Just saw on ChicagoBears.com that we signed WR Brandon Lloyd.  I feel pretty neutral about this.  Can't say I'm excited really.  But, at least we're adding players who have, at some point, been successful. Your thoughts?

One thing that's note-worthy is that we seem to have a decent blend of speed guys and possession players at the receiver position.  Only problem is that most of them wouldn't be no. 3's on a lot of teams in the league.                                              

The Jets spending spree continued as they signed Maurice Williams to a 4-year, $16 million deal.

This is a pretty big disappointment to me.  He was the one young, starting caliber tackle left on the market.  I don't feel like the Jets even overpaid that much to get him.  That's about what you should expect to pay for a starting tackle.  The Bears didn't even show interest.  I guess now we sit and wait for the Bears to sign Blake Brockermeyer to fill the hole at ORT.  

One a side note, I've heard rumblings that Lewis Tillman is pondering a come back.  He could be the competition at RB that Angelo is looking for.

...is all we can hope for out of the offense next year.  Here me out.  As we all know, Mendenhall is and explosive, between-the-tackles runner with above average speed by NFL RB standards.  While its unfair to compare him to Adrian Peterson (Vikings), he could be that type of player for our offense.  AP has more wiggle, but Mendenhall has that same type of hard-nosed dominant running style.  With our line still a huge question mark, I might be able to offer reason for limited optimism.  We should be able to get an OT somewhere in the second or third round that is raw, yet big enough and strong enough to move people out of the way.  See Ryan Diem/Tony Pashos.  If Bradley and Hester can make enough plays downfield to keep defenses honest, we might be able to be that smashmouth football team that I feel Angelo wants us to be.

I was just watching a Mel Kiper segment on ESPN and his projections kind of intrigued me.  He mentioned that he expected Brian Brohm and Joe Flacco to fall to the middle of the second round.  That's very encouraging to hear that we could possibly get the second best QB in the draft in the middle of the second.  Even a worst case scenario would probably only entail us moving up a few spots to snag one of those two.

Still waiting to hear something on Maurice Williams and D.J. Hackett before I can get too excited though.  I would love to be able to draft Mendenhall at 14, but we have a much bigger need at OT and WR.

There's still a few guys out there at need positions that most teams, including the Bears, have paid little attention to.  Obviously, Bryant Johnson is the guy everyone is talking about.  However, I'll throw two names at you that are arguably just as solid, if not better.  D.J. Hackett and Javon Walker are still available at WR.  Hackett shreaded the Bears last year in Seattle.  He had injury issues all year, but really showed flashes of being a starting caliber wideout.  Walker is a Pro-Bowl talent if he can stay healthy and be a good teammate.  At OLT, former Jaguar Maurice Williams is a starting caliber tackle that could definitely help our line, at the very least providing depth.

Hackett and Williams are probably going to be fairly modestly priced FA's.  I think we need to take a look at them for depth, ultimately giving us a little flexibility in the draft.  As it stands, we're looking at going into the draft having to draft based on need in the first three rounds.