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Originally Posted by
soulman 
The only failure has been not getting as many impact players with high choices as we'd have liked. Some of his first and second round choices just didn't pan out and it's left the cupboard a little bare in a few spots. On the contrary he's done an altogether great job piecing together important components of this team through free agency.
Just look at the number of starters on last years team who came through FA. Defensively the entire starting line came in as FA's of one sort or another. Two linebackers, Roach and Pisa, came in through FA and one CB, Jennings. If you want to count trades then add Chris Harris. All together 6 or 7 (depending on how you consider Harris) came to the Bears as FA's. That's over half of the defensive starters.
FA had less impact on offense since the only three starters not drafted by the Bears were Garza (FA), Omiyale (FA) and Cutler (trade). But quite a few are not first round picks. Kruetz (3rd), Webb (7th), Knox (5th), Bennett (3rd), Forte and Hester (2nd). Only Olsen and Williams were first rounders and neither has been a complete bust. Since Cutler cost us two firsts we'll include him that way but I don't think anyone could ever say that he isn't worth it.
This should be a great year to get upgrades out of both the draft and FA. To me this has to be JA's defining year as far as personnel moves are concerned. Over the past two years he's made two great acquistions in Cutler and Peppers but this year he has to both fill specific needs and add depth for the future. Not all that easy to accomplish in one year but it's how he does with it that will determine both his future and that of the Bears.
exactly Soul, too many spend too much time jsut on the misses and not giving balance to what also has worked, and that is all i've ever said about angelo, he isn't the worst( we saw what the worst looked like in 90's with mmc/wanny) by far, and like all GM's has his misses, and while would always like to never have bad picks, just not possible.. and do think he has learned from his mistakes and looking draft for the oline now after the F/A failed him the 2nd time( though do thinkw e go to the F/A well for a guard this year).
And agree this year will define his legacy "IF" get the ines fixed and we go 11+ again and IMO set for a few years, with cutler peppers forte etc- we could be in for a real nice run here
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 exactly Soul, too many spend too much time jsut on the misses and not giving balance to what also has worked, and that is all i've ever said about angelo, he isn't the worst( we saw what the worst looked like in 90's with mmc/wanny) by far, and like all GM's has his misses, and while would always like to never have bad picks, just not possible.. and do think he has learned from his mistakes and looking draft for the oline now after the F/A failed him the 2nd time( though do thinkw e go to the F/A well for a guard this year).
And agree this year will define his legacy "IF" get the ines fixed and we go 11+ again and IMO set for a few years, with cutler peppers forte etc- we could be in for a real nice run here
Haha, please don't remind me of the "Asshat Kid" and his ever faithful mustached sidekick "Whiny". For those who can't or refuse (smart people) to remember those days, JA is like a Gil Brandt compared to those two. For those who think we gave up too much for Cutler at least we got a franchise QB capable of winning the Super Bowl. These two asswipes also spent two first round picks only they got fools gold twins, Rick Mirer and Cade McClown.
Wanny brought us Bryan Cox while JA got us Lance Briggs, twice!! And the list goes on.
I'm not boosting JA to some kind of God like status but in comparison to some he's done quite well. He's made his share of mistakes and more but we need to remember that he had no previous GM experience so mistakes were a high probability. We just need to know that he learned from them and that this year with a full set of picks and a very good crop of FA's that this is his year to shine and he has to take advantage of that.
Also don't forget that he and Cliff Stein have shown genius at handling the salary cap by extending core players before they got to FA which freed up $$$ to go after the Cutlers and Peppers of the league. Bringing Ruskell on board to clean up an antiquated scouting system and also allowing his line coached like Tice and Marinelli to have a lot of input in this draft shows how he's maturing into the job.
A good draft and FA this offseason keeps us in the SB hunt and assures that we'll stay competitive at that level for some years to come. These next two years are gonna be very imporetant personnel wise so we can't afford to blow it. Pray that he doesn't.
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Originally Posted by
soulman Haha, please don't remind me of the "Asshat Kid" and his ever faithful mustached sidekick "Whiny". For those who can't or refuse (smart people) to remember those days, JA is like a Gil Brandt compared to those two. For those who think we gave up too much for Cutler at least we got a franchise QB capable of winning the Super Bowl. These two asswipes also spent two first round picks only they got fools gold twins, Rick Mirer and Cade McClown.
Wanny brought us Bryan Cox while JA got us Lance Briggs, twice!! And the list goes on.
I'm not boosting JA to some kind of God like status but in comparison to some he's done quite well. He's made his share of mistakes and more but we need to remember that he had no previous GM experience so mistakes were a high probability. We just need to know that he learned from them and that this year with a full set of picks and a very good crop of FA's that this is his year to shine and he has to take advantage of that.
Also don't forget that he and Cliff Stein have shown genius at handling the salary cap by extending core players before they got to FA which freed up $$$ to go after the Cutlers and Peppers of the league. Bringing Ruskell on board to clean up an antiquated scouting system and also allowing his line coached like Tice and Marinelli to have a lot of input in this draft shows how he's maturing into the job.
A good draft and FA this offseason keeps us in the SB hunt and assures that we'll stay competitive at that level for some years to come. These next two years are gonna be very imporetant personnel wise so we can't afford to blow it. Pray that he doesn't.
And don't forget the $20+ mill( back when $20 mill was huge) for tony "i can't cover' smith.. or the salamm/enis picks.. forte just 'slightly" better..lol and agree 100% about the cap and contract stuff, no one should ever argue we aren't among the best in league at that stuff, cliff stein is really good and has the trust of agents, which says alot.
And if as you say we do get a good draft and F/A( whenever opens), like you do think we are set for a nice 2-4 year run with this group, fix those lines this year, next year look at LB and CB to adress the future and really can be a fun next couple of years
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Originally Posted by
dabears54 And don't forget the $20+ mill( back when $20 mill was huge) for tony "i can't cover' smith.. or the salamm/enis picks.. forte just 'slightly" better..lol and agree 100% about the cap and contract stuff, no one should ever argue we aren't among the best in league at that stuff, cliff stein is really good and has the trust of agents, which says alot.
And if as you say we do get a good draft and F/A( whenever opens), like you do think we are set for a nice 2-4 year run with this group, fix those lines this year, next year look at LB and CB to adress the future and really can be a fun next couple of years
Now to start up a scouting and drafting coordinated system like the New England Patriots have going for them! LOL
I wasn't really a fan of the Bears back in the Dave Wannstedt years, but from everything I ever read, he was God awful. I mean, to go four straight year without a single Pro Bowler? Do you not have to TRY and be that bad?
The two systems that I would like to follow in terms of consistent winning and successes are the Patriots and Colts, or at the very worst, the Pittsburgh Steelers. All three teams win every year, and they do so with minimal influxes of talent out of free agency. I am not saying that we should not look seriously at drafting better, or improving the total number of draft picks in the first three rounds like the Pats do, but I think we need to try to not just win now, but fix it to where we consistently win for years on end.
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