It’s upon us! How does everyone feel? It’s always hard to believe each July after seven months of football starvation when a new Chicago Bears season dawns. I love that football is here-but I hate knowing another Chicago winter is right around the corner. Here are some camp-eve stories. Wow-Young MC wants Jay Cutler to [...]
Jay Cutler-QB-Trade 2009: Regarding franchise quarterbacks, defensive ends and left tackles, the old adage is that teams usually can only get one at the very top of the draft, and once they do get one, they never part with him. Thus the NFL world looked on in wonderment in early 2009 when a battle began [...]
Todd Collins-QB-Free Agent 2010: In the grand scheme of his ten seasons leading the Chicago Bears, perhaps listing a one-season backup quarterback as Jerry Angelo’s worst personnel acquisition is not fair or legitimate. Collins only played in two regular season games and one playoff game, and word has it that the signing was demanded by [...]
Julius Peppers-DE-Free Agent 2010: The Chicago Bears organization over the years has been known as a cautious one. Rarely does the organization rush to sign the top free agent of any given year, thus setting the bar for the NFL. Much more frequently they proceed with caution, only signing known commodities to team-friendly contracts. In [...]
Adam Archuleta-S-Trade 2007: Archuleta was a first-round draft pick by Lovie Smith during his first year as defensive coordinator in St. Louis. He was an All-Rookie selection in 2001, and a solid safety for the Rams through the 2005 season. In one of their usual free agent signing binges, in 2006 the Washington Redskins signed [...]
John Tait-T-Free Agent 2004: Throughout Jerry Aneglo’s Chicago Bears tenure as General Manager, from start to finish, he had a track record of tinkering with “projects” at the critical position of left offensive tackle. The left tackle on the offensive line is the most critical position, as this is the lineman that needs to seal [...]
Gaines Adams-DE-Trade 2009: The fact that Adams died tragically of an undiagnosed heart condition following the 2009 season is not a consideration here. This was still an awful move when Angelo sent Tampa Bay a second-round draft pick in 2010 for Adams, who had underwhelmed on the field despite being the fourth overall pick in [...]
Thomas Jones-RB-Free Agent 2004: Jerry Angelo arrived in Chicago just months after his predecessor Mark Hatley made Michigan running back Anthony Thomas the team’s second-round pick. Despite Thomas leading the Bears’ offense that year and becoming the team’s first Offensive Rookie of the Year since Gale Sayers, Angelo stated after the season that he didn’t [...]
Jonathan Quinn-QB-Free Agent 2004: Rex Grossman had showed promise at the end of the 2003 season to be the Bears’ quarterback of the future. His injury history to that point was clean, so the position of backup quarterback wasn’t thought to of urgent focus. When Angelo signed Quinn, Kansas City’s backup quarterback, the reason was [...]
Adewale Ogunelye-DE-Trade 2004: Lovie Smith’s defensive system demands a pass rush, and a pass rush usually requires at least one stud pass rusher. In 2004 the Bears invested heavily in tackles Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson in the first two rounds and later Claude Harriot in the fifth, but Alex Brown wasn’t going to cut [...]
