MIKE backer prospects draft and free agency

[Omeletpants]

 

[Mongo_76]

DJ was decent especially against the run.

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How is being the 87th ranked ILB in the NFL and a dislike 3 against the run "decent"?

 

[rawdawg]

I know a lot of posters think the Bears should pass on the LB position & think that could be a big mistake this offseason for a couple of reasons. I really like the LB talent in this years draft. Many of them are 3 down LB's that have experience at all three 4-3 LB positions. Couple that with not currently having a MIKE on the roster, at least not one worth talking about, & Briggs leaving next off season, IMO the Bears really should draft a young LB & not rely on a free agent band aid, & sure as hell not DJ Williams, Anderson or Bostic. Especially if they could get someone like Smallwood, or OLB Kyle Van Noy after the first round. Just my own opinion, I think Smallwood is going to end up the steal of the draft, who will be better than players taken throughout the first round.

I would love to get Smallwood, though that would mean the Bears would have to address another position in free agency, like safety or cb.

Last year's draft was stronger at LB. And next year's may be depending on underclassmen. It's funny you want to draft a young LB, but are completely against counting on Bostic. Why would you then want to rely on another rookie LB? Van Noy is an outside LB. No chance to ever play inside. He'd be a nice SAM LB for the Bears, but I then you are throwing away both Bostic and Greene after 1/2 a year. That's not a good use of resources. Especially when you have holes all over the front 4 and secondary.

 

[Mongo_76]

The only real problem you have with Williams is Health. .

Well that and the fact that he sucked ass.

 

[rawdawg]

I do too, & I actually wasn't horrified by what I saw out of Greene last season, & I had to predict outcomes, I actually do think when all is said & done that Greene will stick & stay, where I'm really not so sure with Bostic. Bostic, just MYOP, shouldn't be anywhere near the MIKE LB, or even the WILL LB position. He can't cover a mattress, he just appears to lack the instincts to do it. Even at Florida wasn't good at dropping back. I know young LB's make rookie mistakes, but it's been a long time since I've seen a young LB bite on or caught off balance on PA, almost, if not every time the opposing offense ran PA. I do think Bostic has potential to be a solid, possibly even a very good SAM LB, but honestly I don't want to see him any wheres near the WILL or MIKE LB positions. A lot of Bostics problems can be attributed to the interior linemen getting to the second level in the running game so I don't want to knock him for that. I do think if the Bears can field any semblance of good defensive line again, Bostics run defense should significantly improve, but he scares me a lot defending the passing game.

How do you know Bostic can't cover from 9 starts, in which he was taken out of the nickel defense? Biting on playaction isn't the same as not being able to cover. I actually thought he did OK covering the times he was in there and didn't get sucked in by the play fake (which was like 3 plays, LOL).

 

[czman]

I think we've beat to death the DT/DE prospects, gone over the safety prospects pretty thoroughly but what about the middle linebacker spot? Bostic isn't a MIKE and I'm not the least bit comfortable with bringing DJ Williams back he showed me nothing to make believe he can be a stop gap starter.

We know some of the draft prospects, Borland, Mosely, Skov but what about free agency? Brandon Spikes? Akeem Jordan? What players do the Bears target in free agency?

Tough crowd. I did not think Bostic looked good at MLB, but I don't think he will look any better at Will/Sam so are people giving up on him already?

It makes sense to move away from mistakes sooner rather than later, but are the Bears at this point already. My guess is he will get another chance at MLB before the Bears cut their losses.

 

[Runruffshod75]

How do you know Bostic can't cover from 9 starts, in which he was taken out of the nickel defense? Biting on playaction isn't the same as not being able to cover. I actually thought he did OK covering the times he was in there and didn't get sucked in by the play fake (which was like 3 plays, LOL).

I never said that it was, & yes he either bit on PA or was caught off balance by it a helluva lot more than 3 time. Go back & watch for yourself. Again I'm not only going by 9 games, watch Bostic while he was at Florida, he wasn't great at dropping back into coverage there either. No the LB's aren't only asked to drop back in the nickel, they still do it in the base also depending on the circumstances. Why do think he was taken out in the Nickel in the first place & there are already rumblings that he's going to be moved from the middle? Christ almighty...

 

[JErryAZuma]

Skuta. I thought he flashed as well. Is he a free agent and is he a mike?

Yea me too I thought he looked fast and stout but I just looked him up he is currently OLB but definately looks like aMIKE .. but I think he has another year though with 49RS ... he just stood out to me I think it would be a nice depth pick up he only makes 1 mill ...

 

[Runruffshod75]

I think the opposite. My biggest gripe with Bostic was his unwillingness to take on blockers. He would always try to run around them, and in doing so he'd open up a 5 yard wide gap that Conte couldn't fill. I think you could teach Bostic to cover people in the passing game (I think he has the ability to do so), but it seems like his dancing around blockers is an ingrained behavior. Just my $0.02

I hope so. I keep hoping he'll at least end up a good run defender because of what I saw from his time while he was at Florida. At collegiate level he was good solid run defender, but, since thats a whole different level of play maybe I have astronomical expectations.

 

[rawdawg]

I never said that it was, & yes he either bit on PA or was caught off balance by it a helluva lot more than 3 time. Go back & watch for yourself. Again I'm not only going by 9 games, watch Bostic while he was at Florida, he wasn't great at dropping back into coverage there either. No the LB's aren't only asked to drop back in the nickel, they still do it in the base also depending on the circumstances. Why do think he was taken out in the Nickel in the first place & there are already rumblings that he's going to be moved from the middle? Christ almighty...

I was saying it was 3 times he DIDN'T bite on playaction, hence the LOL. And I understand what LBs do, but thanks for the lesson. But yeah, he didn't have to drop back at Florida too much to be honest. He had 3 CBs that he played with that are going to get drafted in the first 100 picks this year and 2 safeties drafter last year early. He was taken out in the nickel because Briggs and Anderson are great pass defenders. Then he did play some nickel for a couple games til Briggs came back.

The jury is clearly still out on him as a player, but especially in pass coverage....where he has far less experience dropping back and looked far better than he did playing the run (not hard to look better than he did vs. the run), but the playaction failures was due to his struggles in run D. He was obviously more focused on that part of his game.

 

[BearFanJohn]

I think the opposite. My biggest gripe with Bostic was his unwillingness to take on blockers. He would always try to run around them, and in doing so he'd open up a 5 yard wide gap that Conte couldn't fill. I think you could teach Bostic to cover people in the passing game (I think he has the ability to do so), but it seems like his dancing around blockers is an ingrained behavior. Just my $0.02

I think Bostic will improve as he's a good athlete and was probably playing out of position. But I have to agree that he didn't take on blockers well. Part of that could be that he was playing with a horrible d-line. But I still don't think that he should start in the middle. So the Bears need a MLB. They can take another one year, stop-gap player (resigning Williams, for instance) but we saw how well that worked out. They could draft one early but the would have to be a plug & play rookie; he would have to produce year one. Or they can find another FA that is a long term solution. I don't like the one year deal and I think they may need to take a DL in the 1st rather than a LB. They're going to have to use some FAs somewhere on the defense. I think it just depends on what they want to spend and who is out there in FA. There are plenty of holes to fill.

 

[BearsFan51]

It amazes me the level of quality debate and discussion that happens in a thread like this when the usual dickwads don't come around to talk.

 

[fatbeard]

It amazes me the level of quality debate and discussion that happens in a thread like this when the usual dickwads don't come around to talk.

Hey look, your red bars are almost gone!

 

[BearsFan51]

So why are YOU here? Just kidding.

(?)

I, too, am amazed when an actual football discussion can take place in this forum. I'm sure Scoot26 will lock this thread in the next 30 minutes.

For the same reason you are...

 

[BearsFan51]

Hey look, your red bars are almost gone!

Yeah well I just made a post in another thread about Emery and McClellin that will help bring them all back.

 

[modo]

Bostic was miserable at the MIKE and when he wasn't playing tentative he was filling the wrong gap. I believe they should bring in an experienced MIKE whether it be Williams or someone else to compete for the position. I believe if they don't find a long term FA solution at MIKE they will draft another to compete with a one or two year solution.

 

[Mongo_76]

Bostic was miserable at the MIKE and when he wasn't playing tentative he was filling the wrong gap. I believe they should bring in an experienced MIKE whether it be Williams or someone else to compete for the position. I believe if they don't find a long term FA solution at MIKE they will draft another to compete with a one or two year solution.

Williams sucked. He sucked a lot. He sucked often. He sucked ass. He was a big pile of complete suckage shit. Maybe he didn't suck as bad as Bostic, but he sucked nonetheless.

Beason is the vet I would look at if the Giants don't find a way to keep him.

 

[dabears70]

I think we've beat to death the DT/DE prospects, gone over the safety prospects pretty thoroughly but what about the middle linebacker spot? Bostic isn't a MIKE and I'm not the least bit comfortable with bringing DJ Williams back he showed me nothing to make believe he can be a stop gap starter.

We know some of the draft prospects, Borland, Mosely, Skov but what about free agency? Brandon Spikes? Akeem Jordan? What players do the Bears target in free agency?

I have been saying all along that we should fix our D-Line in free agency and use the draft for MLB,CB and S.
So either draft Mosely with our 1st pick or Skov or Borland with our 2nd pick. those are the 3 that i think could come in and start right away.
If we do it through FA then i'd like K.Dansby, D.Smith or D.Butler.