Bradnon Lloyd Plays For Free

by Adam T on Mar 9, 2008 4:03 PM CDT in News

I've been critical of the way the Bears have handled free agency this year. Apparently, they are the only team in the league that either a) wants thinks to be quiet and a secret or b) are the only ones who know how to keep things quiet and a secret.

The signings of Marty Booker and Brandon Llyod are not an upgrade to what we have. Both have their usefulness though.

And while I was initially against the signing of Lloyd, I am a little less upset now that I saw his contract numbers.

Lloyd has a one year deal worth 645,000 dollars the league minimum for the amount of years he has in. It comes with a 40,000 dollar work out bonus and has no signing bonus. Lloyd needs to get back into team's good graces after the mess he made in Washington. Maybe we get lucky and it was enough to get his head straight.

That said I still think some we need to look for another veteran to put back their.

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correction:

"The signings of Marty Booker and Brandon Llyod are not an upgrade to what we have"

You should say, "not an upgrade over what we had last year".

Booker and Lloyd made the receiving corp better once Berrian and Moose were off the team.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Mar 9, 2008 4:32 PM CDT reply actions

point taken

by Adam T on Mar 9, 2008 6:22 PM CDT up reply actions

the point being

if Angelo went into this offseason and said, "Hey! I got an idea of how to make this team better! I'll cut Moose and let Berrian walk then I will sign Booker and Lloyd." then he would be nuts.

But I don't think it went down like that. I think he didn't want to commit that much money to Berrian and wanted to clear some salary by cutting Moose, knowing that he would have to sign a couple of guys to take those spots.

So we have lesser receivers for MUCH less money. All the while, keeping our best free agent, Lance Briggs.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Mar 9, 2008 6:29 PM CDT up reply actions

hey chad

I know who the bears should sign. Kyle Hudsun. What do you think?

-leopoldjones

by leopoldjones on Mar 9, 2008 4:50 PM CDT reply actions

wouldn't that be

a huge dilemma for me?

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Mar 9, 2008 5:32 PM CDT up reply actions

booker > moose

say what you want, but booker is definately an upgrade over moose. booker can get more seperation still and has better hands and actually seems to know how to be a veteran leader (ie. he doesn't throw his qbs under the bus like moose did).

lloyd isn't better than berrian, but i'll take lloyd at the league minimum over berrian for 42 mil. for sure. berrian isn't that much of an upgrade over lloyd and a speed guy like berrian will begin to have a drastic production dropoff once he hits his 30s.

by lopey986 on Mar 9, 2008 5:33 PM CDT reply actions

heres a little evidence

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-080308-marty-booker-scout-pompei,1, 6113459.story

by Jbasic89 on Mar 9, 2008 5:36 PM CDT up reply actions

kudos

on the link, you should send that around more on this site just so those ignorant people stop bitching about the pick up, I thought it was perfect and Ive stated this before, but never a fan of Moose, he had 2 good seasons his career and that was in Carolina.

by DaNate23 on Mar 9, 2008 6:15 PM CDT up reply actions

if a blog

isn't for bitchin then I don't know what is.

And Booker might be > Moose, but

Booker and Lloyd < Berrian and Moose

by Adam T on Mar 9, 2008 6:24 PM CDT up reply actions

I understand

thats what blogs are for, but for people to get mad that we have Booker doesnt make sense, I mean he might be 31, but at least we know what we're getting from him unlike others.

by DaNate23 on Mar 9, 2008 7:08 PM CDT up reply actions

berrian is useless

he has nothing to offer besides speed and bradley has shown he has the same if not better big play ability in him. he just needs to stay healthy and be given an oppurtunity from the coaches.

by Jbasic89 on Mar 10, 2008 12:54 AM CDT up reply actions

I don't think too many

are upset with the Booker signing. What upsets people is that this is what Angelo has decided is what will fix the receivers. Ok, Booker may be better than Moose here, but is he all the sudden going to be open all over the field?

by Adam T on Mar 10, 2008 3:44 AM CDT up reply actions

That first sentence is totally ignorant.

by tyger1147 on Mar 10, 2008 9:19 AM CDT up reply actions

That last sentence was completely useless

by Adam T on Mar 10, 2008 9:23 AM CDT up reply actions

Tyger is an idiot

You really are dumb. Why do you continue to post here if you aren't going to come up with something worth while? You continuously prove to everyone on this site how ignorant you are. As the saying goes, if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. You aren't contributing to this site, you are infecting it with your nonsense. Get a clue man.

"I have no comments at this time.....well, other than what I just posted."

by diehardbearfan on Mar 10, 2008 9:33 AM CDT up reply actions

Seriously

either give us some good comments, or just shut up.

by DaNate23 on Mar 10, 2008 11:33 AM CDT up reply actions

I have.

Anyone that says the only skill Berrian has is speed is talking out of his ass. He obviously has more than that. I know the collected wisdom here says otherwise, but the fact that the Bears were close in negotiations with Berrian (his words) should tell you guys that the Bears believe so, too.

I stand by the statement that saying the only thing Berrian can do is run fast. That's Devin Hester at WR, not Berrian.

by tyger1147 on Mar 10, 2008 12:45 PM CDT up reply actions

Dude

You really need to learn how to temper your comments. You make good points but you throw away all your credibility when you constantly attack people.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Mar 10, 2008 12:53 PM CDT up reply actions

berrian

drops too many easy, important balls. i am also not sure that he has ever fought for a ball or adjusted for one. he had some great catches towards the end once we were pretty much out of it, but i would have preferred he catches an easy one against dallas that may change the whole damn season.

i wouldn't say his only attribute is speed, but i'm not going to claim there are many others.

"Kyle Orton and Jack Daniel's could be the greatest songwriting duo since Rodgers and Hammerstein." - DJ Gallo

by mike b on Mar 13, 2008 4:42 PM CDT up reply actions

i think

booker and lloyd is about the same as moose and berrian. it's a push in my opinion.

by lopey986 on Mar 10, 2008 12:00 PM CDT up reply actions

Speed is the thing

Moose and Booker aren't game breakers. Lloyd has the speed, but hasn't show the ability. Until he has

Moose/Booker/Llyod < Berrian

by Adam T on Mar 10, 2008 12:03 PM CDT up reply actions

This is my point.

Brandon Lloyd is exactly what people are claiming Berrian is. A fast guy with few WR skills, or at least the lack of determination to use them.

I don't understand the black or white world everyone here lives in. Berrian's not a "No. 1", therefore he's basically useless w/ only one skill. WTF? Seriously?

by tyger1147 on Mar 10, 2008 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions

lloyd hasn't shown the ability?

lloyd had 50 catches for 700 yards and 5 scores in 05 with a qb combo of alex smith/cody pickett/tim rattay/ken dorsey throwing to him. that is pretty similar to what berrian did in 06 with grossman throwing to him during his best season. berrian improved his numbers by 200 yards but only posted 5 scores. is there a HUGE difference here? lloyd has raw talent and i've seen him make some unbelievable grabs, sure he drops passes but berrian is probably right up there with lloyd in drops over the course of his career. if anyone uses the argument that if berrian had a consistent qb he would be a 1000+ yard receiver year in and year out, i'd like to see what lloyd can do with consistent qb play.

it's just not a huge difference for me...factor in the fact that we are paying lloyd 600k for 1 year instead of 42 mil over 6 years and i actually prefer lloyd over berrian.

by lopey986 on Mar 11, 2008 12:49 AM CDT up reply actions

welll

I think I might be sold on Lloyd, given these facts and Im not being sarcastic. I think this is a great point and who knows maybe a Booker and Lloyd trying to bring back their careers might be a huge upgrade. Im interested more now into what they do this season. Kudos to you lopey!

by DaNate23 on Mar 11, 2008 1:00 AM CDT up reply actions

one thing i will say though

is if we don't allocate the money saved from letting berrian walk properly (ie. extending tommie harris and robbie gould and signing o-line help) then i will be a little confused at our general stingyness. free agency is but 2 weeks old though, so there are still a few free agent lineman i'm interested in (olivea being the main one).

by lopey986 on Mar 11, 2008 3:09 AM CDT up reply actions

totally agree

I loved Booker when he played for us the first time, and I understood why they did the trade b/c they couldnt find a good defensive end. And in the same sense I never cared for Moose, I wasnt that happy w/ them signing him, in fact I will say I had more emotion over the Lloyd signing than the Moose one.

Welcome Back Booker....can u dig it sucka!!

by DaNate23 on Mar 9, 2008 6:12 PM CDT up reply actions

The WR problem isnt that

Booker and Lloyd arent good replacements for Moose and Berrian, it is that the money saved has not been reinvested elsewhere. Booker is an upgrade over Moose and he costs less and Lloyd is just as talented as Berrian if he can put his head into the game and if he fails here he is going to be in the AFL in 09. I would just like to see the savings respent, even if its just to rework Hester and Harris deals so we can spend in FA next year.

by Devin47 on Mar 9, 2008 11:36 PM CDT up reply actions

maybe

theyre working contracts now, I mean FA is only a week and few days old, let time shake out, theres stil 5 months til NFL kicks off, I'm sure they have a plan b/c they know we need improvements. Its all about patience

by DaNate23 on Mar 10, 2008 12:29 AM CDT up reply actions

On the same lines

I don't see the logic behind the Bears plan to spend their money on "their own guys", rather than throwing money at free agents. Or maybe I should say I don't understand why you would want the status quo when the status quo was very lucky to get 7 wins last year, and you already lost your biggest offensive weapon.

I agree-where is this savings going, and why? Resigning Hester and Harris and Urlacher doesn't make this team better--they would be here this year and next anyways.Rebuilding the O-line would make this team better--how about throwing some coin at that problem.

by tomas21 on Mar 10, 2008 9:13 PM CDT up reply actions

really

once again, think man. We were lucky to have 7 wins?, I mean there were a few games we lost that were close. You cant say we got lucky, alot of the losses came off of injuries, not just performances, theres a difference when say Vasher or Harris play (just examples). I mean Im not doubting at all that we are in trouble if our team doesnt make big changes before the season, but Ill give him time to make more decisions.

by DaNate23 on Mar 10, 2008 11:46 PM CDT up reply actions

We had

no business winning the Green Bay game on the road or the Philly game, just off the top of my head. We got thoroughly outplayed, it just worked out that we won. In the Green Bay game, which I was at, the Packers were destroying us, but kept killing themselves with penalties, and by not sticking to their gameplan (not to mention a lot of calls by the refs that went our way).

I don't recall any games where the Bears clearly outplayed the other team and lost, but those are 2 examples of us getting outplayed and winning. Sometimes that happens. But if it does, you got lucky.

You are right, the Bears had some injuries to key players. But two of those players (Harris and Urlacher) still might not be 100%. And there are always injuries.
The Bears were 7-9, but imo they weren't as good as their record indicated. Kind of like 2001. Do you think the Bears were really as good as their 13-3 record said? If so, why did they get bounced so easily at home in their first game of the playoffs?

by tomas21 on Mar 12, 2008 7:15 PM CDT up reply actions

Outplayed Detroit

twice and lost.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Mar 13, 2008 12:53 PM CDT up reply actions

The signing makes sense now.

The Bears are getting a talented but questionable receiver at basically no risk. The money Berrian received is ridiculous. At that price, no smart team can pick up top-level WR talent through free agency. I would love the Bears to solve all of their problems through FA but the allocation of the salary cap is incredibly important to a team's sustained success (see Patriots and Colts). Until our team can figure out a solution to the offensive line and quarterback situations, there is no point to wasting money on WRs.

by quartz77277 on Mar 10, 2008 1:25 AM CDT reply actions

Berrian's money is ridiculous, but...

Again, I fail to understand the reluctance to use the franchise tag on him - the team gets one more year of his services at a somewhat reasonable cost, while having time to develop their options for '09. I do hope that JA has a master plan that we're not privy to at this point, but sometimes his plans seem more like throwing up stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

by Dmac on Mar 10, 2008 5:11 PM CDT reply actions