers are strapped for money.. and if the Bears and Bengals go after Wallace... Steelers can choose who they want to deal with..

Think the Steelers want to play against Wallace twice a year?

So all a team has to do offer Wallace $12M? (as well as give up their 1st).

I was under the impression that Wallace would go to the highest bidder.

For instance, let's say we offer $12M, but the Bengals offer $14M, then they get him automatically regardless of draft pick.

Surely, the Steelers can't prevent Wallace from making more $?

If that doesn't factor in, the Bengals are only marginally better positioned in the 2012 draft too, and I can't imagine the Steelers think 2 draft spots would be worth having to face Wallace twice a year for the foreseeable future.

You can bet the Steelers are going to try like hell to keep him. 12 million should be enough to make them overpay for him or back out.

I actually will look more into it. It might actually be up to Mike Wallace.

Restricted free agents (RFAs) are players who have three or fewer accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. RFAs have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until a deadline which occurs approximately a week prior to the NFL Draft (for 2010 the deadline was April 15), at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player

Unless the cba change the rules.. I know we have until April 20th though.

Until 4/20 inclusive (deadline is midnight, irie).

So Wallace's agend would be shopping him to the highest bidder, Steeler's be damned.

That's what I thought. It is Wallace's choice, so there's a slight chance he would take a bit less $ to go to the Bears instead of the Bengals, but if $ was no biggie for him, why not just stay with the Steelers? (Same scenario SuperMario just went through).

Fuck the Packers

You want the smell of desperation? Trading the whole damn farm for RG3. That smell is coming from the Skins.

I have to feel bad for RG3 in that respect. The Chiefs line is terrible. How's he going to learn how to play QB at an NFL level if he spends the season in a hospital bed?

I didn't get the desperation thing. Made no sense.

Graduated from the ESPN school of journalism. Make stupid outrageous statements in the pathetic hope of getting attention.

Rams had some injuries to deal with last year - messed them all up.

Had higher hopes for their TE Kendricks but he could be Fantasy gold (or at least silver) this year

Bumping up the pay scale by $3 million will do that.

Even with the extra $, I think it is amazing value and $ well spent.

I am so bitter about the Caleb Hanie debacle. I live in the DC Area, and I took my 14 year old son to his first Bears game. Because of my coaching schedule, his schedule etc, the only game we could go to was the KC Chiefs game. We flew back, stayed at the Chicago Hilton where the players stay, met a few of them had a fantastic time, until Caleb Hanie put on a display that made me wish for Henry burris.

I live down in Tidewater - so I'm not the only one pissed that the Skins aren't our NFC East road game this year, I'd bet.

It makes sense though. If the QB is the most important position on the team, then the backup should be pretty close behind, no? We found that out last year. Like Mike says below, fans shouldn't have to pay, or sit up at three in the morning on the other side of the planet ... to watch Caleb Hanie. A sporting chance is all we ask.

What did Orton sign for? Then again, he has a realistic chance of starting one day on the strength of not shitting the bed.

We posted that awhile back.. was it a guy named Gordon?

Yeah, Dick Gordon. 1970. Must've missed the post.

1970 Tebus...

Welcome aboard Marshall.

It was Marty Booker in 2002.

The stiff arm of Reevis into the ground was awesome.

F-Off Gilligan. It's my island

Gilligan, that's clever

I just think its amazing how much bigger the guy is than pretty much all the players around him. The guy is a beast.

yes, he is The Beast NB.

Lmao...that was funny..

fuck that... can he pull and lead block on the trap.

My thoughts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY4LvTv_83E

turrible indeed!

I say we put a little subpackage in.

Put Campbell as QB, then, last minute, motion him out as a WR and Bennett at QB.

Alright, I'll stop now.

Wow. We found our guy. We can cut Roy. 6'5??

http://youtu.be/d0aIqx1McVI

Mwah!

Weems.

I like Weeks better.

The name's Weeks. Eric Weeks. Special agent.

Can that be his new nickname? Artoo, you've done it again.

Notice I corrected him 20 seconds after he posted it.

yep

R2..where is the info from?

found it:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/15/bears-re-sign-idonije-to-one-year-contract/

Yeah, just heard it on The Score.

It's a solid pick up. Kinda like Alex Brown. Reliable. Great locker room guy. Plays specials.

As long as we don't make the same mistake as Brown in thinking that he's more than a 3rd DE, we're good.

It's only a 1yr deal too. So he'll be motivated.

+1

If Webb is at LT then he'll get his game all right.

What a moron. Two 3rd picks for one of the top three receivers in the NFL is a steal.

Fletcher Cox might be a real possibility at #19.

Lovie can't have enough DT/DEs, but will Emery oblige?

this is from a trib article a while back
i like either cox or mercelis as our #19
new england wants either of the 2 also
with their 1st rnd pick

Don't they have two first rounders and two second rounders?

THE Greg Olsen pick. Basically G-Reg and a third for Marshall. Seems fair.