That's nice. I like him. Could mean this is the last year for Tillman. Tough to sign two good corners to big contracts.

I have to say I'm surprised. A five year contract is pretty long for a CB unless you are Deion Sanders. What was the signing bonus?

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You cannot make me care about the WNBA.

I think it was 14 million signing bonus. The Bears consider it a good rate because they didn't let him become a free agent. Vaher likes it because he got that security and gets a nice chunk in case he gets injured and can't play.

Very happy with this signing, and the terms of the contract seem alright by me at first glance. Vasher is just below the first tier of NFL corners, maybe top-10. Locking this guy up is big.

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Fire Phil Emery

Although it is tough to sign two good corners, I think the Bears will wait to see if Tillman can stay healthy after his back ordeal. I'm sure his back will affect his free agent value so maybe the Bears can keep him on the cheap. But since Vasher is locked up, now you lock up Berrian and Harris (once he shows he's healthy).

ESPN has reported that a similar offer was made to Tillman.

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Fire Phil Emery

So they made offers to both with the intention of keeping both, or they made offers to both to see who would be the first to accept?

I'd be surprised if they locked up both.

If Tillman can get the same deal as Vashar, he should sign it as soon as possible. I like Tillman but Vashar is the better player.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think Vasher is the better cover corner, but Tillman is the better all-around player because he'll play run defense, and brings a physical presence in our CB spot.

Teams don't seem to throw to Vasher's side often though so he's our best lockdown guy.

I must be watching different games than BD and Rick. I think Tillman is the better cornerback in just about every facet of the game.

Maybe my view is too simplistic, but my perception is that vasher makes a bigger impact on the game. It could be that Tillman is always lined up against the other teams number 1 but Vasher always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Tillman is good and I want both of them, but when comparing the two, Vashar has more big plays and less bad plays that I remember.

With that said, I hope they are both Bears for a long time.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I did say that Tillman was the better all-around CB.

You qualified it that Vasher is a better cover corner. That was probably my biggest contention as I think Tillman is FAR superior in coverage.

Vasher is the better of the two in coverage against most receivers. Tillman's only advantage is against larger, more physical receivers, but even there I wouldn't be afraid to put vasher up against a receiver like TO. Furthermore, I get night sweats thinking of putting Tillman up against someone like Steve Smith or Santana Moss. Tillman is better against the run, however. Both of them are far better than your prototypical cover-two cornerback, and both are worth locking up in this style of hybrid system (As opposed to Briggs, who I think is very largely expendable.) Vasher is your shutdown corner- he has a very low number of balls thrown his way and a very low percentage of overall pass plays go to his receiver, while Tillman is always one of the highest percentages in the league. This isn't a huge problem IMO for Tillman, as (up until the second half of last season) the way to beat the Bears was considered to be the pass, not the run, so they got thrown on more than usual, and I don't mind the fact that Tillman is the corner that was having those passes funneled his way- he's a damn good number two. After Urlacher amd Harris (and possibly Brown, when he's healthy), the two corners are the most important reasons this defense has been what it has been over the past two seasons. Yesterday I said that I thought Vasher was top-10; the more I think about it, he might be higher than that. After Bailey, Sheppard, Pacman (if you want to include him- he might not count anymore), Chris McAlister, Mathis in Jacksonville and maybe Ronde Barber (although I saw him get lit up a couple time last season- he has lost a step or two), I think Vasher is the next best corner in the game. That puts him fifth at best and seventh at worst. (I'd love to be corrected if I'm forgetting anyone, and no, I'm not forgetting either D'Angelo Hall or Terrance Newman. Vasher is better than both of them.)

I don't think the Tillman and Vasher offers are the same- just similar. Tillman's would probably be shorter- maybe four years- and would probably include a lower percentage of guaranteed money. My guesstimate is 4 years/22 million/ 10 million guaranteed, 5 or 6 million of which is signing bonus, but that's just speculation on my part until I see an actual offer.

Is there any other cornerback combination in the league that is better on paper than the Chicago's? Probably only Denver with Bailey and Bly, but unless Denver shows a consistent pass rush, Bly is going to get picked on.

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Fire Phil Emery

I'm a big fan of Dunta Robinson. He is highly underrated for a player who was drafted early in the first round.

The guy on the Raiders whose name I cannot spell or pronounce Ashingou-something.

I was never a believer in Asante Samuel but he has proven me wrong.

The Eagles as a team are good and deep at corner.

Yeah, you got me on Samuel. Oops, I forgot him. Robinson and Asomugha (sic?) are good corners, but benefit at least partly because they are much better than the corners they play across from (less balls get thrown their way, etc.) You could make the argument that the Eagles #1 and 2 are better that the Bears as well. I won't make that argument, but it's certainly not implausible.

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Fire Phil Emery

It won't matter how talented either guy is if the front 7 can't put pressure on the quarterback.

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"Get a hit, Crash."
"Shut up."

Agreed- see Denver- but that shouldn't be a huge problem this year. You have two above-average DEs projected to start, with one tremendous pass-rushing DE in the rotation and one more as an invested 2nd round pick. Your best DT, perhaps the best in the game, is healthy again, and while you lost some guys (Scott, Tank), you did go out and get a quality player from SF (damned if I can remember his name), Dvoracek, who everyone seems to be high on, and Garay. Actually, I'd love to see the Bears go out and get Wilkinson for one year and have him just stand there- they could use a big body right in the middle. Pass rush doesn't scare me too much next year.

The Bears are going to play a whole lot of nickel next year with R. Manning in the secondary (and maybe even de-facto dime with D. Manning playing safety/corner. My primary concern is the lack of a coverage safety (will D. Manning step up?) While I thought the Archuletta aquisition was a steal, him and Brown are essentially the same player, both of whose stregnths are inside the box (that's one of the reasons I think Briggs is largely expendable- even without Brown, you have a very big insurance policy.) However, I don' t trust Chris Harris or D. Manning right now all alone playing coverage at safety.

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Fire Phil Emery

I think there are more questions surrounding the defensive line than you acknowledge. To wit:

1)Mark Anderson has been promoted to the starting lineup in place of Alex Brown. While I loved the explosiveness he showed last year, there's a big difference between being a sub and a starter. We'll see if he can repeat his spectacular 2006 now that teams have a season's worth of film on him.

2)Dan Bazuin is a complete unknown. A lot of people think the Bears reached on him. We'll see if he pans out.

3)We won't know if Tommie Harris really is fully recovered until September. Everybody says they're feeling good in June.

4)Dusty Dvoracek's 2006 exhibition season was less than inspiring. He routinely got his ass handed to him by third-stringers. Let's hope he's developed since we last saw him on the field.

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Has Mark Anderson been officially promoted? I hadn't seen the announcement. I know there are trade rumors swirling around Brown, but until anything happens, or unless I missed Brown's demotion (which is possible), I'm assuming Brown to be the opening day starter. That's a competent, though not spectacular, line.

Bazuin and Dvoracek are unknowns, but I'm taking a leap of faith that at least one of the guys will turn out to be respectable (in Angelo I trust- on defense at least). The Bears don't need either one to be a superstar, but they do need at least one of them to be an above-replacement level player.

The Harris injury is an unknown, but by all indications, the guy was pretty healthy as of February or March. By September, I'd think he'd be back in playing form. They'll need him weeks one and two.

The opening day defense seems to be-

D-Line:

Brown (or Anderson, if you're correct)
T. Harris
Anthony Adams (or Dvoracek or Garay, but probably Adams)
Ogunleye

Linebackers:

Hillenmeyer
Urlacher
Williams (or Ohno)

Secondary:

Tillman
Brown
D. Manning (or C. Harris, or, if Lovie is feeling particularly adventurous, A. Archuletta)
Vasher

The key question, to me, is depth. DE depth largely depends on Bazuin- if Wale or Brown are injured, can he fill in as the third person on the rotation. DT is Harris and a couple of competent, though not great, players, unless Dvoracek is a stud and we don't know it (like you said, last year's preseason didn't inspire confidence, but the jury is out to be sure.) Depth beyond harris isn't a problem since they are all largely replacable, but Harris needs to stay healthy. Linebacker is very shallow, especially beyond Urlacher (Hillenmeyer doesn't get enough credit for what he does on the field- namely, eat up blockers- but he'll be on the field only about 50% of the time anyway. Weakside is iffy at best, assuming Briggs doesn't come back. You're great at cornerback, where you have an effective replacement if either starter gets hurt, although at that point you'd be forced to run a lot more 4-3 than you might otherwise like (unless D. Manning is moved to corner and can handle it.) Brown and Archuleta are interchangable at SS, which is good, because they'll need to be interchanged sometime around week 4, if history is any indication. FS is a mess, and my gravest concern on this team. If C. Harris or D. Manning do not take a step forward this year (I have no confidence in the former, and not much in the latter) you may be very thin at safety, as you will be relying on both Archuletta and Brown to stay healthy, which is not likely, and which is not an optimum situation anyway.

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Fire Phil Emery