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Gotta beef up this position. I keep seeing the Trib's Pompei say it's not a big need but - c'mon - how can it not be in a Martz offense? Let's revisit Marshall Faulk's February comments :

About the Bears' receivers : "I see no pure wideout. When we ran Martz' offense in St. Louis we had three or four pure wideouts. … If you are still teaching that stuff to your wide receivers then in this offense you can't blame the QB."

About Johnny Knox : "In this offense if you run a slant and a defender is coming down on you then you have to cross his face. But every time I see Johnny Knox run a slant he goes behind the defender and you see an interception go the other way and everyone looks at Jay Cutler and says, 'How did he throw that pass?' That is going to be a mistake no matter who the quarterback is."

Brutally honest....and true. We've got a bunch of #2 and #3 guys on our team. Earl Bennett is a sure-handed possession receiver that's good in traffic. He's shown me he belong. For all the preseason hype, Hester went for just 475/4 as teams loaded up for the predictable screens called for him. It seems more obvious than ever he should stick to the return game. Knox is probably the best of the bunch and you can see what Faulk thinks about his route-running. Still, he went for 960/5 on 51 catches while seeing some kickoff return duties and he's got speed to burn.

The offseason acquisition of Andy Fantuz who's a 27yr old 6'4" 220 guy from the CFL smells like filler-only material. Rashied Davis is a free agent and showed some worth in 2010 after a case of the dropsies in previous seasons.

And that's it.

S-T's Sean Jensen suggested the Bears take a look at Jax WR Mike Sims-Walker who always seems to lose me fantasy games but I'd agree he's worth the risk if the price is right. He's 6'2" and clearly has the talent but lacks maturity and always seems to be dinged up. Jacksonville doesn't want him back and early reports are he wants to play in Miami. Plax will be out there but he'll be 33. Would love to steal Sidney Rice from the Vikes if he's over his hip problems just to say thanks for taking Berrian from us. Santonio Holmes is a better #2 guy than a #1 but he's better than anything we've got, frankly.

Regardless, we need some new blood in the mix here. If we're going to focus on getting Cutler more time in the pocket, we've got to find him a go-to stud to throw to.

I agree with all of this. We have #2 and #3 receivers only. I would have loved to add AJ Green or Julio Jones to play opposite Knox and put Bennett in the slot with Hester coming in situationaly. Once I saw us go Paea in round 2 I knew we weren't going to find our answer in the draft. We need a #1 guy, not filler depth that was left in the draft in round 3 and on so I suppose I don't hate the fact we didn't draft one. Nevertheless, the need is still there as it has been for years now.

With the labor situation and the final 8 rule possibly taking affect for us, we won't even have the option to go after certain FA's (I believe) unless someone goes after and signs one of our RFA (possibly Manning). That makes it really hard to go out and make a play for Sidney Rice or one of the top targets. Even if we didn't have that final 8 rule, I'm not so sure we're spending big money in FA this year anyways after last year. I would be real happy if we could add Sims Walker on a reasonable deal and see how that works out for a few years. We're going to have to address this situation in the draft next year for sure.

What's going down, CK ? Good to see you again.

I've got to read up on the final 8 thing. It would be nice to concentrate more on our roster than all this lockout BS.

Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa - WhoaWhoaWhoa!

Chewie?!?

What?....Do you think you can just walk in and out of my RealGM life like that?

GLAD YOU'RE BACK MAN!

Best news of this wicked lockout of an offseason.

emperorjones wrote:Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa - WhoaWhoaWhoa!

Chewie?!?

What?....Do you think you can just walk in and out of my RealGM life like that?

GLAD YOU'RE BACK MAN!

Best news of this wicked lockout of an offseason.

I feel the love ! Sorry the extended absence.....ready to talk Bears and I figured I'd go position by position to get some talk started. Need to pace myself here, though, and I'm not looking forward to the o-line write up. What a cluster fck that position is.

We'll have to dream up another sig bet once we get the roster straightened out. IF we disagree on the record, that is ! I can't imagine that happening....

A guy with size isn't so much of a concern as a guy who can run some decent routes. You know Hester isn't going anywhere and they used him correctly later in the year: situationally. Knox is a speed demon so he's there. Bennett is sure-handed and works the middle well so he's sticking around.

We do need our #1 guy; someone who can run good routes and get open consistently. Santonio Holmes probably fits that bill the best of all the guys that will be available but not require us to give up picks to get (Sidney Rice). Keep in mind; Olsen is also basically used as a slot receiver so he figures in a little bit.

If we can get Vincent Jackson that would be amazing. He's a big receiver with a lot of speed who isn't afraid to go over the middle and is great in the red zone. Cutler has not been good in the red zone and that has been mostly because we don't have anyone who is reliable there.

I think the move to get Andy Fantuz is the only move we make at WR. I'm sure Martz is thinking that if Cutler has the time, those deep routes will be murderous. Our FA money on offense is going to shore up the O-Line. Probably at LG. After that, I'm thinking we bring in another RB.