NFL Offseason Thread

[The Niggardly King 0]

Never trust the small quiet black man who looks like he got beaten as a child by his father.

[naiwf 0]

Of all of the guys in the NFL to potentially bring it its next black eye, I never would have thought of Marvin Harrison.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

GANGSTA MARVIN!

 

Jeff Saturday's going to be seen makin' it rain at the Red Garter

[Kinetic 0]

This Marvin Harrison thing is a bit like the Wayne Brady skit from "Chapelle's Show." And they're dredging up old stories about him reportedly choking a fan and a Jets ball boy. Surreal.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Nice to see Amendola getting accolades... from Jerry Jones no less.

 

Jerry Jones singled out two free agent receivers for praise: Texas Tech's Danny Amendola and Midwestern State's Daniel Polk. “The one that didn't drop the ball was that boy from Texas Tech,” Jones said. “He's real refined. He runs routes well and has got that quickness. He does and will separate.” Of Polk, Jones said, “I like what an athlete he is.”

 

Also this could explain the selection of RB Kevin Smith by Detroit...

 

Lions offensive coordinator Jim Colletto is installing a zone running scheme -- the same scheme in which Smith excelled in college. UCF offensive coordinator Tim Salem once worked under Colletto at Purdue. In Smith's first meetings with the Lions, the material wasn't new.

 

"That's enabling me to come out here and play a little faster and not do as much thinking," Smith said. "I mean, from the snap count to the exact plays' names, we ran the same thing. I've got a little advantage."

[Damaramu 0]

Looks like Cedric Benson was boating while under the influence, then he resisted arrest and got pepper sprayed. Apparently this is what he likes to do instead of try to be a more productive runner.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

May 3rd article written by Larry Mayer.

 

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Less than ideal conditions didn’t prevent quarterbacks Caleb Hanie of Colorado State and Nick Hill of Southern Illinois from making some impressive throws Saturday during the Bears’ rookie minicamp.

 

Coach Lovie Smith praised the undrafted free agents after both put zip on their passes and generally threw with accuracy despite light rain, gusty winds and temperatures in the 40s.

 

Undrafted free agent Caleb Hanie chose to sign with the Bears over the Cowboys because he felt he had a better opportunity in Chicago.

“I thought the quarterbacks threw the ball better,” Smith said. "Both have a fairly good arm for young guys coming in. Both have played at a pretty high level. Both have good leadership ability and all that, and this is a great opportunity for them.”

 

With only Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton ahead of them on the depth chart, Hanie and Hill are expected to battle for the third and final spot on the 53-man roster. The Bears could also pick up a quarterback who's released by another team.

 

“We have two quarterbacks on our roster right now, so there’s a good chance one of them will be our third quarterback,” Smith said. “There’s an opportunity and they seem like they’re going to make the most of it.”

 

On Saturday, Hanie hit undrafted free agent receiver James Townsend of Rutgers in the right flat and on a slant and also connected with tight ends Kellen Davis, a fifth-round pick from Michigan State, and North Carolina State's Marcus Stone, who's participating in minicamp on a tryout basis.

 

Hill completed passes to wide receivers Earl Bennett, a third-round pick from Vanderbilt, and Marcus Monk, a seventh-round selection from Arkansas. Townsend and Davis also caught passes from Hill.

 

Hanie and Hill didn’t arrive in Chicago by accident. Both made pre-draft visits to Halas Hall, and the Bears kept in contact with them for several weeks leading up to the draft, recruiting them to sign as free agents if they didn’t get selected.

 

Hanie was also pursued by the Dallas Cowboys, the team he rooted for while growing up in Texas. But the 6-2, 236-pounder felt the chance to earn a job was much better in Chicago.

 

“It’s a great opportunity, one because you just have a NFL shot, and two, we’ve got a good chance here with just two quarterbacks on the roster,” Hanie said.

 

“It was good that I had the opportunity to choose where I wanted to go and had a couple options, so it was nice in that area. Obviously you’d like to have your name called. But just being able to pick and choose the place that you wanted to go was a good thing for me.”

 

As a senior at Colorado State last season, Hanie completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,455 yards with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Hanie boasts a strong arm and a quick release but often forced passes into coverage. Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. is high on Hanie, predicting that he will be the Bears' third quarterback this season and eventually start.

 

Hanie feels that he’s well-suited to operate the Bears offense.

 

Nick Hill completed 71.5 percent of his passes last season at Southern Illinois.

“I think I’ll fit in real well with it because it’s a lot of straight drop-back and play-action passes, and I ran a lot of that in college,” he said. “You also get in the shotgun a little bit, and I did some of that in college too. I think I’m pretty well-versed in both areas.

 

"I like the offense a lot. It makes sense to me. I’ve picked it up pretty quick so far and I imagine that I can keep picking it up and moving on.”

 

A big Bears fan while growing up in southern Illinois, Hill no doubt took a quick glance or two at himself in a mirror before heading out to practice at the start of minicamp Friday.

 

“It’s exciting,” Hill said. “It’s a dream come true. If we wanted to stay out here for five hours and practice, I’m willing to do that. Just putting on this helmet and practice jersey is an honor. I feel very fortunate to be here.”

 

Last season at Southern Illinois, Hill completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 3,175 yards with 28 TDs and 7 interceptions. The 6-3, 210-pound lefty also feels comfortable with the Bears offense, something that was evident Friday and Saturday.

 

“He looked smooth,” said offensive coordinator Ron Turner. “We sent him some stuff earlier in the week and it was evident that he studied it, that he got into the playbook a little bit. He had a pretty good grasp of stuff and looked good.”

 

For the immediate future, the Bears' playbook will be Hill's constant companion.

 

"You’ve just got to get in there and know it front and back," he said. "You’ve got to know everything in that thing and then you can go to the line and feel confident and the game starts to slow down a little bit once you know what you’re doing.

 

"The next three or four months, this is all I’m going to do. Every night [i'll] study the playbook because I know it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I have. I’ve got to come out here and show the coaches that they can feel confident and throw me out there in a game.”

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Bears QBs next year:

 

Rex Grossman: 2-5

Kyle Orton: 3-5

Jeff George: 0-1

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Take one win off Orton and give it to Testaverde.

[Guest College Party]

Bullshit. Orton "knows how to win."

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I have really vivid memories of when Purdue was something like 5-0 and Kyle Orton got dumped on his head violently at the end of the Wisconsin game, fumbled the ball, and lost. It was then that I knew he would become something special.

[Kinetic 0]

I heard a Chicago journalist describe Chris Simms as being "much better than any quarterback the Bears have on their roster right now" on ESPN Radio yesterday. What is he basing that off of? The guy's been a scrub since college.

[The Niggardly King 0]

last name

[HarleyQuinn 0]

If the Bears were real smart they'd scour the CFL... still tons of free agent big names like: Eric Crouch, Kliff Kingsbury, Mike McMahon, and Akili Smith(!).

 

They also have that Chris Leak fella that they let go.

 

Come to think of it, Chicago could have a 4 QB roster of college all-stars to mix and match if they decided to go that route.

 

 

[Guest College Party]

No, pursuing Eric Crouch isn't smart.

 

I heard a Chicago journalist describe Chris Simms as being "much better than any quarterback the Bears have on their roster right now" on ESPN Radio yesterday. What is he basing that off of? The guy's been a scrub since college.

Which idiot said THAT?

[teke184 0]

I heard a Chicago journalist describe Chris Simms as being "much better than any quarterback the Bears have on their roster right now" on ESPN Radio yesterday. What is he basing that off of? The guy's been a scrub since college.

Which idiot said THAT?

Probably some idiot whose only Simms game watched was the one where he ruptured his spleen...

 

 

The Bears would be better off convincing Major Applewhite to give up his position-coach slot at U. of Texas to play QB than to bring in Simms.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I tried to come up with things that would maybe make Czech cry. In my best Peter King:

 

c. I think I like this Joe Flacco out of Delaware. He has a rocket arm (no, not that Rocket--and shame on you, Mr. Clemens) and will get a chance to compete for the starting job on day 1 if John Harbaugh's body language when speaking about this bright kid is any indication. Come week 9, if the Ravens are sitting at 5-3 with Flacco under center, could Kyle Boller find himself with a chance to be the savior of Soldier Field? If the Bears haven't found a solution by midseason, I guarantee Lovie Smith will be listening.

 

d. I think that those Gossip Girl billboards still steam my clams.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Excellent imitation, Edwin, except you forgot to bold Kyle Boller's name.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

My intention in not bolding Boller or Harbaugh was that King had already written some other asinine section about them earlier, maybe in a retarded section on he sent Harbaugh a text after McNair's retirement and Harbaugh didn't respond. Something like "Harbaugh already has the right poker face for this league" would be the concluding line. I fucking hate that guy, but I still read his shitty columns, so I guess he's doing something right.

[Guest College Party]

That's okay. I have to defend myself as a reader of Jay Mariotti.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Hey, if that's not bad enough, I still read Dr. Z's columns on The Sporting News.

[Guest College Party]

Adam Archuleta was released by the Bears yesterday, which means he will have made it out of the Lake Forest city limits by, oh, late June.

 

I wonder if in light of Cedric Benson's incident, Lovie Smith will change the Bears' credo from "we come off the bus running" to "we come off the boat drinking."

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

GANGSTA MARVIN!

 

Jeff Saturday's going to be seen makin' it rain at the Red Garter

 

 

HA!

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

I have really vivid memories of when Purdue was something like 5-0 and Kyle Orton got dumped on his head violently at the end of the Wisconsin game, fumbled the ball, and lost. It was then that I knew he would become something special.

 

 

That sucked so fucking bad when that happened. That was the beginning of the end of the great season.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Well, the Matt Walsh videotapes have been delivered to the NFL.

 

And they're just reiterating what was already known, what Belichick had admitted to, and what the league had punished him & the team for.

 

That was worth the wait.

 

But the new rumor seems to be that there's another disgruntled ex-employee that has the videotape of the Rams walk-through before the Super Bowl. One has to wonder why this person didn't come forward to corroborate Walsh's story 3 months ago when this story ... nah, why bother, let's just presume the Pats are guilty.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Adam Archuleta was released by the Bears yesterday, which means he will have made it out of the Lake Forest city limits by, oh, late June.

 

I wonder if in light of Cedric Benson's incident, Lovie Smith will change the Bears' credo from "we come off the bus running" to "we come off the boat drinking."

 

Archuleta got cut? Thank fucking god. Hopefully Detroit picks him up.

[KingPK 0]

Well, the Matt Walsh videotapes have been delivered to the NFL.

 

And they're just reiterating what was already known, what Belichick had admitted to, and what the league had punished him & the team for.

 

That was worth the wait.

 

But the new rumor seems to be that there's another disgruntled ex-employee that has the videotape of the Rams walk-through before the Super Bowl. One has to wonder why this person didn't come forward to corroborate Walsh's story 3 months ago when this story ... nah, why bother, let's just presume the Pats are guilty.

 

A second shooter in the upper bowl of the Superdome?

 

[sfaJack 0]

I trust this second shooter has stored this video tape in one of those frozen draft lottery envelopes for safe keeping.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

I tried to come up with things that would maybe make Czech cry. In my best Peter King:

 

c. I think I like this Joe Flacco out of Delaware. He has a rocket arm (no, not that Rocket--and shame on you, Mr. Clemens) and will get a chance to compete for the starting job on day 1 if John Harbaugh's body language when speaking about this bright kid is any indication. Come week 9, if the Ravens are sitting at 5-3 with Flacco under center, could Kyle Boller find himself with a chance to be the savior of Soldier Field? If the Bears haven't found a solution by midseason, I guarantee Lovie Smith will be listening.

 

d. I think that those Gossip Girl billboards still steam my clams.

The Bears cant be that desperate for a QB that they would consider Kyle Boller. He's no better than the Kyle they already have.

 

And I doubt the Ravens will be sitting at 5-3..they might be able to swing 4-4 but they have the Titans, Colts and Steelers in there which Id predict as losses.

 

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I tried to come up with things that would maybe make Czech cry. In my best Peter King:

 

c. I think I like this Joe Flacco out of Delaware. He has a rocket arm (no, not that Rocket--and shame on you, Mr. Clemens) and will get a chance to compete for the starting job on day 1 if John Harbaugh's body language when speaking about this bright kid is any indication. Come week 9, if the Ravens are sitting at 5-3 with Flacco under center, could Kyle Boller find himself with a chance to be the savior of Soldier Field? If the Bears haven't found a solution by midseason, I guarantee Lovie Smith will be listening.

 

d. I think that those Gossip Girl billboards still steam my clams.

The Bears cant be that desperate for a QB that they would consider Kyle Boller. He's no better than the Kyle they already have.

 

And I doubt the Ravens will be sitting at 5-3..they might be able to swing 4-4 but they have the Titans, Colts and Steelers in there which Id predict as losses.

Why, Marvin, you're absolutely right! What was I thinking to post something so preposterous?!