Free-agent OT Orlando Pace visited with the Chicago Bears today, according to NFL.com’s Steve Wyche.
Pace met with the Baltimore Ravens earlier this month, but did not sign the contract offer they gave him.
The St. Louis Rams saved $6 million in cap space by releasing the seven time pro bowler Orlando Pace(1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005) .
Bears head coach Lovie Smith was the defensive coordinator with the Rams, when Pace was there as well.
What I Think?
If Pace signs, the Bears might not need to address the tackle position in next month's draft, at least not in the earlier rounds.
To the left is the picture of Bears MLB Brian Urlacher crushing former Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick to the ground.
What I think?
Lovie Smith is crazy for calling Michael Vick's jail time as a mistake.
You do realize what he did to those poor innocent dogs Lovie?
If I were the Bears I would stay as far away as I could from Michael Vick.
The guy is an average quarterback, who is pretty damn good at scrambling, but that's it.
Vick doesn't fit the Bears scheme on offense at all.
The last time the Bears had a scrambling quarterback, they had #9 Jim McMahon under the helm.
Please Bears stay away from convict/QB Michael Vick.
''I am glad we were able to work something out, it's something we were talking about for a while, and I am definitely excited.
''The goal is to come in and win a starting job. We haven't talked too much about that, but when I get there, I want to show them what I can do. I have always been a hard worker, and I am in a situation where I am going to prove myself.''
The Bears' picks in the seventh round are as follows:
37th pick, 246 overall
42nd pick, 251 overall
Jerry Angelo has landed Alex Brown, Nate Vasher and Kyle Orton all in the third round not bad, considering Jerry Angelo's struggles as GM.
Compensatory picks are handed out each year to teams for their net loss in free agency.
The Bears lost Bernard Berrian (Minnesota), tight end John Gilmore (Tampa Bay) and special teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo (Baltimore) as unrestricted free agents a year ago. The team did not sign any UFA's, so they receive three draft picks.
I am glad to announce that the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers rivalry will be put on display in prime time next season.
To many, it was like he was not even on the roster.
Throughout 2008 and into the offseason, many Chicago Bears fans have speculated about the absence of third-round rookie pick Earl Bennett.
The Vanderbilt superstar set numerous SEC receiving records, but during his rookie season in the NFL, Bennett did not catch a single pass and saw little offensive playing time.
Not knowing what to make of the it, fans have been speculating about the situation ever since the lack of talent at wide receiver grew from a hot topic to a raging inferno late last season.
Some fans feel the Bears are such poor evaluators of offensive talent that they overlooked Bennett and were more awe-struck by guys like Marty Booker and Rashied Davis.
Others say Bennett did something to anger the coaching staff.
But it was Bennett himself who cleared the air this week in a Chicago Tribune article.
"I struggled [learning] the plays last year," Bennett said Wednesday. "I was lethargic because of it. It probably took me until Week 6, Week 7 to pick them up.
"Toward the end, I started grasping the concepts. Once you put things aside and just play, you can play a lot faster."
The Bears are very thin at wide receiver at this point.
With veterans Brandon Lloyd and Marty Booker out of the picture, the up-to-speed Bennett has been working with counterpart Devin Hester in this week's veteran mini camp, the team's first set of organized activities this off season.
Hester, Bennett, and Davis are currently the team's top three receivers, along with longtime practice squad enigma Brandon Rideau, former Indianapolis Colt Devin Aromashodu, and reserve/futures contract signee John Broussard.Further depth will likely be filled through next month's draft and the post-draft free agent market, but the coaching staff has promised a more prominent role for Bennett in 2009.
Then again, the same was also said about the injury-prone Mark Bradley during every offseason he spent in a Bears uniform.
The Bears invited safety Glenn Earl to there three day mini-camp and wound up signing him to a contract today.
John St. Clair has signed a three-year contract with the Cleveland Browns worth a total of $9 million. The deal contains $600,00 guaranteed, which is believed to be less than the Bears had offered in a $4.5 million, three-year contract.
The St. Clair deal on the surface appears to be a series of one-year contracts.
Why would you let a guy, who knows the system very well, just walk away?
I just don't understand it.
They're stuck with only two offensive tackles, who have never started an NFL game, last years No. 1 pick left tackle Chris Williams and undrafted free agent Cody Balogh (he spent last season on the practice squad).
What I think?
Now, the Bears will have to find a right tackle either through the draft or free agency
Balogh played right tackle in mini camp Tuesday.
Kevin Shaffer, Marvel Smith and Orlando Pace are just a couple options on the market the Bears could consider.
The Bears announced on their Web site today that veteran linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer (hand) and defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek (torn right biceps) will be sidelined during mini camp this week.
This article is clearly just an excuse to put hot chicks on my website, but who cares.
Kevin Jones on what he saw in Matt Forte last season:
“He has all the potential in the world, all he has to do is go out and do it. He has natural talent, and he’s smart too. He’s a good runner. To see him do those things as a rookie was impressive, especially the mental preparation aspect of the game. He really has that down pat, and that’s something I admire because as a rookie you can have so many distractions off the field.
“It’s going to be good to be back in the room with him, and we’re going to do it together this year.”
all quotes from chicagobears.com
Joe Jurevicius was released today and even though he's 34 years old he can still be a solid possession receiver.This past season Joe Jurevicius missed every game after developing a staph infection following arthroscopic knee surgery.
Jurevicius has over 4,000 yards receiving and almost 30 receiving touchdowns in his NFL career.
If the Bears can get Jurevicius cheap, I think it would be a great signing considering what the depth they have right now.
Besides Devin Hester and Rashied Davis no other receiver on the Bears has a reception in his NFL career.
Hopefully Joe Jurevicius's last season will be spent with the 2008-2009 Chicago Bears.
Safety Josh Bullocks has reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Bears. The New Orleans Saints never made any attempt to re-sign Bullocks, their second-round pick in 2005.
Although he started 51 games in four years, including the playoffs, his best season was his rookie year in 2005 and after that he fell off.
According to The Times-Picayune Bullocks was inconsistent, especially in deep pass coverage.
Bullocks is (6-1, 207) and is said to still be a gifted athlete.
The Times-Picayune also says that Bullocks might fit better in the Bears' Cover 2 system, where defensive backs aren't as often exposed in one-on-one matchups.
A cool thing from this signing is that Josh will get to face his twin brother Daniel, who plays for Detroit, twice a year.
Josh Bullocks lost his starting job at free safety to veteran Kevin Kaesviharn prior to the 2008 season, but filled in over the last month after Kaesviharn went down with an injury.
The Bears recently signed a little known offensive lineman named Frank Omiyale (OH-mee-YEL).
My Question: After the 2008 season ended, you said that you believed in Kyle Orton and liked some of the things he did, but you needed to see more before anointing him the long-term solution at the position. You also indicated that the Bears were fixated on getting the quarterback position stabilized. With all that in mind, why are the Bears seemingly not interested in pursuing a veteran in free agency or via a trade?
Angelo: When you talk about bringing in a quarterback, that requires a few things that we have to keep in mind. If you bring him in now, you’re bringing in a veteran to compete to start. We’ve done that. Really we did that last year with Kyle [Orton] and Rex [Grossman], so we had co-starters. That creates a competition, which was the right thing to do last year given our situation. But it takes away reps from the starting quarterback because you’re dividing those and certainly it does for the backup quarterbacks as well.
Given the players that potentially could be out there, we thought that Kyle was as good or better given our situation. To bring in somebody to compete to start to me was running up and down the starting line and really was hurting Kyle’s progress. We had our meetings and we felt very good about the players we have presently—obviously Kyle, talking about Caleb Hanie’s continued development, and we like what we saw in Brett Basanez from college and when he was with Carolina in the preseason.
Now is that to say that we couldn’t look for a veteran after the draft? That’s a possibility. We haven’t ruled that out. To do it then, that veteran would have had a chance to see what his value is, and it might be a little bit more palatable for him to come in and compete for a backup job versus if you sign him now.
In terms of a trade, trades are very difficult to do. I know there was a lot of talk about Matt Cassel. The real problem with the Matt Cassel trade from my perspective was the contract. He had signed his franchise tag, which was approximately $15 million, so that means that in the ’09 season he has a $15 million guaranteed contract in hand. To do something now in terms of a new contract, that’s going to be an exorbitant amount of money, which is fine if you know for sure he’s the guy. It’s a little bit easier for Kansas City and Denver to feel good about him because they were with him (new Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and new Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels worked with Cassel in New England). But to bring somebody in and say he is the guy and pay him an exorbitant amount of money given that he’s guaranteed $15 million in ’09, that’s why most teams were cautious about going forward. It wasn’t the draft compensation. It was the contract that people were focusing on.
He did a nice job [in 2008]. But let’s not forget who he was with. He was with the New England Patriots; a pretty good football team with a good supporting cast and a great system. Is that guy going to be the same guy in another system with different personnel around him? It’s hard to say. He did a fine job, so there were rewards with him. But there was great risk as well.
My Question: Why haven’t the Bears tried to sign any of this year’s big-name free agents such as wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh or safety Brian Dawkins, both of whom are productive veterans who seemingly would provide major upgrades?
Angelo: Houshmandzadeh is a fine receiver. Would we have entertained him? Yes, but we wanted to see what his marketplace was. In this case, we felt like [what he received from the Seahawks] was an exorbitant amount of money. Remember, he was a No. 2 in Cincinnati. That’s not to say that what Seattle did wasn’t right for them; their situation is different in my mind than ours. They had an inordinate amount of injuries with receivers and they felt like they needed to get somebody that was established and healthy.
A lot of teams would have liked to have had Houshmandzadeh. But he’s going to be 32 in ’09 and the price that you’re paying for that receiver we felt was very high. You have to look at economics when you look at players. Who doesn’t want Houshmandzadeh? But you have to look at the economics: What are the implications to the cap going forward and what does that prevent us from doing in other areas within our team and/or in free agency?
With Brian Dawkins, he’s 35 years old. He’s a great player, but Philadelphia put a limit on what they were going to pay him and they know him the best. You have to understand that it’s not just, “Do you want the player?” Certainly there are players out there, but at what cost? And what does that cost do to your salary cap and to other things you may want to do internally and/or in free agency. You have to be patient as you go through this process. It’s not a matter of not wanting to spend the money. The cap is how you want to allocate the money. When we look at a player, we have to put a value on that player, and then we have to stay disciplined to stay within those parameters. With 14 players being franchised, it makes free agency less attractive, and the players that do get out in free agency are making an exorbitant amount of money because it’s a supply and demand business.
My Question: How much of a priority is upgrading the wide receiver position either in free agency or the draft?
Angelo: Naturally, we’re going to look at that real hard, in all likelihood in the draft. We’re not looking for backup wide receivers. What we want are potentially starting wide receivers. We have a nucleus of receivers that we feel good about in terms of twos, threes, fours and fives, and if we carried six, a sixth receiver. Part of that ties into special teams. What we’re looking at is the top of the wide receiver position. Where does that come from? It comes with a premium receiver in free agency if there’s one out there and/or in the draft. Yes, it’s a position that we are looking at.
interview from chicagobears.com
Benson said this after signing a two year deal worth seven million dollars with the Cincinnati Bengals:
Hanie is heading to the Bears' facilities two weeks before the mandatory veteran minicamp.
This is what he had to say:
“My expectations are just to compete for the backup job, and if they need me to compete for the starting job at some point, I’m ready to do that."
“Kyle’s done a great job and he deserves that [starting] spot. To win that backup job is my main concern, and my job is to be ready at all times to keep the team running and succeed.”
“I think it will help tremendously, last year was a struggle, not getting many reps and trying to learn at the same time. It was all mental reps.
“Now I have a year under my belt. I know the offense, so I’ll be able to progress that much quicker as far as being game-ready and being able to get the reps that I need in the minicamps and OTAs. I think I’ll be able to progress a lot faster and play fast.”
Hanie knows that some fans would like the Bears to sign an experienced backup quarterback—and that’s just fine with him. Asked what he’d say to those people, Hanie said: “I wouldn’t say anything to them. They have their own opinion. Obviously they’d prefer to have a veteran guy that’s been established. But at the same time I think I bring a lot to the table, and given a chance I can go out there and make plays and run the offense.”
all quotes from chicagobears.com
The deal is worth between $11.5 and $14 million for Omiyale, who played with the Carolina Panthers last season.
Omiyale's agent Mark Slough spoke about Omiyale:
``What people need to understand is he was backing up a Pro Bowler in Jordan Gross, there are a heck of a lot of left tackles in the NFL who would back up Jordan Gross.
``It's unfair to say Frank is a backup. Plus, there were 10 or 11 teams that were expressing interest in Frank.''
Omiyale, 26, appeared in 10 games last season with one start. He can play both guard and tackle.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 310-pound Omiyale entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Bears have expressed interest in bringing back RB Kevin Jones.
Jones said this about his future:
''I've been telling you all along, and you may have thought, 'This kid is crazy,' during last year, I want to come back to the Bears, I like the staff; I like all the teammates. If you want an example of what an NFL team should be like, the coaching staff, everything, that's it. I'd love to be back, but sometimes business gets in the way."
"It's a negotiation process, and I am making sure I am in the right situation. The Bears expressed interest and I want to be back, but we've got to hammer out the paperwork. We'll see what happens.''
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that there is a mutual interest between the Bears and veteran safety Darren Sharper.
Sharper had this to say about the possibility of playing for the Bears:
"There's definitely a lot of interest, first, they're in the NFC North, which I've grown accustomed to. They have a great defense. And they're on the cusp of getting back to the Super Bowl. It's a great organization. And it's great to draw some interest from them."
all quotes from chicagotribune.com
What do I think?
I think bringing in some depth at the offensive line was a must, but I don't know much about this Omiyale guy.
According to sources Omiyale was wanted by ten other teams.
He better be good for the amount of money we gave him.
Bringing Kevin Jones back wouldn't be a bad move, but I don't see the Bears overpaying for him.
The Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have all expressed interest in Kevin Jones.
Bringing in Darren Sharper would definitely fill the void at FS.
I have liked this guy for a long time, but I don't know how much he has left in the tank at age 34.
Expect the Bears to make a move for a wide receiver soon.
My favorites would be Nate Washington of the Steelers and Laveranues Coles of the New York Jets.
Posts
All Comments
