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Yea, so much will change before we actually have to trim down to the 53 man roster. Guys performances will dictate a lot. But lets take an early look at our depth chart.

QB- Grossman, Orton, Hill , Hanie
RB- Forte, Peterson, Wolfe, Benson, Pope
FB- McKie, Runnels, Polite
WR- Booker, Bradley, Hester, Davis, Lloyd, Bennett, Monk, Hass, Rideau
TE- Clark, Olsen, Davis, Mines
T- Tait, Williams, St. Clair, Barton
G-Garza, Beekman, Metcalf, Adams, Reed
C- Kreutz, Oakley
DE- Brown, Ogunleye, Anderson, Bauzin, Baldwin
DT- Harris, Dvoracek, Harrison, Adams, IdonijeToeaina,
OLB- Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Williams, Okwo, LaRocque
ILB- Urlacher, Wilson McClover
CB- Tillman, Vasher, Manning, McBride, Bowman, Graham
S- Brown, Manning, Payne, Steltz, McGowan, Gattis
K- Gould
P- Maynard
LS- Mannelly

Locks in bold, rest of projected 53 are in italics. Everyone else is borderline 53/practice squad/cut.

Cliff Levingston wouldn't be surprised if:

- Wolfe was cut on June 1st now that Forte is in the fold.
- Archuleta was cut on June 1st now that we have Steltz.
- Angelo picked up another guard in free agency post June 1st cuts.
- Rideau, Hass and either Lloyd or Monk don't make the team.

Cliff Levingston wrote:Cliff Levingston wouldn't be surprised if:

- Wolfe was cut on June 1st now that Forte is in the fold.
- Archuleta was cut on June 1st now that we have Steltz.
- Angelo picked up another guard in free agency post June 1st cuts.
- Rideau, Hass and either Lloyd or Monk don't make the team.

I agree on all of these except Archuleta. I think unless the performance of one of the young guys really forces the issue, Archuleta gets another chance, especially with the health questions of Brown.

Never too early for this stuff! Looks about right though I'd make a couple of changes :

- I'd put Bennett and Steltz in bold as 53-man locks
- I don't necessarily see Manning as a lock at CB given the lack of confidence the staff clearly has with him
- Not sure Beekman is a lock given he couldn't sniff the field in his rookie year.
- I would put Toeaini in that DT mix
- Didn't we waive Runnels at some point last year ?

I'm just going to post what you put and comment in between the positions.

QB- Grossman, Orton, Hill (gotta sign a vet I'm thinking)

Bears go into the season with 3 QBs, don't expect anything more.

RB- Benson, Forte, Peterson, Wolfe, Pope

Forte is the man. Period. Benson will be a legit backup, and Wolfe and Peterson will share 3rd string opportunities. Not because Wolfe is that good, but Peterson is valuable as a special teamer, especially since Ayanbedejo is gone. Wolfe will be a good mix up in the running game in the late second quarter and/or late quarters 3&4. At that time defenses are either tired, or looking forward to halftime, and a good opportunity to surprise them with a speedy back. I hope Wolfe pans out.

FB- McKie, Runnels, Polite

I think Runnels is gone, so what chewie basically said. Most teams will only go into the season with one FB, and have their TE play the backup role. I'm fine with McKie since our FB is mostly a blocking position.

As Clark gets older I wouldn't be surprised to see him slide over to the backup FB role and also catch some balls as a FB. Kinda like Bubba Franks for the Packers.

WR- Booker, Bradley, Hester, Davis, Lloyd, Bennett, Monk, Hass, Rideau

I thought Rideau was also cut, maybe that was the preseason, then bruaght back, not sure about that. Either way he has no chance to make this team.

I'd split up the WR depth to two positions.

My depth for WR would be

WR1 - Lloyd, Bennet, Bradley, Monk
WR2 - Booker, Hester, Davis

My third WR in the 3 set would be Bennet, with some Hester mixed in on certain plays. Hester would be the fourth WR, then Bradley, then Monk/Davis.

TE- Clark, Olsen, Davis, Mines

Olsen would be my clear cut numero uno. The backup role will be interesting, maybe Clark, and for the good of the future, maybe Davis. Mines is out. Also see my comment about FB (Clark) up top.

T- Tait, Williams, St. Clair, Barton

Again, suggest to split up the positions with two spots.

LT - Williams, and nobody else. If he gets injured its Tait again. Please God no!!!
RT - Tait, backed up by St. Clair, Barton = ?

G-Garza, Beekman, Metcalf, Adams, Reed

LG - Garza (whether he ends up on the left side or the right, there's a battle for the other spot)
RG - (This is going to be a battle)

Beekman intrigues me because a lot of lineman go from being big an burly in college to "just like everybody else" in the NFL, therefor they need time to master more technique and can no longer get away with just holding/pinning down their pass rusher. We'll see on Beekman.

C- Kreutz, Oakley

I wouldn't have minded seeing a C replacement for Kreutz, but I think he would've went postal on the organization if it happened. We're fine here on C, otherwise if I say something Kreutz will come after me!
Of all the OL, Garza is the versatile backup for any position. If anyone gets injured Garza is the first to move around and they plug in someone for Garza. He can play all five OL positions.

DE- Brown, Ogunleye, Anderson, Bauzin, Baldwin

LE - Ogunleye, Bauzin, Baldwin
RE - Brown, Anderson (good mix in on the weak side, to keep the lineman on their toes, love his speed explosion off the line.)

Realistically Anderson backs up both positions.

DT- Harris, Dvoracek, Harrison, Adams, IdonijeToeaina

Nose type DT - Harris, Adams
other DT - Dvoracek, Idonije

I dont' know enough about the other guys to make a call.

OLB- Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Williams, Okwo, LaRocque

weak side - Briggs, Williams (this positions needs to be a tackling stud.)
strong side - Hillenmeyer, Okwo

Don't know anything about LaRocque

ILB- Urlacher, Wilson McClover

All I can say is Please don't let Urlacher get injured. I don't even want to think about depth at MLB.

CB- Tillman, Vasher, Manning, McBride, Bowman, Graham

CB1 - Tillman, Manning jr, Graham
CB2 - Vasher, Bowman, Graham

I hope Bowman can give us some flashes of his potential, then grows to be a legit physical CB.

S- Brown, Manning, Archuleta, Payne, Steltz, McGowan, Gattis

FS - Brown(his legs won't let him be so versatile anymore, but he still has the instincts. Every Bear fan should be praying he can be healthy and contribute!), Manning, Archuleta
SS - Manning, Steltz, Archuleta

I hope Steltz can learn the coverage schemes quick and make an impact, then I hope he turns into a John Lynch clone!!! lol.

K- Gould
P- Maynard
LS- Mannelly

Don't need to comment on the these three.

I think Briggs is more then capable of playing MLB and if Lac' gets injuried we let Williams play weak side and Briggs MLB.

The Sheik wrote:I think Briggs is more then capable of playing MLB and if Lac' gets injuried we let Williams play weak side and Briggs MLB.

I'd just slide Williams into the middle and let Briggs stay at weak, but it really doesn't matter either way.

It wouldn't shock me to see Benson cut before the start of the season. He doesn't exactly have the right personality to be the 'good soldier' back up behind Forte and word has it that his injury is going to slow him even further.

El Ridda wrote:It wouldn't shock me to see Benson cut before the start of the season. He doesn't exactly have the right personality to be the 'good soldier' back up behind Forte and word has it that his injury is going to slow him even further.

I don't know, that'd be a pretty big cap hit to cut Benson. Anyone know the exact number?

Benson was pretty servicable when he split carries with Thomas Jones. Jones wore them out and then Benson was able to come in and run some guys over when they were tired and he was still fresh. The problem with Benson when he was the man was that he tried running guys over from the get go when they were fresh. In the process he just tired himself out, and nothing ever came out of it.

So hopefully a balanced 3 man attack with Benson/Forte/Peterson will be as effective as Jones/Benson was which was good for us.

I won't go through all of the positions, but I'd be shocked if Monk was cut outright. At the very least I think they will throw him on the IR for the season. Lloyd, Hass, and Rideau aren't long for this team. Bennett will be a regular by the halfway point of the season.

Harrison is a lock, kid has way too much talent not to be a regular contributor. Unless of course he gets caught with x again. I'll be surprised if Baldwin makes the team, of course thats mostly because I don't know a damn thing about him.

I think Davis makes the team as a special teams contributor. If he can play hard, I expect he has some talents that Turner would like to utilize.

Steltz is a lock. Goodbye Archuletta.

Williams starts the first preaseason game and every game for the next 8 years.

Forte starts, Benson still isn't healthy, and does well. I don't know that he'll ever break 1400 yards, but he damn sure can get 82 a game. If Benson comes to camp healthy, I think it will be a hell of a battle, and they'll probably end up splitting carries.

We have a lot of guys at the bottom of the depth chart, but are long projects.

Monk, Steltz, Williams, and Davis all fit this bill.

For example, it took John Lynch four years to make any type of impact for TB.

Four years of riding the bench, most fans would've called for him to be cut.

I don't want to see Wolfe cut.

QB - Grossman, Orton, Hill
RB - Benson, Forte, Peterson, Wolfe
FB - McKie
WR - Booker, Bradley, Hester, Davis, Lloyd, Bennett
TE - Clark, Olsen, Davis
T - Tait, Williams, St. Clair
G - Garza, Beekman, Metcalf
C - Kreutz
DE - Brown, Ogunleye, Anderson, Bauzin
DT - Harris, Dvoracek, Harrison, Adams, Idonije, Toeaina
OLB - Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Williams, Okwo
ILB - Urlacher, Wilson
CB - Tillman, Vahser, Manning, McBride
S - Brown, Manning, Payne, McGowan, Steltz
K - Gould
P - Maynard
LS - Mannelly

Thats 52 I believe.

Wolf over Peterson

Love a Forte, Benson battle

Clark behind Olson

Rootin for Monk

Bennett will be one of our best recievers imo

my 2 cent

My thought:

The Bears need to go after Chris Simms

To correlate that with this thread...then the Bears would have a depth chart that doesn't make me openly weep at the QB slot.

bump to edit release of Arachuleta.

I'll take a shot if for no other reason that I'd like to see who I can call up from memory....

QB: Grossman, Orton, Hanie, Hill
RB: Forte, Peterson, Benson, Wolfe, Pope
FB: McKie
WR: Booker, Bradley, Bennett, Hester, Davis, Monk, Lloyd, Hass
TE: Olsen, Clark, Davis
OL: Williams, Tait, Kreutz, Garza, St. Clair, Beekman, Adams, Metcalf, Barton, Oakley, Reed

DE: Brown, Ogunleye, Anderson, Bazuin, Baldwin
DT: Harris, Dvoracek, Harrison, Idonije, Adams, Toeaina
LB: Urlacher, Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Williams, McClover, Okwo, Wilson, Roach, LaRocque
CB: Tillman, Vasher, McBride, Bowman, Manning Jr., Graham
S: Brown, Manning, Steltz, McGowan, Payne

K: Gould, Longest
P: Maynard
LS: Mannelly

Bold players I consider locks. Players in italics are my guess to make the final cut.

WR and OL battles should be interesting. Our o-line starters are old as sin even with the addition of Chris Williams.

5/7 Edit: McGowan added as lock, Roach removed as making final cut. Agree with NoSkyy's advice to make Williams a lock, taking McClover's slot.

I like Brandon McGowan. I thought he played well enough to maybe bump him up a little.

Edit: How is Mclover a lock but WIlliams not?

NoSkyy wrote:I like Brandon McGowan. I thought he played well enough to maybe bump him up a little.

Edit: How is Mclover a lock but WIlliams not?

It's funny you mentioned McGowan as I was just going in to edit my msg to include him after a little reading. Bears are higher on him than I am, though. I thought his reads were just awful.

I'm taking out Roach (though I like him on special teams) and adding McGowan.

I also agree with your Williams comment. McClover thrives on special teams but Williams can obviously also contribute on defense. Thanks, NoSkyy.

I love our special teams like this too. Think about it:

Just in kick coverage alone we can field something like:

Mcgowan
Steltz
Davis(either, dont' remember if Rashied was on Kick coverage or not)
Mcbride(maybe swamp him out for Wilson)
Bowman
Williams
Okwo
McClover
Idonije
Gould
Payne

My bet is Hanie will be our #3 if the Bears don't sign anyone.