2014 Chicago Bears Offseason Thread

[abohnhoff]

I sure hope they dont reach for a guy like Jernigan if hes not ranked that highly...maybe trade back or BPA?

[Soul]

From the latest Josh Norris mock draft at Rotoworld:

 

14. Chicago Bears - DT Timmy Jernigan, FSU

 

I do not evaluate Jernigan this highly. I think he wins as a 1/0 after delivering a strong punch to keep his opposition off balance. The problem is when he tends to move laterally around blockers after not winning off the snap. He is not agile when moving east and west. With that said, the Bears need to upgrade the interior of their defensive line. Badly.

 

So, he's saying that Jernigan is a reach, but the Bears should do it anyway?

 

That's not a very good idea.

[Guest]

The Bears have enough options considering the holes on D (Nix, Hageman, Mosley, Ealy, Dennard, Gilbert, Pryor) that they don't need to reach on a smallish DT who might not fit their defense if they're switching to a hybrid D with more 3-4 tendencies.

[rawaction]

If the Bears are going DT, I think they could still have their pick of the top 4 at some point in the early 20s. Unless they have a really strong combine, I don't see any of Nix, Jernigan, Hageman, or Donald as top 20 prospects. But all are between 20-30 for me, personally.

[WrigleyField 22]

If the Bears are going DT, I think they could still have their pick of the top 4 at some point in the early 20s. Unless they have a really strong combine, I don't see any of Nix, Jernigan, Hageman, or Donald as top 20 prospects. But all are between 20-30 for me, personally.

As discussed before I think with those guys bunched in that 20-35 range you have a shot one falls within range to trade up in Round 2. So even better to just grab the best defensive player in Rd 1.

[Guest]

If the Bears are going DT, I think they could still have their pick of the top 4 at some point in the early 20s. Unless they have a really strong combine, I don't see any of Nix, Jernigan, Hageman, or Donald as top 20 prospects. But all are between 20-30 for me, personally.

 

Agree with that.

[jersey cubs fan]

Forte is elite.

 

He is not.

[jersey cubs fan]

"Right now our priority is adding playmakers on defense," Emery said. "We need to enhance our defense's ability to make game-determining plays. The No. 1 goal of our defense will always be to score points because when your defense scores your chances of winning are astronomically high compared to when they don't."

 

In terms of the scheme, the Bears will remain a 4-3 base team. But having coaches with experience in a variety of different systems will give them the versatility to take advantage of what their players do best.

 

"It's a matter of being able to utilize the people that we have and be ready to do whatever it's going to take with a system that's flexible enough to do it," Trestman said. "It's making sure we have a scheme that can utilize our players and bring the best out of them."

[mul21]

Forte is elite.

 

He is not.

 

At running the ball, no, he's not. He's good enough at that though that when combined with everything else he does, the entire package he provides is in fact elite.

[Banedon]

http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/Marshalls-Offseason-WR-Training-Program/3054f4f4-9f18-47bb-ae1e-995fa911770f#end

 

Marshall, Jeffrey and Wilson training together.

[jersey cubs fan]

Forte is elite.

 

He is not.

 

At running the ball, no, he's not. He's good enough at that though that when combined with everything else he does, the entire package he provides is in fact elite.

 

I do not believe so and I do not believe most others believe so either.

[Guest]

"Right now our priority is adding playmakers on defense," Emery said. "We need to enhance our defense's ability to make game-determining plays. The No. 1 goal of our defense will always be to score points because when your defense scores your chances of winning are astronomically high compared to when they don't."

 

In terms of the scheme, the Bears will remain a 4-3 base team. But having coaches with experience in a variety of different systems will give them the versatility to take advantage of what their players do best.

 

"It's a matter of being able to utilize the people that we have and be ready to do whatever it's going to take with a system that's flexible enough to do it," Trestman said. "It's making sure we have a scheme that can utilize our players and bring the best out of them."

 

I made note of that too when I saw it.

 

I still think they'll vary their schemes more than that comment suggests.

[jersey cubs fan]

"Right now our priority is adding playmakers on defense," Emery said. "We need to enhance our defense's ability to make game-determining plays. The No. 1 goal of our defense will always be to score points because when your defense scores your chances of winning are astronomically high compared to when they don't."

 

In terms of the scheme, the Bears will remain a 4-3 base team. But having coaches with experience in a variety of different systems will give them the versatility to take advantage of what their players do best.

 

"It's a matter of being able to utilize the people that we have and be ready to do whatever it's going to take with a system that's flexible enough to do it," Trestman said. "It's making sure we have a scheme that can utilize our players and bring the best out of them."

 

I made note of that too when I saw it.

 

I still think they'll vary their schemes more than that comment suggests.

The whole explanation makes it quite clear they will be varying it quite a bit.

That specific quote is the writer's interpretation, although I am not sure what the motivation would be to announce you were going to be a base 4-3 defense if in actuality you will be doing mostly 3-4.

 

"We want to be very stout and physical in the run game and then in the passing game be able to pressure with four guys," Tucker said. "Our pressure packages will fit our personnel and be dynamic enough where we can play to guys' strengths and be unpredictable."

[jersey cubs fan]

The announcement confirms what people with knowledge of the situation have told the Tribune over the last month, as the Bears developed and began to execute their plan to improve an injury-ravaged unit that ranked last in the NFL in yards allowed per play last season.

[WrigleyField 22]

What I'm most curious is whether it's going to be simply varying the fronts or actual schematic changes, ie- asking your lineman to run a 2 gap scheme. I think it's very likely we'll see a lot of the same principles, but to the casual glance may look a lot different just based on alignment.

 

Bottom line is there's no excuse to not significantly improve upon last years results. It will be interesting to see personnel wise though if they go for certain characteristics or just go best available and stay true to just maximizing guys' strengths. We're pretty far from a true 3-4, but a successful hybrid approach is attainable

[jersey cubs fan]

What I'm most curious is whether it's going to be simply varying the fronts or actual schematic changes, ie- asking your lineman to run a 2 gap scheme. I think it's very likely we'll see a lot of the same principles, but to the casual glance may look a lot different just based on alignment.

 

Bottom line is there's no excuse to not significantly improve upon last years results. It will be interesting to see personnel wise though if they go for certain characteristics or just go best available and stay true to just maximizing guys' strengths. We're pretty far from a true 3-4, but a successful hybrid approach is attainable

 

They also specifically reiterated the "we want to score on defense" mentality, which is about disruption and turnovers rather than just being stout and stopping the offense, like in a 2 gap scheme.

 

"Right now our priority is adding playmakers on defense," Emery said. "We need to enhance our defense's ability to make game-determining plays. The No. 1 goal of our defense will always be to score points because when your defense scores your chances of winning are astronomically high compared to when they don't."

[WrigleyField 22]

Is a two gap scheme necessarily incompatible with scoring? There's so few true two gap teams I'm not sure there's a definitive answer but in theory the front three are supposed to be freeing up the playmaking back 8 to make plays who should be more able to score off a turnover more easily.

 

Where does a classic 3-4 team like the Steelers rank as far as takeaways when they still had a top D a few years ago?

[jersey cubs fan]

Is a two gap scheme necessarily incompatible with scoring? There's so few true two gap teams I'm not sure there's a definitive answer but in theory the front three are supposed to be freeing up the playmaking back 8 to make plays who should be more able to score off a turnover more easily.

 

Where does a classic 3-4 team like the Steelers rank as far as takeaways when they still had a top D a few years ago?

 

Randomly selecting 2011 they were last in the AFC with 15 takeaway. Although they were second most in 2010. Both years they had a very good defense. They had 1 TAINT in 2010 and 0 in 2011.

 

Your theory about how that works does not add up to me. The lineman are there to take up space, prevent the run and allow one or two other guys a free run at the QB. But that often involves 5 or 6 pass rushers and man coverage, which is more about preventing a successful play by the offense than causing a bad play and returnable turnover. The zone coverage is fairly important if you want to score off your turnovers. And with that you needs as many DBs/LBs in coverage as possible.

[cubbyvirus00]

I think it's reasonable to assume the Bears won't be picking the BPA. They haven't done that at all the last 2 years. I'm going to also assume that I'll be pretty upset with whatever choice Emery makes because he's the hipster GM come draft time.

[treebird]

I think it's reasonable to assume the Bears won't be picking the BPA. They haven't done that at all the last 2 years. I'm going to also assume that I'll be pretty upset with whatever choice Emery makes because he's the hipster GM come draft time.

 

bpa doesn't mean blindly take mel kiper's highest rated available player

[mul21]

I think it's reasonable to assume the Bears won't be picking the BPA. They haven't done that at all the last 2 years. I'm going to also assume that I'll be pretty upset with whatever choice Emery makes because he's the hipster GM come draft time.

 

bpa doesn't mean blindly take mel kiper's highest rated available player

 

No, but Emery's been so far off the board the last 2 years that I can understand the sentiment. I was fine with the Long pick, but it wasn't exactly a guy who was at the top of the list of guys expected to be picked in that spot. And everybody agrees on how awful the Shea pick was.

[WrigleyField 22]

Wtf is a hipster GM. Someone shop some skinny jeans and handlebar stache on Emery pls

[Splendid Splinter]

From walterfootball:

 

Charlie's mock- updated yesterday

 

14: Timmy Jernigan

51: Loucheiz Purifoy

82: Demarcus Lawrence

113: Kapri Bibbs, RB, Colorado State

 

Walter's mock- updated today

 

14: Darqueze Dennard

51: Ed Reynolds

82: Anthony Johnson

113: Kareem Martin

[CubsInNC]

What are the thoughts about drafting a "project" QB in the mid to late rounds to groom to take over in a few years? With so many needs on defense, and not having a 7th round pick, I don't know that it would be wise to do this year.

[WrigleyField 22]

What are the thoughts about drafting a "project" QB in the mid to late rounds to groom to take over in a few years? With so many needs on defense, and not having a 7th round pick, I don't know that it would be wise to do this year.

If the value is there I'd do it as early as round 4, but it's not a priority and you rarely get good QB value in that range.