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I've been the only one not completely rejoicing and I've said how I would have handled it. I've also said that I'm very happy with the deal. Also, the #1 priority of the offseason wasn't to improve the defense. It was to get the QB situation under order. Granted, now that shouldn't be an issue for at least 3 offseasons to come.

Those were just examples. But the point wasn't that someone better might become available. The point is if I was the GM, I wouldn't have thought Cutler did all the things to warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed. So, therefore you keep the option open of moving on from him if he has another year where he doesn't warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed, even though the ultimate result is most likely to be him being far and away the best possible option to be the QB for the forseeable future. Like sully said, my fear is that he's always injured. Sure every QB is vulnerable and Rodgers missed more time this year, but this is twice in 3 years Cutler has missed over 5 games. If I'm giving a 100M contract at the most important position on the team, I want to be 100% sure he's going to be out there more than 75% of the time. He hasn't in the last 3 years.

What's the point? If the deal is for $22m/year then sure, I want to wait to see more for that deal. But if the deal is well below the peak numbers out there, then waiting isn't going to help get that. Emery said it best when talking about the 100+ games under his belt. Jay isn't a 2nd year player, nor is he a 35 year old who had 4 good games this year. He's got a resume that deserves the contract. I say what's the point the other way? What happens if Cutler misses significant time again? What happens if a younger, equally talented QB gets pissed because his coach wants Matt Cassel over him? Or one of the best QBs in the league has neck surgery in his contract and his team gets rid of him and has the #1 pick? Or a QB severely hurts his shoulder and the team lets him go? All are long-shots, but all have happened fairly recently to get elite or potentially elite QBs on new teams. Basically, I don't think it could have hurt to wait as long as the 2 sides know what is going on.

FWIW, I think it was Dickerson yesterday said that he felt strongly that Cutler, Jennings and Slauson would be back. He also said Tillman, Melton, Peppers and Wright would NOT be back.

You guys know me. You know I love Cutler. I want him on the Bears for the long-term, and certainly have campaigned that he be a part of the 2014 team. But that being said, I would not have signed him to this contract, yet. I would have franchised him and let him earn the big payday. Granted, I think he would have earned that this year, but he did miss 5 games and parts of 2 others, the 2nd time in 3 years he's missed a handful of games. I'm guessing the cap hit for 2014 is significantly less than the 16.2 or whatever franchise number. That doesn't mean I'm unhappy whatsoever at this deal, but I just think it could have waited a little. Not like the Bears were in danger of salaries greatly being inflated to where he would outplay this deal.

I don't think there are many good mock draft sites. I think those sites are more valuable for their position/overall rankings rather than mocks. But I like: draftek.com, cbssports.com, and draftcountdown.com I just like them because frankly I don't watch college football. So come this time of year, I'm really just learning about a lot of these players, and how high they're expected to go...what team needs are, etc. Walterfootball seems to have a good grip on the players and their value, but does a poor job of evaluating nfl team needs, imo. A really poor job w/ team needs. But most other sites only do a 1st round mock. Draftek does a full 7 rounds, at least they will within the next couple months (only 3 rounds now, I believe). But their player values are all over the place. Draft countdown usually does 3 rounds, toward the end of draft season.

Oh my bad.

I don't think there are many good mock draft sites. I think those sites are more valuable for their position/overall rankings rather than mocks. But I like: draftek.com, cbssports.com, and draftcountdown.com

I see Johnny Manziel as almost a clone of Doug Flutie. He's a good 3 inches taller, but everything he did in college was Doug Flutie to a tee, with more running due to the nature of the spread offense. Russell Wilson was a much better passer, better at reading coverages, etc. than Manziel is at this point, and will likely ever be. Wilson would have been a similar prospect to Andrew Luck if he was 6-2+ instead of 5'11".

Are the Cowboys going to allow Marinelli to go? Don't have a choice, this is a promotion for him. From DL coach to DC.

Yeah, the defense wasn't bad as is. If he can take them to the next level and Tedford is even Ron Turner as OC, that's a crazy tough division. Carolina and NO are both 11+ win teams. Atlanta suffered major injuries and is just 1 year removed from best record in the league, and plays a last place schedule next year. It's almost a given Lovie will win at least 7 games, and if Glennon improves at all, they've got a good shot at a winning record.

Lovie gets to play in Chicago as an opponent this year. That should be a fun game. Wouldn't be surprised to see that on the Week 1 schedule actually.

Baylor's gold helmets are the best things I've ever seen.

Yeah, Shaw gets a lot of credit for his "NFL style" offense, but nobody ever mentions its 1980s NFL. "Hey, let's go tight line splits, modified wishbone backfield and run a lead dive....they'll never see that coming!"

Those two passes were terrible but I felt like Noah should have been in the game at that point for both plays. Not excusing Yogi's bad decisions, just stating how frustrated I was that Noah wasn't on the court at that point. He left the court with his 4th foul just under the 4 minute mark and did not re-enter the game until 48 seconds left. That is too long to wait, imo. Yeah, I would have never taken Vonleh out, unless it was to calm him down a little. Or start the offense/defense substitutions with him.

I think Dakich thinks some of his in games calls are stupid. He usually throws a fit when IU goes to zone (as he should because they suck at it). But he also tries extremely hard not to be an IU homer..especially late in the game. And yeah, Vonleh is done. No reason for him to stay. As good as Yogi was, he had 2 terrible turnovers trying to force passes to Perea, who should not be touching the ball late unless it's a tip in.

I don't know. I thought Slauson was the emergency C. But maybe, Britton has played every other position on the OL in his career. He's pretty valuable as the 6th lineman if he's going to block like he did Sunday.

Interesting. I'm assuming he coached Aaron Rodgers and DeSean Jackson and the like. Not sure if he can run an NFL offense or not. Never had an NFL job. I'm going to put money on this failing.

Fischer was the odds on favorite to greatly improve this offseason. I thought he looked pretty skilled, but raw. But he looked like a guy that could put up 15-8 by his Junior year, especially once he could have the paint mostly to himself (no Vonleh). Sucks.

Detroit. No Washington. No Dallas.

If Nix III is there at the 14th, I'm having a hard time thinking who I would pick over him. If you went by that mock offseason in page 2 in this thread, HaHa or a CB (who is the #1 CB in this draft anyway??) I think it's probably Justin Gilbert from Ok State. Would love to see Nix on the Bears. That guy is a monster. HaHa would be interesting. I feel like we've seen what big time safeties can do recently with Vaccaro, Berry, Earl Thomas, etc. going early and being impact players... not saying HaHa is anywhere near Berry or Thomas, but he's a well-regarded safety along the likes of Vaccaro (different positions though, right?) who helped the Saints D tremendously The top of the CB position is really good, IMO. Also very tight as to who is the best. I personally still like Bradley Roby from Ohio St, he's the athletic freak though he got lit up at times this season. Gilbert has the ball skills and is a great returner, but seems to make boneheaded mistakes. Ekpre-Olomu is a stud from Oregon, but is probably a little undersized. Still I think he's every bit as good as Trufant (and similar size), who the Bears liked last year. I also like Dennard from Michigan St. He was a shutdown CB the last 1.5 years, but doesn't have the great athletic ability like the other 3. Also, love Nix. He'd be my ideal pick at 14. He can play 3-4 NT, but his quickness make him better in a 4-3 gap shooting D for me. I like Hageman too, but not as much at 14. Tuitt is interesting too, if the Bears play any 3-4. But I also wouldn't mind him as a big 4-3 DE on run downs (though he's not that great of a run defender). Clinton-Dix is pretty good. But not quite as good as those guys. I wouldn't pick him at 14. He's more of a late 20s talent, unlike those other guys who were top 10-15 guys.

I think Emery will approach this offseason like the last one. He will build up on the DL. I'd do it the same way as he did the OL. Sign one of the big FAs (Johnson, Hardy, Bennett), sign a mid-level FA ala Slauson, and draft DL in the 1st and again in the mid rounds. A DL of those FA DEs, Ratliff (or a mid-level FA DT), Hageman (1st round pick), and Wootton with Paea, Collins, McClellin, Bass and a late round pick among the backups could be a solid rotation. As for LB, I think they'll bring back 1 of the vets (Briggs, Anderson or Williams) not more than that. I think you bring in 1 other vet, to either push Bostic at MLB or at SLB if Williams is back at MLB. Greene is still a backup. At DB, I'd resign Jennings to a 3-4 year deal. Sign Tillman to a 1-2 year deal. Draft CB early (probably 2nd round). Sign a SS (Byrd and Ward are excellent but will cost too much), I'm thinking a guy like Mike Mitchell from Carolina. Then draft a FS to compete with Conte in the mid rounds. Conte will be oK surrounded by 10 solid players. If I had to ballpark a mock draft by position it'd be: DT, CB, Rounds 3-5 (QB, S, DE in some order) Round 6- 2 picks (LB, backup skill pos, 2nd CB) DE- FA, Wootton, draft pick, McClellin/Bass/Washington (competing for 1-2 spots). DT- Ratliff, Collins, Paea, 1st round pick LB- re-signed Vet, Bostic, Greene, Castonzo (ST), FA vet, late draft pick CB- Jennings, Tillman, Frey, draft pick, vet depth for special teams, maybe one of the practice squad CBs (Hurst or CJ Wilson) S- FA, draft pick, Conte, Walters.

I was thinking the same thing. There are some teams that it'd legitimately be hard to continuously pull for over time. I've complained about being cheap at times, but that may have been Angelo moreso than McCaskey. Says the guy on a Cubs message board. I think it's fair to say the Cubs are legitimately hard to continuously pull for over time. Just because we're Cubs fans don't mean we aren't glad we don't have the same situation with the Bears. I was kidding. The Cubs haven't been a complete disaster for the most part. They've been well run for most of the last 105 years, just incredibly unlucky.

I was thinking the same thing. There are some teams that it'd legitimately be hard to continuously pull for over time. I've complained about being cheap at times, but that may have been Angelo moreso than McCaskey. Says the guy on a Cubs message board.

Yeah, he's in complete denial that Cutler could be gone.