August 27, 2009

Bear(s who need to be put) down, Part II

If you missed Part I (the defense), click here, but I'm back with the offensive version -- yes, my writings are frequently offensive, but here I mean pertaining to the offense -- of three Bears I'm hoping will NOT make the final roster. Again, I don't wish any of these players ill, it's just that I believe there are candidates that are more deserving of a spot, and when it comes to cutdown time, there is no room for sentiment. Football can be a cruel game, and blogging about it is even crueler; if it weren't, I'd have absolutely zero interest.

Rashied Davis, wide receiver
Really, what I care about most about this preseason is that both Juaquin Iglesias and Johnny Knox make the team. If either of them are let go, I will be devastated/furious. Especially if they keep Davis around.

Davis, who I thought was very good in 2006, has slipped badly the past two seasons. Though his numbers last year weren't horrible (35 catches, 445 yards, 2 TDs), anyone who regularly watched the Bears will recall that Davis flat couldn't catch at times. His seven drops tied for 8th in the NFC, and of the other players with seven or more -- Terrell Owens (69 receptions-1052 yards-10 TDs), Calvin Johnson (78-1331-12), Roddy White (88-1382-7), Marques Colston (47-760-5), Greg Jennings (80-1292-9), Santana Moss (79-1044-6), Muhsin Muhammad (65-923-5), and Bernard Berrian (48-964-7) -- only Colston didn't pretty much double Davis' production across the board.

Some might argue that amid all the uncertainty and inexperience at wide receiver for the Bears, QB Jay Cutler needs proven targets. But what exactly has Davis proven? That he can't catch? As far as I'm concerned, you're always better off going with a young player who might be good than a veteran that you know isn't. But time and time again, general managers and coaches choose the veteran, preferring the known quantity (even if that quantity's known to be shitty) to the risk of the unknown.

One argument for Davis' roster inclusion (seen here on ChicagoBears.com) is that he's a "four-phase special teams contributor". But is he really that good on any of the four phases? Do you recall him making many spectacular open-field tackles, or delivering any Devin Hester-springing blocks? I refuse to believe that he is somehow irreplaceable, and that a combination of Knox, Iglesias, and some of the young DBs couldn't do just as well, if not better.

Plus, though he's only entering his fifth season, due to his Arena Football League-detour, Davis is 30. Has any receiver, let alone a lousy one, ever gotten better in his 30s? Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Brandon Rideau, Devin Aromashadu, and rookies Iglesias, Knox, and Derek Kinder are better options than Davis. All are at least four years younger, and other than Hester (who's 5-foot-11) are at least three inches taller than the 5-9 Davis. I'm guessing they're all faster too. It's time to cut ties with Rashied.

Adrian Peterson, running back
I know. It's terrible to want this guy to be put out to pasture. Having persevered through a debilitating stutter, "The Other Adrian Peterson" is one of the best stories in the NFL. But at some point, the Bears are going to have to let him go, and I think that time is now.

Peterson is currently fourth on the depth chart at running back, and there's really no way he's going to get any playing time at the position, barring injury. With Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, and Garrett Wolfe all employing different running styles, there's really nothing that Peterson can add. Plus his performance covering kicks, which was very good for several years, has fallen off over the last few seasons, and Wolfe has actually displaced him as the running back/special-teams-tackling-machine. Besides, the Bears will need the extra roster spot to keep some of the receivers I mentioned above. Peterson is also 30, and we all know what happens to really good running backs when they hit 30; the prognosis for mediocre ones can't be encouraging.

On the positive side, getting cut would open up my dream scenario of Peterson going to the Vikings -- who might even be interested in him, given the depth of his knowledge of the Bears offense -- and backing up his namesake:
And Adrian Peterson comes in to give Adrian Peterson a breather. Peterson has looked great today, but he appeared to be a little winded so Peterson comes into the game. You know, this Adrian Peterson -- the one in the game now -- is actually the leading rusher in Division I history, with 6,559 yards at Georgia Southern. Peterson swarmed after a short gain, making it 2nd-and-9, and here comes Adrian Peterson back in the game.
Alright, maybe it's not that awesome.

Brett Basanez, quarterback
Obviously, with Jay Cutler at the helm, the Bears look better at the quarterback position than they have at any time during my life. But the lack of depth scares the shit out of me.

I like Caleb Hanie, however. Over the last two preseasons, he's looked really good whenever he's gotten on the field. But I'm not quite certain that he should be the #2 on a team with Super Bowl aspirations. And even if he is, the Bears need to have a more viable and/or promising quarterback that Basanez at #3.

Since Basanez and Hanie are the only two backup QB's on the Bears, this would mean getting someone else's reject after rosters are cut down. That's fine. I just have to believe they can do better than Basanez, who has shown absolutely nothing. Sure, it's only preseason, but for a backup QB, that is their season. And in 11 passing attempts, Basanez has as many interceptions (3) as completions, and that's playing against the opposition's third-stringers at best. In his one career regular season appearance (also spanning 11 attempts) Basanez has a 30.9 passer rating. Small sample sizes to be sure, but that is not getting it done.

So who should the Bears sign instead? I don't know, specifically. Basanez is 26, so at the very least they could get someone younger. Or a Damon Huard-type backup. Anybody. Minus Chad Hutchinson. Or Jonathan Quinn. Whoever it is, don't let Terry Shea decide.

So that's it for the O. I don't have as many guys I'd like to see go on offense as I do for the defense, where I could have easily gone deeper than three. There are, however, several offensive players that I'm hoping will claim a roster spot. In addition to Iglesias and Knox, I'm hoping Rideau and, to a lesser extent, Aromashadu make it. Also, I will be very disappointed if enormous tight end Kellen Davis is somehow screwed out of a roster spot, which could happen if the Bears opt to keep free-agent signee Michael Gaines instead. Given that Davis has three catches this preseason -- all for first downs, and totaling 56 yards -- to Gaines zero, that seems unlikely.

Finally, I'd love to see rookie free agent fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou make the team. Not only is he a punishing lead blocker from the illustrious University of California, Berkeley, but the Bears could really use someone with a few apostrophes in his name.

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