Thread: Webb, you can get by with. I am not sure you can get by with Carimi

Interesting read. This is from Brad Biggs 10 Thoughts article. That's so long that I thought I'd break out interesting bits and pieces. Here's one on Carimi/Webb. Sounds like Webb may be OK. Carimi may be a bust.

Jerry Angelo just killed us with his draft picks. It makes me sick.

LINK to the article




Ross Tucker, a seven-year NFL veteran offensive lineman, was at the game to call it for Sports USA radio network. Tucker (Twitter @RossTuckerNFL) is better known for his work on SiriusXM NFL Radio and on ESPN.com. I asked him before the game if the Bears can make anything of their offensive line and he was particularly critical of Gabe Carimi.

"My biggest concern right now is Carimi because he does not move like a first-round pick and he does not look like a first-round pick," said Tucker, who played at Princeton and made stops with the Redskins, Cowboys, Bills and Patriots. "He’s a big, stiff right tackle. You can get a guy like that in the fourth or fifth round. I don’t know what they saw in him that they thought he was a first-round pick.

That looks like a miss to me and when you already have O-line issues and then you use a first-round pick to try to alleviate it and you miss on a guy like that, that’s a big miss.

“Listen, the NFL is not that complicated. When you take guys high and they stink, that is the position where you have problems. He does not move well.

I don’t think (left tackle) J’Marcus (Webb) is as bad as everyone else does. I think J’Marcus is OK. I think they should give him more help sometimes. But I’ll tell you what, Monday night they were sliding to him so it’s (Roberto) Garza, Chilo (Rachal) and J’Marcus Webb and Justin Smith and Aldon Smith bum-rushed both of them. That should never happen. When you have three for two, that should never, ever happen.

To me, part of that is coaching.

Part of that is guys aren’t doing the right thing. Because the guard should jam the heck out of the D-tackle knowing that Roberto is coming over and then (Rachal) helps the inside of J’Marcus so he can set real hard on the middle of the defensive end. That was probably the most disturbing thing to me. But J’Marcus, I think you can get by with. I am not sure you can get by with Carimi.

“He came in with this reputation of being this real big, powerful guy. I don’t really see that. And he does not move well at all. I think he has lost his confidence, which becomes a real issue. Here is what happens, when you lose your confidence in your technique, then all you are thinking about is, ‘I can’t get beat,’ and you are going wide with your hands and then you’re all messed up. You almost have to have a corner’s mentality where you’re like, ‘OK, the guy got me one time.’ He looks to me like he’s now mentally whacked out. Think about how bad he has to play for them to bench him. They have other guys that haven’t played well and they don’t bench those guys. They bench the first-round pick. It’s not a good unit. There is nothing else to say about it other than they missed on Chris Williams, they missed on Gabe. I think Lance (Louis) is OK. Roberto is fine. We’ll see what (Chris) Spencer does. It’s probably going to hold the Bears back. I picked them a couple weeks ago to go to the Super Bowl but watching them now, I don’t think it is going to happen.”

Carimi missed nearly the entire offseason recovering from surgery in December to prevent future dislocations of his right knee. Although the Bears and Carimi are not talking about it, he’s not the same player he was pre-injury. What we don’t know is if he can regain some of that movement, some of that power. It’s worth wondering if he can be significantly better in training camp next summer when he’s more than a year removed from the surgery. The Bears gave up on Williams, admitting he was a bust. They’re not there with Carimi and the injury he sustained has clouded things.