WrigleyField 22

Well, he was drafted at defense, so you should change that. As for your last point, that has nothing to do with ignoring defense. The fact that guys aren't here means they drafted the wrong guys and/or there were guys already here that were better enough to make them worthless. The Bears haven't ignored defense. They've pretty much drafted equals amounts of both over the past three years. They just have wasted too many picks on failed defensive players. My quantitative breakdown would disagree, even if you shifted Hester over to defense, which you would be silly, so I won't. And you do have to look at how your picks have turned out when determining what you're gonna do next. The fact that two of our highest defensive picks flamed out says a lot. And beyond the draft, most of our acquisitions in trade and free agency have gone to the offense. Time to put some youth into the defense, because I think we could get some impact players, and I don't see that with WR (pretty much the only offensive position you could justify taking an early pick with.

I did count Hester as offense. I was kind of unsure where to put him, but I thought about it and went offense for two reasons: 1. He was drafted as a KR, with whatever benefit he had as a DB thought of as just added benefit. 2. He's on offense now. Also, I realize the numbers are arbitrary and like you said, Olsen and Manning are a lot closer in value, but it was easier to go by round, just for a simple explanation. Also, I thought about adding a breakdown of not only the pick we made, but whos still here now. If I did that, it would shift even more towards the offense.

Bears need defensive help in this draft. Here is my attempt to break down how we've ignored defense. Past three years, the offensive/defensive breakdown in the draft: I assigned values based on the round: 1st- 10, 2nd - 8, 3rd - 6, 4th - 4, 5th - 2, 6th/7th - 1 Kind of a "Time Value" thing, I multiple the total of two years ago by .8, and 3 years by .6 Offense 1,2,3,5,7,7,7=10+8+6+2+1+1+1=29 1,3,4,7=10+6+4+1=21*.8= 16.8 2,6,6=8+1+1=10:*.6=6 Total=51.8 Defense 3,4,5,7,7=6+4+2+1+1=14 2,3,5,5,7=8+6+2+2+1=19*.8=15.2 (keep in mind, those first two aren't even here anymore- Bauzin,Okwo) 2,3,4,5=8+6+4+2=20*.6=12 Total=41.2 FA/Trade acquisitions Past two years: Defense: Archuleta Adams Bullocks Offense: Cutler Pace Shaffer Omilaye Jones Booker Lloyd (I may be forgetting some, especially small signings, but thats a pretty good idea). I'd say we've focused a lot on the offense, not just this off season, but the past three years. Let's see some defense at the top of this draft.

My needs as of now (hopefully we sign a WR and I change it) WR FS DL LB CB OL I really think we'll find a WR in FA, a decent #2 guy, so my ideal draft would look something like: 2- Jarron Gilbert - San Jose St - DL 3- Rashad Johnson - Alabama - S 4- Ramses Barden - Cal Poly - WR 5- Michael Bennett - Texas A&M - DE 5- Nate Davis - Ball State - QB 6- Brandon Hughes -Oregon St - CB 7- Dave Philistin - Maryland- LB 7- Ramon Foster - Tennessee - OL Some particular guys might change, but position wise and stuff, that looks good. Then my roster would be: QB- Cutler, Davis, Hanie, Basanez (P.S.) RB- Forte, Jones, Wolfe, Peterson FB- Davis (if you find another vet or UDFA to compete, cool) WR- Hester, #2 FA, Bennet, Davis, Barden, Rideau (P.S.) TE- Olsen, Clark, Davis OT- Pace, Williams, Shaffer, Foster (P.S) OG- Beekman, Omilaye, Garza, Buenning C- Kreutz DE-Brown, Ogunleye, Anderson, Bennett DT- Harris, Dvoracek, Harrison, Adams DL- Gilbert, Idonije OLB- Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Roach, Williams, LaRqocque, ILB- Urlacher, Philistin (P.S.) CB- Tillman, Vasher, Graham, McBride, Hamilton, Hughes (P.S.) FS- Johnson, Bowman, Bullocks SS- Payne, Steltz DB/KR- Manning K- Gould P- Maynard LS- Mannely Possible cuts: Garza, Buenning, Adams, LaRocque, Bullocks, Hamilton Other Borderline P.S./roster fillers: Reed (G), Balogh (T), Mines (TE), Clermond (DE), Toeaina (DT), Burgess (CB), Earl (S), Baldwin (DE), Aromashodu (WR), Broussard (WR) So I think the biggest need right now is for the Bears to find a reliable stop gap #2 type receiver. Holt obviously would be great as a #1, but I don't see it happening, so we need to either look into the shaky background guys like Matt Jones or Plaxico, or older receivers like Amani Toomer or Joe Jurevicius. Not the sexiest names out there, but we don't need our #2 guy to a huge threat just yet, just reliable. Olsen, Clark, Hester, and Forte will get a lot of touches still. The defense on the other hand I think isn't too far from being good, it just needs to have a little youth injected into it, particularly at S and DL. I'd love to address those two spots with our first two picks. If we ignore the defense too much though, I think we'll be looking at it in a year or two and wondering how we are ever going to fix it. Most likely a WR at 2 will be a project type player. If we want a project, I'm sure we can find a high risk guy in round 4 who fell because of injury concerns or something along those lines. And there won't be pressure to perform right away. On the other hand I think we can find some immediate impact guys for the defense in round 2 and 3. Basically our offense has been improved a lot with Cutler, Pace, Shaffer, and hopefully continued improvement from Hester, Forte, and Olsen. Our defense has been largely ignored so far, and has been declining the past few seasons. Lets please fix the defense and hope our improvements to the offense have been enough (including signing a decent vet WR)

Fotenot snubbed.

I was actually just reading about the bid in the USA Today yesterday and only something like 25% of construction is permanent. The main Olympic stadium is on the south side and will be stripped down to a 7,500 seat stadium after. I guess the IOC's reccommendations are for there to not be too many permanent structures. Here it is: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-04-05-chicago-ioc-bid_N.htm

You're right it doesn't change the equation really. Even if Angelo had a good track record with first rounders, I'd probably still like this deal.

I mean, yea Olsen could blow out his knee and never be the same, but that wouldn't really reflect our ability to draft. Based on talent and ability, Olsen should make it to the starter level at the very least.

I think Columbo's and Harris's rankings are fine. Its Thierry and Haynes that belong with the busts. Also, if you don't throw out the past two years, Olsen looks like he'll be at least somewhere inbetween "starter" and "very good starter". Williams is a complete unknown at this point.

^Awesome.

Well I won't pretend to be an expert, but Seth Olsen (Iowa) and Xavier Fulton (Illinois) are both good T/G prospects left. Not sure there are any pure guards worth the pick. Defensively, I like: Dorell Scott, DT Scott McKillop, ILB Courtney Greene, S/DB Darcel McBath, S Hopefully that gives you a good idea. Value wise, I'll say McKillop is your best bet, but I'm not sure who you have at ILB.

What are some Raiders needs? Also what kind of defense do they run?

If no Holt, Matt Jones?

Anyone ... ? Any thoughts...? Not worth it, IMO.

Disagreed. For the Bronco's the draft picks will matter. For us, all that matters is that Cutler continues to improve and is our QB for the next decade. I don't care if those draft picks end up being as good as Walter Payton and Dick Butkus, it would have still been a success for us (and a really big one for Denver obviously). About the only way it might matter is if Denver goes QB at 18 and he ends up being better than Cutler. Any other scenario and it really only matters how Cutler does when evaluating our side of the trade.

Not that great once we sign Tory Holt. :beg: Nah you still have to draft a WR, maybe not as high, but still draft one if you sign Torry Holt. At this point in his career, Holt is nearing the end and you can't count on Holt to be anything more then a Bobby Engram type slot/possession reciever. If either a really good WR is still available in the 2nd rd, take him. Unless we're talking Kenny Britt, I'd rather draft with an eye towards, FS, DT, or DE* *Assuming we were to get Holt. No Holt and WR would definitely be in consideration if it weren't too much of a reach. I'd propose something like this (not sure on the draft slot of guys, but it's just there as an idea anyways) 2- Jarron Gilbert - San Jose St - DL 3- Rashad Johnson - Alabama - S 4- Ramses Barden - Cal Poly - WR 5- Nate Davis - Ball State - QB 5- Michael Bennett - Texas A&M - DE 6- Brandon Hughes -Oregon St - CB 7- Dave Philistin - Maryland- LB 7- Ramon Foster - Tennessee - OL Maybe OL earlier, and QB later. Perhaps another DB over LB. But in general, something along those lines, along with signing Holt would make me content. If we can't get Holt, I'd like something like this: 2- Brian Robiski - Ohio St - WR 3- Rashad Johnson - Alabama - S 4- Chris Baker - Hampton - DT 5- Deon Butler - Penn St - WR 5- Michael Bennett - Texas A&M - DE 6- Brandon Hughes -Oregon St - CB 7- Ramon Foster - Tennessee - OL 7- Best QB

Not that great once we sign Tory Holt. :beg:

The only reason I'm upset about the draft picks is because I'm such a draft junkie. It's like a holiday for me.

What? This changed nothing with Basanez. I thought he came to Chicago to compete for the starting QB job. That's obviously not true now. He was around to compete for a spot as the third QB, which he can still do.

What? This changed nothing with Basanez.

:( He will be missed

Even if the Bear somehow signs Holt, I still think the Bears should draft a WR like Britt or Nicks in the 2nd rd. Only if they are the best player available. Long term we still could use youth on the O-Line and everywhere on the defense.

So do you revoke your decision now? haha

Now we just need to sign Holt. That would give us the freedom to really go with BPA throughout the draft. As it stands now we're probably in a position where we need to draft a WR in the second.

I'm so happy. I <3 Bears