Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Hub Arkush, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, looks at the Bears situation in round 1 of the 2014 NFL draft:

“Half the world wants to match three-technique defensive tackle Aaron Donald with the Bears, but for every list you’ve got that has him somewhere between 10 and 14, I’ll find you a list that has him somewhere between 22 and 40.”

I think you’re going to have a hard time finding many up to date lists that have Donald that low. My question about Donald is fit not talent.

“The last two members of the top 20 are probably safeties, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Calvin Pryor, but the problem for the Bears is they fall somewhere between 19 and 24 on almost every list.”

Truth. I know the Bears need safety help but I don’t think Bears fans should get their hopes up that they’re going to get one in round 1. Having recently gone through the mock draft process I can tell you that reaching for a safety was not something I wanted to do. And according to almost every site out there with up to date rankings, it would have been a reach. I’ll be surprised if Bears general manager Phil Emery wants to do that any more than I did.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

“What do you think is the more likely scenario: 1) With nearly the same offensive personnel returning, the Bears offense is even better this upcoming season in the second year of the Marc Trestman offense. 2) With a year of the Trestman offense on film for D-coordinators of the league to review more heavily, the Trestman offense will offer fewer surprises and revert to the mean. –Kevin, Chicago

“The Bears were very potent on offense last season, averaging 27.8 points per game to rank second behind the Broncos. Trestman has a better feel for his collection of talent now and certainly there is room for growth across the board on offense. Defenses probably have a better idea of what the Bears are doing too but I don’t see a significant drop off coming, especially if quarterback Jay Cutler remains healthy, which is a legitimate concern. Keep in mind the Bears were very healthy on offense last season with the exception of Cutler, who missed five games. That is always a wild card for every team on both sides of the ball.”

The last point is a huge one and one I’ve been worried about since the season ended. Expectations for the Bears offense are sky high this year but I think its possible that Beas fans should temper them.

Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery all stayed healthy last year. I have my suspicions that Martellus Bennett had some issues but if he did, he played through them. I feel a little better about the offensive line but no one should feel comfortable with the back ups at any of these other positions.

The depth of the talent pool on offense is disturbingly shallow.

…but if ifs and buts were candy and nuts wouldn’t it be a Merry Christmas.

As previously mentioned, I’m participating in a mock draft with 32 other knowledgable fans.  In the first round I took a very talented but less than ideal inside linebacker and middle linebacker of the future C. J. Mosley.  I was hoping to do better in round 2.

Here’s how the first 2 rounds shaped up before the Bears second round pick:

FISRT ROUND

SECOND ROUND

Top players left on my board were:

Carlos Hyde, RB, Ohio State
Corey Latimer, WR, Indiana
Cyrus Kouandjio, OT , Alabama
Deone Bucannon, S, Washington State
Stan Jean-Baptiste, CB , Nebraska

Taking any of the first three was never a serious consideration.  I only include them in the list because it demonstrates something I noticed through out this entire process.  The offensive talent is unbelievable in this draft.  I could have had my pick of any one of multiple players at any point from the first round on that would help a lot of teams.

Unfortunately the Bears need help on defense and that is, of course, where I went with this pick.  At this point the Bears still needed a safety and a defensive tackle badly.  Not taking one of those here would mean that it would be unlikely that I’d come away with a starter at either or both of those positions and the draft would have been an abject failure.  Furthermore, if I passed on Bucannon, I wasn’t going to see another safety that looked like he was even close to a starter. In my opinion it was basically Bucannon or nobody and I “ran to the podium” to take him.  He was a good value here.

Having said that, he, also, is not ideal.  I had recently acquired safety Ryan Mundy penciled in as the starter at strong safety before this but he’d almost certainly move to free safety, a position which he’s played extensively in the past, with this pick. Bucannon would start with a floor as a good strong safety but the hope is that many of the scouts are wrong and that he can be as interchangeable as Mundy is. As I understand it from Bears general manager Phil Emery, versatility is the name of the game in the new Bears defense. This guy won’t be a bust but he’s only going to fit in with that philosophy if he shows he can cover receivers. Time will tell.

It’s a shame I couldn’t take an offensive player this high. I could think about it next round but defensive tackle is still a serious need.  And suicides are supposed to be more common at Christmas anyway.

Packer’s general manager Ted Thompson addresses the addition of former Beas defensive end Julius Peppers in the offseason:

“Well, 34 is not so old,” Thompson said. “Not for some of us. There’s no evidence of any decline in his play, in our opinion. He still has the same athletic traits that he had coming out. He’s had a remarkable history in the NFL in terms of durability. We’re looking forward to it. I think he is, too.”

Thompson has a point here.  I know that multiple members of the media heavily criticized Peppers effort last year but I saw no decline in play and, at times, I thought I saw Peppers play as well as he ever has.

I don’t think the Bears released Peppers because he’s old and I don’t think, even if there’s some truth to it, that they released him because he took some plays off.  I think they released him because of his salary.  Otherwise, he’d still be a Bear.

When the Packers signed Peppers, my first thought was, “This is trouble”.  That hasn’t changed.  I think he’s got a chance to be a dominant player this year opposite Clay Matthews and that the Packers are going to be even more of a hand full because of it.

An interesting note from Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times:

Earlier this month, [the Bears] signed Saints center [Brian] de la Puente, who started every game the last two seasons, to a one-year contract. They’ll pay him $730,001, per players union records.

That dollar matters: By paying de la Puente $1 more than the veteran minimum, the Bears, per union rules, will be able to negotiate an in-season extension beyond one year and the exact same salary. (They were unable to with quarterback Josh McCown when he played for the minimum last season.)

Neat trick.  But it takes two to tango and it probably is an indication that both de la Puente and the Bears would like to stay more than one year.

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune speculates as to what general manager Phil Emery’s first round pick will tell us about their plans on defense:

“It would be fascinating if, by some measure of good fortune, the Bears went on the clock in the first round of the NFL draft May 8 with Pitt defensive tackle Aaron Donald, Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Louisville safety Calvin Pryor and Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert still available.”

“General manager Phil Emery’s choice in that scenario would teach us a bit about how he believes a defense should be built and the scheme in coordinator Mel Tucker’s second season.”

“One of the most intriguing mysteries of the Bears’ yet-to-be-revealed schematic tweaks is how they will use their safeties. Will Tucker want to play a safety closer to the line of scrimmage instead of the two-deep alignment for which the Bears were known under former coach Lovie Smith? That could depend on the talent at Tucker’s disposal.

“Clinton-Dix is known for his range in coverage, while Pryor earned a reputation for tackling and physical play closer to the line of scrimmage.”

Adam Jahns at the Chicago Sun-Times takes the conversation a bit farther:

“The growing importance of safeties (see all the money they’ve received in free agency recently) can’t be ignored. Offenses are attacking defenses in many ways, and having do-everything safeties has become crucial.”

True.  But perhaps more to the point, defenses are attacking offenses in many ways.  In this respect, Dan Pompei’s excellent article on the importance of safeties points to the central issue:

“Once upon a time, the conventional wisdom said you don’t want safeties at the top of your salary pyramid. That wisdom is changing as the passing game is becoming more prominent. A safety who can cover can be an antidote for the new-age, athletic, pass-catching tight end, and he can allow a defensive coordinator freedom to use his cornerbacks and linebackers more aggressively.”

“‘When you went against [Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu], you had to give a guy on scout team a special-colored jersey so you knew where they were,’ [a] senior exec said.”

Despite the implications in my last post, who you line up at defensive end isn’t going to make the difference in a versatile scheme.  Its where you line up your linebackers and, to an extent, your defensive backs.  More and more, your safeties are the center of your defense, needing to be tough and big enough to play linebacker near the line of scrimmage, yet athletic enough to cover man-to-man in the slot, cover a tight end in the seam or cover ball to boundary deep.

Taking the ability of the safeties themselves out of the equation, being able to move other players around to confuse defenses and to take advantage of mismatches depends critically on being able to count on your safeties to plug the gaps that are left.  You can argue that their ability to do so almost completely determines what you can and can’t do.

It’s a fascinating problem and, as you look at it closely, you realize that its one the Bears haven’t solved.  More and more it looks like, all things being equal, safety will be where the Bears will go early in the draft.  It may be the key to everything they wish to do.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune had a particularly interesting “Mail Bag” this morning.  A few questions are worth highlighting:

“Why is it that the Bears have the 14th pick in the first round but the 19th pick in the second? — @neilhelbraun from Twitter

“The Bears were one of six teams to finish at 8-8 last season and by virtue of the strength of schedule tiebreaker, the Bears have the best pick of the group that includes the Cowboys, Ravens, Steelers, Dolphjns and Jets. However, the order changes in each round with the Bears rotating to the back of this pack for Round 2.”

[slapping head] Forty years a football fan and I never noticed that the draft order changed from round to round in this way.  Having said that, its nice that the Bears caught a break and went to the front of this group in the first round this year.  Its a deep draft and it probably won’t make a whole lot of difference, especially with Emery’s tendency to go his own way in the first round and draft guys most didn’t see coming anyway.  But it makes a difference.

These two seem to go together to me:

“People are projecting Lamarr Houston to kick inside for Bears on third down and he is listed at 300 pounds but looked more like 260 last year in a two-point stance. Can he do that? — @yestello from Twitter

“When Houston was drafted by the Raiders, he showed up in Oakland as a 300-pound defensive tackle and owner Al Davis told him he would become a defensive end. Houston tipped the scales at 300 the day he arrived and the Raiders never changed his listed weight after that. Houston told me he played at 275 pounds last season and I’d expect him to be in that range for the Bears this season even though the team’s Web site lists him at 300 right now. There is no question Houston can move inside and play tackle in the nickel package. In fact, you should count on seeing it.”

“Is Shea McClellin the starter at strong-side linebacker? Is he going to even be on the field much in third down situations to rush the passer? — @Ampriest from Twitter

“I definitely envision him as part of the nickel defense as a pass rusher playing with his hand in the dirt. While the sack totals have not been acceptable, the Bears believe McClellin has been productive in that role. It’s been a long time since the team had a linebacker move to end in pass-rushing situations but the Bears did that very well in 2001 and 2002 with then strong-side linebacker Rosevelt Colvin. We’ll see what unfolds for McClellin. He’s going to have a chance to play in the base defense and the nickel package but he has to produce.”

So as the defense takes shape it seems we have some mystery about what its going to look like in pass rushing situations.  Houston moves to the three technique tackle.  Jared Allen is the right end.  No question there.  If McClellin moves to left end, that takes Willie Young off the field.  But I don’t think the Bears signed Young to sit the bench in passing situations.  I think, like safety Ryan Mundy,  they signed Young because they plan to further develop him and I think they plan to play him.

A couple possibilities:

1. We could see a rotation at left end in passing situations with Young taking some snaps and McClellin taking the rest.  It may also depend upon the right tackle.  Young is a bigger player and he might handle some tackles better that McClellin, who still has a habit of being engulfed by bigger tackles.
2. Its entirely possible, in contrast to the speculation from Biggs, that the Bears play McClellin at linebacker in passing situations.  This would allow him to rush the passer from there.  It may depend on how he looks in coverage at the new position.

Though some may argue that the Bears have their third wide receiver on the sorer already in Marquess Wilson but Wilson hasn’t shown anything, yet.   Add the fact that Brandon Marshall is entering the last year of his contract and Alshon Jeffery has only two years left on his and it would be no surprise if the Bears took a wide receiver in the NFL draft if the right guy falls.  Enter ex-Colorado wide receiver Paul Richardson, a potential third rounder.

Richarson is lanky 6’0 3/8”, 175 lb and ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper says of Richardson “if he can fill out that frame and get a little stronger, could be an interesting guy”.  This makes him Bears general manager Phil Emery’s interesting kind of guy.  Emery has a background as a strength and conditioning coach likes to take prospects who have the right frame but appear to need work in the weight room in the draft, including former first round pick Shea McClellin and second round wide receiver Jeffery.

Richardson may be a guy to keep an eye on especially if he falls into the mid-rounds.