Just for kicks, why not ask oneself: "If I were the GM of the Chicago Bears, what would I do in the time between now, and the start of the season in December?" The way I see it, the Bears GM will have to pull off some magic to make the Bears into a winner this year. They have no #1 or #2 pick, they need a Left Tackle, their Center had achilles surgery, the defense is aging, and the Wr Corps is unproven at best. You'd have #76 #109 #141 #181 #219 At #76...Amari Spivey CB Iowa #109...Jared Veldeheer T from Hillsdale #141...Vladimeer Ducasse G UMass #181..JD Walton C Baylor #219..Joe Pawelek ILB..Baylor You'd need a LT..G/C..G..4-3 OLB...Cb.. The Bear's and GM Jerry Angelo are in a tough tough spot, adding Peppers and Taylor doesn't hurt, but they need some bodies.
Thought about that, and Safety as well. They do have Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Devin Armousadu (sp). Their Oline is just a barren waste land of medicority and injuries. They need Oline help first and foremost.
Thought of that as well, the problem is, there are no Left Tackles in Free Agency, none, unless MacIntosh counted. Chris Williams was a top Left Tackle prospect coming out in 08, the problem is he has a bad back and just could not play LT, the tried Orlando Pace last yr and he was released. Veldeheer makes sense, probably overdrafted at #76, but he is a better talent than cats like Sam Young. Tbh, the on FA they could use is Kevin Mawae at worst he could play guard, at best if Kreutz's ankle issue isn't resolved he could play Center ala Mike Webster going to KC for a couple of years.
Williams started every game last year. The first 11 at RT, and the last 5 at LT. He never missed a down for their offense last year. His pass blocking improved after moving to LT. IMO, he is in their plans most definitely. Olin Kreutz and Robert Garza also played every down for the Bears offense and both had strong seasons overall.
-Kreutz had a surgery on his achilles trying to fix his ankle -the Bears could not run the ball when they had to, which is why Matt Forte had a poor season after a good 08 yr. Williams has chronic health issues.
Ok, and his surgery was mid January and he'll be recovered by training camp. He did not have surgery on his Achilles' tendon, but rather had a bone spur removed from near the tendon. He wants you to know he is way ahead of schedule in his recovery, thanks for asking, and he hopes to be ready to participate in the team's off season program, beginning next Monday. The difficulties running were not because of Garza and Kreutz though. Williams improved after moving back to his natural left tackle. His health issues you are concerned with did not prevent him playing every offensive down last season. Most Bears observers seem to think the Orlando Pace signing was a complete mistake and just slowed Williams development. IMO, they could use a RT upgrade, but should be ok at the other 4 spots.
Alrighty, last year I had a thread about the predictable outcome of the Seahawks not ensuring that they had their LT position locked down with Walter Jone's knee problems, since there is disagreement now this one will become the 2010 version: http://www.macsfootballblog.com/2010/03/bears-interested-in-rob-sims.html So the Bears now will may trade the talented, but underachieving Alex Brown for 35 yr old Rob Sims so he can play G? A team that wants to contend simply cannot head into a season with Scotch Tape on the Oline, it never works. A pity really Lovie Smith is a talented Head Coach he deserves better than this as a final act in Chicago. *edited to add* They should trade for Smiley at least he is 8yrs younger, but the Bears appear to be cutting salaries..nice.
For one thing, Rob Sims is 26, not 35. You ever hear of a 35 yr old RFA? Another thing, he is a really good OG and would be a nice addition to most lines in the league. I'd trade any guard we got straight up for Sims. I don't know what Sims has to do with their LT situation either for that matter. Or how the Bears in that regard compare to Seattle last year. The Seahawks foolishly counted on an aging veteran with creaky knees to be able to crank it up for one more year. The Bears have a 3rd yr LT with only 5 games experience (out of 16 total played) on his natural left side. Williams seemed to answer questions about his health when he played every snap for their O last year. The Bears ******ed his development by experimenting with him at RT. Most observers felt his play improved a lot once he was moved back to his natural position, LT.
if the alex brown trade for sims has legs the bears should do that in a heartbeat agree about williams. bears signed pace to give him some time but he could develop into a LT either way that bears coaching, gm situation is still lame duck unless they make the playoffs wont happen angelo will get fired after the season. lovie will go too
The Bears want to do the deal. The problem is Seattle does not want Alex Brown, at least with his current contract.
Another thing, he is a really good OG and would be a nice addition to most lines in the league. I'd trade any guard we got straight up for Sims.[/QUOTE] Correct, I mixed Rob Sims up with T Barry Sims the ex Raider. Because last yr, the Seahawks refused to address their Oline, took Aaron Curry instead, this was with Jone's suffering through microfracture surgery. This yr, the Bears have spent big money on Julius Peppers, even though their Oline is a trainwreck, this will come back to haunt them and get HC Smith fired imo. They have a interception prone Qb with a bad offensive line and an agining Defense, no draft picks, and a GM who is not known for his creativity in finding talent. C Williams was ranked #65 per PFF. the 5th worst OT with more than 1,000 snaps, and what is worse, the majority of those snaps were at RT, now he will play a much more difficult position in LT.
Which injured player isn't "way ahead of schedule"? And the bone spur was causing achilles problems. 2/5ths of a Oline is no Oline at all, if anything they need a T and and G, and some backup players, none of which they have.
Most observers close to the Bears, said Williams improved once he was moved back to LT for the final 5 games. In retrospect, it was a mistake to move him when he is a natural LT and had played that side throughout college at either G or T. If you care to check his PFF grades game by game, you will see he had a plus score for the 5 games at LT. I cannot knock the Seahawks for taking Curry. He was easily the consensus BPA and any OT they could have taken there would have been a reach. They could have taken a LT in the 2nd but took Max Unger instead. He played LT in college a couple of seasons but is considered more of an interior player in the NFL, as you know. You could say he was again the BPA, but they could have taken Sebastian Vollmer or William Beatty. I also agree the Bears need depth on their OL, but I'd estimate many teams have a similar depth problem on their OL. We are lucky to have Nate Garner and Joe Berger. They give us as good of OL depth as any team and we used to be one of those teams with poor OL depth. That is another reason why I would not complain if we did take Mike Iupati. It would just make a position of strength even stronger and there is nothing wrong with that IMO. IMO, Olin Kreutz and Chris Williams, along with Robert Garza are the least of their worries. Frank Omiyale is an above average run blocker who had a problem with penalties. Josh Beekman is good young depth inside, so they do have one decent reserve. Kevin Shaffer was a good pass blocker in Cleveland and looked like a sound addition at the time. Once Williams was moved and replaced Pace, Shaffer was the RT and if you care to check his PFF numbers for his 5 starts it wasn't bad. Also look at his grades for when he played as a reserve LT for Pace. It was worse than his grades for his 5 starts at RT. He is better off at RT and Williams is better off at LT. So their potential starting 5 should be an improvement considering the continued development of Williams and Omiyale who were both in their first season as starters last year. They do need a solid backup OT at least though. Matt Forte did not have a good season overall, but if you look at the last 5 games, he was better than he was the first 11. Nothing exceptional at all, but better. He was scored a -10.0 for the season as a rusher, but his last 5 games were a -1.0. He was in the red, in 4 of the first 11, and once in the last 5.
Just check to see if Kreutz takes part in the team's off season conditioning program. If he is, he was telling the truth about being ahead of schedule.
Hmm...Jared Allen, Clay Matthews Jr, Kyle Van Den Bosch, the NFC North has some of the best passrushing DE's in the NFL and now Williams is expected to improve his mediocre play against them? This is a part of what I mean by a forseeable disaster. Which is more to my point Mr C, the Seahawk's GM should have recognized that Walter Jones was a huge question mark going into 2009, instead they ignored the problem, which is what the Bears are doing..again. It's not that Unger or Curry were bad prospects, rather they were not the right players for what they needed. Sort of like putting all their eggs in the Julius Peppers basket in Chicago. It took 2yrs of focusing on the Oline, tens of millions of dollars and developmental time to build Oline depth, the Beards have not made such an investment. Put it this way, "if" Williams back problems resurface, the Bears season is over same as the Seahawk's season was over when Jones's knee did not come around. They played: Rams Packers Ravens Vikings Lions Two of the worst teams in the nfl and a ravens team with an injured Suggs . Look at the teams they played to finish the season Mr. C, and Forte did not have a good season because the Oline was so pourous, the Bears added Miek Martz, which will also remove one of their better offensive weapons in Greg Olson, from seeing the ball as much as he would in a normal offense. And when was the last time Martz was successful as a OCoordinator? It would not surprise me to see the Lions pass the Bears this year in the NFCN.
What matters more is his level of participation, he could easily participate at a reduced level. And consider this, they could sign Sims outright and surrender a 4th rd pick, but they do not want to add his salary while keeping Alex Brown's, inow they are now trying to go cheap. Which is sort of foolish on their part.
