Feb. 19--INDIANAPOLIS -- Ten thoughts after the first day of the NFL scouting combine, an eventful day for the Chicago Bears as coach John Fox and general manager Ryan Pace spoke for the first time since January.
1. The refusal of both Fox and Pace to commit to Jay Cutler as the team's starting quarterback in 2015 introduces the possibility the Bears are thinking about going in a different direction. That's a first and despite the terrible 2014 season it's at least a mild surprise for an organization that has treated him so differently for so long, with the lone exception of the Week 16 benching by Marc Trestman less than two months ago.
Remember, Cutler met with the finalists before Trestman was hired as coach in 2013. It's not that he carried that kind of juice in the decision-making process, but the club as a whole thought that much of him.
Fox and Pace had a chance to stand up and speak confidently about Cutler's ability to lead a new offense and they passed. That's not to say they won't do that at some point in the future. Kudos to Fox and Pace for choosing the path less traveled. As former Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher has accurately pointed out, only Cutler's contract is "elite" at this point. He certainly isn't above scrutiny and perhaps challenging Cutler, even in mid-February, is a new approach that will bring with it new results.
Ultimately, I'd be surprised if Cutler is not the team's starting quarterback heading into this season. There simply are not many legitimate options out there. The Rams reportedly have given Sam Bradford permission to seek a trade. Great. Who wants to swap a draft pick for a quarterback coming off a second ACL reconstruction and due $13 million this coming season? Bradford is likely the Rams' starter in 2015, provided he can stay on the field.
The Bears will not be in position to draft Florida State's Jameis Winston at No. 7 overall and Oregon's Marcus Mariota probably will need some time to develop. At this point, he probably doesn't make it to No. 7, either. Former Bears quarterback Josh McCown (more on him later), Brian Hoyer and Mark Sanchez comprise the best of the free-agent quarterbacks. With a committed running game (the bet here is Pace, Fox and offensive coordinator Adam Gase develop one), Cutler stands pretty tall in comparison to the other options.
But mark down Feb. 18 as a key date for Cutler in his nearly six years with the franchise. If Cutler is back in 2015 (again, my bet is he is), this was the date the club publicly served notice that he has to be better in 2015.
2. Josh McCown sat down with Fox, Pace and Adam Gase for two hours Wednesday morning. It wasn't a get-to-know-you session. McCown has played under Fox in Carolina and Gase in Detroit and he's known Pace since he came into the league through mutual friends. Since, his brother Luke has played for the Saints, so he knows even more about Pace. This was a chance for the Bears to make a recruiting pitch to McCown to return, likely as the backup to Cutler. It makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons, but I'm not sure there are enough dollars to make it happen. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports called McCown the key to free agency at the quarterback position because he's in position to sign immediately after the Buccaneers terminated his contract last week.
McCown has met with the Bills and Jets and likely will be getting together with the Browns soon. At least two of those teams and possibly all three could offer McCown an opportunity to compete for a starting job. That could easily push the per-year dollar amount for McCown to somewhere near the $4.75 million he received from the Buccaneers last season. Did he stink in Tampa? Yep. So did everyone else and the team didn't have an offensive coordinator. It's a supply-and-demand industry and the supply of quarterbacks isn't there.
I find it hard to believe the Bears would pay McCown $4 million per season (or close to $5 million) if they are going to keep Cutler at $15.5 million. Some suggest money won't drive a decision for McCown. I asked him about the process of choosing between a team where he has a chance to start and a team where he'd be a backup. He talked about looking for a situation where he can win. Between the Bears, Bills, Jets and Browns, I don't know we can find a team with a consensus chance to win in 2015. The Bills played pretty darn good defense last season. McCown will be 36 in July, he's got four kids and his earning power isn't going to be this high much longer. I struggle with the idea that he'll take a backup job somewhere for $1.5 million, especially if three times that much is waiting for him somewhere else.
3. I resist the idea that the Bears' pursuit of McCown is driven by the idea that he makes Cutler a better quarterback. That is a popular storyline that has been out there since McCown was with the Bears and his close relationship with Cutler was highlighted during a topsy-turvy 2013 season. Cutler is getting paid big bucks to play quarterback and he shouldn't need a caddy with him in the meeting room, on the practice field and on the sidelines during games. If that's the case, there is a problem with Cutler. Sure, all 53 players on the roster ultimately need to work to make those around them better. But that isn't the reason you go out and sign a player, to help another guy on the roster.
4. It remains to be seen how things are going to come together for the Bears, but Pace is still delighted how the coaching staff came together under Fox. A head coach is only going to be as good as the men he has working for him, and the belief at Halas Hall is the Bears did well with an experienced staff, certainly more experienced than the one Trestman started with and way ahead of the first staff under Lovie Smith in 2004.
Fox brings offensive coordinator Gase with him from Denver, and perhaps more interesting is the addition of Vic Fangio from San Francisco as defensive coordinator. I say more interesting because the Bears will transition to a 3-4 based defense and Fox has always been associated with 4-3 schemes.
"Both those guys are strong," Pace said. "I look at coordinators almost like free-agent acquisitions, so when we got those guys it was exciting within the building. Adam just has so much energy to him and so much confidence, and Vic has so much experience and he's such an intelligent guy. I'm so excited to work with both those guys."
Andrew Brandt wrote an interesting piece for Sports Illustrated in November when he made the point that "a good coach is the wisest expenditure in the salary-cap era, and the best way to gain a long-term competitive edge." We'll see what kind of competitive edge the Bears can find, but they've got coordinators who have experienced success.
5. The Bears made the move to a 3-4 defense official, so to speak, confirming what has been expected since Fangio was hired and then Clint Hurtt was given the title of outside linebackers coach. But Fox and Pace were smart to caution that you shouldn't get caught up in Xs and Os at this point. They know players make defenses go.
"That's the system Vic Fangio comes from so we've had a lot of internal discussions about that, and really you're in your base 3-4 a certain percentage of the time but a lot of times you're in multiple defensive packages on third down," Pace said. "So we'll be base 3-4, that's accurate and that's what Vic's comfortable with, but the best coaches they find ways to maximize their players' skill sets. I know Vic's going to do that. So our base with be 3-4 but we'll be in multiple schemes."
Said Fox: "We're going to be out of a 3-4 terminology-wise. We haven't had our players on the grass yet, so until we evaluate that, we've looked at a whole lot of tape -- not as much as we need to continue to do. They'll help us define what we're going to be and how we're going to use the pieces."
6. Speaking of a 3-4, it sounds like the highest-paid player on defense will be tried out first at outside linebacker. That is Jared Allen, of course, who is due $12.5 million this season and will be the highest-paid player on the defense unless Pace makes a huge-splash signing in free agency. Allen is similar size-wise to players Fangio used in that role in San Francisco. Don't think this position is going to do a lot in terms of pass coverage, either.
"I think he can be very flexible," Pace said of Allen. "We can use him in a variety of ways. He has done it for a lot of years. I feel the same way about several other players. (Lamarr) Houston is the same way. I think position flexibility is a strength of some of those guys. And again, I think Vic Fangio and John Fox -- intelligent guys that will find ways to maximize their skill sets."
It could be that Allen plays mostly as a rush end in the sub packages that now account for roughly half of the time on defense. Fox indicated Willie Young will also get an initial look at outside linebacker. Young is coming off a torn Achilles tendon and Houston is recovering from a torn ACL.
"We'll line them both up there," Fox said. "What they become will be up to them. In Willie's case he is coming off an Achilles surgery. You know, same thing with Lamarr Houston, coming off an ACL. I had two guys a year ago, Chris Harris and Von Miller, they were coming off ACLs and they had Pro Bowl seasons. So again that is all part of the process of getting guys healthy, their rehab, medically getting them ready to play. We're working on that as we speak daily."
7. Jeremiah Ratliff could return to his roots as a nose tackle. He isn't the same kind of player you think of when you wonder if the Ravens will potentially cut loose Haloti Ngata in a salary-cap move (unlikely), but there are couple different ways to skin the cat with a 3-4 defense and defensive coordinator Fangio had a 6-foot-1, 297-pound nose tackle last year before an injury ended Glenn Dorsey's season. Ratliff is listed at 6-foot-4, 303 pounds, similar to Dorsey.
With a smaller nose tackle, you're looking at a 3-4 under front where the nose tackle is a one-gap player. The massive space eaters at nose tackle are two-gap monsters that can stack and shed and take on double teams all game long while allowing linebackers to flow free and make plays. The smaller noses in the under front will split the double team more often.
The old-school look in a 3-4 scheme is known by many as 3-4 Okie and that is where the nose tackle and both five-technique ends are two-gap defenders. It will be interesting to see how the Bears fill out the roster.
"I think there's a couple guys who can do it (play nose)," Pace said. "One of them has done it before in Dallas. It doesn't have to be this big, 350-pound space-eater. You can use him in a variety of ways."
8. It will be interesting to see what happens in free agency. The Bears have plenty of salary-cap room but they also have a lot of holes to fill because they have fewer players under contract than most teams.
"We're healthy with our cap right now," Pace said. "So if we want to be (aggressive), we can. Cliff Stein has done an excellent job in that. Again, it's just measuring what positions are strong in free agency vs. what positions are strong in the draft. And we're going through that right now. But if there is a player that we know can upgrade us right now, we'll attack it and there's different levels of free agency, but we'll look at every level of it and upgrade our roster that way."
We'll see just how aggressive they are after the gates to free agency swing open.
9. Pace beamed when asked about director of player personnel Josh Lucas, who he was able to hire away from the Saints. The Saints were seeking to promote Lucas to the role of college scouting director but he got a bigger title from the Bears. He was a scouting assistant and then area scout for the Saints in a decade working for the club. Scouts with other clubs have called him bright and that doesn't come as a surprise as he graduated cum laude from Harvard, where he played safety before injuries ended his career.
"I smile when you say his name because that was a huge get for us, too," Pace said. "That's something that I think goes a little unnoticed. I felt like Josh was one of the top evaluators in New Orleans and for me to have him here with me sharing a lot of my philosophies ... I mean he's a Harvard graduate ... he's going to be huge in what we do and he's been a big asset already for me."
10. Pace said he has spoken with linebacker Lance Briggs and cornerback Charles Tillman. Both will be unrestricted free agents and the members of the team's 2003 draft class have expressed a desire to continue playing.
"We've talked to those guys," Pace said. "They're great Chicago Bears. And again, we're still going through that. Just like all the other guys. We've talked to them. And again, it's a slow process. But we recognize great Chicago Bears and that's going to be a big decision for us."
My take: They're great players who are part of the team's past. I think the Bears will be seeking younger alternatives at cornerback and linebacker and I wonder a little bit about the future of cornerback Tim Jennings coming off a rough season after being paid.
Extra point: It's always worth keeping an eye on what is going on around the division and the Vikings have made it known in recent days they plan on having running back Adrian Peterson back this coming season. GM Rick Spielman drove that point home again Wednesday. Lions GM Martin Mayhew also seemed confident his team will be able to retain defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
"We're still working on it," Mayhew said. "We're still very optimistic we'll be able to get it done. I think that we have a lot of the essential elements that we need to get it done.
"He has a scheme that he likes playing in. He's got a passion for the game, as you guys know, we have a defense that plays with that kind of passion. He has a coach that he likes playing for. He has teammates he likes playing with, so we have a lot of things that he's looking for here in Detroit."
