WrigleyField 22

I think both Lake and Vitters need some time at AAA. Both have some promising tools that should get everyday and consistent work against competition that's appropriate. Both could get another few hundred AB at AAA before I felt it was definitely time for them to move on. They could both fade at AAA or prove their ready (mainly by improving on peripherals, and in Vitters case also Defense at a new position).

I wouldn't expect detailed scheme plans but are we at least assuming "hand in dirt or not" was discussed? I don't imagine Peppers would make the switch to OLB this late in his career but maybe he doesn't care since it's probably his last big contract. Despite his rep as a pass rusher can't see him taking more than a 10-12 snaps at OLB per game (in specific situations). As a DE in a 3 front it will be a little different but he does have quite a bit experience moving inside in the 4 front.

My three but opposite order if I had to specify.

Corey Patterson is the only one in that group hyped as much as the core four. I don't think any of the other guys made the top 30 like these guys have. No but the point kind of remains. Sure, we're not gonna go 0-fer with this group but we'll need some FA help and even a slight delay on a couple guys can push back their timetable

Dennard and Gilbert seem like good picks at that spot and it really seems like a DT could fall into trade up territory in Rd2. I have read its a good CB draft though. Overall I'm really just in BDPA mode for rounds 1 and 2 and probably 3. Not at all interested in trading down though. We could also fall into the DE/OLB rusher category for round 1 as our signings point towards some system flexibility.

Don't need vaccines when you have Cutler genes and Cavalari milk. Don't you guys watch the league. Cutty probably has Polio but since he doesn't care it doesn't even effect him. But seriously Jay is an idiot

Won't take that much magic at this point.

If it were up to me, at best, I would only have 1 of the 4 in, and at 30. I'm surprised how people seem to be so low on amaya now. yeah. This. Amaya is 2nd on my list right now behind Cabrera. I can't believe no one thinks these 2 are top 30 guys anymore. Amaya is a top 30 for me and probably 4th in my list now. My top two-three hasn't changed much though in a few rounds.

I hope they trade 5 first rounders for him.

3/30 with 20 guaranteed? I think I gotta pass on that one. If we're shifting to a more hybrid approach anyways we can find better fits with a lot less cap.

Eben Brtitton gonna make the shift from TE to RB.

So confirming Anderson is gone then too. Can't remember if that was announced or not.

These safeties honestly seem like good signings to me. My impression from the PFF rankings I get peaks at is that your average players are really bunched up and a guy in the 50-70 overall ranking is not necessarily a below average player, especially if they were a full time player- it's just that your average player really doesn't provide that much excess value, only the top guys do. Also doesn't seem that predictive. So better off relying on scouting and scheme fit than PFF rankings. That said both these guys seem stronger on the run, so I'm sure they'll compete for one spot and well still see another S in the draft or FA to compete with Conte.

Weird, I didn't think you had to switch out of 90s to be a LB, and I didn't think they made you switch anyways. Wasn't someone for GB wearing 70 because they switched from DE to LB? Or Hester still wearing 23 as a WR. Maybe Shea just wanted the shift (though 50s availability is scarce for the Bears) Now can we get real news so I can stop talking about uniform numbers?

Another report I saw said 37th. Did you pull that directly from PFF?

1. Easy Mac won't go bad 2. Does it really slow their development to not start in AZ? They're still so young, they'll have plenty of time to move quickly and be young for their leagues if they prove themselves.

I'm not sure he can be had reasonably. In fact I really doubt it. Even at a reasonable deal we'd be putting a lot of money into the RB position. I'd really only be okay with it if we just strike out on the defensive players we target and have to spend the money somewhere.

A 3-Tech and a NT. Makes sense. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The luxury tax repeater concern is nothing to scoff at especially if you happened to get stuck going barely over due to signing a relatively insignificant player in a year that your best player was injured. That being said, the 1st team is really a improbability. I think 2nd team is within the range of probability to strongly consider it in personnel moves. Remember the defensive teams are coach, not media votes- and is not voted on positionally- meaning its just top 5 and next 5. I think coaches will value Taj's D pretty highly. The biggest thing that would hurt his vote totals is probably the presence of Noah and coaches that won't vote for both on the same team. But from the rumors of a couple weeks ago, perhaps the Front Office has struck 1st team consideration from their thinking. Or maybe they just really like Jimmer. The repeater tax is really not something we want to worry about in 3-4 years and even some of these better cuts like Jimmer are REALLY not that significant. And Taj is a REALLY good defender- who by the way is an elite shot blocker on a per minute basis.

We'll looks like they're taking their chance on Taj at the very least not making 1st team all D.

They don't want to go into the tax, though. Came across this on Real GM: "The Bulls are approximately $600,000 below the tax threshold and the team believes it can sign a player to a prorated deal and avoid going down as a tax team." That would be awesome if true. I'd really like to see Jimmer here. I think he would play well next to Hinrich, as Kirk can guard most 2's and allow Jimmer to guard the opposition's PG. I'd also be excited to see Ben Gordon back as a Bull. Hopefully they can snag one of them and stay under the tax line. The talk lately was they were afraid of Taj getting a 250k or 500k bonus if he got 2nd or 1st team all D. If he does, they could go over the tax. Hence they've been doing their cycle of 10 day contracts dropping down to the 12 player minimum for the maximum of 12 days. So they're basically cutting their 13th man cost in half for the back half of this season. They are in the clear around early April though so that's when we should see a permanent 13th man. Not sure most of the good target will wait that long though. Thanks for clearing that up. In the clear meaning they could absorb the full 500k bonus and still be under the cap. I don't think there's any chance Taj makes 1st team all D. Yes that's what in the clear would be. And I agree with the decision. A 13th man is so unimportant. It's unlikely you'd even get a guy Thibs will trust in that short time. I'm personally prepping for Mike James.

He did okay, forced to overspend on veterans, but it's not like that is what led to the Super Bowl. It was Urlacher, Lovie and one or two Angelo drafts that created a monster defense. Only one of those guys he overspent on was Tait. Garza and round one of Miller and Brown were all value signings. That was a legit good line but even at the time obviously was gonna be a short lived one and he rode it for like three years. Then he went into Williams, Omiyale , etc and we know the rest. Yea the D was the main reason we were a Super Bowl team but that OLine was a big part of what was our best offense between Erik Kramer and Marc Trestman. Considering both Brown and Miller were June cut guys though I'm totally willing to chalk it up to luck on Angelo's part and agree he was a failure who didn't know what he was doing. But it would be false to say he didn't get one Oline right in his time.

They don't want to go into the tax, though. Came across this on Real GM: "The Bulls are approximately $600,000 below the tax threshold and the team believes it can sign a player to a prorated deal and avoid going down as a tax team." That would be awesome if true. I'd really like to see Jimmer here. I think he would play well next to Hinrich, as Kirk can guard most 2's and allow Jimmer to guard the opposition's PG. I'd also be excited to see Ben Gordon back as a Bull. Hopefully they can snag one of them and stay under the tax line. The talk lately was they were afraid of Taj getting a 250k or 500k bonus if he got 2nd or 1st team all D. If he does, they could go over the tax. Hence they've been doing their cycle of 10 day contracts dropping down to the 12 player minimum for the maximum of 12 days. So they're basically cutting their 13th man cost in half for the back half of this season. They are in the clear around early April though so that's when we should see a permanent 13th man. Not sure most of the good target will wait that long though.

It's just a shame we'll probably have had one series with relatively full strength rosters between these two teams before it's all said and done. This should have been such an awesome past three years.

Angelo did well with vet offensive lineman once and we went to the Super Bowl. He held onto Miller and Brown too long and then never replicated that success while also busting on both his first round OL. Like most things Angelo the early years were far superior. Edit- actually three or four good vet FA as Garza and Tait also ended up being nice signings. Anything post 2006 was just awful though.