Thread: Maycock Says, "Bears Need to Address OL Needs in April...........

I ain't buyin the sort of meh opinions I've heard about Lane Johnson . I've watched all the tape on him I can find , and the size & athleticism is legit . This guys athleticism is much better than Webbs . He moves like a quick fluid athlete for a guy his size , his first block is solid , and he is quick enough to get to the second level where he's an excellent second level blocker also . I've seen some interviews and seems like he'd be a funny guy in the locker room also . Great teammate solid fb player .

I hope he's there at 20 and the Bears pick him . In time it'll become all too obvious , to the coaching staff , who the starting LT will be - then Webb can go back to being a swing tackle which is where he belongs anyways .

PICK LANE JOHNSON !

Well at least here's one other guy who agrees with those of us who say OLine or FAIL in round one. We're actually running into some luck as far as our needs are concerned and did last year as well. We needed a pass rusher and we had a few to pick from. This year we need a OLineman and once again we have a few to pick from thanks to a 10-6 record.

I really like either Warmack or Cooper with that pick but if by chance Emery can find a solution at LG before the draft I could see us taking Lane Johnson if he was there. He's another Nate Solder type pick who may take a year to get prepared to take over at LT but with Webb in the last year of his deal if Kromer thinks his upside is limited then no one could argue with that pick.

I'm less interested in Fluker but then maybe it's just because I don't favor these behemoth size guys over smaller quicker lineman. We'll have to see how he weighs in at the Combine. He's supposed to go about the same as Webb but I thought he was about 20lbs over that at the Sr. Bowl. Still I wasn't in favor or Gordy Glenn last year (I owe Windy an apology for that one) and that kid took over at LT for the Bills last year weighing 350lbs or so.

The bottom line is that any of those four and Jones may be on the board at #20 or even a few picks later with one or two of them so any excuse for not taking a lineman seems pretty flimsy right now. Today Brad Biggs reported that our cap excess is just $10.5 mil whereas earlier we had a figure of around $14 mil so maybe Biggsy backed out the rookie pool. $3.5 to $4 mil seems about right for that. Now subtract the cost of a tag for Melton and the budget is pretty stretched.

Unless we do some serious restructuring of some deals (which we should) it's gonna be pretty damn hard to take a serious run at any top tier OL talent in FA and furthermore do we even want to? The #20 pick will cost us over four years what a top tier OT will cost us in one. Without thinning the herd of some pretty good FAs of our own or redoing some deals we're not in a position to even make an offer to one.

Every great team builds it's OLine from the draft first and I think that's what we need to do as well. Trestman brought in top coaching talent to work with these guys and both Kromer and Myers have gotten the job done before so I'm really beginning to accept the fact that we won't be major players for any top OLineman in FA. For the $$$ we might spend on one vet lineman we could fill a need at TE and add some depth at LB along with paying Urlacher or Izzy for the year. We get as much or more out of those guys we we would one FA OT or OG.

We do need help on the OL but where that help comes from is the question right now.

Originally Posted by Alf The Ref

I ain't buyin the sort of meh opinions I've heard about Lane Johnson . I've watched all the tape on him I can find , and the size & athleticism is legit . This guys athleticism is much better than Webbs . He moves like a quick fluid athlete for a guy his size , his first block is solid , and he is quick enough to get to the second level where he's an excellent second level blocker also . I've seen some interviews and seems like he'd be a funny guy in the locker room also . Great teammate solid fb player .

I hope he's there at 20 and the Bears pick him . In time it'll become all too obvious , to the coaching staff , who the starting LT will be - then Webb can go back to being a swing tackle which is where he belongs anyways .

PICK LANE JOHNSON !

I don't know that there's been any "meh" opinions about him. Not from me at any rate. His stock has shot through the roof ever since the Sr. Bowl. But I also think the comparison to Nate Solder is accurate. Solder spent his first year at RT before moving to LT and unless he comes in and outplays Webb, which is possible, he may not start this year either. But I do admit he'd be a nice option to have. The question is will he fall as far as #20?

Johnson along with Warmack and Cooper should all be pretty high on the Bears board right now so we'll see how it all breaks out after the Combine. I don't expect it will change much as far as those three go and if so then I would think that one of the three or possibly two of the three will be there when we pick. One way or the other we should get a very good football player for the left side of that line for far less money than anyone we could scoop up in FA.

Well after Lane Johnson's performance at the combine we can kiss drafting him goodbye . He's now being talked about going # 10 . Swell .. @#$%^&*(

Hard to figure how it's all going to shake out. IF we could get Johnson does Webb split time, move to RT? If Carimi recovers and comes back slowly where do you put him? Garza's gotta go or at least move to LG. Also gotta hope Louis is 100%. The more I see it the more I believe we go with a OG then a OC.

Wow, thank you Mike Mayock. I cant believe the Bears and all us fans completely missed the fact that we need to address the OL. I was thinking QB, maybe a Safety or Punter...but good thing you came along to tell us how badly we need to address the OL. You are my hero Mike Mayock, the hero Gotham deserves. You are a man amongst men for standing up and saying what needed to be said, regardless of how crazy the rest of us are for ignoring your sage advice. Please oh please, impart more kernels of wisdom from your vast understanding of the universe so I may say I was there the day the great Mike Mayock forever saved the Chicago Bears with his vast knowledge and truth. May we all bask in his glorious proclamations and sage advice, for he is a far greater man then any of us lowly "fans" can ever hope to be.

2 things:

I'm also a Jets fan, and if the Bears (obviously this is about as possible as Jamarcus Russell outplaying Tom Brady in TC for the starting job) were to completely avoid drafting a lineman in any round, I'm gonna be wearing more green than Orange and Navy Blue this fall, if Emery went full potato(the new "R" word) and decided to pass on the o-line. I could only see 1990s Wannstedt as screwing that up.

Soul, I can't remember for sure or not, but didn't you advocate us getting Solder when he was in the draft? Also, I have no clue if he's good or not.

Originally Posted by short faced bear

Hard to figure how it's all going to shake out. IF we could get Johnson does Webb split time, move to RT? If Carimi recovers and comes back slowly where do you put him? Garza's gotta go or at least move to LG. Also gotta hope Louis is 100%. The more I see it the more I believe we go with a OG then a OC.

Don't really care . We need bodies period . Get as many as you can and then put the best 5 on the field . And if that means some people are 2nd stringers then so be it .

Don't matter where you were drafted - it matters how well you perform NOW .