This means Hester is going to want (and deserve) some serious cash this offseason or he'll probably hold out, since he's still got 2 years on his rookie contract, only making ~500K/season.
In addition, our unrestricted FA list looks like this:
Rex Grossman
Bryan Johnson
Bernard Berrian
Rashied Davis
John Gilmore
Ruben Brown
Brendon Ayanbadejo
Darrell McClover
Charles Tillman
Brandon McGowan
Bryan Johnson
Bernard Berrian
Rashied Davis
John Gilmore
Ruben Brown
Brendon Ayanbadejo
Darrell McClover
Charles Tillman
Brandon McGowan
Seems like '08 is going to be tricky from the outset.
I assume we will resign Tillman, Ayanbadejo and McGowan. I don't really care about Berrian or Davis and Ruben Brown is getting pretty old. I think we are probably going to lose Briggs, unless we pay him too...
On the bright side, we've got substantial talent coming off the IR list, including top draft picks from the last two years:
Mike Okwo (LB)
Dan Bazuin (DE)
Dusty Dvoracek (NT)
(And vets Mike Brown and Ruben Brown who we missed most of the season).
It's too early to look into other FA's around the league but I'm sure we can find an affordable WR. We will have massive talent coming into the defense with the young guys who missed a lot of the 06 or 07 season PLUS our 08 draft picks. There are some great offensive lineman who we could sign, including Alan Faneca and Kyle Turley. The issue is a QB... there are no good FA's (except Romo, who will be a brokeback Cowboy) and the draft is weak after Brohm.
Are we going to roll the dice on a QB or should we draft more D? I always say the draft is for defense and free agency is for skill players but with most of the league starting shitty QB's (check Bill Simmons article from ESPN) we might have to pull another McNown/Grossman and hope for the best with Brohm or Colt.
Personally, I say stick with Grossman.
In fact, I challenge anyone to argue with the following reasoning: There is nobody better, with more upside at a cheaper cost.
If our defense is going to get better and our offense will (at best) stay the same, why roll the dice on a 3-5 year commitment that might (will definitely) suck ass during the last hurrah for Urlacher, Brown etc? Save our money, pay Hester, Briggs and Tillman, integrate the huge influx of young talent on the defense and sign a fast cheap WR to go along with Olsen and Moose.
Vote for Rex in 08.
1 comment:
First of all, didn't Romo just sign a ginormous contract?
Second, the Bears have a lot of things up in the air with their offense: if Ron Turner comes back next year, we're going to HAVE to start Grossman -- that offense just isn't designed to function with anyone else on our team (and we would likely be wasting the talents of anyone we picked up).
If Turner goes, I would suggest letting Orton start. Seriously. Orton isn't nearly the durability risk that Rex is (he's been hurt pretty much every year on the team), and Orton has this whole "short passes" thing down pat. Use Moose, Olsen and Clark (yes, a TWO TE assault) to keep short coverage busy, and then streak Hester or run a slant with Davis for the mid to long range passing gains. The rushing game should be able to do the rest.
This is a defensive team, as it has always been. We're never going to be the Cowboys or Packers, throwing for 300+ and 2 TDs every game. We can do everything that Minnesota has done this year, except that Orton is a better QB than Tavaris Jackson.
We should be able to ride that to some serious success next year.
Unfortunately, I think the Bears will go out and grab Donovan McNabb anyways. He did wonders for your fantasy team, right Keggers?
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