Thread: Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert or Alabama G/C/OT Barrett Jones?

I believe as you do shorty that coming up our offensive emphasis has to be on blockers. Every other position has been upgraded significantly but those. The guys we have are young and in some cases still very inexperienced but we can't ignore the fact that upfront we're still not all that good.

We've spent both draft picks and FA money on TEs and other than knowing that Spaeth can block well but can't catch we have no real handle on the rest. If we play Bennett in place of Hester and once Jeffery returns we really don't need a TE as an everyday ordinary pass catcher either. The guy still won't get that many looks. Davis has proven that he can block and catch but needs to do it game in and game out with more consistency. That should be Tice's focus as far as TE goes.

Davis is not good enough, wouldn't extend his contract. He is a UFA after this year, right?
Speath... can cut him and save money.
Use Eldrige or Rodriguez as fulltime FB

now we only have 2 or 3 TEs left. Now bring in a TE that actually can get open and make catches in the middle of the field when we need that 1st down with 3rd and 6

1st and 2nd should be used on TE & OLine this year. Hope Urlacher and Melton stay

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

Davis is not good enough, wouldn't extend his contract. He is a UFA after this year, right?
Speath... can cut him and save money.
Use Eldrige or Rodriguez as fulltime FB

now we only have 2 or 3 TEs left. Now bring in a TE that actually can get open and make catches in the middle of the field when we need that 1st down with 3rd and 6

1st and 2nd should be used on TE & OLine this year. Hope Urlacher and Melton stay

Davis and Spaeth are both signed through 2013. Spaeth could be released with no cap implications. It's just his $2 mil salary and a $100k workout bonus so all of that would go away.

Davis received a $2.6 mil signing bonus with his $ 6mil two year deal so if you release him before the deal is up the remaining $1.3 mil that hasn't been charged to the cap rolls up. So in other words if we cut him tomorrow not only would we be on the hook for the rest of his 2012 salary but we take another $1.3 mil hit against the cap this year.

We can save roughly $4.6 mil in cap space by getting rid of both next year but we'd still need to replace them. I have a feeling that's where Eldridge comes in. I think the Bears hope that by next year he can beat out Spaeth. They're a similar type of player.

Any TE we get will need to do more in this offense than just be a pass receiver. Even Olsen's skills would be less welcome than Davis's if we could just get Davis involved in the passing game on a more consistent basis. Davis can get open on seam routes and he certainly knows how to hang on to the ball when there's six points to be had.

I've been really disappointed in his play so far this year but I'm not sure all of that is his fault. Tice's whole approach to using these guys is very little better than Martz's in my opinion. He claims he intends to begin using them more after this so we'll see. Davis did make a key TD grab on Sunday so let's see how the next few games go.

As far as getting another TE whose primarily as pass catcher goes I'd say that 1) we already have one but Tice insists on playing him at FB and 2) Nobody is gonna just come in and learn the offense so fast that you could start him and depend on him making much of a difference anymore this year anyway.

If the guys we have now, with the exception of Eldridge, have all been around since camp began and even they aren't making it happen then how does a new guy come in , learn the entire offense and all of it's terminology and his blocking assignments and become a difference maker in just a week or two. Sorry, ain't gonna happen.

Let's see how they finish up the year and then figure out what to do.

I know you like Davis, Soul. That's OK. the problem with Davis isn't playcalling or involving him more to our game. The problem with Davis is that he is not worth the money he gets and that he did all he could do to show Cutler to not trust him when we need him.
Olsen would be 10 times better than Davis. Davis isn't good on blocking too. We don't need them to block. That's why we have a OL and guys like Speath. Just look at guys like Gonzalez, Gates, Davis and Witten. They gave their offense new dimensions since entering the leauge. After them, guys like Finley, Gronkowski, Hernandez or Graham came into the league. Would you want them to block?
I want them to give my QB more options. Another player the D has to cover. Kellen Davis, like Hester, is not a player you have to pay attention to. They drop more passes than Droptimus did while he was here.

I don't really know that much about the Cap and how it really works. What I do know is that Davis isn't worth the money he gets and Speath was overpaid when he got this contract.

what would you think about

1st Round: OG - Chance Warmack - Alabama
2nd Round: ILB - Michael Mauti - Penn State


would fill needs and would be value for our Picks. No reaches


or
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/p...khaseem-greene
Khaseem Green, OLB, Rutgers
not a pass rusher. Once was a Saftey but he was moved to OLB in a 4-3
if we trade down with our 2nd, we could take him a bit later and get an extra pick.

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

I know you like Davis, Soul. That's OK. the problem with Davis isn't playcalling or involving him more to our game. The problem with Davis is that he is not worth the money he gets and that he did all he could do to show Cutler to not trust him when we need him.
Olsen would be 10 times better than Davis. Davis isn't good on blocking too. We don't need them to block. That's why we have a OL and guys like Speath. Just look at guys like Gonzalez, Gates, Davis and Witten. They gave their offense new dimensions since entering the leauge. After them, guys like Finley, Gronkowski, Hernandez or Graham came into the league. Would you want them to block?
I want them to give my QB more options. Another player the D has to cover. Kellen Davis, like Hester, is not a player you have to pay attention to. They drop more passes than Droptimus did while he was here.

I don't really know that much about the Cap and how it really works. What I do know is that Davis isn't worth the money he gets and Speath was overpaid when he got this contract.

It's not really that I like Davis as much as I think he could be far more useful in this offense than he is IF he were used correctly. So far this year I've been very disappointed in his lack of production but I'm still unclear as to who to fault for that. All I'll say in that regard is that it's not all on Davis.

He got the money he got because we had to outbid Dallas for him so at least in someones eyes he has enough potential to be worth it. Dallas throws to their TEs a lot so they must have thought he could catch pretty well. Has he earned it so far? No, but again how much of that is on him is a matter of opinion. That said I doubt he sees year two of his deal unless he finds a way or someone finds a way for him to become more valuable.

The last part of that paragraph I totally disagree with. When Cutler needed a TD to get us back in the Carolina game who did he got to? I'd say in that instance he did anything but let Cutler or the team down. He was pretty well covered and yet he caught a bullet from 20 yards away with just his hands. That was a nice grab and despite his dropping a key 3rd down pass in an earlier game Cutler had no problem going back to him for one of the most important throws in the game up to that point.

Saying that the reason he doesn't get more passes is that Cutler doesn't trust him is not accurate IMO. He's actually about the best receiver to go to when it comes to getting a score when we're in the red zone since his ratio of TDs to catches is other worldly. How may other guys have a TD for every five times they catch a ball? He also blocks far better than Olsen did against the run stoppers but he struggles with pass blocking just about the same as all our guys do. So what else is new? Maybe we just don't teach it well since they all have that problem.

This offense, actually just about any Bears offense in history, expects their TEs to block as well as catch so in answer to your question about would I want the guy you mention blocking my answer is yes. If they expect to play in Chicago they'll need to block which may be why they using ERod as a FB right now. It seems to me that he's not gonna catch any passes until he shows then that he can block.

Welcome to being a Bears fan brother. That's the way it's been done around here ever since Ditka kind of invented the role of pass catching TE and if you don't think he couldn't block you never watched enough of his film. The Bears have always expected both out of their TEs which is really why Olsen was let go. He wasn't a blocker he was more of a big WR than a true Bears type TE.

We need to find another Des Clark is what we need to do and then we need to use him correctly because in the end it was Mike Martz who put him out to pasture and Des was the best TE we've had here since Emery Moorehead in the '80s.

I just keep coming to all of the same conclusions. Any TE who won't or can't block is gonna be useless in this offense as it sits right now. If and when that ever changes then maybe we look at other types but when you just got rid of one who (another 1st round pick)was too one dimensional why draft another of the same type?

IMAGINE ( DREAM ) what if the TE's and FB ( TE in sheeps clothing) weren't / expected / HAD TO block all the time for the OL. I think that is what is holding back the position(s).