WrigleyField 22

Watkins won't get past Detroit at 10. I hope to God, he's gone before 10. Amen to that.

Hageman seems like he may fly up the boards. I can definitely see the injury concern if we had our choice of both, but Nix could provide real value if he drops. Obviously teams should have a real strong grasp on their medicals so if a Emery did pick him I'd trust it. I am all for BPA though. I don't think there's a spot on D where the 14th pick wouldn't provide an upgrade. On offense, obviously we wouldn't get a QB and a G or T would be hard to justify unless you thought Slauson could move inside to C. The thing is, I don't see a RB or TE being best available at that spot. So it comes down to mostly if you would take a WR there and to that I'd say yes (although I may disagree on rankings and Watkins may be the only guy I really see as BPA there).

Seems about right.

What? The biggest change is Hardin and the college CB to NFL S pick isn't that weird. Shea was definitely a tweener position, but he didn't change his position. These guys are pretty much playing their prospect positions. Long I think played a little of each at Oregon and is new to any position anyways, and may yet bump out to OT but started at OG due to inexperience. Bostic played inside at Florida and was rated by most pundits as a ILB prospect. ERods role changed a bit but he was a rookie with a unique skill set and an uncreative OC. But he basically lined up in the same spot, but was just used as a lead blocker instead of a pass catcher. The best case to this theory is Shea but in reality the "position" is pass rusher and if your a 3-4 it means OLB and if your 4-3 it means DE. Bad fit, but he was put into the same role. From the press conference yesterday, I kinda wonder if Emery has learned a bit from some of these "athlete" picks. We'll see. Not sure what there is to learn really. None of these guys was a workout warrior in the classic sense. The biggest lesson is perhaps to care a little bit more about scheme for (especially on defense). The lesson for Hardin is more about health and the lesson about Erod more about character. But even still that doesn't mean you never take those risks. It takes quite a large sample IMO to tell if a guy really has trends, and if we include what info we have on Emery's non-GM influence there really is only one true trend I can see, which is he likes size at WR.

What? The biggest change is Hardin and the college CB to NFL S pick isn't that weird. Shea was definitely a tweener position, but he didn't change his position. These guys are pretty much playing their prospect positions. Long I think played a little of each at Oregon and is new to any position anyways, and may yet bump out to OT but started at OG due to inexperience. Bostic played inside at Florida and was rated by most pundits as a ILB prospect. ERods role changed a bit but he was a rookie with a unique skill set and an uncreative OC. But he basically lined up in the same spot, but was just used as a lead blocker instead of a pass catcher. The best case to this theory is Shea but in reality the "position" is pass rusher and if your a 3-4 it means OLB and if your 4-3 it means DE. Bad fit, but he was put into the same role. They're playing their positions now, but each of them may be changing next year, per the press conference today. They specifically mentioned Shea as an LB, Bostic maybe having to move outside, that Hardin was a CB that couldn't cut it as a S. The problem is that it ignores those that didn't switch positions. Frey, Jeffrey, Mills... From the press conference yesterday, I kinda wonder if Emery has learned a bit from some of these "athlete" picks. We'll see. Even a LB moving from inside to outside or vice versa isn't the most unusual thing or some sign of a trend. I think Briggs was evaluated as a possible ILB and Urlacher started as a OLB and struggled. If it had been Anderson to go down instead of Williams, I think it's very likely Bostic is still the replacement. It's just relative position versatility.

Nix had knee surgery (I believe). That's the only reason he's below Hageman. People don't really know what to expect from him, but I think he'll be fine. Hageman is intriguing though. Strong as an ox. 6-6 in the middle of the D would be beautiful. But despite being bigger, I think Nix is quicker off the ball. Also allows you to put him at nose if there's a hybrid D or 3-4 D in place. My thoughts exactly.

What? The biggest change is Hardin and the college CB to NFL S pick isn't that weird. Shea was definitely a tweener position, but he didn't change his position. These guys are pretty much playing their prospect positions. Long I think played a little of each at Oregon and is new to any position anyways, and may yet bump out to OT but started at OG due to inexperience. Bostic played inside at Florida and was rated by most pundits as a ILB prospect. ERods role changed a bit but he was a rookie with a unique skill set and an uncreative OC. But he basically lined up in the same spot, but was just used as a lead blocker instead of a pass catcher. The best case to this theory is Shea but in reality the "position" is pass rusher and if your a 3-4 it means OLB and if your 4-3 it means DE. Bad fit, but he was put into the same role.

As it stands now you'd have to take Watkins at 14. Things will change a lot, but right now that value sounds too enticing to pass up. I just don't see it happening. It looks like on most mocks, we're picking Hageman with Nix still on the board. Is the consensus Nix has dropped below him? Either would be good.

CAP GENIUS CLIFF STIEN!! Loving that structure, and I'm guessing the slightly higher AAV is making up for the fact he can be dumped without consequence in three years. I'm sure if we wanted a more traditional structure that AAV would have fallen. So I definitely prefer this structure.

Yeah, it's wonderful. I took some on an international flight and was out before they were serving dinner. Worked like a charm.

he missed a game after the Giant game because the line couldn't protect him. He missed a game after getting a cheap-shot from a Texan player on a busted play. I think those are the only concussion games. But if there was an injury that actually begot injuries, it's concussions over most. I don't think it's a huge deal, but hopefully for that and several other reasons it's structured to be easy to walk away from.

This is probably the only injury thing to be worried about. But still, NFL contracts are rarely cap killers and we're supposed to have like a cap genius so I'm sure it's structured where we can cut Jay in a few years due to injury or performance and not effect our cap too much.

He's also only about 190lbs. He's a different type of WR. He's not what I would call a burner though. Which I don't think is necessary. I think the last few years have shown you have a better chance of completing a deep ball to a big WR like Jeffery vs. a fast one like Knox. I don't think it's 100% necessary either. This year shows that. I do think the likely returner option with it makes it pretty appealing though. I think a Johnny Knox would be a pretty damn good 3/4 receiver and return man. Even if the long bomb to the burners rarely connects it should open up the middle more for the big guys.

I'd think there's room for a4th WR to still see decent snaps, but they still want more if a speed guy anyways (particularly someone to fill in as a returner)

I'm sure it'll happen soon. More of a restructure to lower his number this year and give him probably 2-3 extra years. I'm excited about Wilson with those guys. Dynamic ability. Didn't he just restructure last year? And generally speaking constant restructuring just makes the inevitable cap hit that much worse?

$ is like never reported by the team. I bet Cutlers will leak by days end. May take more time for the other two.

Pls keep updates coming for those watching. Specifically re: Tucker

Hey if he wanted to delay the Tucker decision at all this is the way to do it!

Do we know pretty definitively about other possible coaching terminations? The only possible thing that makes me think they could drag it out is if they are content with Tucker for now but would dump him for a specific coach who's fate is still in the air. I don't think that's Emery's style, but you never know.

I guess it depends partially on how you feel about the 4th or 5th QB. If Bridewater is 9th overall, what's Tajh Boyd's ranking overall and what do you feel about him at 2.1 or even trading back up into the late first and sacrificing a 4th rounder. Even evaluating Bridgewater against the 2nd and 3rd QBs is necessary because maybe a trade down is the best bet.

He's got some really nice pieces with that D there, that's for sure.

Isn't that the way things are now? LeBron's Miami deal was technically a sign and trade. They did take away Bird Rights for S&T in the new CBA. In a repeat of 2010, the guys would be giving up quite a bit to leave. If you really want to get rid of super teams, you'd get rid of MAX contracts completely. Nothing else would be as simple or as effective. But why would the league?

Am I mistaken that Eben took some snaps as emergency center? Could an offseason of work there make him an upgrade to Garza?

I don't get.

I wouldn't go LB best available unless it's a outside rusher and we switch to a 3-4. I'd pause at a S too, but that basically comes down to what you think of Clinton-Dix.