What's left to do before the draft?

The Bears have secured a true #1 WR for the first time in forever. They also now have both a real starting QB and a competent backup for the first time in decades. Many of their own FAs have been re-signed. I'm assuming that Corey Graham is all but a goner at this point which leaves no CBs to speak of behind Jennings, Tillman, and DJMoore. I'm also assuming that Wimbley is not a FA of interest to us as advertised and we will draft a DE in round 1 almost for certain at this point. So, my two cents...

1) Re-sign Okoye: He's young enough and showed enough in his first year in a 4-3 to warrant bringing back as a pass rushing DT.

2) Resolve the Forte situation: No holdout dramas! Make him a solid market offer (~ 40/20) and trade him for picks if he absolutely refuses to accept it. I want Matt Forte on the Bears and can't say for sure which side is preventing a deal from finally getting done. I just don't want this thing dragging on and facing the increasing possibility of a holdout or camp controversy.

3) Sign Hawthorne: He would be an upgrade over Roach and would give us a depth chart with at least one LB in reserve who can actually play a starting role in case of injury. Thus far we have NOTHING behind our starting 3. He would also be insurance against Briggs throwing another hissy fit.

4) Sign a DB: We are thin back there with Bowman, Graham, and Meriweather all gone. I'm not crying in my beer about any of them, but we need a vet player in FA and something out of the mid-late draft to develop.

We have 5 weeks or so to get this done.

we definitly need a FS and maybe another SS considering how injury prone our guys have been

oline is a disaster no matter how many ways people spin it

Hawthorne would be good if he can play Roach position. We need a couple LBs one being a starter

I think DB through the draft is the ticket. We already signed Jennings

So really I would be looking at LB and saefty as my two positions to look at closely. This is assuming Okoye re-signs. I think additions to DE, WR, AND CB should come from the draft. The oline should be left alone Tice pixy dust does the trick

Resign Okoye and get the long-term Forte deal done. Sign Hawthorne and Hayden and prepare for the draft.

Add a DE in fa because unless we can get perry no other true nfl DEs are worth a first rounder

We run a 4-3 not 3-4 so i dont want to hear about some "rushbacker we dont have any use for

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Originally Posted by Grizzblue

Add a DE in fa because unless we can get perry no other true nfl DEs are worth a first rounder

We run a 4-3 not 3-4 so i dont want to hear about some "rushbacker we dont have any use for

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Mercilus doesn't strike me as the 34 type.

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Originally Posted by Grizzblue

Add a DE in fa because unless we can get perry no other true nfl DEs are worth a first rounder

We run a 4-3 not 3-4 so i dont want to hear about some "rushbacker we dont have any use for

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Since we aren't pursuing Wimbley, there are no other FA DE options out there. I would be shocked if they didn't make DE their 1st round priority after trying and missing on Mario and Mincey.

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Originally Posted by Chi66

Resign Okoye and get the long-term Forte deal done. Sign Hawthorne and Hayden and prepare for the draft.

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That's exactly what I'm thinking Emery needs to get done to get ready for the draft. Add another DB and another LB in the back half of the draft and go some combination of DE + WR + OL in the 1st 3 rounds.

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Originally Posted by MPBears68

That's exactly what I'm thinking Emery needs to get done to get ready for the draft. Add another DB and another LB in the back half of the draft and go some combination of DE + WR + OL in the 1st 3 rounds.

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I've read about us being interested in both so hopefully we can get those two positions taken care of. Mercilus, Zeitler, and McNutt would be an awesome start to the draft.

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Originally Posted by Chi66

Mercilus doesn't strike me as the 34 type.

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Maylock has him as the #2 olb in the draft

No sense in adding a guy who dosent fit in our system when we could get a better fit later

Anyways get the forte situation done

Offer him a fair 40mil 5 year 17-22 gaurenteed and give him a take it or leave it offer

If he refuses that start shopping him for picks and let some other suckers give him AP money and get burned on it sign bush and roll with him bell and enjoy a hopefully high pick

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Originally Posted by Chi66

Resign Okoye and get the long-term Forte deal done. Sign Hawthorne and Hayden and prepare for the draft.

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Yeah, this would be my path as well. There isn't gonna be much Safety help early in the draft so we may need another way to solve that problem but we should make a solid attempt to corral Hayden or another CB experienced in playing in a Cover-2 Defense.

Now that Emery realizes he won't be able to fill the DE need in FA going after Hawthorne to upgrade SLB and add vet depth would seem to be the most logical thing to do along with getting Okoye back in the fold. We need another 3T DT besides Melton and Okoye did well pairing with him on passing down and giving him breathers from time to time. Plus he's young and has been a NT during his stretch in Houston so he should continue to improve over time. If we can re-sign him we'll have the best set of DT's we've had since the 80's. Hawthorne is a good fit and probably as good an OLB as we're likely to get in FA.

If we can fill those DT, CB, and LB needs now we're in a much better position come draft weekend. We're pretty much resigned to a pass rusher in the first round but after that we can aim for some guys who will help us later this year and down the road. I'd like to see us bringing in an Olineman every year for a few years to try and get that line upgraded even beyond where we are no which, with the exception of Webb's inconsistency, is not all that bad. Another WR and a CB or Safety would be nice as well. We still have 3 picks within the top 100.