Thread: Bears sign Golden

Yep a lot of talent, more on the D side then O, has got to be wondering what the hell is going to happen later this year. Hester is probably the biggest name on O right now that has to be wondering wth is going on and how safe is my job.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Don't know that he CAN do it, but I bet the idea of signing him now is to see if he has the ability to improve.

As for Hester, I'd like to see him stay on one more year and see if he can be correctly used by an OC that understands what he is, and developed by a legit WR coach. It hardly hurts if he's sitting at the bottom of the squad. It's when he's evelated to a 2 or 3 that he is exposed.

Fair enough. Assuming Hester gets over his "I'm retiring" Lovie-snit, I have no problem keeping him if...

...the new HC/OC/WR coach want to keep him based upon unbiased evaluation
...his trade value is nil
...he's confined strictly/mostly to ST duty
...his cap hit (whatever it is) doesn't preclude us from doing what we need to do in FA
...we are also developing other younger WRs on the bottom half of depth chart

I do think it is a little over-optimistic to believe that a 30 y/o player who's been a "wide receiver" for 5-6 years is suddenly going to "get it together", but I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised. As long as we are also bringing along younger talented guys and nothing of value is lost by keeping him.

We will see what happens when the new coaching staff gets installed and running, but somehow I find it difficult to justify keeping two "WRs" (Hester and Weems) who are both basically STs guys only. And Weems is the better (and cheaper) all-around ST player IMO.

Originally Posted by MPBears68

Fair enough. Assuming Hester gets over his "I'm retiring" Lovie-snit, I have no problem keeping him if...

...the new HC/OC/WR coach want to keep him based upon unbiased evaluation Likely will
...his trade value is nil it is
...he's confined strictly/mostly to ST duty he should
...his cap hit (whatever it is) doesn't preclude us from doing what we need to do in FA I believe (like Peppers) it costs more to cut him than keep him.
...we are also developing other younger WRs on the bottom half of depth chart What young WR do we have other than Jeffery?

I do think it is a little over-optimistic to believe that a 30 y/o player who's been a "wide receiver" for 5-6 years is suddenly going to "get it together", but I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised. As long as we are also bringing along younger talented guys and nothing of value is lost by keeping him.

We will see what happens when the new coaching staff gets installed and running, but somehow I find it difficult to justify keeping two "WRs" (Hester and Weems) who are both basically STs guys only. And Weems is the better (and cheaper) all-around ST player IMO.

Use him occasionally in the slot and he should be okay. They way he SHOULD have been used all along

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

Use him occasionally in the slot and he should be okay. They way he SHOULD have been used all along

True and agreed. Many of us have been saying that for a while. But Hester has been forced or elevated into filling a #3 or even a #2 WR role for a long time now. Which he is clearly ill suited for. Whether by poor design, by injury, or by lack of WR depth (let's face it--combo of all 3), he gets mis-cast and the O suffers for it. And even if he is used "sparingly in the slot", he still needs to be able to execute a route and catch the damn ball or even that minimal usage is wasted.

Regarding your point in red about "what other young WR do we have besides Jeffery?", that is precisely the issue I am getting at isn't it? I believe we have a very solid 1-2-3 WR trio. But, as this year shows, injuries do happen (did to GB too) and we had no "next man up" to step in and provide decent reliable production (GB did). We need a young #4 man to bring along. Whether it turns out to be Joe Anderson or Brittan Golden or a new draft pick, we need somebody there. Somebody preferably with speed to stretch the defense occaisionally and keep it honest. Somebody preferably who can contribute on STs and be a backup return man if needed. Basically, somebody equivalent to what Knox was a few years ago when he put together a pretty solid season.

Hester should be no higher than #5 on the WR depth chart IMO.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

remeber his vast majority of WR learning was w/Drake...who's a garbage WR coach. Otherwise I'd be right there w/you. I still think that as a 4th wr, in rotation w/the 4-6th wr's he's got a role in getting open. 3-4 times a game, maybe 8-10 plays total...that kind of role CANNOT negatively imapct the a game w/70+ O plays. But that also means that those other WR's 4-6 have to be able to move up to 3-4 when/IF(prays not again) Jeffery/Bennett get hurt.

Again the idea should be similar to him recieving a punt/ko where he can face the ball to catch it, and then move in space. Don't throw it to him if he's covered(although he's shown he can make some nice grabs when he is). Throw to him when the play breaks down and he's open like when Cutler threw him the ball but was over the LoS, Hester got a good 30 yards, and put the team solidly in the RZ. That's how you use Hester in the O.

All true, Ric. No dispute there on any of it. I hope we get a competent OC and WR coach this offseason who makes it happen and not just pays lip service to it. Beyond scheme and coaching alone, Hester really ought to hit the same workout machine that Tim Jennings did. Did wonders for his ball/hands skills and DH needs a fair amount of work there too. You can't deny there have been plenty of occaisions the last few years where Hester has dropped balls he should have easily caught. And drops get really magnified when you're a "specialty" guy who is only targeted a few times per game in strict situations only.

I really hope Joe Anderson or Golden can be developed into something besides STers-only since Knox isn't coming back in all likelihood, Hester is 30, and we could use the draft pick elsewhere.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I agree. Wouldn't it be great to be able to develop a rock solid WR of our own? A promising young guy who could help us for years?

Yep. I don't know much about either Anderson or Golden other than that they were high on JA in TC/PS and he has done some pretty nice ST work in the latter part of this recently ended season. Does anyone know how big JA is? Do either of these guys have promising speed?