Tempting fruit

Rashard Mendenhall looking very salaamenisbenson-esque


A guy we haven't really discusssed much here at the Dong is our very own hometown stud Illinois RB Rashard Mendenhall.

Mendenhall is ranked as the #7 overall underclassman prospect in the 08 draft by the Sporting News and predicted to go in the first round by most mock drafts.

Thank god we draft too early to justifiably pick this kid. Sure he looks great but my stance is (and always has been) to draft D and sign O. You can get a bargain like Thomas Jones or late round production (Berrian, Rasheed Davis, Peterson) much more easily that trying to pick the needle in the haystack and end up with another Enis, Saalam, Terrell, Benson, etc.

Nontheless, I wish Mendenhall the best of luck in the NFL- he's big and tough and has some surprising speed between the tackles. They're predicting him to go to Seattle or another team in the mid 20's and I'd love to see this kid have a chance to light it up.

Beefy.

Typically, the average career for a RB is about 2 weeks. Nevertheless, I'll be watching this kid on draft day. I would also bet at least $10 that he's packing some serious heat below the belt. Like, 10 inches. Soft. And no, I'm not gay... just making an astute observation.

Drafting Offense is for Pussies

Last seen working at a car repair shop

The Bears have a pretty bad track record of drafting offensive skill players early in the draft. My memory is scarred with the names Curtis Enis, Rashaan Salaam, Cade McNown and David Terrell. On the other hand, the Bears have an exceptionally good track record of drafting good defensive players both early and late in a given draft.

If we look at the top few picks from the last few drafts, it’s pretty obvious where our GM and scout team excel:

2006
2 42 Danieal Manning
2 57 Devin Hester

2005
1 4 Cedric Benson
2 39 Mark Bradley
4 106 Kyle Orton

2004
1 14 Tommie Harris
2 47 Tank Johnson
3 78 Bernard Berrian
4 110 Nathan Vasher

2003
1 14 Michael Haynes
1 22 Rex Grossman
2 35 Charles Tillman
3 68 Lance Briggs

2002
1 29 Marc Colombo

2001
1 8 David Terrell
2 38 Anthony Thomas

2000
1 9 Brian Urlacher
2 39 Mike Brown

With the exception of Michael Haynes, every defensive player picked in the first few rounds has been an absolute stud. (Hester was drafted as a DB by the way…) I mean, this is REALLY impressive.

Our best RB since Walter Payton was signed as a free agent (Thomas Jones) as was our most consistent WR (Muhammad). The best trade we’ve made in the last 10 years was sending our top WR at the time Marty Booker to the Fins for Ogunleye (which has panned out pretty well).

The obvious take-away here is that the Bears should draft only defensive players and trade or sign position players. Given that getting a QB on the open market is pretty tough, I understand the occasional QB pick although the odds for the Bears (and most teams for that matter) are pretty bad.

I say we take the beast on Michigan. (See http://luolsdong.blogspot.com/2007/12/going-long.html for my thoughts on this gigantic monster.)

And yes, this whole post is just an excuse to post another picture of this behemoth:

Tommy hungry. Tommy want wingy.

Welcome to the "Who Gives a Shit Bowl"

"This won't come back to haunt us...look, I even wrote it on my calendar!"

The Bears play the Saints today in what is probably the most telling example of how far a team can fall off the road to glory. The great matchup of last year in the NFC Championship game is now a meaningless game with two teams that have no playoff hopes.

The TPC brought up the idea of the Bears tanking this game for a better draft pick -- I say we win this game for a better draft pick.

As evidenced by our good friend Ryan Leaf (see: above), the early picks in an NFL draft are hardly sure things. You're still drafting based on potential, not on actuality. Look at the 2005 draft -- any legit player from the 05 draft would certainly have emerged by now. The top 10 picks? Only one pro bowler. You've got players like Pacman, Benson, Cadillac, and Alex Smith (the #1) who have all been incredible busts. The only really good player in the group is Braylon Edwards, and I'll count Ronnie Brown because he finally had a great start to a season.

Now look at the next ten picks: four pro-bowlers (DeMarcus Ware, Shawne Merriman, Jamaal Brown, and Logan Mankins) and some serious talent in Roddy White, Jason Campbell (with kneecaps), and Heath Miller. The Bears could have conceivably had Frank Gore (round 3) or Marion Barber (round 4) instead of Benson, in addition to a great first round pick.

So instead of telling your Bears to tank, tell them to dominate. Wreck the Saints, end the season with a bang to keep you pumped in the offseason, and take the lower draft pick to glory.

Going Long

Since it’s apparently never too early to start looking at the 08 draft, here are the top O-line prospects.

Jake Long OT Michigan
Jeff Otah OT Pittsburgh
Gosder Cherilus OT Boston College
Sam Baker OT USC

Long is going to be a top 5 pick (he’s been a stud at Michigan) and the others will probably be late 1st or early 2nd round picks. I figure if we keep losing, we might have a shot at that massive freak of nature and with Tait still able to walk, we might even be able to play him at RT instead (or move Tait to RT).

Take a look at this pancake loving, cow-tipping honkey:





The dude is massive. Rumor has it that his diet consists of whole eggs, pancakes, trees and small defensive lineman. The guy is just an absolute behemoth, Look at how he dwarfs the other dude in this photo:

Wowzers.

I still say we need to take a hard look at Brohm if we have a chance at him but I think Long could be the real deal. I also promise to walk to Soldier Field and drop a steamy pile of corn-riddled shit on Jerry Angelo’s desk if we draft Darren McFadden. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I am a man of my word and have been known to store up a good deuce for 2+ weeks when the occasion warrants.