Thread: Bears draft positional analysis: Def. tackles

Originally Posted by dabears54

LOL yeah, wasn't including him because of the price tag : )

I feel that we can field a beastly team this year if we can ever get past the point in the lockout we are at right now. The OL is well on its way to getting better; we just need one more piece (possibly two, but certainly not more than that) to really improve upon it to the point that the line is one of the best in the NFL. The WRs are one receiver away from being a really dynamic group. We may already have one of the very best RB in the NFL and if Matt Forte has an OL that can let him run up the gut, he will hit the next level in his abilities as a running back. Most significantly is Jay Cutler, who desperately needs Trojan-style of protection to fend off nasty 3, 4, and 5 technique defenders from knocking him on his ass all the time. We have gotten off to a good start there.

On defense, we really answered our main objective in the draft with getting DT Stephen Paea. He could become a special player for us in the long run. I wish we could have done something more with the CB situation than we did; I'm still not sold on Chris Conte yet, but he may turn out to be a valuable pick for us. We have a decent secondary that, unfortunately, won't really be improved upon this season despite drafting Conte because we didn't address the need at CB in the draft (a point over which I have to admit I'm a little jaded about). Tim Jennings may be fine with another year of coaching under Jon Hoke and Gil Byrd, but when he played against the Packers in the first half of the NFC Championship Game, he was exposed big time before he stepped up closer to the line of scrimmage. Only time will tell, but the longer this lockout commences, the less likely we are to fielding a truly championship caliber squad.