rawaction

I tried to pick up my minor leaguers but it's making me put them thru waivers.

The hot name to trade up for us going to be Desmond Trufant. Atlanta and SF are potential trade partners for him as CB is both team's biggest needs and he'd be the best on the board by far at 20 without having to reach. Niners have the ammo to trade up but Falcons have the history of aggressiveness on draft day.

One interesting position the Bears could take in the 1st round is DT. Melton's still a FA after this year. Paea hasn't done a ton, and the only other DT on the roster is Nate Collins, who's also a FA after the year (maybe be RFA, not sure). DT is probably the biggest need left, in the sense that you need someone in the rotation right away. Every position has starters the Bears can "get by" with and a serviceable backup or 2. Guys like Kawaan Short, Jonathan Hankins (hope not), and Sylvester Williams could be in play if the Bears trade down. I think there will be a better player at another position if they stay at 20, though.

"we're going to lose" "no, we're going to lose" this thread is fun.

For the record, the Bears now have 70 players on the camp roster (55 regulars, 15 on future's contracts). Of those 70 players, 40 are not under contract at the end of the 2013 season. That 40 FAs include 7 current projected starters on D. Only 4 projected starters on offense are UFAs, but they happen to be 3 members of what looks to be a solid revamped OL and most importantly, Jay Cutler. Ironically, every single CB on the roster is without a contract past this year. But the only WR not under contract is not even a WR anymore according to the coaches (Hester).

FWIW, the Bears were one of 2 teams that didn't go to North Carolina's pro day. Of course, they haven't really shown their hand very much other than everyone knew they were going DE last year. I think they will continue to play things close to the vest, as I believe that Bruce Irvin was their target last year and Seattle jumped the gun on him, knowing he wouldn't last past the Bears pick (just a theory I have).

Hideous in real life while watching the MSU game the other day we were talking about how unattractive she is....yet somehow kind of appealing. I think it has something to do with the air of willingness she kind of gives off. She has a purty mouth. Some DSLs for sure.

I don't pick IU for fear of jinxing them. I did pick them to elite 8 though (beating Syracuse). But I doubt there's anyone saying Crean isn't the guy for the job yet. Hes basically had 2 years with a legit team. A lot of other good teams lost earlier than expected too. Not sure what to expect next year but its going to be at least 3 years until IU has a team this capable of winning ot all again unless the freshman are a lot better tham expected.

Well, that was shitty. Falls on Crean. He didn't have a gameplan and had 4 days to put one together. Zeller played like a vagina.

Rachel Nichols could get it.

This game kinda scares me tonight for IU. I think too many experts are assuming a win. Syracuse was ranked as high as #3 this year. They clearly aren't a pushover. Have several quality wins. IU has to knock down shots and be patient in the half court. The first one is what they do best, the latter what they do worst. Syracuse doesn't shoot the ball overly well, but Southerland and Fair can get hot from outside. One will force Watford away from the basket (actually may not be that bad of a thing). The other has a size advantage over Oladipo (though, I think he'll be alright). Fair vs. Oladipo will be fun for that fact that both are playing close to home.

Yeah, but that's no way to build. Roster turnover is usually not a good thing in the NFL. The Bears need to add to the core of the team. Granted they did that with Bushrod and Bennett, but it won't matter if they have to replace Jennings, Tillman, Melton, Wright, 2 LBs, Garza, Webb, and Cutler next year. Not to mention Peppers and Forte are candidates to be cut for cap reasons. That's half your starters, with realistically only help on the horizon from 2 draft picks (top 100 picks). I guess I don't see the urgency to do anything to get guys like Melton, Wright, and the CBs here for the long-term. Restructuring/extending those guys creates cap space and keeps a solid core of players in tact for more than this 1 season.

Do they really though? Better not be 1st round. Why not?

Still not sure I understand the direction of the team. Feel the need to overpay a mediocre LT and then complain about lack of money. The Bears have 39 players that are in the final (or only) year of their contract. Are they going to bargain shop for 1 year deals every year? Depth and draft flexibility are all fine and dandy, but you still gotta get some actual players in here for the long-term. Last year's draft flexibility led to them drafting 2 CBs in the last 2 rounds that didn't even make the team.

What was that practice squad receiver's name? Joe Anderson? What's his status? I like Anderson. He was pretty good on special teams when he got a chance at the end of last year, but I also thought he looked like a very capable WR in the preseason. I've been assuming all offseason that the Bears would draft a WR, cut Hester, and keep Anderson on as the 6th WR. Still not sure why Hester's on the roster as "only" a return specialist. What the hell is Eric Weems for then?

Lance Louis signs with the Dolphins.

FWIW, I keep the Bears roster/depth chart on a spread sheet. The only spots on the entire 53-man roster where it looks like the Bears need a player are: starting LG, #2 QB, #3/4 WR, #3/4 DT, #3/4/5 LB. A better backup interior OL is also possible unless they really like James Brown. There are other positions where they could use some solid depth for the future (CB, DE, RB?, OC) So, while the Bears have a lot of flexibility in the draft, they really only NEED a starter at LG.

Jason Campbell to Cleveland, which is good because I didn't want him back. Hayden will sign contract tomorrow. Bears have signed 7 FAs in 7 days. Hayden, Zbikowski, Anderson, Williams, Maneri, McBride, Scott.

That sucked! :banghead: But don't know that any loss is "brutal" at this point. Only the 4th time someone has beaten this team in 60 minutes.

Well, it could happen, but you're still talking rookie guards. How much impact will they have in year 1? The tackle position may be stabilized but it's not exactly all that good. My point exactly. Getting one of those OGs, will definitely stabilize the OL. Assuming Carimi is officially moved to the other OG spot, the Bears would go into the season with known starters at every position. Know what to expect from LT and RT for the most part. Know what to expect from Garza. Would expect one of the top 2 OGs in the draft to make the transition to be an above average OG. The only question would be Carimi and there is actual game footage of him playing his new position. Long way to go though to say that OL would be better than 1/2 the league's though.

The comments are wonderful.

Potentially yeah but it's hard to say top half OL when they would not have anyone who was even close to the top half at their position last year for a full pro season.

Exhale. I've said all year long I was really worried about the second game. Fran Dunphy is a really good coach so I'm not surprised he had the blueprint; I am,however, surprised Temple (102nd in defensive efficiency, 200th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 139th in tempo) had the capacity to do that. Fortunately, they really only have one good player, any more and they win. I'm also pretty surprised IU won, as this is the first time all year they've won such a game. Syracuse should be interesting. It's hard for me to say if it's a really bad or a really good match-up. They are big and athletic, and offensive rebound very well. They play excellent defense and are a slower tempo team. On the flip side, they're not the muck-it-up halfcourt style team that has given IU the most fits. And IU has some things they should be able to do well against the zone. Zeller/Watford/Sheehey should be able to cause damage at the free throw line shooting (latter two) and passing out to shooters (former two, hopefully all three). Louisville offers up a great blueprint in the second half of the Big East Championship Game with Dieng at the free throw line. I'm also glad IU is playing Syracuse the first game of a weekend, so they have longer to prepare (Crean is very good at game-planning, it's adjustments that are an issue). It should be interesting. On Illinois, I thought in real time and replay the ball was clearly off Miami. It's even worse than that, though, because in general that is the exact kind of close call the officials almost always will defer to the offensive team (especially if that team is losing). (Though perhaps there is some angle proves imb right?) My thoughts exactly on the Syracuse game. I'm really glad Crean has an extra few days to gameplan rather than just the one. Also really glad Fab Melo left school last year. He'd give Zeller fits. I think we matchup well across the board, but worry about our ability to solve the zone. I don't know that anyone has played Zone against IU all year for fear of the 3pt shooting.

Tubby Smith's son Saul is the ugliest [expletive] alive. That's all I have to add.

Random thought: So, I graduated from MARQUETTE Elementary School, LASALLE High School, and INDIANA University. All names of schools in the Sweet 16.