Bears Signing Allen Opens Up Even More Options

I'm not breaking any news here, but yes, the Chicago Bears have signed a serious pass rusher in Jared Allen. Sure, Allen is a bit older than he was a couple years ago when he got 22 sacks, but he's still only 31 right now, 32 next month (and next season). He's a couple of years younger than Peppers is, and was much more productive last season. Not only that, but there are other major implications with this signing when put alongside other offseason signings. It has become absolutely clear where the Bears are going early in the draft. Of course from there, there are plenty of places they may go, but that's what the rest of this will be for, looking at where they stand now, and where they're probably going for the rest of the offseason.

Who Do the Bears Draft?

The NFL draft is still over a month away. However, one of my favorite things to do in all of sports is speculate on prospects. This is pretty obvious with how much I talk about the Cubs and White Sox prospects, and with how much I talk about the NBA draft as well once it comes around. Based on interests, I think I was meant to be a scout, it's just that I don't know if I would actually be any good at it. Anyway, what I am going to do is look at the draft for the Bears and at each pick and let you know what I think the Bears will do. In the first few rounds I'll actually put a name in there for who I think the Bears draft, but past that I'll just bring up position.

Keeping An Eye on the Prospects

It has actually been over 2 weeks since I have said anything about the Cubs or White Sox prospects. Well, since we're getting to the home stretch of Spring Training, why not take a look at how some of the prospects have looked? Given, a lot of these guys have very small sample sizes that we're working with, but we'll look further than just into the stats into how they've actually looked (if I've actually seen them play) and to implications of what that could mean. That being said, the sacrifice is that I'm really only going to be looking at guys who are near the very top for each organization (around top 10) and have actually played in Spring Training games. There's a ton of prospects who have been in the minor league camp the whole time. Guys like Dan Vogelbach, who had a nice game the other day, won't get any more attention than what he just got there, because he's been in the minor league camp the whole time. Anyway, here we go.

Bears Keep Making Moves!

I was going to take it easy on the Bears offseason talk, but it's hard to do that when the Bears have made moves every day. Even better is that the moves are being made in the right areas. Over the last couple of days the Bears have added a starting quality defensive end in in Willie Young, someone to compete for the kick returner job at a sub $1 million price tag in Domenik Hixon, and of course I'm sure everyone heard today's news, the Bears are bringing Charles Tillman back at a very good price for the team. So it's not like they were just making moves to make moves, they were filling in areas of concern for the team.

Bears Update Post

Since there was the Ratliff blunder on my part yesterday and since there have been a couple more Bears related moves today, I'll go ahead and do another offseason update post to get everything up to date. Of course, I forgot about Jeremiah Ratliff all together yesterday. I was fact checking on the Bears official website, and they didn't have him on there either, so I blew it. Also, the two moves I made mention of above are the Bears signing away a rival's starter by signing the defense's second Jennings, former Packers safety M.D. Jennings. The other news, not as happy news, is that Josh McCown is now a Buccaneer. I'm no fashion expert, but those new uniforms alone would keep me away from there, but I'm also a bit biased.

Thoughts On the Start of Free Agency for the Bears

Free agency started about 4 hours ago from the start of this post. Already a ton has happened. The Bears have made several moves, boosting their defense at both the line and behind it. The biggest splash was when they signed Lamarr Houston almost right away. That was followed by signing safety Ryan Mundy. Also signed was Jordan Senn, a special teams specialist from Carolina. The moves made on guys on the roster last season were also noteworthy. They're bringing back linebacker DJ Williams, a very good move, as Bostic just didn't quite look ready last season, although in a year or two he should start to shine. They also cut Julius Peppers in a huge cap room move. Now, with the basics out of the way it's time to take a bigger look at things.

Evaluating The Bears Offseason Before Free Agency

Free agency starts on Tuesday, March 11. That's only 5 days from this post. The Bears have been re-signing a lot of their players before this starts, to make sure that they don't lose those guys, and they've also made it clear that there are other guys who they will not attempt to hold on to. I will go over what the Bears have done so far and give my thoughts on that. So far there isn't a whole lot to go over, but the main goal here is to see where the team stands going into free agency, and after that, the draft.

John Sickels Rates White Sox Prospects

Like I said for the Cubs prospects, John Sickels' list is one of the lists that I respect the very most. He's very logical and explains why he rates everyone the way he does. Even if I don't agree with him on everything (moreso on things like player effort (take Jorge Soler for instance, Sickels probably hadn't heard that the Cubs had told him to take it easy on grounders in the AFL, but he went along with everyone who has dogged Soler's effort), and less on actual player abilities, since he's actually had a chance to see players), he's logical and really knows his stuff. If I were you, I would take his word over mine. However, I'm still going to share my opinions on his grades and where he ranks all of the White Sox prospects. I will not be sharing too much of what he actually says though. If you want to know (and you should), you can click here to read the article. The White Sox system was in horrible shape just a year ago, but has moved up some over the last year. It's still not a great system by any means, but it's getting closer to the middle of the pack (11-20 range), although still probably a few spots away.