SpongeWorthy

Getting destroyed on the glass and no passable outside shooting to speak of.

High screen and roll from the same spot on the floor ad nauseum.

This is kind of an important game if we want to avoid a 6 or 7 game losing streak.

Is it? Maybe for a running back with a lot of carries on the odometer. 30 should still be right in the prime of many guys careers. For other sports. Football prime is 26-30 for 80% of the league. Maybe even younger than that. I'm really not so sure that's true for non-running backs without significant injury histories. I'm not saying most players are at the absolute apex of their careers at 30 but most guys that are perennial pro bowlers or on a Hall of Fame trajectory have dominant years after 30. Reggie White and Bruce Smith, for example, were dominant until their mid 30s. Strahan too. But those type of guys make up a pretty small majority of players. No telling if you'll get a guy past his prime, or the small percentage that stays dominant. Well the percentage of players who dominate at any point in their careers is small. In the NFL it's very easy to get a younger/cheaper alternative because most of the money isn't guaranteed. If a guy is great at 30 I wouldn't be deathly afraid that you couldn't get 3 or 4 good to great years out of him.

Not a bad half except the horrible last few minutes of the quarter. Pro tip Vinny: When the offense goes to [expletive] because Kirk can't bury an open mid range jumper to save his life then let Rose isolate. Good things happen.

Well I'm no expert on the Cardinals but it seems like their pass D was awfully sieve like considering everyone says Rolle and Wilson are two of the best safeties in the game.

Is it? Maybe for a running back with a lot of carries on the odometer. 30 should still be right in the prime of many guys careers. For other sports. Football prime is 26-30 for 80% of the league. Maybe even younger than that. I'm really not so sure that's true for non-running backs without significant injury histories. I'm not saying most players are at the absolute apex of their careers at 30 but most guys that are perennial pro bowlers or on a Hall of Fame trajectory have dominant years after 30. Reggie White and Bruce Smith, for example, were dominant until their mid 30s. Strahan too.

Is it? Maybe for a running back with a lot of carries on the odometer. 30 should still be right in the prime of many guys careers.

I don't know anything about him. When we signed Pisa T. from the Rams last year I was excited by what I saw in preseason and then he lasted maybe one series into the Packers game.

That is very rarely the case with RBs. It is a young man's position and a horrible one to pay big money in free agency. I'm not sure what you mean by big money. Taylor will get a good contract, not a huge one. The estimates I've seen put him in the 4 years/17 million with 6 guaranteed range. Thomas Jones (for two different teams), Michael Turner, and Ricky Williams were some good FA signings that have panned out. Jones and Williams were no spring chickens either and had more tread on their tires than Taylor does now. The rest of the good running backs are mainly an assortment of guys still with the teams that drafted them--usually in the top 2 or 3 rounds. Somehow I think most of you would be annoyed if we went running back with our 3rd or 4th round pick. If you're going to ignore running back in the offseason you better be comfortable with Forte bouncing back and Kahlil Bell. I'm not that optimistic. So if my options were down to staying pat, spending some money in free agency, or drafting a guy I would probably lean towards free agency.

Well Sproles is a lot more explosive and younger than Taylor but the Chargers just put a high tender on him. So if you want to upgrade the Bears running game you've gotta go with Taylor, a draftee, or Tomlinson/Westbrook. Taylor is still explosive, IMO, which is why I like him. The Bears have money to spend and they're going to spend it regardless because the management is throwing a hail mary. What would you have them do? The running backs and offense in general aren't so good (in fact, they're horrible) that they should just hold the money and wait for the stud linemen who simply aren't on the market. The Bears need upgrades everywhere. RBs emerge from the depths every year, I would simply never spend money on the position. It's a waste, unless you have your own stud. I'd solidify both lines, offense via draft and defense via free agency, and spend money on the secondary. This defense has barely held on over the years and is in desperate need of an influx of talent. I don't know what RBs you're talking about when you say they emerge from the depths. Can you give me an example? Most of the guys I think you might have in mind were lower round draftees ala Rice, Charles, etc. But I don't see why drafting a running back with one of our very few picks would be acceptable while signing one in free agency wouldn't be. And I'm not saying don't spend money on the defense. Get a pass rusher and a ball hawk in the secondary and with Urlacher coming back you MIGHT be looking at a top 10ish unit if the breaks go right. On the other hand, the offense has never been good and desperately needs an influx of talent as well. I think the stance on this board that the skill players are even approaching adequacy is pretty much way off. The Bears skill group is one of the very worst in the NFL. You can get a good return on your investment with the right FA signings there.

Well Sproles is a lot more explosive and younger than Taylor but the Chargers just put a high tender on him. So if you want to upgrade the Bears running game you've gotta go with Taylor, a draftee, or Tomlinson/Westbrook. Taylor is still explosive, IMO, which is why I like him. The Bears have money to spend and they're going to spend it regardless because the management is throwing a hail mary. What would you have them do? The running backs and offense in general aren't so good (in fact, they're horrible) that they should just hold the money and wait for the stud linemen who simply aren't on the market. The Bears need upgrades everywhere.

The Vikings want to keep him pretty badly but they know they have to cough up big money to extend Peterson. On big third downs they had Taylor in the game just as often as Peterson. He's a fantastic receiver and pass blocker. The Vikings run blocking is not what it was and I would attribute most of the decline in his YPC to that. Peterson has pretty quietly turned into a 4.4 yard per carry guy instead of a 5.5+ beast. When I watched Taylor I saw a player that still had good legs...unlike Tomlinson who just looked like he had nothing left.

He wasn't very good last year. Not that he had a ton of carries or anything but it's something to consider when you take into account his age too. I mean, he did a nice job catching out of the backfield, but Forte does that too. Every time I watched him he looked fast and ran hard. His YPC has slipped quite a bit the last couple years but so has Peterson's. I'm not saying he's a huge priority but for a team that needs better playmaking and could use a boost in the running attack I think he could be a very good pickup. He's basically been stuck behind a young Jamal Lewis and a young Adrian Peterson his entire career. Going from a gimp Forte and Kahlil Bell or Garrett Wolfe to Chester Taylor and a healthy Forte could be a big boost.

Yeah.

Because he's really good. It's not like he's LT or anything and is a 30 year old RB who has racked up 300+ carry seasons consistently.

Well I'm excited for the next 24 hours or so. If we could get two guys out of the Peppers, Kampman, Taylor, Rolle, etc. group I would be pretty happy. And then throw in Manumaleuna and maybe a decent lineman or receiver.

Season suspension, minimum. Same as the Oregon football player should have gotten. I'd probably include the postseason too, considering how late in the season that happened. I'm thinking "season" as in not back until the same point next season. I don't get that. What pro athlete would get a season long suspension for throwing a punch? In the NBA you would probably get somewhere in the 5-10 range, MLB would be about the same, the NFL would be a 1 game max (you'd probably just get kicked out of the game you were in ala Tommie Harris), and punching is institutionalized in hockey.

I'll take Eric Berry.

And I would probably be prepared to be disappointed if you're expecting a stud OL to come in. There just aren't many out there. Colon was just given a first round tender by the Steelers and Mankins will probably get a 1st and a 3rd. The rest of the linemen seem to be restricted FAs or old.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Wilson-Vanden-Bosch-to-hit-free-agency.html Vanden Bosch would be a cheaper alternative to Peppers that would be an improvement. He won't be cheap either I imagine.

Schefter was just saying the Bears are in desperation mode to sign Peppers. Peppers and Marshall would be huge.

This laughable. Wisconsin has a lot of talent each year. To pretend otherwise is either foolish or racist. Uhhh no. They don't get many guys to the NBA and never have top classes. Like I said they get guys who fit their scheme. They don't try to get the top recruits. They scout to find guys who can play defense, have good shooting range and have a good work ethic. Do you really think they get great talent? That is laughable. They develop guys and get them to play well in their scheme. That is all Bo Ryan and his staff. Like I said taking that job means you aren't going to get great recruits are going to have win with less talent that your competition. Wisconsin I believe is also a bad state for basketball recruits. In the past five years they have put Alando Tucker and Devin Harris in the NBA. Illinois has put Luther Head and Deron Williams Indiana put in Eric Gordon Minnesota hasn't put anyone in Michigan hasn't put anyone in Purdue has put in Carl Landry Michigan State has put in Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, and Paul Davis Northwestern hasn't put anyone in Ohio State has put in Mike Conley, Greg Oden, and Daquen Cook Iowa hasn't put anyone in Penn State hasn't put anyone in That's just off the top of my head, but looks like they have decent talent compared to even the big boys in the Big Ten. In fact they with Illinois have put in the only All Star level talent. So again, yes the Badgers have had good talent. You've done a fine job of illustrating how the Big 10 produces crappy NBA players.

All I'm saying is that I would be plenty happy with a 2nd rounder for Olsen. The list of players traded for a 2nd round pick or better in the NFL is smaller than you'd think and they're usually for better players or at least players at a more valuable position. Off the top of my head the only guys who fetched better than a 2nd rounder in the last few years are Jared Allen, Jay Cutler, and Roy Williams. Allen is elite, Cutler is a potential franchise guy, and the Williams trade has been a huge bust. Tony Gonzalez went for a 2nd rounder and while he's old, he's still way better than Olsen.

Olsen for a 2nd rounder seems about right to me. I don't know why you'd have to throw in anything else. You can get a stud with baggage (ala Moss) for a 2nd rounder. Olsen doesn't have baggage but he's never been great either.