With only a few days left to start the season bearing any
more surprise o last minute free agent signings, trades or cuts, here is the
2016 Chicago Bears roster and how I fared in my initial prediction:
QB - J. Cutler, B. Hoyer
Looks like the David Fales experiment ended with him running
for his life in almost every snap although none of the QB did very well with a
shaky OL and no quality backups. Brian Hoyer took the backup job but had to be
nervous with Connor Shaws performance against the Chiefs that ultimately ended
with him getting injured and straight to IR ending any chance of competition
for the backup role.
RB - J. Langford, J. Howard, C. Carey & FB P. Lasike
Again, with the OL play every RB was searching for a hole,
any hole to run to but there weren’t many and Jaquizz Rodgers paid the price
because of that getting stuffed almost or every time he touched the ball where
Ka´Deem Carey fought for every yard with strength and had better luck in the
passing game debunking Rodgers for the last RB spot. I like what I saw in
Langford´s game against the patriots showing nice vision, cut and speed when
deciding where to run along with good hand securing catching shot to
intermediate passes. Jordan Howard had a ball with the Cleveland Browns backups
running strong exhibiting some lateral movement and most impressively showing
he can catch the ball. Hope that continues to improve this season.
So we´re going to have a FB this season and I really don’t
mind, seeing how the OL is maybe it´s better to have an extra blocker close to
Cutler once in a while and Paul Lasik showed he could do it all as he pass
blocked, took the LB at the second level, ran the ball getting the short
yardage needed and catching short passes while knocking people over. So no
complaint here.
WR - A. Jeffery, K. White, E. Royal, C. Meredith, J. Bellamy,
D. Thompson
So Eddie Royal doesn’t play a game this preseason and misses
more than half the previous season and turns out he´s the only slot receiver on
the roster? Really interested on who is going to be behind him on the depth
chart, sure Daniel Braverman is still on the PS but he has no experience and
didn’t get much action this preseason so this is kind of worrisome just
counting on Royal really not knowing if he can click with Cutler or just stay
healthy. Maybe Josh Bellamy will be the guy behind Royal but I think it would
have been better to stick with Marc Mariani instead of Bellamy or Deonte
Thompson although his value comes more in the return game. Cameron Meredith
looked good against KC and Cleveland making nice catches and running good
routes looking like a reliable backup if Jeffery gets hurt or if Kevin White
struggles.
TE - Z. Miller, G. Scruggs, L. Paulsen
Zack Miller survived the preseason, well sort of I guess,
missing 3 games because of concussion symptoms doesn’t really make it count.
This position really didn’t show what it had on any game expect for Tony Moeaki
who got more opportunities that the rest and still didn’t make the team. Greg
Scruggs I believe showed enough promise and skill as a blocking TE that made
Khari Lee expendable once Logan Paulsen hit free agency who is more balanced at
the position. Rookie Ben Braunecker never had a shot and it seems he never
impressed the coaches enough on practice sessions to be considered ahead of
some of the other guys, still he got on the PS. This seems like a really weak
and questionable position.
OL - C. Leno Jr, C. Whitehair, T. Larsen, K. Long, B. Massie,
M. Adams, J. Sitton, E. Kush
Ok so besides the starting lineup (that’s still a bit in the
air), where did everybody go? The backups are all players that were brought in
after the beginning of training camp, that s how weak and unstable the line is
if someone else gets hurt. It got patched up recently with the addition of Josh
SItton but the line will get scrambled up again to make room for him and maybe
switch Whitehair to center which if it works it would be great because Larsen
has struggled as a guard and center so he´s not ready yet. I like how Charles
Leno Jr and Bobbie Massie play, like not love, but this group is going to give
me headaches if not heart attacks for a while, just I while, I hope.
DL - M. Unrein, E. Goldman, A. Hicks, J. Bullard, W. Sutton,
C. Washington
Let´s talk about happier things like the defensive front 7
starting with the line where the starting 3 look great and the backups look
good especially Jonathan Bullard, they were not kidding about that first step,
once the ball is snapped he´s already a yard in the opponent’s side, legally of
course. He does react to the sound of the QB where he did have a pair of
offside penalties called against him because he is jumpy but you can see he´s
trying to focus on the snap and just explode to de other side, its impressive.
LB - W. Young, D. Trevathan, J. Freeman, L. Houston, L. Floyd,
C. Jones, N. Kwiatkoski, S. Acho, J. Anderson
This is a good, interesting and versatile group especially
on the outside but what worries me is the depth on the MLB position, if Jerrel
Freeman or even worse if Danny Trevathan gets hurt there´s no sure thing behind
them regressing to the old MLB tandem of Christian Jones and Jonathan Anderson. and maybe they can play the run better with the help
of the improved DL, although John Timu lost his job because of bad open field solo
missed tackles, but the coverage experience that Trevathan bring will be very missed. I liked what I saw out of Leonard Floyd although he did get pushed
around in some plays its obvious he doesn’t have the strength to win every
battle against bigger OL men but he uses his length very well to compensate his
lack of strength so he really doesn’t have to get bulkier but use his length
like Willie Young does and burst to get to the quarterback face and get him out
of the pocket, that’s what I am waiting to see from him year one.
CB - T. Porter, K. Fuller, B. Callahan, D. Hall, J. Glenn, S.
McManis, L. Cre´Von
So we will get last year’s starters, let’s see if Tracy Porter
can continue where he left off and if Kyle Fuller and Bryce Callahan can step
up their game because behind them there’s going to be raw talent hungry for
some playing time if someone messes up. Jacoby Glenn looked fairly decent with the chances he got on the field and Deiondre Hall although he got a bunch of PD he doesnt turn back to search for the ball, something that Fuller does most of the time and that drives me nut and that why people consider him better as a safety because he plays the ball better when its in front of him,
S - A. Amos, H. Jones-Quartey, D. Houston-Carson, C.
Prosinski, D. Bush
Harlod Jones-Quartey will be back once again alongside
Adrian Amos and try to have some chemistry together and stop this madness of a safety
roulette. This DB group lacks an identity, only way this squad is going to function
better is if they get on the same page if Jones-Quartey gets swapped again and
Fuller takes a step back, this group is going to look awfully different next
year.
K - C. Barth
Wait What?! Who? But when? How? Why? WHY???!!!
Ok, I wasn’t ready for that… so Robbie Gould was shown the
door for some reason and there are reasons I can think of but really? I mean
coaches and front office were considering this to happen? So yeah Gould missed
important winning kicks last year and continued on in this preseason and maybe
the team thought he got the yips or something. Maybe they wanted some cap space
to get Sitton signed. Maybe Barth accuracy inside the 40´s is more important
and useful than Gould´s 50-yard accuracy, which is good, in the wind, Chicago
wind! I don’t consider this lightly, they didn’t get someone to compete with or
even practice in training camp to see if he could be as accurate. I really
believe that the staff thought that he was done, that he wasn’t going to bounce
back from last year and taking this personally I would have given him another
shot on a yet rebuilding team to see if he´s still got it, with his history and
numbers I would consider the possibility of him getting back on track.
P - P. O´Donell
It was good to see Pat O´Donnell just destroy the ball in
preseason, good deep pinpoint kicks from him.
LS - P. Scales
So there was a blocked punt for a score against Denver on
the first preseason game, guess who was on that play? Does it matter? Not really,
so I don’t know why Patrick Scales got the nod against Aaron Brewer, so there.
Predicting the final 2016 record: 8-8
The OL need´s time to gel, and once Hroniss Grasu returns
from injury next year the line will shuffle again and will still be needing 1
or 2 promising players, there is just not enough talent on the bench and an
upgrade on the tackle positions wouldn´t hurt.
Once the year ends the DBs will be thoroughly evaluated I believe more than any other position, a replacement
for Porter will have to emerge in one of the rookies, if he´s not there then
the search continues. The situation will get worse if Fuller falters, if so
then it will have to be address in the draft because I really don’t think there’s
enough cash to throw on to CBs. And I do mention the draft on this group because
I am very hyped about Desmond King from Iowa, think he’s going to be a great
player.
I believe that Jeffery will get signed next year. Is it me, or does Jeffrey resemble a Roy Williams in his prime?
