Thanks to the Jay Cutler trade, we won't be seeing Taylor Mays in Chicago come April.This post isn't meant to condemn the Jay Cutler trade. Even though Cutler approached epic bust status in year one, I'm hardly ready to label him eternal garbage, or to label the trade that brought him here a disaster. The price (Orton, two first rounders, and a third rounder) was obviously high, but it had to be high. 25-year old Pro Bowl quarterbacks don't come cheaply. I'm all for rolling the dice, and the Bears rolled it. I'll give them credit for that, even if they may or may not have egg all over their face right now.
Still, this season was 100 percent awful, in large part because of the hope Cutler brought and so quickly (literally) threw away. Perhaps worst of all is that the Bears don't even get the reward every other shit team gets for a shit season: Denver's got the Bears' first round pick again this April, and we found out yesterday that it will be either No. 10 or No. 11.
Here's the rest of the draft order,
via SB Nation:
- Rams
- Lions
- Bucs
- Redskins
- Chiefs
- Seahawks
- Browns
- Raiders
- Bills
- Bears OR Jaguars, TBD by coin flip
Of course, you can say "Whatever. The Bears would have screw it up anyways", and that's probably accurate. But it does look like there would have been a few juicy names available that may have made an immediate impact in Chicago.
In NFL Draft Countdown's
latest mock (updated Dec. 17), USC safety Taylor Mays is projected to go eighth, Oklahoma State wideout Dez Bryant is at pick 10, and Clemson Chris Johnson-impersonator CJ Spiller is at pick 12.
Instead, we're likely looking at another season with Earl Bennett, Al Afalava, and Garrett Wolfe. Whoops.
I was checking out the salary cap numbers for players currently under contract with the Bears, and by ridding themselves of Urlacher, Kreutz, Harris, and Vasher, they'd have over $28 million available to go on a shopping spree.
The problem is, if there's no collective bargaining agreement in place, there will be nothing on the shelves to buy in an uncapped year.
I'm inclined to give Urlacher and Harris another shot, but for the roughly $18 million the two of them are owed, it would really be a roll of the dice. Urlacher is solid, and dedicated, but his age and history of getting injured makes him a gamble.
Harris just doesn't seem all that serious about playing in the NFL since he got his money. I don't see any sense of urgency in the guy, and his flippant responses to questions asked in earnest are troubling. The fact of the matter is that he hasn't done much of anything since 2006, and that's a long time to be drawing a check based on reputation and potential alone. Some stats to back it up, and justify the expenditure would be nice.
Vasher is done. He has no heart, and lacks the stomach for hard contact.
Olin has had a nice career, but he's become a turnstile and it's time for him to hang up the cleats.
I'm not saying that one or more of these guys couldn't land somewhere else next season, and make significant contributions. I just don't think that they're worth the gamble. If we were playing at the ten dollar table, perhaps, but not at these stakes. The ante is just too high.
no doubt that our heroes in my heart are able to win soon or later.i believe they will do best in order to feedback us supporting for many years.