Thread: Barrett Jones or Manti Te'o

Originally Posted by Henry Burris

I don't think 20 could be as difficult to pick, and still screw up as last year (still don't see mclellan as being better than the other de's or o-lineman unless they give him a look at lb).

Hindsight is 20-20 but yeah I wish DeCastro was on the roster right now.

Originally Posted by MPBears68

Hindsight is 20-20 but yeah I wish DeCastro was on the roster right now.

If carimi never recovers and busts then yea you could say that BUT Shea was a bad pick from the get go in the minds of many of us considering decastro was on the board as well as reiff

That pick was the only black mark on emery IMO and its a big one UNLESS we are going to a 3-4 (I've suspected that lovie would be fired and wed do that since we got him)

Originally Posted by Grizzblue

If carimi never recovers and busts then yea you could say that BUT Shea was a bad pick from the get go in the minds of many of us considering decastro was on the board as well as reiff

That pick was the only black mark on emery IMO and its a big one UNLESS we are going to a 3-4 (I've suspected that lovie would be fired and wed do that since we got him)

Shea had a decent but not 1st round-worthy rookie year IMO. I agree it was a surprising and ill-advised pick as it looks right now. Chandler Jones was the better every down 4-3 DE and DeCastro (not Reiff, who never started either) was the better choice OL-wise. I can kind of understand why Emery went that way WITH THE INFO HE HAD AT THE TIME.

We did need pass rush and didn't know then that Wooten would finally show up after a couple years of flopping. Didn't know Izzy would put together such as solid year either. DeC was a pure LG and back then (prior to Tice screwing it all up) we thought we had a decent returning starter there in CWilliams. In retrospect though, I wish Emery had taken him since we now have bupkis at LG or taken CJones who is a better 4-3 guy by all accounts.

If Shea is really going to stay at DE then I hope he works his ass off this offseason to get bigger and stronger to play 3 downs. Otherwise move him to SLB with some blitz duty. I'm not giving up on him but it wasn't the wisest pick, especially for a 4-3 team.

I see a lot of people commenting that Shea needs to hit the weight room. The way I see it, he's still a kid, just out of school. He ain't done growing yet. Over the next year or two, he will be putting on weight as he finishes growing. You all know he's in the weight room as well. I think we'll see him as a much better player next year - with a year's experience and that extra weight on him.

Originally Posted by soulman

Te'o is a good football player but is he the right guy to play MLB in the defense the Bears run? He doesn't have the speed you'd like to see playing a Cover-2 they way we've played it. If the defense doesn't change much I'd see him more as a SLB with the Bears to begin with and maybe moving to MLB once we make some adjustments.

So much hinges on whether or not Urlacher returns. If he doesn't then drafting a MLB becomes more critical. Right now I'd side with re-signing Urlacher for two more years and seeing how a guy like DeCicco responds. We know the kid can tackle in the open field because of his play on STeams in 2011. He also played a college Safety position similar to what Urlacher played in college and has similar speed all he lacks physically is Urlacher's size but then how many 6'4" 258lb MLBs are around period?

I think we badly need another interior lineman. Louis should be re-signed but Spencer shouldn't be and I'd be real leery about accepting Rachal back and Brown is still learning the game. If we can sign a LT in FA we should be OK at OT but we're still gonna come up short at OG and I like this kid Jones. I think he's a smart, hard nosed, tough ball player who fits the description of the kind of guy you want to build your line around.

If Garza isn't already done he's nearly done. I still attribute some of the line issues to him especially as it relates to our inability to cope with all the stunts teams through at us this year. We need a better OC than Garza and Jones looks to me like the right guy. He should also still be on the board when we pick whereas I doubt Te'o will. He's a Junior Seau type and those guys will get nabbed early. He may not be a top ten pick but he won't last into the twenties. JMHO.

Great breakdown, Soul, and we see things similarly. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but I'm not ready yet to write the epitaph on BU's career as a Bears MLB. He had 2 knee procedures last offseason, missed the entire preseason program, and clearly was hobbling the first 4-6 games or so. After that, I saw a slow, gradual, but noticeable improvement in him as the year wore on. I gotta believe that a full offseason of recovery time will let him squeeze out 1-2 more years as a productive player. I gotta believe, Lovie or no Lovie, that he would prefer to play our his career as a Bear. I gotta believe that he and Emery will find common ground on a ~ 2 year contract that pays him less but still enough.

If so, then draft a SLB in round 2 or so assuming Roach leaves in FA. If that guy or DeCicco can't take over MLB for the future, then we can target that in round 1 of the 2014 draft. I see our MLB scenario as "urgent" but not as desperate as others may think right now. The O and OL in particular is indeed "desperate". That's what cost us games and made the difference between us being a legit contender and just a marginal playoff team.

Barrett Jones, and I'm not saying he's "the only guy", seems like a damn good step in that direction at OC. In addition to a FA LT, we really need another starter on the interior. Garza is slipping and he can be a backup or spot starter OC/OG next season. Brown, a FA, Garza, or another draftee can battle it out for the starting LG job. Louis is good at RG if healthy and Carimi can battle it out with Webb/Scott for RT. That's a helluva lot better OL that gives us a shot at having a decent overall offense next season IMHO.