Phil Emery Reflection/Assessment

The more I think about it the more Phil Emery has started to win me over. I know we have a limited sample size and he is knew to the job, but I have confidence in him and what he is doing.

It is nice to sit back and have faith that the team you cheer for is being run by a professional that is going to make good/solid moves.

This is my breakdown of his tenure so far.

Tim Ruskell [Fired] A+

He had the stink of the Angelo era all over him and he is a terrible talent evaluator.

Frank Omiyale [Cut] A+

The worst OLmen I have ever seen play in the NFL and a guy that Angelo shoved down our throats for 2 pathetic seasons.

Anthony Adams [Cut] B+

I love Anthony Adams, but he was in the way of some developing young talent and Angelo refused to let draft picks play and develop with his red shirt years. Paea needs Adams reps.

Brandon Marshall [Trade] A+

I was born in 1984 and in that time I have never seen a legitimate #1 WR on the Bears with the talent of Marshall. For Angelo's 11 years he gave us Hester, Knox, Bradley, Iglesias, Muhammed and tried to tell us they were #1s.

Jason Campbell [Signed] A

The Bears were so idiotic about their back up QB position it cost them a season where they were 7-3 coming off 3 huge wins. Hanie and the never ending string of 5th round picks simply were not good enough for the new NFL and Emery goes and gets a solid starter to be our backup.

Michael Bush [Signed] A

Bush is talented, he is healthy and he gives the Bears leverage in the Forte negotiations. There is not one thing to not like about getting arguably the best #2 RB in the NFL. Depth is king in the NFL especially at the RB position.

Eric Weems/Blake Costanzo [Signed] B+

Here is a revolutionary idea draft players to be impact players and contributors on offense or defense and sign a couple of guys to bolster the special teams.

Israel Idonije [Re-signed] B+

He is a great locker room guy, a very good run defender and can play multiple positions on the DL. He gives you a player that can start with a situational player from the draft, or that can back up with a 1st round pick from the draft.

Craig Steltz [Re-signed] A

He was signed for peanuts and he can back up both safety spots, is a solid tackler and can contribute on special teams.

Tim Jennings [Re-signed] B

He is a solid starter who could be replaced by a draft pick down the road, but he is not a liability. In a CB market where Eric Wright got 35 million I am glad we re-signed Jennings.

Kellen Davis [Re-signed] B

The ultimate wild card this offseason needed to be re-signed and was. The TE market in free agency and the draft was terrible and Davis has a ton of potential that we have never seen used.

Up to this point, and especially with the signings of Bush and Campbell I think Phil Emery has upgraded the offense significantly and made certain there would be no drop off in talent on return or coverage teams too. Those guys are an easy 1/3 of the Bears strength as a team. We win games by virtue or having a better PK, Punter, Return Specialists and Coverage Teams than almost any other team in the league. Sometimes we joke about it but those guys have won us a lot of games since Toub has coached them and no one can deny that.

I'm over the MWill thing since I think we got hosed by Condon on that one anyway. That would have been the creme de la creme but it also would have inhibited us from adding upgrades elsewhere. As for Forte I think his expectations are too grand based on his mileage and his performance in comparison to others. He's not an AP and he's not even and Arian Foster. I think eventually it all comes down to just what it did last fall. Does he want to secure his future with the Bears or not.

Signing the two former Raiders showed his ability to use his experience to prospect players in the AFCW which is a pool of talent JA usually ignored. I don't think he could have found two better fits as backups for our stars at QB and RB. Campbell has the arm and the mobility to run the same offense as Cutler and Bush is a good all round back and a great short yardage an goaline option.

Trading for Marshall and only giving up what he did was a good score no matter what lies Ross wants to tell regarding their decision to release him if they couldn't trade him. He has a sweetheart contract compared to what VJax got and if we'd have been negotiating with him as a FA with other teams in the hunt he would certainly have been more costly than he is. When you can bring our passing game up to par with GB and Detroit for two 3rds that's a good move.

The only one of our own I would like to see back in the fold is Okoye so I hope he has enough set aside to get that done this week. The other moves, especially Davis, were playing it smart. Steltz, Jennings and Izzy were comparatively inexpensive low risk deals. Overall I think he avoided overspending on anyone player or position. So if we can just get Okoye back I don't think he could have done much more with the opportunities he was given.

I'm becoming a hardcore fan of Emery. I like how he's handled things so far. There was a lot of initial pessimism about his hire by many Bears fans but he's showing that his vision for the Bears if quite different than the one JA had.

I need to see the draft first cause we still don't see the direction they are going with the oline and haven't gotten any younger contributors on defense. After draft we will talk

I think the Kellen Davis re-signing is far too unheralded. The guy was drawing legit interest around the league and we lured him back. He was an absolute stud at run-blocking, and his size and athleticism are both plus tools to his game. I'm not going to go overboard with expectations, but just looking at what he did last year for us in the ground game and his contribution to our red zone offense despite his complete under/non-use as a receiver, I think the hope behind his upside is very legitimate. He's also MUCH tougher and MUCH harder to bring down with the ball in his hands than Olsen.

While we're talking TE, I'm very happy with the position. Adams surprised me a lot with his agility in routes from the H-back role and hopefully Andre Smith makes the squad and replaces Spaeth's contribution at a hugely lesser cost in the near future.

I'm also warming to the ST signings. Weems is a second return game threat that gives us a 1-2 punch that can't be matched and Costanzo is a huge-hitting, fumble-forcing machine.

The holes that remain (namely DE, OL, compliment WR, CB) proved to be unquestionably HUGELY overpayed positions on the FA market outside of LB and S. I would have liked to see a guy like Woodyard come in to our LB corps, and S was my go-to position for veteran stability this offseason. However, I can live with this rookie OLB class and the S market dissolved after the top two were franchised and DeCoud re-signed before hitting UFA.

I'll give him a B+ if he signs Okoye.

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Originally Posted by lklrlolnlilklsox

I think the Kellen Davis re-signing is far too unheralded. The guy was drawing legit interest around the league and we lured him back. He was an absolute stud at run-blocking, and his size and athleticism are both plus tools to his game. I'm not going to go overboard with expectations, but just looking at what he did last year for us in the ground game and his contribution to our red zone offense despite his complete under/non-use as a receiver, I think the hope behind his upside is very legitimate. He's also MUCH tougher and MUCH harder to bring down with the ball in his hands than Olsen.

While we're talking TE, I'm very happy with the position. Adams surprised me a lot with his agility in routes from the H-back role and hopefully Andre Smith makes the squad and replaces Spaeth's contribution at a hugely lesser cost in the near future.

I'm also warming to the ST signings. Weems is a second return game threat that gives us a 1-2 punch that can't be matched and Costanzo is a huge-hitting, fumble-forcing machine.

The holes that remain (namely DE, OL, compliment WR, CB) proved to be unquestionably HUGELY overpayed positions on the FA market outside of LB and S. I would have liked to see a guy like Woodyard come in to our LB corps, and S was my go-to position for veteran stability this offseason. However, I can live with this rookie OLB class and the S market dissolved after the top two were franchised and DeCoud re-signed before hitting UFA.

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Good post. And I agree on all your points on Davis. I like his potential. They simply have not utilized him correctly, for obvious reasons (Martz).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lklrlolnlilklsox

I think the Kellen Davis re-signing is far too unheralded. The guy was drawing legit interest around the league and we lured him back. He was an absolute stud at run-blocking, and his size and athleticism are both plus tools to his game. I'm not going to go overboard with expectations, but just looking at what he did last year for us in the ground game and his contribution to our red zone offense despite his complete under/non-use as a receiver, I think the hope behind his upside is very legitimate. He's also MUCH tougher and MUCH harder to bring down with the ball in his hands than Olsen.

While we're talking TE, I'm very happy with the position. Adams surprised me a lot with his agility in routes from the H-back role and hopefully Andre Smith makes the squad and replaces Spaeth's contribution at a hugely lesser cost in the near future.

I'm also warming to the ST signings. Weems is a second return game threat that gives us a 1-2 punch that can't be matched and Costanzo is a huge-hitting, fumble-forcing machine.

The holes that remain (namely DE, OL, compliment WR, CB) proved to be unquestionably HUGELY overpayed positions on the FA market outside of LB and S. I would have liked to see a guy like Woodyard come in to our LB corps, and S was my go-to position for veteran stability this offseason. However, I can live with this rookie OLB class and the S market dissolved after the top two were franchised and DeCoud re-signed before hitting UFA.

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Funny thing is that while the FA CB's were pricey averaging around $4 mil per year the LB's have just about been
totally ignored. Woodyard re-upped with Denver and there were a few mid grade guys but there are still a lot of unsigned guys and the going rate is around $2 mil per year. There must be a lot of LB talent in the draft this year that teams are looking at as a much cheaper way to go. Mid round picks will only be getting around $500k per and even the top picks won't be getting any more than $2 mil or so.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

I'll give him a B+ if he signs Okoye.

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In my book, re-signing Okoye gives him the A, but that's just splitting hairs. We need to re-sign Okoye, now.

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Originally Posted by BearStuff

In my book, re-signing Okoye gives him the A, but that's just splitting hairs. We need to re-sign Okoye, now.

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Yeah, I'm not sure why the holdup so it must be the $$$ he's looking for. Okoye was the one former 1st round pick who really paid off last year and keeping him long term is like getting one of those 1sts we traded for Cutler back again. The kid is young and just now maturing into his game. I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get a deal done with him.