WrigleyField 22

Thanks for the write up on Zach Miller's hair.

Any of the Louisiana school are iffy anyways for me, especially the small ones. Maybe it was his territory, maybe in more of a West territory with Texas. One article specifically mentioned Hester and Olsen. The fact that Pace knew him in NO before he ended up in Chicago makes me a bit more comfortable, but I always find these exercises intetesting.

Would be so much better if his name also had D's you could leave off. hahaha, i definitely checked to see what his middle name was so i could tack on Yuup, me too.

Would be so much better if his name also had D's you could leave off.

Looping back to this Sadowski guy, an article I read said he was the Southeast area scout from 05-12. Taking some guesswork, some picks that may fall in that region; Alshon Jeffery Major Wright DJ Moore Chris Williams Earl Bennett Marcus Harrison Craig Steltz Greg Olsen Kevin Payne Trumaine McBride Devin Hester Mark Anderson Airese Curry Chris Harris Left off a few 7th rounders I didn't even remember, and it's a guessing game with some of those guys falling in other regions. And the regional scout only means so much, especially with early picks. Still, hopefully there's something there.

Also 10 UDFA confirmed. I think my list was longer before, but some may have just been rookie minicamp invites. Perry is the most prominent guy lately to turn a rookie tryout to a 53 man roster gig. Of this list, Braunecker has the best 53 man odds. The rest present some possible PS fodder. Harvard TE Ben Braunecker Duquesne OL Dan Bucholz Mississippi CB Taveze Calhoun Villanova LB Don Cherry Georgia Southern WR Derek Keaton Buffalo OT John Kling Liberty WR Darrin Peterson Oklahoma State CB Kevin Peterson UTEP OLB Roy Robertson-Harris UW-Oshkosh TE Joe Sommers

Even if a drop off comes, some combo of Bryant in LF is probably going to be our best offense/defense mix. probably...i just think the long term with bryant needs to be weighed in to these decisions. schwarber is back next year and our best lineup is still probably with him in LF and KB at 3B. I think he can adjust back to 3B, given all offseason and ST to get back into it.

I believe I was one of the bigger KB 3B supporters back in the day, and I have zero issue moving him off for awesome Javy. except we are FAR from certain that awesome Javy actually exists. like really, really far from certain. i really don't like screwing with bryant that way. i'd rather just stick old man zobrist in LF unless and until we can be reasonably sure that baez can be a competent MLB hitter. i don't really think any position needs to be given to javy anyway. i'm fine with maddon doing things the way he has, for the most part. it's the idea of handing javy 3B and moving bryant primarily to LF that i am not on board with. and i was one of the biggest KB can't play 3B people back in the day. Even if a drop off comes, some combo of Bryant in LF is probably going to be our best offense/defense mix.

it is...but is he going to be a good enough offensive player that it's worth hurting KB's long term value and possibly pigeon holing him as a COF when he's a very good 3B? i know we can just throw him back at 3B if we want to...i'm just not that comfortable with jerking him around, for lack of a better phrase, and moving him off and then moving him back up the defensive spectrum. obviously, if he is, then it's fine, because what makes the cubs a better team is more important than preserving/prioritizing an individual player's value...i'm just not sure there's any way to know at this point if javy is good enough to say that. I believe I was one of the bigger KB 3B supporters back in the day, and I have zero issue moving him off for awesome Javy.

Yeah, I was thinking these guys aren't really showing any loyalty to the current (and much cheaper) Cubs. What would become of Almora? Who cares? That has to be sarcasm.

Spotrac shows the Hoyer contract as 2M. Not that it matters that much as they have plenty of cap room.

I'd put Ferguson in yellow too. Maybe even Wilson.

Cheap, fairly effective Special Teams contributor.

Plus they have a lot more control over their practice surface than the game surface.

Yea, until you're ready to sink a high pick into a QB, it doesn't make a ton of sense to get a developmental guy.

Some twitter talk that there are health concerns with Slauson as the reason for the cut.

QB: Cutler, Hoyer, Fales RB: Langford, Rodgers, Howard, Carey, Perry TE: Miller, Lee, Housler, Braunecker WR: Jeffery, Royal, Braverman, Thompson, Meredith WR: White, Wilson, Mariani, Bellamy LT: Leno, Becton LG: Whitehair, Ramirez C: Larsen, Grasu RG: Long RT: Massie, Fabaluje DE: Hicks, Ferguson, Unrein NT: Goldman, Gaston DE: Bullard, Sutton, Washington OLB: Floyd, Young, Acho ILB: Trevanthan, Jones, Barrow, Timu ILB: Freeman, Kwiatkoski, Anderson OLB: McPhee, Houston CB: Fuller, McManis, Callahan, Glenn CB: Porter, Hall, Hurst FS: Amos, Houston-Carson, Bolden, Jefferson SS: Bush, Jones-Quartey, Prosinski

That was decent coin we just saved between those two.. Can we still trade for Wilkerson now?

Hrmpf :?

While they are a little thinner skill wise with the loss of Forte and Bennett, they also dealt with a lot of injuries last year and basically counted on their offense doing just enough, which it often did based on our margin of loss, as raw pointed out. So a lot will come down to coaching, which is a question mark with the loss of Gase. However getting on the other side of the injury bug could help immensely too. Was never realistic to rebuild team depth that quickly. Starting with the line and D as Pace has done is good for me.

Also not sure if it was mentioned during the draft, but I guess after the first trade down in the second, Spriggs was our guy. Once GB jumped us that prompted the second trade down. While Spriggs has LT potential, I like Whitehair better overall so I think that worked out well.

Fales is another guy who you would think is dispensable, but last year when the rubber met the road, they dropped Claussen to keep him. So they may actually like him. Not like Hoyer figures to be around long. But yea 2 QBs allows you a lot more flexibility. Definitely an intriguing team. Defensively there are a lot of bodies for the secondary, and if you figure sub package at least 50% of the time, if not more, we may see a lot of bodies moving around- nearly all Pace guys too, except Fuller. D-Line wise, this is a big make or break camp for a few of the remaining Emery guys- Ferguson, Sutton, and Washington. Washington can definitely play ST, so he might actually have the best shot to stay, despite having the least defensive work. A lot of depth at WR too, and these guys got experience with all the injuries we had last year. I'm thinking Meredith and Braverman (if they don't get picked up elsewhere) as practice squad guys, with Mariani and Wilson winning out (though Wilson could be make or break too- he didn't exactly break out last year and hasn;t been healthy in his short career, yet still young at 24!) Any guy trying to stick around as a 6th WR though basically has to do so as a ST, so will be competing against a 4th RB, 6th S, 6th CB, etc. I like our OL, but after the top 7 who I figure are your weekly active guys, things drop off a bit. 2 second year guys in Grasu and Fabaluje both probably shouldn't see the field yet, but figure to have a step up on the competition, and both with good potential. But after that it is a lot of basically unknowns. That 8th or 9th spot could be an area for a camp upset that knocks off Paces first draft pick bust. Biggest true starter battle is probably LG and C with 4 guys competing. On defense while there are some spots where there isn't a true front-runner, everything is so package based that we'll see a lot of bodies anyways. 2nd weakest schedule hypothetically helps, but its the NFL and things an move quick, so who knows. I think a WC isn't out of reach though. Staying healthy and not having any drop off from Gase to Loggains will be key. The D will at least keep us in most games with coaching and with the talent infusion, could actually become the team's strength. Special teams... not as confident with that coaching but we have a lot more options at returner this year and we may finally have some decent experience from ST contributors.

The only two thumbs down were both Northern California teams and were given by the same writer. Lol.

Very early 67 man depth chart, not including specialists. So 50 roster spots to sort out. In addition to this another couple dozen futures contract guys and UDFA. After the starters its a lot more fluid, so its not necessarily a true depth chart. Still a few starter battles to work out though. QB: Cutler, Hoyer, Fales RB: Langford, Rodgers, Howard, Carey, Perry TE: Miller, Lee, Housler, Braunecker WR: Jeffery, Royal, Braverman, Thompson, Meredith WR: White, Wilson, Mariani, Bellamy LT: Leno, Becton LG: Whitehair, Larsen C: Slausen, Grasu RG: Long, Ramirez RT: Massie, Fabaluje DE: Hicks, Ferguson, Unrein NT: Goldman, Gaston, Smith DE: Bullard, Sutton, Washington OLB: Floyd, Young, Acho ILB: Trevanthan, Jones, Barrow, Timu ILB: Freeman, Kwiatkoski, Anderson OLB: McPhee, Houston CB: Fuller, McManis, Callahan, Glenn CB: Porter, Hall, Hurst FS: Amos, Houston-Carson, Bolden, Jefferson SS: Rolle, Bush, Jones-Quartey, Prosinski