Thread: Dan Pompei's Mailbag; Q&A With Fans.............

I'm starting to like the idea of taking Meachem as our number one wide receiver and signing Eddie Royal a lot these days. They will come relatively inexpensively compared to Colston. At this point in time, we need a fierce pass rush to get after Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. Neither Green Bay nor the Lions' offensive lines are what I'd like to call stellar, so finishing out our best laid plans by building a strong defensive line is a key to our success. But we also need to address the cornerback and safety positions as well. I'm hopeful that we will re-sign Corey Graham; I'd like to see if he continues to have the success that he had at the end of last season with creating turnovers in space like that at the safety position. I don't know how much it will take to acquire the services of Brandon Carr, but at the very least I would make a phone call to his agent and schmooze with him a little regarding what his asking price will be. The worst case scenario would be for the Bears to go after someone in rounds 2-4 for a cornerback.

Originally Posted by VJ18

feel like hopping a plane and getting him to comeback hahaha

Buy two tickets will ya'. That way we can keep him surrounded until we wear down his resistance. LOL

The most realistic (and probably responsible) offseason we will see would be the one where we sign Mario Williams or Cliff Avril, and then Meachem and Royal. That could happen, and then again, it might not. But the more I reflect back on Meachem's career as a Tennessee Vol, the more I think that he can become the tamer verson of Brandon Marshall for this Bears' offense. Eddie Royal would be our number two guy, and then you'd have Earl Bennett and Devin Hester to round out a four receiver set.

But man! Mario Williams...the thought of that is just so intriguing. We already have four good pass rushers; all we need is a fifth and we're set.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I'm starting to like the idea of taking Meachem as our number one wide receiver and signing Eddie Royal a lot these days. They will come relatively inexpensively compared to Colston. At this point in time, we need a fierce pass rush to get after Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. Neither Green Bay nor the Lions' offensive lines are what I'd like to call stellar, so finishing out our best laid plans by building a strong defensive line is a key to our success. But we also need to address the cornerback and safety positions as well. I'm hopeful that we will re-sign Corey Graham; I'd like to see if he continues to have the success that he had at the end of last season with creating turnovers in space like that at the safety position. I don't know how much it will take to acquire the services of Brandon Carr, but at the very least I would make a phone call to his agent and schmooze with him a little regarding what his asking price will be. The worst case scenario would be for the Bears to go after someone in rounds 2-4 for a cornerback.

I may be a minority of one but I think we can gain enough ground by just upgrading WR with those two additions and draft a 3rd guy in the middle rounds. Bennett is a great target for Cutler and if he can just stay healthy he should be able to catch 50-60 balls a year. If we hook Eddie Royal up with him we upgrade the slot over Hester and Sanz and we have another guy who can haul in 50-60 balls. Now add in Meachem, who has size (here's his 6'2" guy) and speed, as an upgrade or to share WR with Knox and Kellen Davis who's an even bigger target and we have improved the receiving core and I haven't even counted the rookie.

In order to improve the pass rush we need another guy like Pep. Izzy is a good DE but not a great pass rusher. If we can sign MWill and play him at RDE and move Pep to LDE, with Izzy giving him some breathers, he's up against the other guys RT who isn't likely to be their best pass blocker and we'll get double digit sacks out of both guys. That also allows us to use Izzy at DT at times where he probably a better pas rusher than at DE.

No matter who we'd sign as a WR out of those top guy he'll still have to develop a rapport with Cutler and that will take a little time. I guess instead of paying a lot of money to one guy to catch 90-100 passes I think we can do just as well or better with two who can catch 50 each. We have at least two decent receivers now so if we add two more in FA we get better immediately and we spend less money and spread the risk.

For my money I'd go whole hog to get MWill first then we'll have a better idea of how much more we have to spend fixing other holes. That's the way I'd do it.

Originally Posted by MPBears68

Thanks, Soul. I appreciate the info cuz I just don't have the detailed numerical knowledge of cap limitations like you and Windy seem to keep in your heads. The best I can do is a vague idea that we can probably afford ONE "marqui" signing and maybe 2 smaller ones, but certainly not BOTH Mario Williams and a big-name WR. I created a thread under the heading of "OL analysis" to discuss this more specifically and would appreciate your commentary. It's all just fantasy-GM bs, I know lol.

No problem brother. We don't know exactly what the cap will be but $125-$130 mil would most likely bracket it. I won't try to project contract numbers like Windy does at this point in time. They're too nebulous and I think we'd all be surprised just how little guaranteed $$$ some of these guys get. The big dogs yes but many of the little guys get no guarantees at all.

For example Spencer got a $2 mil SB, Spaeth got $1 mil, Barber got $500k, AA got $1.5 mil, EWill got zip, RWill got $960k if he earned it, Garza got the biggest $2.6 mil. These are simply their signing bonus. Of course they do get a salary every week but it's not guaranteed. If they get cut it stops. Some bonuses like RWill's weren't earned and we'll get those credited to this years cap.

Mario Williams + Meacham + Royal would be one heck of a FA for sure and boy does that open up the draft to some excellent BPA scenarios for Emery to really re-ignite this team as an NFC powerhouse to be feared.

Because of how these deals are structured it's almost impossible to project the cap cost until you can get the details and that takes time. Windy picks the $$$ he thinks will fit but in many cases agent want to brag about this size of the deal but the guaranteed aren't that high and if the deal is back-ended the guy will become a cap casualty and never see that money. The Bears seldom do back-ended deal so I'm more concerned with first year cap cost since that's what tells us if we can afford a guy or not.

Originally Posted by soulman

I may be a minority of one but I think we can gain enough ground by just upgrading WR with those two additions and draft a 3rd guy in the middle rounds. Bennett is a great target for Cutler and if he can just stay healthy he should be able to catch 50-60 balls a year. If we hook Eddie Royal up with him we upgrade the slot over Hester and Sanz and we have another guy who can haul in 50-60 balls. Now add in Meachem, who has size (here's his 6'2" guy) and speed, as an upgrade or to share WR with Knox and Kellen Davis who's an even bigger target and we have improved the receiving core and I haven't even counted the rookie.

In order to improve the pass rush we need another guy like Pep. Izzy is a good DE but not a great pass rusher. If we can sign MWill and play him at RDE and move Pep to LDE, with Izzy giving him some breathers, he's up against the other guys RT who isn't likely to be their best pass blocker and we'll get double digit sacks out of both guys. That also allows us to use Izzy at DT at times where he probably a better pas rusher than at DE.

No matter who we'd sign as a WR out of those top guy he'll still have to develop a rapport with Cutler and that will take a little time. I guess instead of paying a lot of money to one guy to catch 90-100 passes I think we can do just as well or better with two who can catch 50 each. We have at least two decent receivers now so if we add two more in FA we get better immediately and we spend less money and spread the risk.

For my money I'd go whole hog to get MWill first then we'll have a better idea of how much more we have to spend fixing other holes. That's the way I'd do it.

I think Meachem can become the next Brandon Marshall for Cutler, soul. When he was at Tennessee, he went deep, ran good routes, and in doing so, set a school record for passing yards in one season (1,298 yards). His only drawback was that most of his production came during his junior year. I really think with his size and speed, he has the potential to be a lot like Brandon Marshall now that he has some NFL experience behind him.

As far as DE's are concerned, you're preaching to the choir. I think we have the ability to have a top five pass rush if we added Mario Williams to the mix. We already have a very good three-technique pass rusher in Henry Melton, who compiled 7.0 sacks last year, and another pretty good one in Amobi Okoye, who amassed 4.0. If Paea ever gets the opportunity to play, he will no doubt have a lot of sacks because of his ability to bull rush the quarterback any which way you choose to use him. I feel like we would have had more sacks last season had Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli opted to utilize Paea more. Then, you add Peppers into the mix and if you add Mario Williams (which I hope at this point they will), that doesn't look too good to opposing quarterbacks.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I think Meachem can become the next Brandon Marshall for Cutler, soul. When he was at Tennessee, he went deep, ran good routes, and in doing so, set a school record for passing yards in one season (1,298 yards). His only drawback was that most of his production came during his junior year. I really think with his size and speed, he has the potential to be a lot like Brandon Marshall now that he has some NFL experience behind him.

As far as DE's are concerned, you're preaching to the choir. I think we have the ability to have a top five pass rush if we added Mario Williams to the mix. We already have a very good three-technique pass rusher in Henry Melton, who compiled 7.0 sacks last year, and another pretty good one in Amobi Okoye, who amassed 4.0. If Paea ever gets the opportunity to play, he will no doubt have a lot of sacks because of his ability to bull rush the quarterback any which way you choose to use him. I feel like we would have had more sacks last season had Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli opted to utilize Paea more. Then, you add Peppers into the mix and if you add Mario Williams (which I hope at this point they will), that doesn't look too good to opposing quarterbacks.

Unfortunately Meachem doesn't have Marshall's size and strength so whether or not he can run slants and other shorter routes over the middle is a question mark. Colston would be a far better comparison to Marshall and NO has a dilemma they've got one tag and three major players who need to signed besides Meachem. Who knows. They may decide to sign Meachem because he's cheaper and let Colston go. If so and we could land him he's a better fit for what we're looking for but he's got knee problems so there's a risk. This one reason why I go out and pick up Royal right of the bat. Even though he's only the size of Sanz he's a tough little SOB who knows how to get open and catch the ball and he's worked with Cutler before so that makes two starters Cutler has some history with and will trust. If we can't find a big vet then spend a 2nd round pick on a guys like Toon, McNutt maybe Quick and live with the fact that he's gonna be less productive in his rookie year and he splits time with Knox.