Continue to Bear down
So, the NFL offseason has been underway for a while, but only recently has speculation risen about who is actually going to be an unrestricted free agent, and who will get the franchise tag, and who the Bears will get and their draft-plan and whatnot. And I was reading some things today that had me worried.
First, we gave Lance Briggs the franchise tag. I'm totally cool with this, as it lays the groundwork for a big raise next year, should he not hold out like that Rosenhaus prick will almost certainly tell him to do. And the Bears don't really negotiate contracts unless we're tying up someone long-term (see Azumah, Terry, and McQuarters, R.W.) before they hit the market. Man, what was with those deals. Anyways, if things don't work out with Briggs after this season is over, I see us picking up a linebacker in the draft who will have a year to learn behind one of the best linebackers in the game right now.
Now I've seen articles that the Bears should re-negotiate a deal for Thomas Jones so he doesn't end up going somewhere else when he becomes a free agent. That's just a stupid idea. I realize that Jones performed pretty well last year, but I stand by my argument of "who wouldn't have?" The Bears continued to jam the run down people's throat, and usually it worked. It worked in the Super Bowl until the Bears went away from it, for some unknown reason. But tell me that Jones is a better back than Benson. It's not true. Jones doesn't break tackles, he's not very fast, and he's not a hard runner. He relies on his ability to slip through guys' hands, and the occasional reversal, or he goes down. I contend that Benson can be our first back, Adrian Peterson can be our second, and we can draft and/or sign someone for our third and also special teams. And we can probably get something decent for Jones by trading him.
I also saw that the Bears could be very interested in trading for Adam Archuleta. This is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. We've got two solid young safeties who have Super Bowl experience. Archuleta had a great reputation for run defense, but people knew he was kind of a liability in coverage. Well, that blew up this past season, when he was basically held out on any sort of passing downs and coverage schemes. Tell me why we would want a safety like that in our Cover 2 secondary? Huge mistake. Plus, he's fucking expensive. And there's nobody I would give up for him. Not even Thomas Jones. So what do we do? Well, if Mike Brown is on his way out, we draft a safety. Look at our history with safeties lately. Mike Green managed to play his way into a nickelback role his first year, and started his second year. Then he was beat out by rookie Chris Harris. Who was then beat out by rookie Danieal Manning. I think if Manning has an offseason to learn strong safety, he may be better suited for it than Chris Harris.
Now let's go to the defensive line. We're probably going to lose at least one tackle in free agency. And it's possible we could lose two. I know that we drafted Dusty Dvorachek last year, and I really thought that was going to be a steal, but then we heard nothing more from him. So early in the draft this year, say, second round, we take a tackle. Do tackles last that long? Or is it more of a "early or late, nothing in between" deal? Anyways, we don't know what's going to happen with Tank Johnson as it is, but we need a backup plan.
I would really like to add some offense at some point this offseason. I like our receivers, but that's not to say I don't think we could get BETTER. Or we could add a better tight end behind Desmond Clark. I don't care.
So here's what I think we need to address in the draft.
1. Offensive line. We're old and getting older. And if we can't bring in Eric Steinbach, we need some youth. And depth.
2. Defensive Tackle.
3. Linebacker.
4. Running back/safety
5. Cornerback.
6. Marcus Colston type receiver. What, that's not delusional, is it?
7. Grab-bag.
The Bears really don't have a whole lot that they need to fill. They've done a pretty solid job of building depth, especially on defense, through the draft, but now we need to make sure we don't lose any of that depth for a long time. And if we can also fill some holes on offense or at least increase production, then there's absolutely no reason we shouldn't be favorites in the NFC. Well, we won't be, as long as the Saints are in the NFC, and maybe even the Giants. Or Seahawks. But we know the truth.
First, we gave Lance Briggs the franchise tag. I'm totally cool with this, as it lays the groundwork for a big raise next year, should he not hold out like that Rosenhaus prick will almost certainly tell him to do. And the Bears don't really negotiate contracts unless we're tying up someone long-term (see Azumah, Terry, and McQuarters, R.W.) before they hit the market. Man, what was with those deals. Anyways, if things don't work out with Briggs after this season is over, I see us picking up a linebacker in the draft who will have a year to learn behind one of the best linebackers in the game right now.
Now I've seen articles that the Bears should re-negotiate a deal for Thomas Jones so he doesn't end up going somewhere else when he becomes a free agent. That's just a stupid idea. I realize that Jones performed pretty well last year, but I stand by my argument of "who wouldn't have?" The Bears continued to jam the run down people's throat, and usually it worked. It worked in the Super Bowl until the Bears went away from it, for some unknown reason. But tell me that Jones is a better back than Benson. It's not true. Jones doesn't break tackles, he's not very fast, and he's not a hard runner. He relies on his ability to slip through guys' hands, and the occasional reversal, or he goes down. I contend that Benson can be our first back, Adrian Peterson can be our second, and we can draft and/or sign someone for our third and also special teams. And we can probably get something decent for Jones by trading him.
I also saw that the Bears could be very interested in trading for Adam Archuleta. This is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. We've got two solid young safeties who have Super Bowl experience. Archuleta had a great reputation for run defense, but people knew he was kind of a liability in coverage. Well, that blew up this past season, when he was basically held out on any sort of passing downs and coverage schemes. Tell me why we would want a safety like that in our Cover 2 secondary? Huge mistake. Plus, he's fucking expensive. And there's nobody I would give up for him. Not even Thomas Jones. So what do we do? Well, if Mike Brown is on his way out, we draft a safety. Look at our history with safeties lately. Mike Green managed to play his way into a nickelback role his first year, and started his second year. Then he was beat out by rookie Chris Harris. Who was then beat out by rookie Danieal Manning. I think if Manning has an offseason to learn strong safety, he may be better suited for it than Chris Harris.
Now let's go to the defensive line. We're probably going to lose at least one tackle in free agency. And it's possible we could lose two. I know that we drafted Dusty Dvorachek last year, and I really thought that was going to be a steal, but then we heard nothing more from him. So early in the draft this year, say, second round, we take a tackle. Do tackles last that long? Or is it more of a "early or late, nothing in between" deal? Anyways, we don't know what's going to happen with Tank Johnson as it is, but we need a backup plan.
I would really like to add some offense at some point this offseason. I like our receivers, but that's not to say I don't think we could get BETTER. Or we could add a better tight end behind Desmond Clark. I don't care.
So here's what I think we need to address in the draft.
1. Offensive line. We're old and getting older. And if we can't bring in Eric Steinbach, we need some youth. And depth.
2. Defensive Tackle.
3. Linebacker.
4. Running back/safety
5. Cornerback.
6. Marcus Colston type receiver. What, that's not delusional, is it?
7. Grab-bag.
The Bears really don't have a whole lot that they need to fill. They've done a pretty solid job of building depth, especially on defense, through the draft, but now we need to make sure we don't lose any of that depth for a long time. And if we can also fill some holes on offense or at least increase production, then there's absolutely no reason we shouldn't be favorites in the NFC. Well, we won't be, as long as the Saints are in the NFC, and maybe even the Giants. Or Seahawks. But we know the truth.
Labels: Bears
posted by Jtrouble at 8:07 AM
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