Brad Biggs reports that the league sources believe the Bears have interest in Brandon Manumaleuna, a tight end who specializes in putting a hand on the ground and keeping defensive ends away from quarterbacks.  While any decision that makes the Bears stronger in the trenches is a wise move, the acquisition of Manu would raise the following question:

How will Mike Martz use Greg Olsen?

Some fans (many on this site) have posited trading Olsen for a bag of balls and late-round draft picks.  These fans, most commonly referred to as “unintelligent”, ignore not only the player’s brilliant potential but also his rapport with our star quarterback.  Olsen is not a tight end without flaws.  His blocking is subpar and he’s shown a propensity to drop too many balls.  But in a pass-heavy Mike Martz offense, Olsen will finally be able to extricate himself from the ill-fitting confines of the blocking world.  Martz will line him up in the slot and out wide, force opposing defenses to put linebackers and safeties in uncomfortable situations and allow him to become more than merely a safety valve.  (I also hope Martz will retire the red zone fade route in the corner of the end zone.)

There are many tests for Martz this season.  Developing a consistent run game, decreasing turnovers from Mr. Cutler and scoring in the red zone are the big three.  But Martz’ ability to drain everything possible out of Greg Olsen may be one of the defining effects of his possibly-short tenure.  I’ve long maintained that Olsen is the key to this offense.  Here’s hoping Martz is the man to use him wisely.       

Some names are beginning to surface.  I shall discuss them now.

Julius Peppers
Peppers is the rare 4-3 defensive end that demands double teams on almost every passing down.  Peppers might not come into Chicago and register 12 1/2 sacks but I guarantee you’d see the sack totals of every other defensive lineman increase.  He’s an elite talent and will demand to be paid like one.  Will Halas Hall meet his demands?

Darren Sproles
Sproles has the kind of versatility that makes a football coach salivate.  He can carry the rock 15-20 times a game.  He’s probably the finest catcher of the screen pass in the game.  He’s a game-breaking return man.  There’s not many teams in the league that won’t make a play for him so expecting interest from the Bears – who don’t have sincere need in any of those three area – is fool’s gold.  The money would be better spent on…

Brian Westbrook
Westbrook is a dated version of Sproles but the Bears could show tremendous savvy by locking down his leadership and third-down ability while the rest of the league is lining up for the little San Diego man.  Westbrook is not a must sign.  But it is the kind of a sign a team makes when they believe they’re a few pieces from the promised land.  Whether it’s true or not, the Bears believe that’s the case.

Kevin Walter
Walter is an ideal Mike Martz receiver.  Quick feet and reliable hands from the slot, he might be able to provide a solid slant option to a quarterback that looks damn near afraid to throw the pattern.  (Based on the interception totals in that regard, he should be.)  I really don’t think the Bears are looking at the wide receiver position but if they are, they should look this way and ignore the higher priced trade options out there.

Antrel Rolle & Darren Sharper
Why am I listing them together?  Because I want them both.  And more than any free agent signings possible, the acquisition of these two men could change my expectations for the 2010 season.  Just imagine the thought of going into September with two solid, professional players at safety.  Just imagine knowing that the heaved ball over the top will have to get through the best center fielder in the game.  Neither of these guys is great players but both are significant upgrades over Al Afalava and Kevin Payne in 2010.  And as I’ve said many times recently, 2010 is all Jerry and Lovie may have left. 

So the Chicago Bears send their fans an invoice for season tickets and Ted Phillips uses it as an opportunity to once again display the fact that the organization has a president who knows very little about the sport.

“The need to bring in new ideas, energy and passion has never been more
apparent, and in that regard, the addition of Mike Martz as offensive
coordinator and the promotion of Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator
bring a renewed focus on winning from two of the most well respected
and intelligent coaches in the NFL.”

Look, I think Mike Martz is going to make the Bears offense far more interesting.  But Teddy Ballgame and the rest of the folks working at Halas Hall need to refrain from using Rod Marinelli’s promotion as a sign of good things to come.  The 2010 defensive unit was the worst in my lifetime and the response to that must be upgrades in personnel.  If you want fans to share in your moronic optimism, show us Julius Peppers.  Not Rod Marinelli.

In the meanwhile, say nothing.  Write nothing.    

According to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com, the Bears are targeting both Julius Peppers and Aaron Kampman.  It is very exciting to know that, if these rumors are true, the Chicago Bears’ brain trust has finally recognized that the defensive lineup lacks the requisite talent to compete for a championship.  According to La Canfora:

Peppers, who will not receive the Carolina Panthers’ franchise tag,
is the Bears’ prime target. However, Peppers will not come cheap — he
was seeking around $40 million guaranteed from the Panthers. The Bears
traditionally are a frugal team, but in this limited free-agent market,
they are prepared to jump into the sweepstakes for Peppers, who had 81
sacks in eight seasons with the Panthers.

Adds Mike Florio at PFT in a rare moment of true comic splendor:

Then again, if Peppers ends up in the NFC North, Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie will have two games per year in which he’ll need to be ready to claim after the fact that he was injured.

Defensive end, safety, right tackle.  Those are the big three positions for the club.  Signing Peppers or Kampman would knock one off the board in March.

So as most of you know, this is the time of year where I’m least prolific on the site.  I just hate wasting space trying to guess what free agents will be available and what trades are possibilities.  That coupled with the uncertainty of the CBA means I’ll just respond to things as they actually play out.  

“These guys go out and watch players all fall, then we all watch the tape of all these guys, and we see what kind of football players they are.  That’s scouting.  Who plays good football in pads?  That’s scouting.  Now we need the combine for the medical evaluations and the personal baggage stuff.  But don’t come in after the combine and tell me you want to change some guy and move him way up because he ran faster than you thought he would.  That’s where you get in trouble, and that’s why our draft board is pretty well set.”

The truth is that the combine is a product of the over-evaluation that is beginning to plague the NFL.  It’s nice to see teams coming out and saying that how a guy plays on Saturday might actually give a hint to how he’ll play on Sunday.

“The budget we have set will be very competitive,” Phillips said. “Assuming we can win the battles we want to win, I think we will be able to improve our team in free agency.”

I’d like to see the Bears stock up the roster for a 2010 run.  That’s what I’d like to see.

Per Florio, the current crop of Bears free agents:
Chicago Bears: (restricted) DE Mark Anderson, S Josh Bullocks, DT Dusty Dvoracek, S Danieal Manning, LB Nick Roach, LB Jamar Williams; (unrestricted) LB Darrell McClover, DE Adewale Ogunleye, RB Adrian Peterson, LB Pisa Tinoisamoa.

So who does Jerry re-sign?  I think Pisa, Jamar and Roach should all come back to provide linebacker depth moving forward.  I have no interest in Mark Anderson or Adewale Ogunleye.  Dusty and Bullocks are gone.

As for Danieal Manning and Adrian Peterson?  I’m letting them both walk.  The Bears must move Hester back to kick returns and have Knox for the insurance policy there.  AP’s fate must have been sealed by Khalil Bell’s late-season performance.

Per Florio:

In the wake of the Bears’ abrupt decision to dump pro personnel
director Bobby DePaul, there’s a strong feeling in league circles that
he’ll be replaced by former Seahawks G.M. Tim Ruskell.  (Brad Biggs of
the Chicago Tribune has noted that “speculation” linking Ruskell to Chicago already has begun.)

One
source tells us that Ruskell recently had been calling G.M. Jerry
Angelo “daily.”  The two men worked together in Tampa before Angelo was
hired by the Bears in 2001.

I believe the phrase that best sums this move up is “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.  Everybody who currently works at Halas Hall is on a one-year lease and there’s not a personnel man alive capable of having tremendous influence on 2010. 

Neil Hayes’ blog on Sun-Times quotes Torry Holt at length, as the wide receiver says he would be thrilled to come to Chicago and play for Mike Martz again.  I don’t know how much Holt has in the tank but he believes – and I agree with him – that his knowledge of the system can only be an attribute to the franchise.  And in an uncapped year, why not spend the extra bucks?

Holt explains:

“In his system you got to be able to run,” Holt said.  “[Y]ou better
be able to run, you better be cerebral, you better be able to learn,
and you better have thick skin because he’s so demanding, you’re
working with a guy who’s a perfectionist. If you can’t do those three
things, and you’re not tough and you’re not willing to go and block and
run routes and be efficient and be quick, you will not play in his
system, I don’t care if you’re a first-round, second-round draft pick
it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about your speed, if you can’t do those
things you cannot help this guy out and his offense.   I think it’s a
match made in heaven if they were to bring someone like me in to
actually show these guys how to run this system, efficiently,
effectively and consistently.”

Is signing Torry Holt going to catapult the Bears to the top of the NFC North?  No.  Will it make them better in 2010?  Yes.  I repeat again…expect a lot of decisions to be made to that end.

Panthers Won’t Franchise Peppers
Florio is reporting at PFT that due to the exorbitant cost to the organization ($21.8 million in 2010) the Panthers will choose to let Julius Peppers wade in free agent waters.  While the move would improve this organization in 2010, I’m not quite sure the Bears are an elite defensive end from being in the Super Bowl and that’s the kind of place I imagine Peppers will end up.  If he were to come to Chicago, I’d get very excited at the prospect of Peppers starting opposite Alex Brown.  So would Rod Marinelli.

Omiyale to Right Tackle?  
We’ve all learned that Frank Omiyale is not a starting guard in this league.  Is he a starting tackle?  Possibly.  Omiyale’s background is at tackle and Mike Martz will most likely not institute a system that requires a power-blocking guy on the edge, especially with his proclivity to use tight ends primarily as blockers.  If Jerry Angelo’s assessment of the roster as “set” is honest, this might be how the Bears open the season.

Jaws on Bears
Overall I don’t disagree with much of anything Ron Jaworski has to say about the state of the current Bears (and I recommend you read the entire piece).  Sean Jensen’s article ends with the most pressing need facing the Bears currently:

Meanwhile, Jaworski said the Bears need to improve at safety,
finding someone who strikes fear into the heart of opposing receivers
and tight ends.

”I think safety is becoming such a prevalent position now,”
Jaworski said. ”You have to have someone who is a thumper back there,
and they don’t have that right now.”

Will Olsen Fit With Martz?
PFT writes that Mike Martz seems to like “his receivers to catch and his tight ends to block” as they ponder what role Greg Olsen might serve in the new system.  Martz is mad but he recognizes the mismatch Greg Olsen creates on linebackers and safeties.  Expect to see Desmond Clark and Kellen Davis fill the role of tradition tight end while Olsen becomes a versatile toy: H-back, slot guy…etc. 

Tommie Harris: Yeah, Het Gets It   
Here’s Harris’ comments on the hiring of Rod Marinelli as defensive coordinator:

“If anybody would have come from the outside, they would have already
known the history of the defense, so nothing would have changed,”
Harris said. “Nobody was going to come here and change this to a 3-4 or
anything
like that. It just would have been a different name at
defensive coordinator. But we’re fine with coach Marinelli. He’s a
monster.’

I’d love for someone to play the audio tape of Tommie saying these words for Ted Phillips, the man who promised fans major changes were coming to the organization.  I wish someone would explain to me how the worst single-season defense in franchise history has earned the right to make these decisions.

Boldin Only Costs a Third Rounder?
Make.  The.  Deal.