[CBFF] CT - Bears ignored nee... blah blah blah

[Tom Shannon]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: CBFF-bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com [mailto:CBFF-
> bounces at chicagobearsfanforum.com] On Behalf Of Jim Ferolie
> Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 9:03 AM
> To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
> Subject: Re: [CBFF] CT - Bears ignored nee... blah blah blah

> The thing is, his individual assessment of players pretty much matches to
> everything I've read and everything the Bears said. However, his
> conclusion
> shows a philosophical difference more than anything.
> 
> Taken individually, he basically said, "The Bears reached with their first
> two picks but got some great value in the lower rounds and in free agents
> after the draft." Yeah, we already knew that. As we well know, that has
> been
> JA's MO since he got here. Only one of his first-rounders has been a real
> hit, and he wasn't even a high pick (Grossman).
> 
> In fact, though, his assessment of the TE prospect gives me hope. JA made
> it
> clear that there was great TE depth in this draft and that he was in no
> rush
> to get one of those "star" types. His decision to pick the odds-n-ends
> guys,
> and which pick he took with them, is curious, but it's not at all unusual
> for him. But that's a management thing, not a scouting thing. The scout
> goes, "We can probably get this guy 15 picks lower," but the manager goes,
> "This is the guy I want, I'm not willing to take that chance."


> Do the Bears need a better TE more than they need a better KR/PR? Maybe,
> but
> I don't think that's really Landry's domain... or else he would be making
> picks right now, not evaluating them. That's where the big bucks are.

Yeah, I certainly see your point and if that were all, I'd be OK with it.
But I think this is a little different, Jim.  Here's why.  A small part of
Landry's problem is that the Bears didn't fill what he thought were needs.
That's true.  But his real problem, the one that he thinks underlies the way
this draft fell for the Bears, is with the way the board was stacked.

The Bears reached for the first two picks.  Why?  Well, they really liked
Manning and Hester.  The scouts (Greg Gabriel) said, "These guys are the
best left including the ones in 'need' positions."  This leads you to trade
down as far as you can.  That's not far enough because the right offers
weren't there.  So you lose a little by reaching.

As you said, this is all sort of Angelo's MO.  The thing is, it's probably
partly because the scouts he hired are telling him that this is the thing to
do.  They're pretty good at identifying the "diamond in the rough".  But it
leads them to advise Angelo to skip the obvious guys to draft those
diamonds, like Colombo and Bradley, even when you are still sitting at the
bottom of the first round or top of the second.

This is all OK if the draft board is realistic and that's really the way it
is.  But the question is, "Were Manning and Hester really the best guys left
at that spot?"  Landry's answer is, "No.  The way the board was stacked led
the Bears to trade down unnecessarily and reach for their picks, both of
whom are risky to boot.  There were plenty of guys there that were at least
as good and safer and at positions of need."  Landry goes even beyond Mel
Kiper, another guy whose opinion I've learned to respect.  Kiper gave them a
'B' for sticking to their board and taking the draft as it fell to them,
something he obviously believes in.  Landry's saying, "Yeah, but they're
sticking to the wrong board."

This is where Landry really has his problem with the Bears draft.  It's much
different from some schmuck newspaper guy or some former player turned
talking head like Sean Salisbury giving a quick, "The morons didn't fill
their needs."  That kind of criticism is crap.  If it were anyone else
saying this, I'd disregard it as BS and move on.  The problem is that
Landry's really the only football man outside the organization who knows the
Bears and paid special attention to their draft.

I'm not saying he's right.  But I've got to wonder.

Tom S.

I know not, sir, whether Bacon wrote the works of Shakespeare, but if he did
not it seems to me that he missed the opportunity of his life.
  - James M. Barrie