Ten Thoughts on the NFL: Chicago Bears and beyond

1) I always like seeing stuff like this.

Former Green Bay Packers and Texas A&M head coach Mike Sherman has decided to get back into the coaching game, but he's doing so at the high school level.

"I've been fortunate financially over the years, which is allowing me to do this," Sherman said. "Back in January I was looking for a place to have a football camp this summer, and Nauset High School came up. Then I heard they were looking for a head football coach."

I just think it's great when someone has the ability to give back and they do so.

2) I always feel a little odd when sharing a Packers-related thought, so I'm not sure what to feel now that I'm sharing 2 in a row.

But here's Aaron Rodgers keeping it real when asked if it was his responsibility as a leader to get his teammates to OTAs.

Puffy Daddy couldn't have said it better.

3) Our sister site that covers the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Beatdown, posed the question; When will Ray Rice get another chance?

While the NFL is all about 2nd chances, I just don't see anyone giving a back that missed all of 2014 a shot, considering he only averaged a paltry 3.1 yards per carry in 2013. When you factor out his huge day that season (25 attempts/131 yards) against the putrid Chicago Bears defense, he only averaged 2.8 yards per carry in his remaining 14 games.

Oh, and then there's the video tape of him knocking a woman out, that has to factor in there somewhere.

But I honestly think that if he was a 5 yards per carry back, that some team would have signed him by now.

4) It looks like Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton is close to joining the $100 million club. Some fans are upset that the team will hand that kind of deal to a guy with a career passer rating of 85, but this is the kind of money that starting QBs make in today's NFL.

5) This made me chuckle way more than it should have.

Joe Flacco makes sure his guys rub down his balls a certain way http://t.co/X0fn2zi5KQ pic.twitter.com/lLfuKLMGYk

— Bill Hanstock (@sundownmotel) May 28, 2015

The full quote is outstanding...

"Listen, everybody likes the football their way. That's why I make sure our guys rub the balls down in a certain way - have them rub a couple balls down and make sure I like it - and once they have the ball the way I like it, I trust them to do that from that point forward."

6) Jim Kelly's battle with cancer is an inspiring story that made headlines the last couple of years and now that he's cancer free he's back to attending his own charity golf tournament. This year, besides the usual attendees, he had about an extra 100 people at the event, because Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan decided to skip Monday's OTA and take his entire team to the golf outing.

With teams only allowed 10 OTAs (Organized Team Activities) each off season, you have to hand it to Ryan for giving up one of his practice days to support a Buffalo legend.

7) Rookie defensive end Randy Gregory, who fell to the 2nd round after some character concerns, is looking good so far for the Dallas Cowboys. Sure, these are only workouts in shorts, but he's matched up against one of the best left tackles in the NFL, All-Pro Tyron Smith.

"He's a swifty kid," Smith said. "He's pretty quick, a different type of rusher. He's going to be pretty good."

We've talked about Dallas' rookie class before, but if these guys pan out the Cowboys could really turn into something special.

And either Smith combined "swift" and "shifty" to create my new favorite word, or the ESPN writer misheard the Dallas tackle.

8) Yesterday, while scrolling through Twitter, I saw someone compare the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' rookie QB Jameis Winston with current Philadelphia Eagles QB Tim Tebow. I didn't understand...

Tebow played in a gimmicky spread offense at Florida while Winston played in a pro style O at Florida State.

Tebow is known for a rugged swiftiness(!) with the ball in his hands, while Winston does his damage from the pocket.

Tebow is about as squeaky clean as they come, while Winston has had a few run-ins with the law.

So I looked into the story a bit more and realized that the comparisons were made by former Florida Gator Louis Murphy, who played with Tebow in college and who currently plays with Winston in Tampa Bay, and he was only comparing their competitiveness. Which I completely understand...

9) Do you remember those cool, yet cheesy, NFL posters from the 80s and 90s? Someone put a whole bunch of them on an imgur page and it's worth a look if you haven't seen them before or if you want a trip down memory lane.

Someone really needs to bring this type of art back.

10) CBS Sports is running a series where they find one player from every team's draft class that should be a good scheme fit and early contributor. Their pick for the Chicago Bears is 2nd round defensive lineman Eddie Goldman who seems like a perfect match for the new 3-4 defense of Chicago, because of his experience playing with a 2-gap principle at Florida State.

That's among the reasons why the broad-shouldered, 6-foot-4, 336-pound Goldman (the biggest player currently on the Bears' defense) is potentially such an ideal match. Goldman isn't just massive, however, he's also quick, powerful and smart, showing enough burst to split double-teams and the use of leverage to hold up at the point of attack. These attributes make him perfectly suited to stuffing the middle in much the same way that 6-3, 331-pound Terrance Knighton did under Fox in Denver.

However, unlike the man affectionately known as "Pot Roast," Goldman isn't "just" a nose guard. As a sophomore at Florida State, he emerged as a starter for eventual national champion Seminoles at defensive end -- a role very similar to the one he now may be asked to play in Chicago since the team released anticipated starter Ray McDonald last week.

I'm really hoping that Goldman makes for a quick study in Fangio's defense. If he caches on quick, he has the talent and upside to anchor the D for 10 years.