Well now that Mario is "officially" off the market lets go pursue some starters. I'd still love to sign Royal, Hawthorne, and Hayden. All three could be competitors. Hopefully Wimbley get's cut before to long and we can help fix this DE problem and move to the draft with no needs handcuffing us. It'd be nice to be able to go BPA in the draft. I hope here in day three, with MWill gone, we can make sign some starting quality talent.
Soulman, I am in favor of the Bears drafting Glenn now. Hopefully they can sign a Wimbley or Freeney so they won't have to use a high pick on a DE. Are people still projecting that Glenn might be able to play LT?
Pretty sure when projected to play tackle it's on the right side. He'd be a beastly guard though and we could use him there.Originally Posted by Rogelio
I would have liked if he could play LT, but I would be thrilled to have him at G. I was hoping we came away from free agency with guard, but if not, let's take one in the draft and not overreach on a T or WR.
Emery made a gallant effort and almost lassoed Mario and Marshall in one fell swoop. I give him credit for boldly pursuing our two key needs this way. It's now time to move forward into Phase 2 of the offseason as the frenzy of activity dies down and Mario/Manning are wrapped up. Here's my take.
WR: I don't see us signing another WR at this point. It looks like Royal priced himself out of the market and he's about the only guy left that would be worth pursuing at the right price. We also wouldn't have gotten Weems if Royal had been sign-able. Since we are now carrying 2 WRs who are basically return men only, there really is one roster spot only left and that is for the draft. Failing to secure Mario probably automatically precludes us using the 1st round pick here so you can kiss any thoughts of Floyd or Hill good-bye. Think 2nd to 3rd round guys like McNutt and Quick etc.
DL: We apparently also just missed on Mincey too when he Jax stepped up and out-bid our offer. I guess that leaves Freeney or Wimbley if/when they're released. I really hope Emery gets Okoye re-signed (Izzy is more replaceable) soon and has a good idea on who we can get in rounds 1-2 of the draft. It sure looks like we are drafting a DL high again.
RB: Sign Forte or trade him already! We know that the market says he's worth ~ $40 mill/$20 guar so make the offer "take it or trade" style and get this shit done. Enough games and no future holdout threats and drama. We all know the Bush visit was a signal. If Forte turns it down, trade him for a 1st and sign Bush.
OL: The only OL out there left to seriously consider are McNeill or Bell. I doubt we are going to pursue either based on the reports of CWill going back to OT. We then need to draft an OLman in the high draft almost for sure.
LB/DB: For $%&^$#^'s sake, sign a FA DB or LB or (better yet) BOTH! WTF are you waiting for? Now that the Mario potential is officially gone and there's no other WRs to pursue, why aren't Hayden & Hawthorne for example putting ink on paper? We have to fill these holes asap because it looks like we almost stuck using the 1st 3 rounds on OL, DL, and WR.
I say we sign Hayden and Wimbley then in the draft we could do something like
1st: DeCastro/Glenn
2nd: McNutt
3rd: Cam Johnson
1st: Mercilus/Reed
2nd: Zeitler
3rd: Toon/Quick/McNutt (if there)
1st: Hill/Floyd
2nd: Zeitler
3rd: Cam Johnson
Obviously there's a multitude of options we could exercise and adding a corner to develop into a starter is always something we could do. Dre Kirkpatrick, Trumaine Johnson, Stephon Gilmore, and Josh Norman are all intriguing. I hope we fill some more holes in the free agency before we start focusing on the draft though.
Nope. No way he can play LT. RT at best and even that's iffy. His scouting reports says he struggles a bit in space. He loses the advantage of size and quickness he has as an OG. I think he's a guy much like Carimi. If you don't play him out of position he can be something special and he rates as one hell of an OG but maybe only adequate as a RT.
Wimbley maybe but I doubt Freeney will be willing to play for what we'd give him. Anyway neither is a FA yet so until they are we can't even guess at what the market thinks they may be worth.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
Just read excerpts from Emery's press conference. The basic highlights were that they went into the Marshall thing with eyes wide open. They knew about the NY thing but thought him worth the risk and got agreement all the way around.
He was very non-committal about where we go from here. He said don't be surprise if we sign a few more in the days that follow and don't be surprised if we don't. I'm guessing he's got some feelers out to guys he's interested in and a couple of our own as well. How firm he is on his offers is anyone's guess but I don't see him as a guy who'll do much chasing. He's not a big money guy so he has to depend on the numbers that Cliff Stein gives him and I think he has the worked out fairly tight. Not much wiggle room at all.
Now that Royal seems to be looking for more than we're willing to give I'm not looking for us to sign another WR in FA right now. $6 mil for #3 type slot guys is overboard IMHO. Rookies cost far less and we don't know how much better Sanz can be if he gets his confidence back and holds onto the ball. I think he was a little snakebit for a while last season. Royal would have been an immediate upgrade but I think Sanz can step up this year. I think the Bears will use Weems more as a WR than he was used in Atlanta.
I gotta think our 1st round pick is gonna be a Dlineman. If we have to jump for a DE then maybe Izzy and Okoye don't come back which means we look at a 3t DT like Cox. If we don't get a DE then ya' gotta think DE with pick #1. If we move CWill out to LT to compete then maybe we look at an OG in round two but if we bring in a FA to compete with Webb we could go any number of ways.
Right now other than Steltz what Emery does with Izzy and Okoye will tip off what his plans are for the draft. He said in his interview that they'll spend a few more days with this and then begin focusing on the draft. My guess is he's got some bait in the water in the form of some nominal offers to a few guys and waiting to see what they come back with to see whether or not he wants to re-sign any of them including our own guys. No sense bidding against ourselves.
I think that's what he did with Davis. He told him to go out and see what he was worth and then give him a shot at matching it and my guess is he's doing that with several more guys that he's interested in signing if the price is right. At least that my hunch so far based on what he'd been doing. He's made two swings at DE's and got outbid twice so maybe he's shifting gears and filling other spots in FA.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
All true but you need to sign those FAs before its plausible. I really, really hope we can get Wimbley and thus be able to defer drafting a DLman till a late-round sleeper prospect. And is we don't sign a DB, we pretty much have to draft one by the 4th or so. Despite, missing out on Mario, there's still a lot that can be done in FA to shore up holes on the defense and I think we need to fill 2 of the 3 at LB, DB, and DE.
I said for the past two seasons, I thought Knox(if healthy)/Hester would benefit from a #1 WR; and still think you're going to see those two explode b/c of Marshall. Add serious concern at TE, and Bennetts possession, and teams will have to leave knox/Hester 1 on 1; and their/he's shifty enough to make them pay.
I'd still like an upgrade, but if it doesn't come through FA, or #19, i'm okay w/that for now.
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