Nah, it was a pretty weak line last season. We had injuries and half our line got very old and neither Tait or Kreutz played up to their ability. We’ve jettisoned 2 starters from last year and will be expecting unproven guys to fill those roles.
I’m a little optimistic, if Williams plays like the prospect he’s expected to be we’ll be in good shape. Tait and Kreutz should be excellent mentors and a successful performance form the rookie will allow Tait to move to his natural RT slot. The guards are unproven but I like the youth and we have a open competition which should lead to someone earning the spots.
When he got over 10 carries, he seems to have been pretty effective. Of course, there’s a bit of a cart/horse problem here: was he effective because he got lots of carries, or did he get lots of carries because he was effective?
The Bears were last in the NFL in ypc, 30th in yards rushing, and were the 24th in sacks allowed. Both Tait and Kreutz are solid, but are both are in their 30’s. They are REALLY relying on Williams to step into the LT spot and make an immediate impact, which I personally don’t think he will. He’ll hopefully allow fewer sacks, but his run blocking has always been suspect.
There’s a third ingredient: the score of the game. The Lions didn’t exactly play with the lead all the time, you know.
Really, 10 carries in a game is pretty much laughable anyways. I liked Martz, but I wish he’d have stuck with the run a little more.
Benson’s ypc dropped .7 yards from 2006 (4.1 ypc), when he was in tandem with Thomas Jones, and 2007 (3.4 ypc), when he was running alone. Now, in my view, at least part of that decline was due to the Bears’ poor offensive line. Other than plugging in a rookie at LT, I haven’t seen much by way of improvement. I don’t think Jones will do much better than Benson did in 2006, even if Jones is healthy, which is far from settled.
That’s normal. The guy who spells a star back always has impressive-looking numbers - look at Jesse Chatman’s numbers as LT’s backup, or Derrick Blaylock’s numbers as Priest Holmes/Larry Johnson’s backup, or DeShaun Foster’s numbers as Stephen Davis’ backup, or Dominic Rhodes’ numbers as Edge’s backup…
The reasons for this, IMHO, are threefold: a) the defense doesn’t key on the change-of-pace guy, b) there will always be more rushing lanes on third-and-long than on first down, and c) if you only get five carries a game, obviously you’ll be that much fresher each time you do carry the ball.
When he was good, he was fucking great…but for a two and a five, when we’ve got Boss to take his place? Been nice knowin’ ya Jeremy…
Time to put my 80 jersey on the wall now…
Top three? I’d definitely take Gates, Winslow II, Gonzales, Witten or Todd Heap above him.
The dude’s had one amazing season, a couple pretty good seasons, and a lot of hype and nagging injuries. Randy McMichael’s essentially done the same.
Then again, any above average offensive position player’s probably worth a second rounder and a cut-in-training-camp/fullback-punter dude. Still… he’s the sort of guy that wouldn’t surprise me at all to fail to have a redemption season like so many guys put in this position.
Personally, I’m waiting for Thomas Davis to rack him up twice a year. T.Jackson would do as well, though.
Cross-posted from the thread on Football Outsiders:
Good deal for the Giants. Yes, this makes them a worse team this year, but in the long-run it’s a slam dunk. They already captured the vast majority of Shockey’s prime, during which he was constantly battling injuries. The chances that he’ll have a healthy decline phase are about nil. The chances that they could have gotten anywhere near as much for Shockey next year are about nil. They’re selling high.
Or, look at it this way: the Giants used the 14th overall selection in 2002 to take Shockey, and let’s say that the Saints’ mean 2009 2nd Rounder is the 54th overall pick. By completing this trade, the Giants have effectively moved down 40 spots in order to rent a very good TE for six years out of his seven or eight year prime. Repeat that sort of process ad infinitum and your team can be perpetually young and stacked.
He has 4 years remaining at $1.8m next season, then averaging around $4m over the next three. I’ve always thought he was overrated, but I think he will be a pretty big help for the Saints offense. I really think he’ll help blocking for Bush on the outside, and he’s going to open things up for the rest of the team. A good TE can really help out against cover two defenses, and TB looks to be the team’s main competition in the NFC south.
Just for the sake of completeness I’ll report that Brian Urlacher signed a new deal yesterday that extends his contract into 2012. He adds about $18M and 1 year to his deal netting him around $8.7M per. That’s a little pricey and he’s on the back end of his prime but his value to the team from a PR standpoint helps mitigate it.
The Bears smartly tied the new money into annual “bonuses” for his being on the roster and only added $6M in bonus money so his cap number will only go up by $2 million a year and if he’s cut or traded there will be no serious cap crunch.
Assuming the Bears finish the deal to lock up 1st rounder Chris Williams we’re in pretty good shape financially heading into camp with everyone signed.
The odd thing is that of all the teams who could have used him, New Orleans might be the least needy. They’ve got no good TEs, but lots and lots of receivers, and Marques Colston is practically a tight end with wide receiver speed anyway.
I didn’t realize he had 4 years left- thought it was just the one, with an option for another.
Gates and Gonzalez, certainly. Witten and Todd Heap are one-year wonders (well, one really good year and some decent year wonders), and Todd Heap isn’t the receiver Shockey is. Better blocker, though.
