Needs and Depth

Looking at this off season, sadly the Bears don't have a lot of options outside of FA to change much for the team. We have already brought in help for our DL and RB positions, with Julius Peppers and Chester Taylor respectively. This post is just a look at some spots on our depth chart.

Places we've added depth:

TE (Richard Angulo, Brandon Manumaleuna, Kevin Brock)

WR (Eric Peterman)

FB (Eddie Williams, Will Ta'ufo'ou)

And losing depth:

DE (Gaines Adams, Alex Brown, Adewale Ogunleye)

RB (Jason McKie, Adrian Peterson, Kevin Jones)

With these moves Chicago has changed it's roster quite a bit since off-season started, mostly by shifting little known or used players around, but with a few big names being moved as well, see Brown, Peppers or Adams death.

With these moves, and only the lower rounds to make our moves in the draft I wanted to take a look at our real needs, and where we may have too many players.

Areas where we could trade a few players:

Tight End: With 6 tight ends on the roster, the Bears have a lot of talent there, with a good variety of receiving and blocking tight ends, the Bears could easily shed some of their players, especially those they could get good trade value for. Last seasons starters, Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen would have the greatest trade value. With Greg Olsen becoming a favorite for Cutler, he is the most likely to stay, but with the acquisition of three new tight ends, he may see his place being replaced, and as a top 10 tight end, he could get us a 3rd round pick, about the asking price for Scheffler out of Denver now. Desmond Clark is reportedly being shopped around, but says he would prefer to stay in Chicago, but then again when has the FA really listened to player wants. Clark is 32, getting to the age where he is losing value almost by the day, and with it being a while since his last productive season, 2007, if we can get a low round pick, 5th or lower if we're luckily. Others who have yet to make an impact and could lose their position include Kellen Davis, who is still young but with the pick up of other young TE's like Kevin Brock, he could lose his spot. This isn't an attack on them, whether I like them or not doesn't matter, but with a new offensive coordinator, I don't the benefit of having this many tight ends, and if we can get anything for some of these guys, we should. I don't have enough info on some of these guys to say which is best outside of Clark and Olsen, so it's hard to say who to cut.

Suggestion: Trade Clark for 6th round pick and/or Olsen for a 3th or a quality player, like OL Sebastian Vollmer from New England. NE could use a quality catching TE like Olsen. Kevin Winslow was traded for a 2009 2nd and a 2010 5th, and while he is a bit better then Olsen, the difference isn't huge. So Olsen may have a higher trade value then first thought.

Linebacker: For a team that runs a 4-3 scheme we have quite a few linebackers. Now if Urlacher would stay healthy this would be an even worse scenario, but with his recent history of injuries have depth at MLB is required. With the signing of Pisa Tinoisamoa and Kevin Malast, we now have more then 4 guys who can play one position. Hunter Hillenmeyer did a fantastic job last season filling in for Urlacher,and Nick Roach did a pretty good job during his limited play time. Most of the linebackers on the roster got some playing time, but by adding Tinoisamoa we gain needed depth on the outside. Looking back on last season, we could easily do without Tim Shaw and Jamar Williams, both played well last season, but if Urlacher can stay healthy, Roach and Hillenmeyer should be able to be adequate back ups. Another route we could run is trade Hillenmeyer while he may be at his highest value. But either way, I think we could get by with one less linebacker.

Suggestion: Trade Hillenmeyer to Miami, who is getting ready to cut Jason Taylor, or the Saints for a 3rd, or if we can the Saints late 2nd rounder, who are in need of a real boost inside. The only other move I see we could make that would benefit us would be and try and throw Williams into a trade with a lower rounder to pick up a 2nd rounder from someone.

Areas of need:

Defensive Back: With the lose of Nathan Vasher and the signing of Tim Jennings, we are still lacking a quality #2 corner to work along side Charles Tillman. We have some good quarter and dime backs, such as Corey Graham, and a few truly untested backs in Zackary Bowman, D.J. Moore, and Woodny Turenne we have a young defensive back corp. We need to add and experienced corner to help out.

Suggestion: Leigh Bodden who used to play for the Patriots Or Lito Sheppard who was just released from the Jets would both be great pick ups.

Safety: Both at full safety and strong safety we are in need of quality players. By adding Josh Bullocks we add another player who is average, but hasn't played a good season since 2007 with the Saints. Kevin Payne and Al Afalava make a good tandem at SS and FS along with Daniel Manning being the best safety to get much playing time, but none of the 3 is a great cover safety, all but Manning had 0 interception last season, and Payne wasn't able to bring much pressure behind the line last season. With Bullocks going to compete with Payne for the starting spot next season and only Steltz, who is more built for SS, at FS, we are in desperate need of a quality safety, either one. With a great safety draft with players like Eric Berry and Earl Thomas, most quality safeties won't fall past the second round. But in the 3rd round there are some decent safeties in round 3 like Nebraska’s Larry Asante, Georgia Tech’s Morgan Burnett,  Kansas’ Darrell Stuckey and Oregon’s Terrell Ward. But none of those are really much of an upgrade, but would depth if we aren't able to pick anyone up in free agency.

Suggestions: Pick up a safety in round, SS Terrel Ward in round 4 or FS Larry Asante in round 5. Also picking up Darren Sharper would give us a safety who could give us turnovers, or Ryan Clark who would make excellent run support, same could be said for Roy Williams. Picking up one from FA and one in the draft would give us the depth we need.

Other places of need: With Chester Taylor, Matt Forte and a handful of other running backs, we have some quality depth there, but may still lack a back for short yardage situations. Hopefully this problem may have been solved with the signing of Will Ta'ufo'ou and youngster Eddie Williams, but with the lose of Jason McKie and Adrian Peterson, both who had lost playing time, we may still struggle there. The same can be said with our depth on the defensive line, where we added Peppers, but lost 3 starters this past off season. Hopefully the tandem of Mark Anderson and Israel Idonije will be able to keep us strong there throughout the season. Other then trying to strengthen our offensive line, a big need, our draft should focus defensively.

Suggestions: Picking up a late round RB/FB and DT would be nice for added depth. Jimmy Kennedy could be brought in to help as well.

Just a few thoughts on our current roster. Obviously this is just a quick overview of what could take place, not an in depth look at trades.