How Bout Dem Bears?

Realt Dearg Sec

bobby wade wrote: »

from what I've read the problem may have been it was only $1 mill guranteed. $500,000 signing bonus & $500,000 roster bonus

Well Urlacher certainly seems to think they were deliberately low-balling to get rid of him.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000152376/article/brian-urlacher-chicago-bears-offer-about-saving-face

It's an odd article actually, because after saying he felt jipped by the franchise, he also says he could possibly still see himself signing later in the year. I think he's right though, the Bears clearly don't want him.

bobby wade

‏@ZachZaidman 1m #Bears went 5-7 the year after parting ways with Bill George, 4-10 the year after Dick Butkus left and 7-9 after Mike Singletary retired.

Spongey1975

I don't think its a case of the Bears not wanting him, they just dont want to pay 3.5 million for one year or the 11.5 million 2 year offer Urlacher originally wanted. They are tight against the cap at the moment and have two LB starters to get yet along with their other needs.

I do believe the way the Bears have gone about it has come across ruthless but maybe thats Emery putting his stamp on his era as GM

I still think he'll be back with the Bears, there doesnt seem to be much interest in him at this stage and there is other good ILBs still out there that will lower the market value of Urlacher

bobby wade

‏@espn_nfcnblog 30s Podcast of @BUrlacher54 appearance on ESPN Radio this morning: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=9078632 …

Not listened yet

Realt Dearg Sec

bobby wade wrote: »

‏@espn_nfcnblog 30s Podcast of @BUrlacher54 appearance on ESPN Radio this morning: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=9078632 …

Not listened yet

Damn can't listen in work, I'll have an ear of it later.

bobby wade

R.I.P Harlon Hill

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-harlon-hill-chicago-bears-20130321,0,1511884.story

bobby wade

@BradBiggs #Bears are adding a linebacker. @DanPompei reports team will sign D.J. Williams. http://t.co/6V51AwVYIZ

Spongey1975

bobby wade wrote: »

@BradBiggs #Bears are adding a linebacker. @DanPompei reports team will sign D.J. Williams. http://t.co/6V51AwVYIZ

Not sure what to think about that one, if he stays out of trouble it will be a good signing. At least they addressed one of the linebacker spots and must be a kick in the nuts to Urlacher that they have replaced him so quickly

kennyb3

bobby wade wrote: »

@BradBiggs #Bears are adding a linebacker. @DanPompei reports team will sign D.J. Williams. http://t.co/6V51AwVYIZ

Done deal - at $900,000 base salary not a big risk anyway

Jolly Red Giant

kennyb3 wrote: »

Done deal - at $900,000 base salary not a big risk anyway

DJ is a suspension waiting to happen - he doesn't have the smarts to keep out of trouble.

bobby wade

Maybe not but the Bears have covered themselves if so

Jolly Red Giant

bobby wade wrote: »

Maybe not but the Bears have covered themselves if so

Absolutely not saying it wasn't good business by the Bears. Williams is still a good player - he is not an every down player and his best position is weakside LB not MLB - but he will do a job for the Bears if he keeps out of trouble. If he does get suspended then it is a waste of a roster spot. The astonishing think is how much his value has dropped - $900K down from $6million. Goes to show that few teams are willing to overspend on players this off-season.

The one funny thing about this is that the Bears keep getting the nutcases that the Broncos dispensed with - first Cutler, then Marshall and now Williams. I do have a bit of a soft spot for the Bears and I hope the signing of Williams does work out - both for the team and for Williams.

bobby wade

Zibikowski signs a 1 year vet min contract

Spongey1975

A few more additions by the bears. James Anderson LB from the panthers as well as re-signing Jonathan Scott OT and Kelvin Hayden CB all on 1 year deals.

Not much left for us to do. Backup QB, Lance Louis and Israel Idonije and maybe a Wr

bobby wade

Not a fan of re-signing Hayden

Realt Dearg Sec

Guard Matt Slauson to Bears.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/Bears-agree-to-terms-with-guard-Matt-Slauson/17f1e08a-0a36-4e25-a045-1cc413410f64

padraig_f

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Guard Matt Slauson to Bears.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/Bears-agree-to-terms-with-guard-Matt-Slauson/17f1e08a-0a36-4e25-a045-1cc413410f64

Looks a good pickup, just checking his stats there on Pro Football Focus, they rank him 31st out of 81, among guards who played at least 25% of their team's snaps (by comparison: Lance Louis is ranked 47th on the same list, Chilo Rachal ranked 74th). Better on pass-protection than run-blocking. 27's a good age as well.

Realt Dearg Sec

padraig_f wrote: »

Looks a good pickup, just checking his stats there on Pro Football Focus, they rank him 31st out of 81, among guards who played at least 25% of their team's snaps (by comparison: Lance Louis is ranked 47th on the same list, Chilo Rachal ranked 74th). Better on pass-protection than run-blocking. 27's a good age as well.

Yeah he seems pretty decent. I'm guessing all these fa signings, particularly as one year contracts, are designed to make sure that, entering the draft, the bears don't have any desperate needs so they can go for the best available and build some depth. might even trade down for extra picks.

Realt Dearg Sec

padraig_f wrote: »

Looks a good pickup, just checking his stats there on Pro Football Focus, they rank him 31st out of 81, among guards who played at least 25% of their team's snaps (by comparison: Lance Louis is ranked 47th on the same list, Chilo Rachal ranked 74th). Better on pass-protection than run-blocking. 27's a good age as well.

Yeah he seems pretty decent. I'm guessing all these fa signings, particularly as one year contracts, are designed to make sure that, entering the draft, the bears don't have any desperate needs so they can go for the best available and build some depth. might even trade down for extra picks.

Realt Dearg Sec

In less thrilling news, josh mccown has been signed to a one year deal. Presume they are eyeing up another back up too?

bobby wade

Former Bears HC Jack Pardee passed away yesterday at 76 R.I.P

Spongey1975

So we get Kyle Long with the 20th pick. Must admit i didnt see that one coming particularly as a lot of linemen went before and value at that pick was diminishing. I dont know a lot about him and i'm a bit confused about the reports about him. Emery says he was the best lineman at the senior bowl whilst another pundit just said he didnt have a great senior bowl. Chris Long, his brother, reckons he's the most athletic of the family.

Time will tell

Realt Dearg Sec

Spongey1975 wrote: »

So we get Kyle Long with the 20th pick. Must admit i didnt see that one coming particularly as a lot of linemen went before and value at that pick was diminishing. I dont know a lot about him and i'm a bit confused about the reports about him. Emery says he was the best lineman at the senior bowl whilst another pundit just said he didnt have a great senior bowl. Chris Long, his brother, reckons he's the most athletic of the family.

Time will tell

Many saying they'd have seen him go in the second, so that a trade down with the falcons would have been better value. But presumably emery was not getting value on the trade down. He certainly fills a position of need but bears fans are picky, id expect him to get lashed on this because of the big names on the board at that stage. So obviously teo was a smoke screen anyway.

kennyb3

After wanting to hurl my laptop out the window on Friday night with the round 1 pick - i'm pretty happy with the draft overall. Good value picks after the 1st two - though I can't argue with the 2nd pick, just think like the 1st it was a reach (but much less so). Greene in the 4th was a great pick and great value. It really is a pity we didn't get a third out of trading back in the first and pick up a WR, or another TE. Nice to have two young, speedy Linebacker prospects. Wilson could get a lot of game time for a 7th pick too!

The Long pick is a big risk. He potentially could be good - the problem is it's all potential - the guys played 5 college games (started 4). In the first round you want a guy that's going to be plug in and play and contribute from day 1. They think he can do that but he's going to have a very very steep learning curve. Kromer will need all his skills and he's going to need a lot of 1 on 1 work.

To me Phil is picking way too much on speed and athleticism and not enough on overall ability, experience etc. Though I do like the rest of the draft.

I don't think he's the 3rd best guard in the draft (Warford was imho) and even if Long was it would still be a reach. It's been mentioned that obviously he could play tackle and that gives him massive upside - but again when is that likely in 2/3 years? He has to learn to play guard before he can play tackle. It could work out, I hope it does, but it could also be a massive bust just as easily.

Anyway at least we've improved the Oline no end - so it really is up to Jay to produce now.

I guess we'll be looking at CB now in next years free agency & draft. (or QB if Jay doesn't produce)

bobby wade

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/post/_/id/4683513/bears-5th-round-pick-mills-agree-to-deal

2 picks signed already. Cliff Stein on top of his game as usual

bobby wade

The Chicago Bears have agreed to terms with LB Khaseem Greene and WR Marquess Wilson on four-year contracts today.

Only 2 to go

Realt Dearg Sec

It's odd that this thread never got going during the last week or so with Urlacher's retirement (I know it was discussed a lot on another thread) and the retiring of Ditka's jersey, and the apparent healing of relations between him an the McCaskey family.

So I'm just shamelessly bumping it to say...Mike Ditka...polish sausage...Bearsss.

They'll be running out of jerseys now, might need to unretire a few of them.

Arawn

Read a thing on the mma forum today, Apparently Bas rutten was at a charity do and accidentaly stepped on urlachers toes, apologized and offed to buy Urlacher a drink too, Urlacher asked him to step outside and bas said yes, bouncers rushed over to tell Urlacher who he was and he apologized to Bas, anyone ever hear this before??

Realt Dearg Sec

Arawn wrote: »

Read a thing on the mma forum today, Apparently Bas rutten was at a charity do and accidentaly stepped on urlachers toes, apologized and offed to buy Urlacher a drink too, Urlacher asked him to step outside and bas said yes, bouncers rushed over to tell Urlacher who he was and he apologized to Bas, anyone ever hear this before??

Didn't hear it but doesn't seem impossible, he does seem to have a pretty unpleasant side to his personality.

Paully D

Arawn wrote: »

Read a thing on the mma forum today, Apparently Bas rutten was at a charity do and accidentaly stepped on urlachers toes, apologized and offed to buy Urlacher a drink too, Urlacher asked him to step outside and bas said yes, bouncers rushed over to tell Urlacher who he was and he apologized to Bas, anyone ever hear this before??

That's true (according to Bas anyway), 03:40 in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY830Q3Zvjk