Well I wanted to start a thread where the general rebuilding and retooling of the Bears can be discussed. Be it philosophical football x's and o's or players you'd cut, sign or trade. Talk about it here.
I'll start with my first entry:
Fix the offensive line:
The first step in the offensive line rebuilding process was set in motion when Chris Williams moved over to left tackle. Hopefully he was able to pick Orlando Pace's brain a little, making the Pace experiment less of a complete failure. Chris has played well since taking over, and hopefully he and Cutler will get a little more comfortable with each other. Shouldn't be that hard, considering they were college teammates and all.
So what do we with the other 4 spots? I'd say Garza is probably locked into right guard, Kruetz is probably out the door. Omiyale has been better since being benched, but is probably better suited for the outside. Schaffer hasn't done anything to cement the right tackle spot, but he has played well when given the opportunity. I'd like to see right tackle as an open competition between Omiyale and Schaffer. Both are relatively young, and don't have much wear on the tires.
Which leaves us with openings at Left Guard and Center, with Josh Beekman in competition for one of the spots. I think Beekman's value is a backup with the versatility to play both, rather than start at either. We know he was supposed to be the future at Center, but that was when the future at quarterback was Kyle Orton. So Center should be high up on there on our list of needs. I'd like to see us spend one of our first couple picks on a center. Beekman can keep Jay's hands warm while we bring him along, but long term he shouldn't be the answer, but we can get one of the top center prospects with our third.
Which leaves us with left guard. I think the key to some stabillity at left guard might be coaching, it might be the same thing we heard with Marinelli last year but I'd like to see us hire an offensive line guru, someone who will install a working offensive line system, and begin developing some long term prospects. However this might not be the case since we're probably in "Win Now" mode.
I'll start with my first entry:
Fix the offensive line:
The first step in the offensive line rebuilding process was set in motion when Chris Williams moved over to left tackle. Hopefully he was able to pick Orlando Pace's brain a little, making the Pace experiment less of a complete failure. Chris has played well since taking over, and hopefully he and Cutler will get a little more comfortable with each other. Shouldn't be that hard, considering they were college teammates and all.
So what do we with the other 4 spots? I'd say Garza is probably locked into right guard, Kruetz is probably out the door. Omiyale has been better since being benched, but is probably better suited for the outside. Schaffer hasn't done anything to cement the right tackle spot, but he has played well when given the opportunity. I'd like to see right tackle as an open competition between Omiyale and Schaffer. Both are relatively young, and don't have much wear on the tires.
Which leaves us with openings at Left Guard and Center, with Josh Beekman in competition for one of the spots. I think Beekman's value is a backup with the versatility to play both, rather than start at either. We know he was supposed to be the future at Center, but that was when the future at quarterback was Kyle Orton. So Center should be high up on there on our list of needs. I'd like to see us spend one of our first couple picks on a center. Beekman can keep Jay's hands warm while we bring him along, but long term he shouldn't be the answer, but we can get one of the top center prospects with our third.
Which leaves us with left guard. I think the key to some stabillity at left guard might be coaching, it might be the same thing we heard with Marinelli last year but I'd like to see us hire an offensive line guru, someone who will install a working offensive line system, and begin developing some long term prospects. However this might not be the case since we're probably in "Win Now" mode.
Comment