These aren’t very good days to be an unproductive Bears starter. Three of them were axed yesterday- Moose, Darwin Walker, and Fred Miller all cut- and another, Mark Anderson, seems to have lost his starting job after Alex Brown received a two-year extension. These are all seemingly smart moves by Jerry Angelo, reportedly increasing the Bears cap room from $20 million to near $30 million.

With the new cap space, Angelo did what he should have: made offers to Lance Briggs, Bernard Berrian, and Tommie Harris. It’s been assumed that Briggs is as good as gone, but as Brad Biggs points out in the Sun-Times today, the Bears wouldn’t make an offer nine days before free agency starts unless they were serious. Apparently, Angelo believes three time Pro Bowl linebackers who are 26 have value, and I couldn’t agree more. Yeah, it’s not good to tie up too much money with players at the same position (ie: Urlacher), but Briggs is too productive in this system to let walk. Good to see Angelo realizes this.

The resigning of Berrian looks more necessary with Muhammad gone, and the Bears should be able to get it done. Unfortunately, Berrian is clearly the best free agent receiver on the market, assuming Randy Moss stays in New England, so the fear is that a desperate team could make a big money push to pry him away from Chicago. While Berrian is good, he really isn’t a true number one, and I don’t he’ll get that money from any team. Anyways, it’s also hard to imagine a team more desperate for Berrian then the Bears. Just imagine if they lose him: the top incumbent receivers would be Hester, Rashied Davis, and Mark Bradley. The Bears receivers weren’t good last season anyway, but that could be plain disastrous.

Trying to tie up Harris, who will be a free agent after next season, is smart move by Angelo as well. Despite playing on one leg the entire season, Harris was still a force, notching seven sacks. He’ll be just 25 next year, and he’s already arguably the league’s most dominant defensive tackle. With the slip in Urlacher’s game we saw in 2007, it wouldn’t be hard to argue that Harris is the Bears best player. Locking up young guys who are awesome, just like Briggs, is always a solid plan.

Well now the Bears have to replace the three departed starters, and there should still be money to do that even after the resigning their own guys.

OT

Acquiring a new tackle becomes paramount, preferably a left tackle, because sliding John Tait over to the right side would make the Bears better at two positions. Flozell Adams or Jordan Gross could be options, but the Bears are likely to target a tackle with their first round pick, number 14 overall. If Boise State junior Ryan Clady is still there, I think that would be a no-brainer (nice scouting report of Clady at NFLDC). Assuming Clady is gone, which could happen, the options get less intriguing. Jeff Otah is a 340 lb monster who could be the next John Odgen or the next Mike Williams. USC’s Sam Baker is a safe pick, but is a reach at 14 and likely isn’t athletic enough to play left tackle. Vanderbilt’s Chris Williams, Boston College’s Gosder Cherilus, and Nebraska’s Carl Nicks could be options in the second round.

WR

Replacing Moose could be a bit easier. The Bears are interested in bringing back Marty Booker, who could be just as productive as Muhammad and will be cheaper. Booker is more of a Band-Aid then a solution at receiver, but the signing would allow the Bears to take a receiver somewhere in the first three rounds and develop him. Malcolm Kelly or Limas Sweed would make sense in round one, and James Hardy, Early Doucet, Earl Bennett, or possibly Mario Manningham could be available later.

DT

Replacing Walker, a failed experiment if there ever was one, relies on the health of Dusty Dvoracek. If he’s healthy, everyone involved with the Bears- from management to fans- seems to think Dvoracek can be a monster. He’s mean, which is something the Bears can use. Maybe a fourth or fifth round pick will be added to defensive tackle rotation as well.

All that….and the Bears still need a starter at safety and another running back. It’s going to be a tough offseason for Angelo, but so far, I like what he’s doing.
 
 

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