It's Bear-ly Baseball Season

(Picture from http://www.profootballweekly.com/)

I know, I know! The White Sox and Cubs are finally in the middle of Spring Training, Joe Nathan might be out the entire year with a torn ligament in his elbow, Carlos Quentin's feet look terrific, Alex Rios looks like the Alex Rios of old, and Big Z and Geo Soto have lost the equivalent of a teenage girl in a weight and I'm about to talk about football?

Football? Do I really want to talk about Football?

Yes.

We've received some reader comments and emails about our last Bears post and I would like to clarify a few things, mainly dealing with Greg Olsen and his possible departure from the Windy City.

First I want to say that the kid has hands, period. But with Martz as the new offensive coordinator Olsen's role is going to fade faster than the crew from Jersey Shore and his team leading 60 receptions is going to decrease rapidly.

As I wrote in a previous article, Olsen's job just wont be the same under Martz (hence the five year deal with Manumaleuna, a true blocking tight end). That's what Martz needs at that position, someone that can block like a linemen and have the athleticism of a tight end and to this point Greg Olsen only excels in one of those aspects. His blocking is rather atrocious. That leaves Des Clark (who seems to be on his last legs) and the young Kellen Davis standing next to Manumaleuna (a name I will continuously say wrong, and spell wrong).

So if Olsen leaves via trade and Des being one bad burrito away from collapsing all together, a lot of you have been asking the same question: "are you that confident in Kellen Davis going into the future?"

My answer is a pure and simple yes. He is a giant target. At 6-7, 262 pounds, the guy is a mismatch nightmare, especially in the redzone. What makes me even more confident is the fact that he is only 24 years old, and with his raw talent, his ginormous frame, and athletic ability, he can produce as much as a tight end can in the Martz spread offense.

Another question that has come about concerning Olsen is "Who do you see in the second [round] that warrants the bears trying to trade Olsen for a pick?" A solid question and I want to first say I don't think the Bears should just trade Olsen to trade him. The situation needs to be right for the Bears. If Chicago's front office can land a second round pick or better, or say a second round pick and a fifth round pick, I think they have to pull the trigger (and it's stunning how well the Bears do in later rounds of the draft).

But again I want to be clear, I like Greg Olsen a lot and I know that his pass catching skills are one of a kind. But it's obvious that the Bears need to fill a few holes with young players, and now with a plethora of tight ends, under the right situation Olsen is expendable. The two rumors that are floating around is Olsen to the Patriots for one of their three second round picks, or Olsen to the Bengals for their second round pick (something else could be added). I think the Bears could really use the draft pick/s, and I personally believe that there is a ton of hidden talent at the positions the Bears need to fill.

Which brings me to another question that has been asked: "who do I see in the second round that warrants the trade"?. It all depends on what you think the Bears need. If you think they need to breed some young linemen there are a few that will be around in the second round.

Vladimir Ducasse who is a 6-4, 330 pound OT out of UMASS has tremendous upside, and has a polished game (the Bears were among some of the first teams to talk to him at the combine). He clocked a 5.21 40-yard dash time and put up 29 repetitions on the 225-pound bench press. There is also USC's Charles Brown who is another second round prospect that is a tremendous pass blocker. He is a monster standing at 6-6 and sitting at 285 pounds.

There are also a swarm of wide receivers and secondary players that can come into the Bears system and make an instant splash. Wide outs such as Demaryius Thomas out of Georgia Tech (6-3), Damian Williams out of USC (a 6-1 polished pass catcher) and Brandon Lafell out of LSU (a 6-3 Dwayne Bowe type receiver with 25 career touchdowns at LSU) could be future stars (though I wouldn't be particularly happy with drafting a WR when the Bears need secondary help fast).

There are also guys like CB Patrick Robinson (Florida State), safety Chad Jones (LSU), CB Perrish Cox (OSU), safety Larry Asante (Nebraska), safety Nate Allen (South Florida), CB Kyle Wilson (Boise State), and CB Dominique Franks (Oklahoma) who are all solid second round draft picks that could easily come into training camp and fight for a starting job in the Bears depleted secondary.

Of course this can change if the Bears end up spending more money in free agency. Darren Sharper is on the Bears radar (pending the health of his knee that just went under minor surgery) as is Lito Sheppard, and Oshiomogho Atogwe. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these three are signed by next week.

No matter which way the Bears go its nice to know that they have plenty of options. If they could send Olsen off via trade for draft picks and sign one of the free agent safeties, this team just got significantly better in a matter of days.

I hope I cleared up some of my thoughts, and as always keep the reader emails and comments coming! We love reading what you all have to say and appreciate you taking the time to come back and check out our content.