draft day debauchery

the NFL draft is here upon us, and in terms of ballyhooed over-coverage this day is #2 to the superbowl all season long.

we're sitting on pick #21 and the bears are at #26. i am hoping that the bears are able to get TE mercedes lewis from UCLA. now i have jinxed them, but the signing of ricky manning JR from carolina has added more depth at CB. speed at the cornerback position is a problem for the bears: simply put, when i play with them in madden the ~92ish speed of tillman/vasher cannot match up with a speedster like, say, STEVE SMITH. it truly exposes the CBs as more big physical guys who can't keep up with a burner.

supposedly they liked tye hill, who went #15 to the rams. hill was said to be a beast, one of those guys who can maul you when it comes to contact, therefore i dont know about his speed. huff from texas is gone already, and cromartie from florida state is gone. i don't purport to know that much about college players, but from what i've heard about mercedes lewis i like him. a big pass catching TE who played with drew olson, who had big #s relative to what he does in the PAC conference.

san francisco is at 22 and they've already drafted vernon davis, or whatever his last name, the freak specimen from maryland at #6.

i think a pass catching TE would be crucial for the bears as they need to supplant rex with as many weapons as they can get. i think that muhsin muhammad will have a significantly better season if he is able to establish a yearlong rapport with rex the wonder bear, and i think a lot of the drops will go by the wayside. muhammad, esp compared to his career year (~1200+ rec yards and 14-16 TDs) in 2004, and he had a noticeable amount of drops to sully his good name. moose is a longtime vet, a professional, and one of the focal points of the panthers' passing game when he was tehre, taking steve smith under his wing and teaching him some of the finer points of WR. when smith became the primary coverage magnet in 04, moose was open to absolutely tear up the field. now with the bears moose is far and away the #1 threatm as the rotisserie of gage/wade(peace be upon his departed soul)/bradley/berrian/others continued to be just that. gage showed flashes, much like he did at the end of the... 2004 season i want to say, where he made impressive over-the-top catches near the end of the season. berrian, resident speedster of the bears WR core, became the go-to-guy in the playoff game against the panthers, catching balls in the flat and running after the catch. this shows hope that he might develop.

bradley had a monster pre-season last year and showed some promise in the first game or two before blowing out his ACL and being done for the season. the bears have a lot of hopes pinned on him as he showed a drive to improve which could supplant moose easily. simply put, the bears need at least 2 or 3 receivers (this # includes moose) to step up and establish themselves as reliable targets for grossman. getting another bonafide WR at the TE position would make a world of difference, as i believe rex has the tools and the attitude needed to be an elite QB in the nfl. keep in mind he came from florida, where under steve spurrier's "fun and gun" system he was one of the top QBs in the nation.

YES!! we're at pick 24 and johnson from florida, the #1 WR in the draft,a nd santionio holmes from ohio state, then mercedes lewis.

it's cincinnati, then the giants, then the bears. cincy is more likely to take mercedes lewis as opposed to one of the WRs, as they have chad johnson, houshmanzadeh, and chris perry and the other dude i forget his name. the giants have plexiglass, but then age in toomdaddy and they have shockey so mercedes lewis.

lewis is 90% in my book to go to cincinnati. which means the bears can get santonio holmes or chad jackson. i hope we can get jackson or holmes because we need a potentially-stud-WR to have a pedigree to step up.

i just hope the bears dont get a menial defensive player. at the end of the day, you win football games by scoring more points than the otehr team, so with the bears D at number one, obviously you dont want to sit on your laurels... but give rex another weapon so he can succeed. if rex is healthy a whole year and if you load him up with weapons, i think he;ll be one of the top 7 QBs in the league this year. hell i'd even go top 5. i think rex has all the tools, he just needs the teammates.

SO LETS GO (OFFENSE) BEARS! heed my cries!!

21 - maroney, RB from minnesota, goes to the pat tricks.