The two keys to a successful draft in fantasy football are: 1) Selecting players who will perform better than expected; and 2) Staying away from guys who will disappoint. In this 32-team series, I examine both types of players on every NFL team as the clubs prepare to head to training camp. For a listing of all 32 capsules, click here.
CHICAGO BEARS
2008 Fantasy Ratings:
Rushing: 20th.
Passing: 20th.
Overall: 24th.
There was a lot of talk in the spring about the Bears potentially being interested in Plaxico Burress and Brandon Marshall. It's easy to see why.
While Rex Grossman has been the posterboy for a pedestrian Bear offense in recent years, the fact is: Few (if any) teams have employed a weaker collection of wide receivers.
The Bears would love to make Devin Hester a fulltime return specialist, but their receivers are so bad, he's been pressed into every-down offensive duty. Not only that, but he's quickly become the club's best receiver, pretty much by default.
Adding Burress or Marshall would be huge. It would instantly make life a lot more enjoyable for new quarterback Jay Cutler, turn Hester back into a part-time offensive player, and allow rookie wideout Juaquin Iglesias to develop slowly.
Without Burress or Marshall, Cutler quickly is going to miss all the weapons that surrounded him in Denver.
Projected 2009 Overall Fantasy Rating: 26th.
Most likely Bear to be better than expected (2008 position ranking in parentheses): TE Greg Olsen (10th among tight ends).
Most likely Bears to disappoint (2008 position ranking in parentheses): RB Matt Forte (fourth among running backs), QB Jay Cutler (fifth among quarterbacks).
Comments
What are the possibilities of adding a big time playmaker like Burress or Marshall? Are they really going after them?
How is their overall rating going to go down with a) an easier schedule b) Devin Hester rising at the end of lst year c) an improved defense (rod marenelli, pisa tinaissamoa, a healthy nathan vasher) thet defense will make the bears offense on the field more, and vice versa for the offense helping the defense, d) the addition of a young pro-bowl qb c) chemesty (cutler and bennett). It should at lest be higher than last year
have you taken in how good their offensive line will be? matt forte is going to have a much better year than last year. Also if you did your research on Denver before Jay cutler their widereceivers were not that good either. The Bears have young widerecievers that will only get better as they get older
@ Frank- According to most reports, Burress and Marshall are both theoretically on the table for the Bears. Lovie Smith and GM Jerry Angelo have both publicly responded with a "we'll wait and see" attitude concerning Burress and the traditional "we can't comment on players under contract" regarding Marshall.
That being said, I think Marshall is going to demand too much in the way of trade or draft picks that, after trading away quite a few for Cutler, makes it nearly impossible to offer the kind of value that the Broncos will be looking for. Adding into the equation- Marshall is going to be looking for a hefty, long term contract immediately.
Burress, on the other hand, looks to be much more attainable as he'll probably be receiving a relatively small, one-year, incentive laden contract and looks to be positioning himself more for a payout in 2010. Obviously, his legal quandries make speculation very difficult at this point.
But to play devil's advocate here...
Being aggressive about pursuing Marshall might make more sense in the long-term. Cutler throwing to Marshall, Hester, TE Greg Olsen and with Matt Forte in the backfield would give the Bears easily the best young group of offensive weapons in the entire league- and for a very long time. That's an offensive juggernaut/dynasty in the making.
Is it worth it to package a second and fifth next year, along with a young LB like Jamar Williams (who would be starting on most teams) to ensure offensive dominance for the better part of a decade?
Even with his off the field problems, it might be just too good to pass up.
Also-
Matt Forte will have n=bigger numbers this year, barring injury.
Look to Hester and Olsen to both rocket up fantasy drafts.
I have a lot to say today...
seriously? this is an article? That made the news no less? I suggest a deep dark hole with marshall's wifebeating arse somewhere on a lonely island in the pacific. Hester was a decision by Angelo to try him as a receiver due to his redonkulous speed..That may be partly why we got rid of Berrian in the first place. I think he and the rest of the group have a great chance to succeed this season..As I am of the camp that the QB makes the receivers.
Seriously Dave which team do you like? Because I think that theres some bias in your article. With Cutler's arm teams have to respect Hester and Bennett going deep and can't load the box against the run, which will only improve Forte's numbers. With that the Bears offensive numbers will only go up.
You think their offense is going to perform worse with Cutler? Hard to consider the merit of this article when you think adding a pro bowl quarterback will make an offense worse than the year before...
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