RealGM

Here's my best guess at where the depth chart stands coming out of the draft...not speculating the final 53 man roster, just a look at position breakdown

Rookie*

Offense
QB - Jay Cutler , Calib Hanie, Brett Basanez
HB - Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe
FB - Jason McKie
WR - Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Juaquin Iglesias*, Rashied Davis, Johnny Knox*, Brandon Rideau, Derek Kinder*
TE - Greg Olsen, Des Clark, Kellen Davis, Lance Louis*, Fontel Mines
OT - Orlando Pace, Chris Williams, Kevin Shaffer, Cody Balogh
OG - Roberto Garza, Frank Omiyale, Josh Beekman, Dan Buenning, Tyler Reed
C - Olin Kreutz, Josh Beekman

Defense
DE - Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown, Mark Anderson, Earvin Baldwin, Henry Melton*, Israel Idonije
DT - Tommie Harris, Dusty Dvoracek, Marcus Harrison, Anthony Adams, Jarron GIlbert*, Israel Idonije
OLB - Lance Briggs, Nick Roach, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Jamar Williams, Marcus Freeman*, Joey LaRoque
MLB - Brian Urlacher (not sure which of the above guys backs him up)
CB - Charles Tillman, Nate Vasher, Corey Graham, Trumaine McBride, DJ Moore*, Marcus Hamilton
FS - Josh Bullocks, Danieal Manning (also nickel back) Zack Bowman
SS - Kevin Payne, Craig Stelz, Glenn Earl, Al Afalaya*


Some things I noticed while typing this out...

There is competition at a lot of positions. Not only for roster spots, but for playing time and starting jobs. Competition brings the best out of people.
Also, damn that Defensive Line looks deep. Do work Marinelli.
The O-Line is improved so much over last year.

God I can't wait for training camp.

Do I have anyone out of position or way out of order of depth?

Looks pretty good, I would flip Idonije and Baldwin though. Baldwin might not even make the team.

Looks good. can't wait until camp (when of course I will be out of the FRICKIN country AGAIN.)

Lance Louis was brought in to play OG. JA teased and said he looked at him as a possible fullback as well.

Cornerback is young and deep. O-Line is nice. TE and Linebackers are solid.


If the WR position improves on the field then we will be REALLY able to strengthen the defense next year. Amazing what having the QB & RB positions set can do for rebuilding.

Cliff Levingston is speculating the following (that really matters):

QB
1. Jay Cutler
2. Caleb Hanie
3. Brett Basanez

RB
1. Matt Forte
2. Kevin Jones
3. Adrian Peterson
4. Garrett Wolfe

FB
1. Jason McKie
2. Will Ta'ufo'ou (R)

WR
1. Devin Hester
2. Earl Bennett
3. Juaquin Iglesias (R)
4. Rasheid Davis
5. Johnny Knox (R)

TE
1. Greg Olsen
2. Desmond Clark
3. Kellen Davis

LT
1. Orlando Pace
2. Chris Williams
3. Frank Omiyale

RT
1. Chris Williams
2. Kevin Shaffer
3. Frank Omiyale

LG
1. Josh Beekman
2. Roberto Garza
3. Dan Buenning

RG
1. Frank Omiyale
2. Roberto Garza
3. Dan Buenning

C
1. Olin Kreutz
2. Josh Beekman

DT
1. Tommie Harris
2. Jarron Gilbert (R)
3. Israel Idonije

NT
1. Anthony Adams
2. Marcus Harrison
3. Dusty Dvoracek

LE
1. Adewale Ogunleye
2. Henry Melton (R)

RE
1. Alex Brown
2. Mark Anderson

WLB
1. Lance Briggs
2. Jamar Williams
3. Marcus Freeman (R)

SLB
1. Marcus Freeman (R)
2. Hunter Hillenmeyer
3. Nick Roach

MLB
1. Brian Urlacher
2. Hunter Hillenmeyer

CB
1. Charles Tillman
2. Nathan Vasher
3. Corey Graham
4. D.J. Moore
5. Trumaine McBride

Nickel
1. Danieal Manning
2. D.J. Moore

FS
1. Josh Bullocks
2. Zack Bowman
3. Craig Steltz

SS
1. Kevin Payne
2. Craig Steltz
3. Glenn Earl
4. Al Afalava (R)

Caleb Hanie* Don't you dare spell our star backups name wrong!

I'm most worried about our safety positions, while I do like Payne, I can't imagine Bullocks being ANY good. Does anyone still think Mike Brown might want to sign?

Next is WR, seriously, let's just all pray that one of these rookies is actually the next Eddie Royal or something. I have no idea what to dissect of this corps for next year.

I think there's a lot of questions in which our Oline has to be answered in terms of who is starting.

Other than that, I like what we did, especailly our Dline.

Cliff, I'm too lazy to count, is that your speculation on the 53 man roster? (Along with Mannelly, Gould, and Maynard)

Friend_Of_Haley wrote:Cliff, I'm too lazy to count, is that your speculation on the 53 man roster? (Along with Mannelly, Gould, and Maynard)

Didn't add kicker and punter because those are givens, and of course Mannelly. No, Cliff Levingston didn't count them off, just said that anything beyond those players listed ultimately (or at least, hopefully) doesn't matter.

Alright here's my early guess at the 53.

First the guys I'm pretty confident about:
QB- Cutler, Hanie
RB- Forte, Jones, Wolfe, Peterson
FB-Taufoou
WR- Hester, Bennett, Iglesias,
TE- Olsen, Clark
OT- Pace, Williams, Shaffer
OG- Omilaye, Beekman, Garza
C- Kruetz
DE- Ogunleye, Brown, Anderson, Idonije
DT- Harris, Gilbert, Harrison,
OLB- Briggs, Roach, Williams, Freeman
MLB- Urlacher
CB- Tillman, Vasher, Graham, Moore
DB- Manning
FS- Bowman, Afalava
SS- Payne, Steltz
K- Gould
P- Maynard
LS- Mannelly

Thats 42, leaving 11 spots. The competition for those spots will be (my guesses at winner bolded):
(1)QB- Basanez, Patton
(1)FB- McKie, Davis, Taufoou
(2)WR- Davis, Knox, Kinder, Rideau
(1)TE- Davis, Louis
(2)DL- Melton, Dvoracek (injury concerns), Adams
(1)LB- Hillenmeyer, LaRocque
(1)DB- McBride, Hamilton, Bullocks

Thats 9 spots. Then you'll have 2 other spots that will be between those guys who missed the second cut or other surprises. I'm going to go with Buenning on the OL and Adams on the DL.

Practice squad: Rideau, Louis, Kinder, Davis (FB), others
Possible Surprise Cuts: Ogunleye, Garza, and Clark

Final 53 man projection:
QB- Cutler, Hanie, Patton
RB- Forte, Jones, Wolfe, Peterson
WR- Hester, Bennett, Iglesias, Knox, Davis
TE- Olsen, Clark, Davis
OT- Pace, Williams, Shaffer
OG- Omilaye, Beekman, Garza, Buening
C- Kruetz
DE- Ogunleye, Brown, Anderson, Idonije, Melton
DT- Harris, Gilbert, Harrison, Dvoracek, Adams
OLB- Briggs, Roach, Williams, Freeman, LaRocque
MLB- Urlacher
CB- Tillman, Vasher, Graham, Moore, McBride
DB- Manning
FS- Bowman, Afalava
SS- Payne, Steltz
K- Gould
P- Maynard
LS- Mannelly

A lot of DL, but I don't see a good candidate to let go. Adams isn't great but provides better size than any other DT. Dvoracek is a definite possibility to be let go because of injury. If Anderson doesn't impress he could go. If you did drop an DL, I could see the spot at WR for Rideau, an extra DB, or an extra FB. Another easy candidate to let go is Buenning on the OL, which puts you at 7 OL, but with good versatility.

Friend_Of_Haley wrote:Final 53 man projection:
QB- Cutler, Hanie, Patton
RB- Forte, Jones, Wolfe, Peterson
WR- Hester, Bennett, Iglesias, Knox, Davis
TE- Olsen, Clark, Davis
OT- Pace, Williams, Shaffer
OG- Omilaye, Beekman, Garza, Buening
C- Kruetz
DE- Ogunleye, Brown, Anderson, Idonije, Melton
DT- Harris, Gilbert, Harrison, Dvoracek, Adams
OLB- Briggs, Roach, Williams, Freeman, LaRocque
MLB- Urlacher
CB- Tillman, Vasher, Graham, Moore, McBride
DB- Manning
FS- Bowman, Afalava
SS- Payne, Steltz
K- Gould
P- Maynard
LS- Mannelly

Good guess. I think that's 52 players - you're missing a FB above.

I'll guess that as good as Kellen Davis looked in the preseason last year, he'll lose out to the rook Louis for blocking reasons.

Further, I don't see Josh Bullocks on the list. I'd add his name and take out Adams who I like but 10 d-linemen is just too much. Then again maybe Dvoracek will get hurt again and make the decision easy on us.

Lastly, I'm betting Kinder beats out Knox. I'm hearing good things about him.

Fixed the FB.

Wouldn't be completely surprised to see Davis lose a spot to Louis. More likely though I think is that Louis spends a year on the P.S. and Clark only has one more season. Then in 2010 everyone bumps up the depth chart one. If we have Davis as out 3rd TE again, I think we use a lineman as our third TE in Goaline like we did with Williams last year.

Yea Bullocks has a good chance to make it, and as I talked about 10 DL is a lot. I think someone (most likely Dvoracek) gets hurt and makes the decision easy on us, like you said. Bullocks at DB and Rideau at WR would be the favorites to get that spot, IMO.

If no DL are injured, I wouldn't be completely surprised to see Anderson cut if he doesn't show enough and Melton shows good progress.

I like Knox or Kinder. Kinder has some injury problems in the past, and could end up the the "medical redshirt", which would be fine with me. I would really love for both of them, along with Rideau to perform well enough in training camp that we can cut ties with Davis.

Was thinking about Rashied Davis being the odd guy out, too. He's one of the few WRs we have with some experience, though.

Chewie wrote:Was thinking about Rashied Davis being the odd guy out, too. He's one of the few WRs we have with some experience, though.

Yea, that is my only reservation as well.

Not worried enough about it to let him keep a spot he didn't earn though. Honestly if we wanted a guy with experience for the 4 or 5 spot on the depth chart I would have preferred Lloyd over Davis, but oh well.

Adams off the team? Seems strange considering he was probably our best all-around defensive tackle for the second half of the season. He's not a good pass rusher but he played pretty well stuffing the run. If we have to cut someone on the defensive line then Cliff Levingston votes for Dvoracek (injury concerns) or Idonije (contract up next year anyway).

I whole heartedly disagree with Adams off the team, remember when Dusty got injured and then Adams came in and put in a monster game? The coaches(or announcers, I forgot which one) have showered Adams with compliments and said he's played much better than Dusty. I think he actually deserves to start.

Cliff Levingston wrote:Adams off the team? Seems strange considering he was probably our best all-around defensive tackle for the second half of the season. He's not a good pass rusher but he played pretty well stuffing the run. If we have to cut someone on the defensive line then Cliff Levingston votes for Dvoracek (injury concerns) or Idonije (contract up next year anyway).

The difference is Idonije is a special teams contributor - our assigned wedge-breaker. Adams brings nothing to the table on special teams and Lovie traditionally wants his backups to bring something to the table in that regard.

Agreed that it could be between Adams and Dvoracek, though. Given the number of inactives Adams got lost year, I just don't think the Bears are ga-ga over the guy. I'm more inclined to think they'll let Dvoracek play out the final year of his contract.

He got inactives, until Dusty got hurt and then he was immediately thrusted into the starting spot and KEPT it. The coaches were surprisd by him and damn, a lot of people were wondering if we would have been that bad if Adams started over Dusty to begin with.

Sometimes the better player doesn't make the cut, though.

Salary, age, and where a player was drafted are all factors to consider.

Could be wrong but I do believe I saw Dvoracek on special teams, too. There's a recipe for disaster for a guy who's always on the IR, eh ?

Chewie wrote:
I'll guess that as good as Kellen Davis looked in the preseason last year, he'll lose out to the rook Louis for blocking reasons.

Whoops - cancel that. Bears are calling Louis a guard now :

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/04/louis_stay_at_tight_end_could.html

Yea - JA had said pre-draft that they would look to select a O-Lineman that they could develop long term. I had been hoping they would snag Duke Robinson but they had plenty of chances (as did the rest of the league) and obviously didn't want him. I think our O-line is set for a while now. Other than adding a young RT in next years draft.

I like what we were doing with the guy. Obviously he has the talent to play a multiude of positions, and maybe we can actually have him help on special teams? Don't underestimate a 300 pound wedge setter for Manning/Hester because he can probably catch the ball fine.