Thread: The GM Game; How Various Teams Approach Free Agency........

Always interesting to listen to agents share their dirty little secrets with us although I'm sure by now their basic techniques for bidding up the price of their players is no secret to anyone. I think it's pretty common to sort your prospect Teams/GMs/Owners into three categories too ranging from those who will usually spend to win, to the bargain shoppers, to the scrooges who rather die and see it buried with them than to spend it. I think segregating your customers like that is pretty much the same in any business. Your A's, B', and C's and God help you if you have too many of that last group because you'll be filing for bankruptcy soon.

Philosophically I see the Bears as a #2 type in his way of describing it. We tend to focus on keeping our own core group together with the thought that great teamwork can often be more important than great talent. But we're also not afraid to make a splash for top talent when we find a difference maker we can add to the team. No matter what some may think we are definitely not a #3. We tend to get older rather than younger because we stick with aging players longer than we should.

I do think we're guilty of the "let's take a year off" approach and at least part of that I lay at the feet of Ted Phillips who has basically admitted as much when he said "you can't afford to win every year". Fuck you Ted the Packers don't seem to feel that way. I'm hoping with Emery on board who has already proven to be a more astute collector of specific talent and a better steward of the McCaskey coffers than his predecessor that maybe Phillips philosophy will change once we get better results from Emery's approach.

Bechta uses the term "spackling" in his last paragraph and it's a good term relative to what successful teams do in FA. FA is for filling specific holes. It's the place you go for starters to upgrade those you have so that when draft weekend roles around you can focus more on the player and less on the position. That's how it should be done.

Originally Posted by rich1978

In an ideal world you're right. It'd be lovely to go into the draft and go BPA all 7 rounds. I guess thats how successful franchises end up and real success is built in the draft. I'm glad we're being more pro-active in general though. i think things are looking up for the Bears and i cant wait 'til the draft rolls around!

Rich I think we're getting closer to it. If we would have been able to snag MWill the first couple of rounds could have just about been that way. I think the key to getting there is be better at anticipating needs and getting players in the pipeline before the needs hits. Back when Jim Finks and then Jerry Vainisi were GM's we did do things that way and it's how they built those teams during the 80's. If we would only have had a more injury free QB we'd probably have won three SB instead of one.

The Packers are very good at doing just that. Once a player starts reaching his peak they find his replacement and in another year or two at most it's out with the old and in with the new. The team stays younger that way as well and it frees up more cap space for the super stars. This year we should be looking at OG's for a year from now and spending an earlier to mid round choice on one.

Originally Posted by rich1978

you know what, ive been thinking about it. Weems, Thomas, two sturdy yet unspectacular squad players. guys who can do a job when they are needed either situational or on ST. guys with experience on short term cheap deals. Its what a franchise SHOULD do before the draft when it's done with its big free agency stuff and it wants to give itself flexibility in the draft. I like the moves, i like the fact it suggests we go into the draft more BPA, taking players we like because of who they are not because they are the best player left at so and so position or because a rival just took someone a pick before us.
Build your team through the draft by picking only who you are truly high on. players who deserve their pick and fit the franchise. signing the likes of Weems and Thomas give us the flexibility to do this and ironically, their signing in free agency allows us to start putting draft first.

I'm on board with Emery. gotta say it, i'm impressed so far. BEAR DOWN!

Emery has improved the team more than seems obvious to some of the Bears faithful because they're fixated on certain things being done in certain ways. The outsiders who follow the game and other teams notice the differences to a much larger degree.

Just adding Marshall makes a huge difference and Mike McCarthy commented on that. He's every bit the equivalent of a Megatron. With Marshall at WR teams will need to game plan for how to stop his connection with Cutler and if that's not gonna be nigh on to impossible as it is they'll have Bennett to deal with as well and he's one of the craftiest most sure handed receivers in the NFL. Some guys don't think it's enough but it's gonna make a huge difference in the passing game.

Then there's the intangible of bringing in Jeremy Bates who turned Cutler and Marshall into a Pro Bowl passing/receiving tandem in only Cutler's second year in the NFL. I'm betting he'll get far more mileage out of Hester and the other role players than we ever have before as well. Bates knows his stuff and he knows what Cutler does well. I've seen it first hand here in Denver. We've improved the passing game far more than it seems on the surface.

The other offensive additions and re-signings added more talent and depth at QB, RB, TE, and WR than we've ever had during the Lovie/Angelo era. The Oline gets it's two best players back from injuries and that's about as good as if we'd added an OT and an OG in FA. That line will be better than it was in 2011 even without any additions and I wouldn't rule out getting one. We were scoring 30 points per game before Cutler went down last year and we've added tremendously to the offensive talent since then. I can't ever remember the Bears with a better offense all around in all the years I've been watching them and that goes back to the 70's.

Emery got a lot of mileage out of what's he's spent so far. He's made some very heady moves. If we could have only gotten MWill too they'd already be talking Super Bowl probabilities. So we missed out on the defensive attack jet in FA but luckily there are some talented pass rushers to be had in the draft so we go there for our fix. If we can get a stud DE and we can stay healthy we stand as good a chance as anyone on the NFC of making it to the Super Bowl.

We're still a bit thin depth wise at some key positions but there's still time to get some vet talent where needed and the draft may bring some help in some of those thin spots on the defense as well. We've already improved dramatically on the offensive side of the ball and if we can plug those holes in the defense as well we're ready to challenge. It's close.

One of the things that stuck out for me was “I always have two negotiations when trying to sign a player, one with the agent and the other with my owner and the one with the agent is the easiest one.” Why am I not surprised....

That being said, Emery has been doing an excellent job so far. Even without revamping the teams scouts, I believe there will be a change in draft philosophy this year. Although, it may not be obvious.