I don’t want to be updating every piece of news coming across the Twitter wires and leaking through the various local newspapers around the country,.  But I’ll try to wrap things up as best I can and let you guys take over.  Here’s ten things that happened today:

1. The Cowboys put Roy Williams, Marion Barber and Leonard Davis back on the market.

2. The Giants put two good, if aging, offensive linemen on the market: Shaun O’Hara and Rich Seubert.

3. The Vikings are reportedly working out a trade for Donovan McNabb.

4. The Dolphins are reportedly pursuing a deal for Kyle Orton.

5. Many stories claim Tarvaris Jackson-to-Seattle is basically a done deal.  Matt Hasselbeck will officially not re-join the team as many believe he is headed to Tennessee – where he’ll start and groom Jake Locker.

6. Bernard Berrian and Jimmy Kennedy are done in Minnesota.

7. Baltimore released McGahee, Heap, Mason, Gregg.

8. Mark Sanchez has offered to restructure his contract with the Jets in order to keep Santonio Holmes in New York.  They are also rumored to be a possible destination for Namdi.

9. Mason Foster has signed with Tampa, leading many to believe Barrett Ruud will no longer be with the team.  It’ll be interesting to see if the Bears kick the tires on Rudd as they attempt to add depth at linebacker.

10. The Bears face competition for the services of Olin Kreutz and Nick Roach.  I don’t see a scenario wherein Kreutz leaves.  He once spurned Miami and took less money to stay here.  If Roach is guaranteed a starting job by some time, I can see him leaving.

He is 6’3″.  195.  He runs a sub-4.4 40-yard dash (click here for video).

According to a report made on Waddle and Silvy, the Bears have informed their current crop of wideouts they will not be targeting a big-ticket wideout.  They have focused on the position while addressing undrafted free agents.

Vaughn McClure reports in the Trib that the Bears have informed punter Brad Maynard he will not be re-signed by the Bears.

Ladies and gentlemen the 2011 Chicago Bears season hath begun.

Here are the details.  Things get fun starting tomorrow.  Thanks to PFT for the fine breakdown.

Today, the NFL will publish a Free Agency List.

On Tuesday, team facilities will open for voluntary training, conditioning, and classroom instruction.

On Tuesday, trades can begin.

At 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, teams may sign drafted rookies, undrafted rookies, and negotiate with (but not sign) their own unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents, exclusive-rights players, and franchise players.

Also, beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, teams may negotiate with, but not sign or give offer sheets to, other team’s unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents, and franchise players.

At 4:01 p.m. ET on Thursday, teams may waive or terminate player contracts.

At 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, teams may renegotiate existing player contracts.

Also at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, teams sign their own unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents, exclusive-rights free agents, and franchise players.

Also at 6:00 p.m. ET on Friday, teams may sign unrestricted free agents fromother teams, restricted free agents from other teams, and franchise players from other teams.

No payment of any kind can be made to any player until the CBA has been ratified by the players.

The 2011 league year will begin no later than August 4.  When the 2011 league year begins, teams must be under the salary cap.  (Specifically, their highest 51 cap numbers must fit under the cap.)

Thus, look for some teams to possibly go over the projected cap this week, and then to find a way to get under the cap before the official start of the league year.

I don’t even pretend to be following these laborious labor negotiations over the last six months or so.  I didn’t care in March.  I don’t care now.  Once that deal is done, and it looks like the owners are set to ratify the new CBA on Thursday at an all-inclusive meeting, I will care.  Because it means the National Football League is back.  And the NFL, despite it bothering me over this half a year, is still the greatest sports league in the universe.

Let’s focus on the Bears and lay out as succinctly as possible what will transpire starting Monday.  (All rumors part to Monday.  This is not confirmed.)  Side note: It looks like the NFL has told folks in London that the Bears and Bucs are coming in late October.  I know I said I wouldn’t go.  But I’m a known liar.

STEP ONE: SIGN WHO YOU GOT

It looks like there will be a period of three days wherein the Bears will have an exclusive window to sign their own free agents.  Many people are also pointing to this period as a time to sign draft picks but let’s be honest, most of those deals are done.  If front offices weren’t getting draftee economics in order, what the hell were they doing since the end of April?  (Jerry Angelo has been dodging questions about his botched draft-day trade with the Ravens.) The priorities for the Bears should be Olin Kreutz back at the center of the offense, Anthony Adams at the center of the defense and Corey Graham back as special teams ace/corner.  (The Trib reported Graham may be looking for a bigger role elsewhere but I don’t see it.)

STEP TWO: SIGN WHO YOU NEED

There’s going to be money and the Bears have needs.  The Bears are going to start J’Marcus Webb at left tackle but they have no idea if the monster can play the position.  I agree with PFT’s assertion that the Bears should looking for fallbacks at left tackle.  I’d go so far as to say they should stockpile o-line help.  The worst unit of the 2011 Chicago Bears will not suddenly be solid based upon the drafting of the Bear Jew.  (Bear Jew t-shirts are awesome and still available by clicking here.)

Everyone, and I mean, is reporting the Bears don’t have a need at wide receiver.  Well…THEY GODDAMN DO!  But they wouldn’t if they brought Sidney Rice to town.

And I got excited by this PFT report about Vince Jackson and Logan Mankins making serious legal plays to accrue free agent status.  I wouldn’t complain if both ended up in navy blue and orange next season.

STEP THREE: FOOTBALL

You have to also play football.  And teach your team to play football together.

There are rumors, RUMORS mind you, that the players and owners are targeting a resolution to this labor nonsense on July 21st.  Your first question should be what my first question was: WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING TEN DAYS?  GET THIS DAMN THING DONE.  PFT does a very nice job breaking down how the days after that resolution might play out.  It goes without saying that if this deal gets done July 21st, we are in for one of those most ridiculous and perhaps exciting months in NFL history to follow.

It’s hard to write a list of things I want the Chicago Bears to do, especially considering a general lack of knowledge of what the financial infrastructure of the league will look like.  So my recommendations – which I know Halas Hall will take very seriously – are simple but economically uninformed.

Sign everybody from the 2010 roster.  And I almost mean everybody.  With the shortened offseason the Bears must show comfortability with going back into battle with a bulk of the individuals who took them to the NFC Championship Game in 2010.  Olin Kreutz, Anthony Adams, Danieal Manning, Caleb Hanie, Rashied Davis, Corey Graham.  Bring them all back.  I’m not advocating breaking the bank for any of them but a few dollars over market value with feel like a freebie when it comes to the continuity they’ll provide on the field.  2011 will reward continuity over all other things, especially for the first 8 games or so.

This doesn’t mean the Bears should not go out there and improve the roster.  Sidney Rice is a must, in my opinion, and I can be persuaded to get into the Antonio Cromartie market without much arm pulling.  (He’s a cunt but he can play corner.)  But if PFT is correct, and the re-sign window will be small, Jerry Angelo should have deals on the desks of the 2010 Bears to make the 2011 Bears.

It’s July 4th – a holiday that actually means something.  Say what you want about most of the shit we celebrate in this country but this is one that has to resonate if you’re living on American soil.  This video still gives me goosebumps.

Let’s start by saying this: no matter how you feel about the design, I like it less than you.  But we’ll get a site we’re comfortable with by the time the important stuff starts happening for the Chicago Bears.

Hello My Loyal Friends,

So I let you all know last week that we’ll be transitioning this site, with the remainder of ChicagoNow, in the coming few days.  The site will look much different, much sparer, kinda ugly, but we’ll be fixinfg things as we move forward. 

Here is what you should know:

• The site will be down from evening Wednesday night until midday Thursday.
• Your user profiles are going away. You’ll be able to keep display names but for the time being if you want to keep a photo with their account you’ll need to register your email address at gravatar.com and add the user pic through there.
• ChicagoNow email alerts are going away.  You can still subscribe to our site via email.
• From the ChicagoNow boss: “Comments are changing. They’ll go in reverse chronological order to start, and though there’s a reply option it’s not threaded comments. This feature is my biggest priority to fix at launch due to the Da’ Bears Blog users and a few others that have such an active group of commenters.”
• All thoughts, complaints and suggestions should be sent to staff@ChicagoNow.com.

Have patience with this transition, folks.  It’s not going to be pleasant for anyone and there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes reasons for its occurence.  Ultimately, things will remain fundamentally the same: I will write thoughts, ya’ll will bitch and moan and we’ll have a wonderful NFL season.