never sure what to think with him. Is he good? Not? Was he just a good soldier and moved inside, thus sacrificing bigger #'s from the DE position and the team knows that? Injured? Bad?

This guy was touted as a #1 coming out of Northwestern if not for the injury.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I thought he was a good player that had potential. I guess not being an Emery hurts.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I think Corey does fine as a rotation guy at DE. I would not have him at DT anymore. Last year he was pressed into emergency service though.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I agree, he played out of position, with that said, you would think the Bears recognize it and get some deal with him to go back to DE

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Let me preface by saying I've liked Wootton since he was at Northwestern. My emerging concern is that Emery doesn't know what to do with his first pick bust in McClellin. Wootton moved inside not just to fill a need but to keep Shea on the field. Now Shea is being moved to linebacker to compete with last year's #2 pick. Score blather/propaganda aside, I like competition just not when it means pitting one high round pick against another, particularly for a team that needs to get younger.

I think Wootton has upside despite his having had surgery. He's younger than either of the Bears signees and has just as much experience. I think he will land somewhere in the NFL, I just hope we don't miss him.

The Bears had a historically bad defense so they can only get better, at least that is the hope. Mel Tucker has a track record that suggests otherwise.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

1 year with Vikes? Guessing $2 Mill?

So the Bears offered less? Wow. Smart move by Wooten if he is going to play End somewhere. I think he saw what happens when he gets no stats. Watch him put up numbers this year, looking for a deal.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Older, slower, and less talented at least that's where the Bears are on paper with their current defensive line. Losing Julius Peppers would have lowered the age but moving McClellin, not keeping Wootton, and then bringing in Idonije raises the defensive line's average age.

Whatever Phil Emery thought he saw in drafting Shea McClellin the ripple effect is that he displaced one player (to accommodate his draft pick status) and now needs another to replace him. If nothing, McClellin has speed (hence his move to linebacker, at least that would be the belief) and the linemen signed in this UFA period aren't known for being quick burst types.

While it may not be fair to compare the 2013 opening day starters with the as yet unknown 2014 starters, the d-line is now down from two all-pro players to zero. Regardless of who is drafted this year the team is now statistically inferior. Having the worst defense in the league, and in team history, the hope would be that they would have to improve. Which means they could improve and still be among the worst in the league (that's how bad they were last season).

I'd like to have hope and belief in the Bears brainstrust but for the first time since the early 80s I'm beset with doubts. Emery, if he "hits" on this year's #1 pick would now be a respectable 2-for-3 in 1st round picks, and factoring how he only has one pick on the roster from his first draft he has considerable room for improvement. The knock on Marc Treastman in Montreal was that he only focused on one side of the ball. Canadian football is geared towards offensive play, the NFL is a league where offense wins games but defense wins championships. A comforting (and extremely optimistic) thought for a potential wild-card weekend showing with a high scoring loss. The networks love that stuff.

There is nothing in Mel Tucker's resume to lead me to believe that the 2014 defense will not be among the bottom of the league this season. Despite the positive Tucker praise by one of his more vocal apologists, even Hub Arkush has acknowledged that not keeping Wootton makes little sense for a defense that needed to get younger and more talented.

2014 will be an interesting season because the Bears will have games against former Bear players in games against Tampa, Atlanta, Green Bay, and now Minneapolis.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

For a team looking to get younger, this move is weird.

Management enema is needed at halas hall.

Having failed to draft a Jared Allen-type in Shea McClellin, Phil Emery has now signed the aged original. On paper this team has just gotten even older. M&H had a guy on from Minneapolis, and the first thing that Mully quipped about was swapping Wootton for Allen. The guy from Minny felt that Allen was no longer an every down player.

I'm not going to predict Wootton to go on to be an all-pro but for me he will be a bellweather as to how this team progresses. At this point Emery needs a hellacious draft to convince me that he understands his role as GM.

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DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

These two "moves" may have been the dumbest I've seen this offseason. They screwed over the good soldier in a contract year and signed a wildly overrated part time player. Geniuses. This kind of crap is why I grew to hate the Bears organization.

I thought this team entered the offseason talking about how there would be no cap space? Oh wait, they restructured the overrated QBs brand new contract 1-2 months after it was signed because NOW they realize the benefit in changing for the new version? Are these guys completely clueless or what?

God I hope they don't draft the DT from Pittsburgh, it wouldn't be fair to the kid to come into this clueless hellhole of an organization. The McCaskeys are nothing more than a family of leeches and sperm club clowns.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Post of the year.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Screw your own (except Cutler) and overpay for everyone else's players.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Yep. And players are the greedy ones when they demand market value for their skills instead of taking a discount.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

He isn't anything special. Type of player that will look better than he really is if playing with other talent around him making some mistake him for being the talent.

*Looks at Henry Melton*

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If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?

You could clearly see the talent Melton had. The only question you had about him was his size.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Wooten had his chance to make big money by having a breakout year. He failed to do anything special to warrent a big contract. Being a good soldier doesn't get you a big contract. You have to be a good player as well.

I agree he didn't do anything special. I also don't think anyone other than his agent believed he deserved a big contract. He played out of position to help the team. It was clear to everyone that he was arguably the best DE on the team last year and should have been offered a contract.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I will agree he was the best DE, but that isnt a high compliment.

That being said, this is also about Wootens agent screwing the Bears. I think he knew they would give him more than Minn, but not much more, less than 500K more and either way he knew his agent would need to play on a 1 year deal to go get the money and he didnt want the Bears to get that benefit after they placed him in that position.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

No, I could clearly see the talent that Julius Peppers had, that Melton benefited from.

Melton is just a guy Dallas overpaid for.

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If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?

You think he will be double teamed a lot in Dallas? He did benefit from the Peppers double teams.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Yes, I do. Also depends on what Dallas has done this offseason tho, I honestly don't know what else they have added. They lost DeMarcus Ware, so that isn't good for Melton.


We'll see. I never thought anything of Melton, to me he was just another guy that Peppers made look better than he really was.

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If the rule you followed lead you to this, of what use was the rule?