Jerry Angelo

This year it was different. With no first or second round draft picks, Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith had to swing for the fences in free agency or they'd be on the chopping block for sure after the 2010 season. After a fantastic Friday, it's time to examine the moves the Bears made and how they improve the team going forward.

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It's been a complete switch. Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith are all-in.  

We all knew Peppers was going to be a high priority for Angelo since he's head and shoulders the best DE on the market. Lovie Smith even flew to Carolina to pick him up. That's "the Bears' deal to lose" according to Peppers' agent. Done deal.

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He may not be a perfect fit for the cover-two, but if that system gets in the way of Jerry Angelo signing a playmaker like Sharper I'll be furious. He won't be a long-term solution, but this staff is trying to win now or they won't be here next season.

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The move was among many staff decisions made by Smith and GM Jerry Angelo. Shane Day, quality control coach with the San Francisco 49ers, was hired to become the new quarterbacks coach and Eric Washington was promoted to defensive line coach. Seattle's Mike DeBord was signed on Tuesday, assuming the tight end coaching vacancy. 

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arizing Mike Martz will step into what boils down to be the offensive head coaching job.

 

Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith exhausted a list of potential candidates which included: Jeremy Bates (Seattle), Rob Chudzinski (San Diego), Ken Zampese (Cincinnatti), Kevin Rogers (Minnesota) and Hue Jackson (Oakland) over the month-long PR debacle. Candidate after candidate turned down the Chicago job for (supposedly) greener pastures all while Mike Martz sat idly by, waiting for even an interview. Last Friday, Martz finally sat down with Bears brass, followed by a trip to Tennessee to have dinner with Bears franchise QB Jay Cutler. After Jay expressed his support for Martz, Lovie Smith hired the man he wanted all along.

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what they could, but they couldn't overcome the giveaways. 

Before the the blowout, Bears GM Jerry Angelo came out and denied a Comcast report that said Lovie Smith's job was safe. He even went as far as to say money would not be an issue when it came to deciding what was best for the team. That was possibly the best Bears news I've heard in a while. Still, I'm not convinced Lovie is going anywhere. The Bears will lose to Minnesota on Monday night, but a lackluster outing against Detroit could seal Smith's fate if it isn't already.

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The players are poorly selected, especially on both lines. This game starts up front and Jerry Angelo has either failed to bring in the right kind of players or the coaches have failed to motivate them properly, despite three sacks of McNabb on Sunday night. Oh, and letting Michael Vick scamper for 34 yards on his only carry of the night? Unforgivable.

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Jay Cutler (which I still can’t believe happened), and then the signing of Orlando Pace, Jerry Angelo could have sat out the rest of free agency and skipped the draft and Bears fans would have been content. Not one to rest on his new QB’s laurels, Angelo refuses to let up.

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Taking that into consideration, Jerry Angelo got the most value for his picks and filled key holes with multiple bodies. Draft classes aren’t fairly evaluated until year three, but it would be nice if some of these selections can pan out early. (I’m looking at YOU wide receivers.)

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Moore was Mel Kiper’s top-rated safety in the entire draft. Maybe Jerry Angelo didn’t think Moore had the instincts for the free safety spot, but Massaquoi was a target all along. Instead, the Bears trade out of the first day of the draft and will have an extremely busy Sunday with nine selections in the final four rounds.

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on and dutifully following the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

 

Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo traded away a small chunk of this year’s draft in the now epic Jay Cutler deal. So instead of at 18, his first pick comes off the board at 49, in the middle of the second round. Also, his instead of two third round picks at 84 and 99, he is left with the latter, a compensatory pick awarded for losing Bernard Berrian in free agency last off-season.  Still, even with those losses, Angelo has a great deal of work ahead of him on this draft weekend with seven picks total (One in each round 2-6, two compensatory picks in round 7). What should he do? What do the Bears need? I break it down right here, right now.

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General Manager Jerry Angelo not only called the Broncos, but pulled the trigger on a massive blockbuster trade, acquiring the Pro Bowl QB from Denver.

On first analysis, what the Bears sent to Denver could seem like a king’s ransom, but on a closer look, the Bears didn’t give away all that much. Here’s how the trade breaks down:

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I know, you’re shocked. Jerry Angelo is usually so busy during this hectic time of player visits, physicals, and contract negotiations. Oh wait, I think this is annual vacation. My mistake. Like clockwork, the Bears have effectively disappeared from the free agent landscape, instead waiting for the second or third-tier talent to begin finding homes. The Bears have only made one acquisition so far: back-up offensive lineman Frank Omiyale. It’s a solid move for Angelo and his porous offensive line, but it’s nothing ground-breaking. Omiyale signed a four-year deal that will end being worth around 12 to 14 million dollars. He’s a versatile talent, evidenced by his last season in Carolina, where he was used all over the Panthers’ offensive line. He comes into Chicago expected to start at a guard spot (probably on the right side), leaving last year’s first round pick Chris Williams at left tackle. I’ll quickly run through the news regarding Chicago and their molasses-like talent search. 

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away from 11-5 (also a few away from 7-9 in that same ideology), fans are growing restless with the Jerry Angelo / Lovie Smith regime. With NFL free agency starting tonight at 12:01 am and around twenty million in cap space, the Bears have the opportunity to fill holes and bolster their biggest roster weaknesses. I’ll shoot you through some of their trouble spots and whose services they should be pursuing.

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Well, Jerry Angelo sure didn't mind spending any money this off-season. The Chicago Bears general manager managed to find all sorts of creative solutions to sign his key players to long-term deals. When the season ended, there were plenty of question marks concerning the Bears' roster. Lance Briggs, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher, and Devin Hester were all looking for new contracts or extensions. 

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GM Jerry Angelo is consistently ahead of the curve in the NFL when it comes to addressing rookie contracts. He does not wait for the market to establish itself for any position or round, instead choosing to dole out contracts he deems fit for each player. It is surely working in his favor. I expect Chris Williams to be signed within a week, and that is a conservative estimate on my part. There shouldn't be any significant disagreements from the 14th overall pick. The only real issues come from the top 10 picks in any given draft, and 3 of the top 4 are already signed, so be prepared for a fairly drama-free draft class in general.

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“I don’t think it should,” said Chicago GM Jerry Angelo when asked for comment. “Personally, I really like that we have two picks in the third. It’s way better than having two in the first, right? I mean, considering I always draft better in the middle rounds. Always.” The second pick referred to by Angelo was acquired in a draft-day trade last season with the San Diego Chargers.

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ESPN columnist KC Joyner took a statistical look at the route-running efficiency of Hester a few days ago, compiling a table that breaks down his experience as a receiver and basically reinforcing how I feel about Chicago’s new #23. Unfortunately, in order to view said table, one must be privy to the world of the ESPN Insider ( http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?columnist=joy). If you aren’t, it highlights three things: (a) Hester is at his best running on the go and double-move go routes, catching Griese’s 81-yard bomb at the end of the Minnesota game and Orton’s 55-yarder in the final game. Obviously, this is where he’s his most explosive -- burning defensive backs and hauling in the long ball. He is the heir apparent to Berrian in this capacity and the Bears seem confident enough in this ability to pencil him at #2 on the depth chart for now. However, as Joyner also points out, (b) Hester is suffering from a low YPC on quick hitches and screens. He’s caught eight balls using these two routes but managed a paltry 27 yards total -- only 3.4 yards per catch. Hester needs to learn how to create some space between him and defenders, like Steve Smith (or perhaps Steve Smith of 2005). Working on separation tactics will boost his potential for short yardage situations. And obviously, (c) the kid just lacks overall experience. It should be interesting to see how he adjusts to his new role come September. I still think it’s too early to put him at #2, but it seems the Bears (for better or worse) have their minds set on this.

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The Bears gave Brandon Lloyd a one-year contract last week, reeling in a cast-off from the Redskins who’s been plagued by injuries and questionable locker room chemistry the past two seasons. Lloyd’s production will be a complete gamble, but there are some good reasons to like this deal. First off, he’s coming incredibly cheap, dime-store, like we just snatched him up off the shelf at that seedy bodega down the street. There’s basically nothing to lose, am I wrong? Anybody is an upgrade at this point. I remember a time when Lloyd impressed me mildly – two 40+ catch seasons in San Fran, great hands, good burst off the line, strong vertical leap, mediocre blocking, a propensity for SportsCenter Top-10 one-handed catches. When I read about him being traded to Washington, I pictured him working the middle of the field, Santana Moss putting some double-moves on the outside and burning the safety with an inside post pattern, Antwaan Randle El drawing up in a hitch – the near-mechanized cogs of Al Saunders’ vaunted offense in perfect syncronization. Well, we all know how that turned out (Did he really think every one of those players could digest a 700-page playbook? Didn’t he check their Wonderlic scores?).

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At last! I’ve come across some breaking news to legitimate this website’s reputation as the forefront for all news regarding our beloved Bears (save for ChicagoBears.com, from which this information has been culled) – Angelo has attempted to inject some life into the offense by bring back the club’s last 1,000 yard receiver, the wily veteran Marty Booker. Booker has been a virtual non-factor the last few years in the league, stuck catching balls thrown from the latest projects to emerge from the Miami Dolphins’ QB University (an institute of uninspired complacency with lots of bright graduates – Cleo Lemon, John Beck, what was left of Daunte Culpepper and Trent Green, and the older, more brusque McCown brother). I’m sure the main reason Angelo brought Booker back was because, naturally, he let perhaps the last intriguing free agent WR walk off to another team earlier today. With Javon Walker off the market, our trusty GM dusted off the old depth charts to see exactly who could be brought in to salvage the O.

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Brian Griese was traded back to his old team today for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick. We all knew this was coming, especially since he was due a $300,000 roster bonus tomorrow and wouldn’t have stayed on the roster even if he hadn’t been traded. This is comforting news for Angelo, who got something, anything, for Greesee rather than just giving him the ol’ das boot. I don’t really understand what the Bucs were thinking. Take a gander at their current QB roster for ‘08:

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