2015 Bears Offseason (Foxy new Head Coach page 104)

[minnesotacubsfan]

The fact that he is coming from KC is bothersome. They aren't upper echelon in terms of drafting or talent evaluation. I'd rather have Gaine or Pace, on the surface.

 

As for Marrone, I still haven't heard much other than Bills fans (notorious for their meatballiness) don't like him. He served as Sean Peyton's OC from 06-08.

 

his work as a OC for NO is intriguing, but the Jets will likely hire him.

 

I dont know any Bills fans, how are they meatbally? Man, back in the 80's, I dont know how they didnt win at least one. They, and Cleveland, are probably the two teams from that time that I really would have loved to see win one.

[Guest]

For whatever its worth with Ballard, his scouting region seems to have been pretty productive in the draft while he was here.

[Guest]

Ballard seems like Emery 2.0 to me. Not interested.

 

My thoughts also.

He didn't spend 25 years as a college strength and conditioning coach, so it's not a replica.

Also Emery was a holdover into the Angelo era. Ballard is more directly related to the Angelo/Gabriel regime... Not that that is necessarily a good thing, but despite working as co-workers for about 4 years, they aren't from the same management "tree" or anything. He may very well do things differently than Emery does.

[Guest]

From what I can tell, Ballard's area covered at a minimum, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma. With Texas alone that should be a productive region even if you're a shitty scout... however it is interesting to look anyways. There's some anecdotal stuff (from Greg Gabriel) about who specifically Ballard pushed for (including Vasher and Forte). Outside of that you don't know the true impact, or who he helped us to not draft, or who he liked or couldn't convince us to draft. Nevertheless its an interesting exercise. Overall I think he probably is a good scout. His inexperience is my main concern, only having graduated from regional scout three years ago. His Angelo ties are slightly concerning, though he has at least had some other exposure.

 

Most likely "Ballard Picks"

2001- Bernard Robertson - T - Tulane - 5th Rd

-Never did much, washed out after 5 starts in 2002.

2002 - Bobby Gray - S - LA Tech - 5th Rd

-Had a fairly productive second season, but was gone after his third year

2003 - Charles Tillman - CB - LA Lafayette - 2nd Rd

-Obviously a very good pick

2004 - Tommie Harris - DT - Oklahoma - 1st Rd

-Very good pick, though short career due to injuries.

2004 - Nathan Vasher - CB - Texas - 4th Rd

-Apparently a guy he pushed for big time... Very productive early on, then kind of sucked after his rookie deal.

2005 - Chris Harris - S - LA Monroe - 6th Rd

-Another very good pick, particularly out of the 6th round

2005 - Cedric Benson - RB - Texas - 1st Rd (4th overall)

-Way over-drafted and more productive post-Chicago

2005 - Mark Bradley - WR - Oklahoma - 2nd Rd

-Almost no production - did have some injury issues I think and never materialized his potential

2006 - Danieal Manning - S - Abilene Christian - 2nd Rd

-Overall pretty good career, though he was an extremely frustrating player at times.

2006 - Dusty Dvoracek - DT - Oklahoma - 3rd Rd

-Career cut short by injuries... did look good in limited games...

2006 - JD Runnells - FB - Ohlahoma - 6th Rd

-2 career games. Even as a 6th rounder, not a good pick

2007 - Kevin Payne - S - LA Monroe - 5th Rd

- Remarkably similar to Bobby Gray

2008 - Craig Steltz - S - LSU - 4th Rd

- Steady special teamer- just okay out of the 4th round

2008 - Matt Forte - RB - Tulane - 2nd Rd

-Very good pick and one he apparently convinced Angelo on.

2009 - Juaquin Iglesias - WR - Oklahoma - 3rd Rd

- Woof. Easily the worst pick here. Never saw the field

2009 - Henry Melton - DT - Texas - 4th Rd

-Good pick, which was pretty risky

2009 - Johhnny Knox - WR - Abilene Christian - 4th Rd

-A pretty good pick from the 4th round. Had some skill issues, but his speed covered a lot of that before his career was ended by that gruesome injury

2010 - J'Marcus Webb - T - North Texas - 7th Rd

-For a seventh rounder, not a terrible pick - as bad as he played at times

 

Possible "Ballard Picks" - not sure if these fell under his region or not, but their close-ish, so I'll mention them

2003 - Justin Gage - WR - Missouri - 5th Rd

-Basically a career backup, but a 8 year career in which he had a lot more production after leaving Chicago for Tennessee

2008 - Zakary Bowman - CB - Nebraska - 5th Rd

- Pretty good career for a 5th rounder

2008 - Marcus Harrison - DT - Arkansas - 3rd Round

-immense potential derailed by weight issues

2010 - Joshua Moore - CB - Kansas St - 5th Rd

-Nothing ever.

 

The entire confirmed field is underwhelming to me, but after digging into him more and reading more, I don't hate him as much as I initially did. Haven't come across anything from Pace or Dawson to wow me. So I think I'm ranking them Gaine - Ballard - Dawson - Pace for now.

[Soul]

It's hard to get past the hiring of two successive KC guys though. But I agree it doesn't look like a simple repeat when you look at it a little deeper.

 

I'll try to be open-minded like I was with Emery.

[rawaction]

The fact that he is coming from KC is bothersome. They aren't upper echelon in terms of drafting or talent evaluation. I'd rather have Gaine or Pace, on the surface.

 

 

Eh, they aren't bad. Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles, Dontari Poe, Justin Houston, Brandon Carr, Tamba Hali, Eric Berry, etc.

 

Jon Baldwin is really their only early miss in recent years. The bolded are/were (Carr in KC was a top 5 CB) among the best in the league at their positions and all picked in the 3rd round or later.

[Guest]

I don't think any of those names are from the current regime. Anyways they had a pretty drastic turnaround, of which Ballard was around for most of (hired sometime in the middle of 2013 offseason as some of the earlier Bears 2013 offseason moves are "credited" to him), so I'm not holding that time against him per se.

[jersey cubs fan]

George and Ted went out of their way to say that the Cutler situation would not dictate the next hire and the next guys will make decisions regarding the roster. The Bears went out and expressed interest in a bunch of typical and predictable names, and aside from the one guy who has turned everybody down, none of them are the sorts that can set their own market and make huge demands for power. Right now there are no celebrity type names attached to either job, with the usual suspects Cowher and Gruden out of the conversation and basically no similar GM type to consider. There are no obvious "move on from Cutler" candidates at the moment.

 

Is the stage set for them to go through this process only to wind up with Shanahan as the guy to take one last stab at winning with Cutler and then hire some up-and-coming GM candidate to work with Mike with promises that if it does not work out with Shanahan/Cutler, they will have a chance to start it all over again?

[Soul]

Ewww.

[Soul]

http://ba5137420c54bf2d4356-5030201674c729b9ee184c866197d6e1.r57.cf1.rackcdn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Aunt-Linda-SNL-cringe-worthy-career-mistakes-150x200.png

[minnesotacubsfan]

Shannahan/Cutler could be fun, but you still need a strong DC. And just my guess, but I doubt Mike and George are that hip with regards to the young GM

[Banedon]

I understand the frustration, but what "celebrity" names are out there at all for GM? Decosta was the closest thing really...maybe Polian I guess?

 

The only 2 coaching interviews they have set up (today and tomorrow) are for 2 guys that are gonna be in the playoffs and unavailable. I think they wanna get that GM in place before they go full bore after a coach. I think that's why we haven't heard much more than rumors.

[jersey cubs fan]

I understand the frustration, but what "celebrity" names are out there at all for GM? Decosta was the closest thing really...maybe Polian I guess?

 

The only 2 coaching interviews they have set up (today and tomorrow) are for 2 guys that are gonna be in the playoffs and unavailable. I think they wanna get that GM in place before they go full bore after a coach. I think that's why we haven't heard much more than rumors.

 

My point is there are no celebrity GM types.

 

I think they want a GM who hires his coach, but I also don't think there is a single candidate being talked about who has the resume to demand autonomy over all from the outset and they made very clear that they were willing to hire the coach first, given the situation. As they go through this uninspiring list of GMs, their preferences may change.

 

 

The fact is that if a coach wins, he takes more and more control over roster decisions. Football GMs are not baseball GMs (with very few exceptions). Coaching matters in the NFL and the power resides in the successful coach. No GM will remain boss over the coach if that coach wins. Eventually, that coach will win the power struggle or leave. No GM can expect to hire a coach, win and maintain control over that coach.

 

With that knowledge, I think a GM candidate can be persuaded to take that job, essentially work for a Mike Shanahan for 2-3 years and then if they win, enjoy the success while Shanahan eventually fades off into the sunset, or if they lose, get a chance to hire the next guy after multiple years of experience in the job.

[Soul]

Is there an indication Shanahan would go for that?

 

I'm not a fan anymore. I was, at times, when he was in Denver but the Washington years put some tarnish on him for me.

 

Dammit, my masterplan to hire DeCosta and rule the world didn't happen.

[Banedon]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

[Guest]

The GM thing is weird to me. Teams love to hire new GMs. Compared to coaching, where it's much easier to be a retread head coach. I guess coaches like Rex Ryan can rattle off a bunch of losing seasons and still be in hot demand the same year they are fired because the GM gets blame for not putting the talent around him, absolving Rex of most blame.

 

I'm not expecting a coach the level of Shannahan at this point. I think we'll get a fairly fresh face at HC as well.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

[Guest]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

 

Could be wrong but I thought it was just a report that he didn't want to give it any consideration while the Ravens were still in the playoffs.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

 

Could be wrong but I thought it was just a report that he didn't want to give it any consideration while the Ravens were still in the playoffs.

 

Good, because he's still my preference. But I really don't know and can't predict how the GM thing will affect the coaching hire.

[Guest]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

 

Could be wrong but I thought it was just a report that he didn't want to give it any consideration while the Ravens were still in the playoffs.

Yea it was a little unclear overall, but you have to imagine with the right compensation he'd make the jump.

 

He may not have a direct Jay connection but he turned around Flacco a ton this year. Hard to imagine he would think he can't replicate that success with Jay.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

 

Could be wrong but I thought it was just a report that he didn't want to give it any consideration while the Ravens were still in the playoffs.

Yea it was a little unclear overall, but you have to imagine with the right compensation he'd make the jump.

 

He may not have a direct Jay connection but he turned around Flacco a ton this year. Hard to imagine he would think he can't replicate that success with Jay.

Wasn't Flacco already elite?

[Guest]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

 

 

I thought he said he was not interested in a HC position. Kubiak may have no interest in Cutler, he left Denver before they selected Jay.

 

Could be wrong but I thought it was just a report that he didn't want to give it any consideration while the Ravens were still in the playoffs.

Yea it was a little unclear overall, but you have to imagine with the right compensation he'd make the jump.

 

He may not have a direct Jay connection but he turned around Flacco a ton this year. Hard to imagine he would think he can't replicate that success with Jay.

Wasn't Flacco already elite?

Will have to check my Is-Flacco-elite-meter...

 

I think his DVOA went from like 28th in 2013 to 6th or something absurd this year though.

[Guest]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

I sold you on Kubiak.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've kind of sold myself on Kubiak.

I sold you on Kubiak.

 

uhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Guest]

I don't think I'd mind Dan Quinn at all.

 

But I want someone with executive experience.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Stannis