Quite a bit of Bears action over the last few days.
The Defense is starting to clarify a bit.
Melton is gone, signing with the Cowpokes and Rod Marinelli for $5M in 2014 with a 3-year club option that ups the average to $8M per. It’s a tough loss, as he was a Pro Bowl talent the Bears developed from nothing, but coming off an injury, off the field issues and rumors of laziness he’s not worth that kind of risk. He’s good enough to live up to that contract, but it’s no sure thing. The Bears are worse without him, but they need to spread that money around.
Idonije is back. After a 1 year stint with the Lions, one of the best dudes in the league comes home. I think he’s got plenty in the tank to be a useful rotational guy. With Melton gone, there’s a decent chance he kicks back inside where he started his career. I’m really happy with this, valuable depth in the wake of Melton and Peppers leaving.
Steltz is back. Meh. Hopefully he’s just a camp body. The guy sucks, and frankly the Bears need someone with upside in the secondary. Forget the special teams ability, I hope rookie takes his job.
McMannis is back. More excited about this move than the Steltz move. I don’t think he’s going to blossom into a star or anything, but he could be useful as a Nickel in a pinch. He’s a better tackler than most Bears CBs so he’s got that going for him. Again, if a rookie beats him out that’s probably a good thing on balance.
Danny McCray is a new body coming in from the Cowpokes. I don’t know him well, but I gather he’s nothing more than a camp body. He’s got starting experience, but the Cowboys secondary has been as bad as the Bears for the past couple seasons. Another guy who may not make the opening day roster.
On offense there Bears have a couple moves in the pipe.
Earl Bennett is being shown the door after refusing to take another pay cut. He’s a cap casualty, pure and simple. A productive player caught in a log jam with a too-big cap number. He’s a good dude, but was just too unreliable to make this move too terribly concerning. He was injured too often and wasn’t dynamic enough. Cutler liked him as a 3rd down security blanket, and he did that really well, but with Marquess Wilson coming up he’s got to make room for the youngsters.
Eric Weems has been asked to take a pay cut, and frankly I hope he says no. He’s a hot head and seems like a trouble maker. Never heard anyone speak out against him, and having a agitator isn’t always a bad thing if it ups the intensity of the whole group, but Weems just seemed like a penalty waiting to happen. We’ll see what happens, with Hester gone Weems may have value in the return game, but again I’d prefer to take a flier on a UDFA and hope we catch lightning in a bottle.
So, with those moves, Tillman, DJ Williams, Collins and Ratliff coming back and the addition of Houston and Young, the Bears defense is pretty much settled before the draft. Wootton is really the only piece left to fall, and Izzy’s signing may have been a response to that.
So, the Bears really need to find a starting quality Safety (or 2), and probably a impact DT and a CB to groom in the first 4 rounds. LB is also an area of need and could be a target of opportunity if a stud slides to them, but odds are that they let Bostic and Greene develop some and hope McClellin can adapt.
Hopefully someone stellar falls to them in the defensive side at 14 (or better yet someone trades up with them a few spots to grab a WR or QB). Right now my draft target is Aaron Donald, DT, Pitt and he’d be a great Melton replacement. I worry that his stock is skyrocketing to the point where he’s a top 10-12 guy but pre-combine he was a late first rounder, so time will tell. I don’t love any of the DBs who are targeted in the top 15, so the more I look at it the more I want to get out of that #14 spot.