2011 Bears Offseason thread

[Splendid Splinter]

What next, Derrick Lee and Juan Pierre joining the Cubs?

 

 

 

The way Hendry is going right now... it wouldn't surprise me. hahaha

 

 

If Hayden is fully healthy, he's an good upgrade over Jennings and Tillman/Hayden combo will be very solid. But he missed games the past 3 seasons though so like minnesotacubsfan said, he's a little upgrade. I guess Bears thinks if they get a little upgrade (no big impact) at several positions that it'll be a big upgrade to the team overall. Like everyone said... they still need to sign an OL (I prefer Brian Waters to a 2 year deal and cut Garza- to free up some money) and then draft an OL somewhat early in next years draft (although Bears should be looking at WR/CB/LB first probably in the draft). Angelo still has time to sign an OL. This isn't the offseason signings I was hoping for, but it's not that bad or horrible really and I'm not willing to say it good or above average either.

 

 

Also has anyone heard ANYTHING about Carlos Rogers? and Grimes as well? I wonder what type of $$$ he's looking for and what teams are looking at him... I'm surprised Floyd isn't signed as well. There are quite a few players out there that can help out the Bears... Anybody know how much $$$ Bears got left?

[Banedon]

Bears have $24 million in cap space left.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/08/bears_still_have_24_million_in.html

 

 

Also, Tice said after practice tonight that Webb will be LT and Carimi at RT...

 

Mike Tice: "“I feel athletically Webb is more suited to be over there, although they both want to play on the left side."

[Derwood]

Bears have $24 million in cap space left.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/08/bears_still_have_24_million_in.html

 

 

Also, Tice said after practice tonight that Webb will be LT and Carimi at RT...

 

Mike Tice: "“I feel athletically Webb is more suited to be over there, although they both want to play on the left side."

 

Angelo madly scrambling to sign 8 more special teams players to 1-year, $3million deals

[Banedon]

Bears have $24 million in cap space left.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/08/bears_still_have_24_million_in.html

 

 

Also, Tice said after practice tonight that Webb will be LT and Carimi at RT...

 

Mike Tice: "“I feel athletically Webb is more suited to be over there, although they both want to play on the left side."

 

Angelo madly scrambling to sign 8 more special teams players to 1-year, $3million deals

 

I'm guessing they eat up a decent chunk of that with Forte's extension.

[BigSlick]

Bears have $24 million in cap space left.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/08/bears_still_have_24_million_in.html

 

 

Also, Tice said after practice tonight that Webb will be LT and Carimi at RT...

 

Mike Tice: "“I feel athletically Webb is more suited to be over there, although they both want to play on the left side."

With this much money left there is no excuse for them not to get a high-profile Guard. They need to get one for any guarantee of success on the offensive line, even if its just for depth alone.

[UMFan83]

Wait, I am moderately high on Webb, but not as the LT. The most important position on the line will be filled by a raw 2nd year 7th round pick.

[RynoRules]

Angelo is really starting to tarnish his record. Peppers, Cutler, Forte and Hester are feathers in his cap to be sure, but when it comes to building depth on defense and basically anything beyond the aforementioned Cutler and Forte on offense, he's proving to be below par, if not incompetent.

[Banedon]

11 teams are $20million or more under the cap.

 

It remains widely believed by fans and some in the media that the mandatory minimum cash spend of 89 percent under the new labor deal immediately applies. It doesn’t.

 

While the league as a whole must spend cash in 2011 that equates to 99 percent of the cap, there’s no minimum requirement for each team until 2013. Thus, neither the Bengals nor any other specific team is required to spend another dime — as long as all 32 teams cuts checks this year that equal at least $3.814 billion.

[Soul]

11 teams are $20million or more under the cap.

 

It remains widely believed by fans and some in the media that the mandatory minimum cash spend of 89 percent under the new labor deal immediately applies. It doesn’t.

 

While the league as a whole must spend cash in 2011 that equates to 99 percent of the cap, there’s no minimum requirement for each team until 2013. Thus, neither the Bengals nor any other specific team is required to spend another dime — as long as all 32 teams cuts checks this year that equal at least $3.814 billion.

 

If it isn't tied to an individual team, then I wonder how it would even be enforced. If they come in under the total number, who has to go out and spend more, and who decides which teams need to do it?

[NCCubFan]

If it isn't tied to an individual team, then I wonder how it would even be enforced.

It couldn't. There's no way they could require a team to spend more to make up for a team that spends less. Perhaps they're just assuming that enough teams would spend more to make it a moot point.

[UMFan83]

So are the Bears really prepared to head into the season well under the cap (which they'll be even with a Forte extension)

[jersey cubs fan]

Bears have $24 million in cap space left.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2011/08/bears_still_have_24_million_in.html

 

 

Also, Tice said after practice tonight that Webb will be LT and Carimi at RT...

 

Mike Tice: "“I feel athletically Webb is more suited to be over there, although they both want to play on the left side."

 

Angelo madly scrambling to sign 8 more special teams players to 1-year, $3million deals

 

I'm guessing they eat up a decent chunk of that with Forte's extension.

 

Perhaps a good chunk, but not that much. I would like to see them front load the salary portion of his contract so a lot of his cap hit is early on, instead of spread out evenly via a signing bonus.

[davell]

There's still enough cash out there to resign Forte, sign Hayden, sign Edwards, and Jacob Bell too. If this were to be done, we'd have had a hell of a FA period honestly. Don't get me wrong though, I expect none of this to happen, other than a severely frontloaded Forte deal(ala Tait a few years back, to give us eventual cap room, that we won't use the way it should be). The McCaskey's are happy with fielding a really good team every once in a while basically.

 

 

 

 

I hate the fact that we're a couple of players away from being elite and we've gone cheap. But, I totally expected it, because we had a very good year last season. And as long as the unrest only gets SO BIG with the Bears, they're content to put out very average squads for the most part.

[sneakypower]

two Bears DL who are polar opposites in tackling prowess

 

Defensive Lineman and the Perfect Score

 

With the qualifying threshold of 75 attempts eliminating several players who have gone without a missed tackle in their few chances, only one perfect score remains in the study, belonging to the Bears’ Israel Idonije.

 

Idonije was the only player in the NFL over the past three seasons with more than 75 tackle attempts not to miss a single one.

One more performance worth noting, heaping yet more misery on the underachieving career thus far of Amobi Okoye – he was the poorest performing defensive lineman by some distance in the study, missing one in every 8.08 of his attempts over the past three seasons.

[UMFan83]

Bears are sure targeting winners this offseason.

 

Awesome about Izzy. I've always thought he was really underrated. If I would have any confidence of him being around more than another couple of years, I'd consider buying an Izzy jersey. But it would probably end up at the back of my closet next to my Nathan Vasher and Brendan Ayenbadejo jerseys.

 

Edit: Briggs is 4th worst at tackling for LBs, and Daniel Manning is 2nd best for DBs. Yay. Peanut is 7th though.

Edited August 2, 2011 by UMFan83

[Guest]

So they do still have enough money to sign one more receiver and an OL. Malcolm Floyd, please!

[bukie]

Bears are sure targeting winners this offseason.

 

Awesome about Izzy. I've always thought he was really underrated. If I would have any confidence of him being around more than another couple of years, I'd consider buying an Izzy jersey. But it would probably end up at the back of my closet next to my Nathan Vasher and Brendan Ayenbadejo jerseys.

 

Edit: Briggs is 4th worst at tackling for LBs, and Daniel Manning is 2nd best for DBs. Yay. Peanut is 7th though.

Philly's three corners, though, wow. Just get clear to their secondary and you may just break it all the way.

[Guest]

Bears are sure targeting winners this offseason.

 

Awesome about Izzy. I've always thought he was really underrated. If I would have any confidence of him being around more than another couple of years, I'd consider buying an Izzy jersey. But it would probably end up at the back of my closet next to my Nathan Vasher and Brendan Ayenbadejo jerseys.

 

Edit: Briggs is 4th worst at tackling for LBs, yay

 

I thought Idonije made big strides last year. With anything resembling pressure up the middle this year, Peppers and Idonije sure could give opposing QB's fits. While I'm pretty bummed about the offseason so far, I do like the defensive line.

[UMFan83]

So they do still have enough money to sign one more receiver and an OL. Malcolm Floyd, please!

 

I dont understand why people want or think they will sign another WR. The WR group is fine, assuming that we're stuck taking a risk on Roy Williams.

 

I mean if we had to spend money just to spend it and WR was the most efficient use of our money, then I'm fine with it because I like Floyd way more than Roy Williams. But it's not going to happen.

[cubbyvirus00]

There's still enough cash out there to resign Forte, sign Hayden, sign Edwards, and Jacob Bell too. If this were to be done, we'd have had a hell of a FA period honestly. Don't get me wrong though, I expect none of this to happen, other than a severely frontloaded Forte deal(ala Tait a few years back, to give us eventual cap room, that we won't use the way it should be). The McCaskey's are happy with fielding a really good team every once in a while basically.

 

 

 

 

I hate the fact that we're a couple of players away from being elite and we've gone cheap. But, I totally expected it, because we had a very good year last season. And as long as the unrest only gets SO BIG with the Bears, they're content to put out very average squads for the most part.

 

 

This pisses me off because it's so true. The McCaskey's sure seem lax this year. You would think an owner would be so hellbent on fielding the best team they could...

[jersey cubs fan]

This pisses me off because it's so true. The McCaskey's sure seem lax this year. You would think an owner would be so hellbent on fielding the best team they could...

 

I think it's Angelo. He's generally cautious with a desire to build from within and develop his own picks, and on occasion make big splashes in free agency. The McCaskeys don't seem to get involved at all with the way the team is run on the field.

[Guest]

So they do still have enough money to sign one more receiver and an OL. Malcolm Floyd, please!

 

I dont understand why people want or think they will sign another WR. The WR group is fine, assuming that we're stuck taking a risk on Roy Williams.

 

I mean if we had to spend money just to spend it and WR was the most efficient use of our money, then I'm fine with it because I like Floyd way more than Roy Williams. But it's not going to happen.

 

Want? Why wouldn't you want another receiver? The current crop of receivers is not fine. The OLine has not been improved. Cutler still won't have much time to throw. Hester won't go across the middle and he and Knox are short and require running routes to get open, something Cutler doesn't have time to wait for. Another tall and speedy receiver is exactly what Cutler needs, even if it means trading Knox or Hester to make room for Edwards or Floyd.

 

Adding Edwards or Floyd makes the receiver crew a position of strength rather than a position of weakness. And when you have such huge question marks on your offensive line, turning the receivers into a strength and maybe slowing down the pass rush by a step or two is exactly what this team needs. Between LT and RT, you are looking at barely more than a half season of NFL starts. To me, Webb does not have the footwork to be a good NFL tackle and I fully expect him to be run over at the LT position by the better DE's in the league. Even if they find 5 solid guys to man their positions well, it won't be right away. Cutler needs big and fast targets out there, not little speedy guys who disappear from view behind the linebackers and slow developing plays.

[UMFan83]

There's still enough cash out there to resign Forte, sign Hayden, sign Edwards, and Jacob Bell too. If this were to be done, we'd have had a hell of a FA period honestly. Don't get me wrong though, I expect none of this to happen, other than a severely frontloaded Forte deal(ala Tait a few years back, to give us eventual cap room, that we won't use the way it should be). The McCaskey's are happy with fielding a really good team every once in a while basically.

 

 

 

 

I hate the fact that we're a couple of players away from being elite and we've gone cheap. But, I totally expected it, because we had a very good year last season. And as long as the unrest only gets SO BIG with the Bears, they're content to put out very average squads for the most part.

 

 

This pisses me off because it's so true. The McCaskey's sure seem lax this year. You would think an owner would be so hellbent on fielding the best team they could...

 

Even last year when we made that FA splash and signed Peppers. What did we do right after? Cut Alex Brown...in an uncapped year. For what? Not saying Brown is a Pro Bowler, but he's a solid consistent performer. No surprise that we struggled at DE all year, and traded his replacement, Mark Anderson, midseason.

 

There was no reason to cut brown. We took 2 steps forward and 1 step back. But of course the news didn't go into that angle and praised the McKaskeys for not being cheap in an uncapped year. The funny thing is, I don't think they even reached what the cap would have been if there was one last year.

 

That said, they aren't super cheap, I know they are usually somewhere around 1st-2nd in the division in payroll.

[Magnetic Curses]

There's still enough cash out there to resign Forte, sign Hayden, sign Edwards, and Jacob Bell too. If this were to be done, we'd have had a hell of a FA period honestly. Don't get me wrong though, I expect none of this to happen, other than a severely frontloaded Forte deal(ala Tait a few years back, to give us eventual cap room, that we won't use the way it should be). The McCaskey's are happy with fielding a really good team every once in a while basically.

 

 

 

 

I hate the fact that we're a couple of players away from being elite and we've gone cheap. But, I totally expected it, because we had a very good year last season. And as long as the unrest only gets SO BIG with the Bears, they're content to put out very average squads for the most part.

 

 

This pisses me off because it's so true. The McCaskey's sure seem lax this year. You would think an owner would be so hellbent on fielding the best team they could...

 

Even last year when we made that FA splash and signed Peppers. What did we do right after? Cut Alex Brown...in an uncapped year. For what? Not saying Brown is a Pro Bowler, but he's a solid consistent performer. No surprise that we struggled at DE all year, and traded his replacement, Mark Anderson, midseason.

 

There was no reason to cut brown. We took 2 steps forward and 1 step back. But of course the news didn't go into that angle and praised the McKaskeys for not being cheap in an uncapped year. The funny thing is, I don't think they even reached what the cap would have been if there was one last year.

 

That said, they aren't super cheap, I know they are usually somewhere around 1st-2nd in the division in payroll.

 

i thought the DE's were pretty strong last year, izzy broke through as a starter opposite peppers. i think cutting alex brown turned out fine for them.

 

as for payroll in the north, it fluctuates year-by-year. sometimes thy're at the top, sometimes the bottom.

[Guest]

i thought the DE's were pretty strong last year, izzy broke through as a starter opposite peppers. i think cutting alex brown turned out fine for them.

 

It turned out fine, but do we believe that they really knew what they had in Idonije or did the blind squirrel find a nut? I'd like to think they knew what they had, but I'm not that convinced. Peppers really took to Idonije, which is not something the coaching staff could possibly know would happen.