Bears First Padded Practice. 5 Things to Watch.

Finally.  The Bears will hold their first padded practice of the offseason tonight.  Now that the pads are coming on, we can start to get a much better idea of how certain things are coming together.  Here are the top 5 things I’ll be watching tonight:

Get that dummy out of here.  Tonight, Shea McClellin goes up against real competition.

5.  Shea McClellin.  How will the rookie look in pads?  Will he be pushed around in running drills?  More importantly, how will he look in the 1 on 1 pass rush drills?  Will he show a good repertoire of moves/counter moves?  This will be our first real look at Phil Emery’s first draft pick and I’m very anxious to see it.

4.  Gabe Carimi.  On the flip side of McClellin is Gabe Carimi.  How will he look coming off the knee injury that sidelined him for all but 6 quarters of 2011?  His comeback is vital for Chicago’s success this year and now we’ll get to see if he is fully recovered from that injury.

3.  Brian Urlacher.  Speaking of knee injuries, today we’ll get a good idea whether or not Brian Urlacher truly is “110% good to go” as he said.  Though wearing a knee brace, he hasn’t looked restricted at all thus far into camp.  Now we’ll see how he looks full speed and with contact.

2.  Matt Forte.  Full speed in pads is exactly what we want to see here.  Ever since he failed to condition himself properly heading into his second year, Matt Forte has been a workout warrior and has always reported to camp in amazing shape.  This year appears to be no different.  There was some concern though, due to the missed mini-camp, that he might not arrive in “football shape”.  He looked fast on a breakaway run yesterday, but today we’ll see just how fast he looks in pads.

1.  The left tackle battle.  Of course.  The biggest question mark on the team, the battle for the left tackle position between J'Marcus Webb and Chris Williams, will legitimately begin today.  It’s very hard to judge linemen without pads on, so today is the day the battle really starts.  This is where most eyes should be tonight.

So, it should be a lot of fun tonight.  Today is the day that it truly feels like camp begins.  We’re only 12 days away from the first preseason game against the Broncos, so the action should be coming fast and furious now.  That’s also what the action on the field will be like tonight.  Here we go.

Bears Report to Training Camp

Bears players arrive at the dorms of Olivet Nazarene
University for the start of training camp

The Bears have arrived at training camp at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL.  The players will undergo physicals today and also take part in strength and conditioning drills.  Their first practice will begin tomorrow at 2:30 and that is open to the public.

What To Watch For

Everyone is excited to watch Jay Cutler throw the ball to Brandon Marshall.  It will also be great to see Matt Forte participating with the team for the first time this offseason (he reportedly looks to be in great shape).  However, the most important thing to watch now that the pads are on will be the performance of the offensive linemen, particularly the battle for the left tackle position.  According to Offensive Coordinator Mike Tice, Chris Williams and J’Marcus Webb will split the reps 50/50 with the winner becoming the starter at left tackle and the loser assuming the swing tackle role.

Williams and Webb have both had their struggles at LT and that is the reason this competition ever came about in the first place.  Williams’ struggles presumably can be (at least partially) attributed to injury, he was never fully healthy until the start of last season, while Webb’s troubles are attributed to inexperience.  With limited practices in pads, the most important component of this battle will be their performances in the preseason games.  The trouble with evaluating performances in the preseason, though, is that starters typically don’t play much.  With that in mind, it will be very interesting to see who gets the start in the Bears’ first preseason game on August 9^th against the Broncos and RDE Elvis Dumervil (if he’s not in jail by then).

This is quite possibly the most anticipated Bears season since the mid-late 1980’s.  With training camp finally upon us, we’ll begin to get a good idea of whether or not that excitement is legitimate.  Phil Emery said, “We want to win now.  We want to win championships now.”  That is clearly a sentiment that is shared by all fans.  The journey to accomplish that goal begins now and, may I say, it’s about time.

Forte Deal, Who Won?

By now, we all know that Matt Forte signed a 4 year contract worth about $31.5 million with $18 million guaranteed.  That amount of guaranteed money is about the same amount that the Bears would’ve spent if they had franchised Forte for two seasons.  So now, the debate shifts from “should Chicago sign Forte?” to “was this a good deal for the Bears?”  Let’s analyze.

In order to determine how good of a deal this is, let’s look at other running backs who have signed recently.

NAME	# OF YEARS	TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE	GUARANTEED MONEY
LeSean McCoy	5	$45M	$20.15M
Arian Foster	5	$43.5M	$20.75M
Ray Rice	5	$40M	$24M
Marshawn Lynch	4	$31M	$17M
Matt Forte	4	$31.5M	$18M

The first thing that jumps out at me is how close Forte’s deal is to the Lynch deal.  This would make me immediately think that this has to be a win for the Bears.  After all, Forte is a much more versatile back than Marshawn Lynch (he’s also not in prison, unlike Lynch).  When comparing to the other backs on this list, we see that they each got 5 year contracts as opposed to Forte’s 4 year deal.  This, in turn, led to more guaranteed money.  Not only that, but they each have a higher yearly average salary than what Matt received.  So this has to be a slam dunk for the Bears.  So why did Forte sign this deal?

To answer that, let’s dig a little deeper into that Lynch deal again.  The numbers appear to be very similar, but in breaking it down we can find differences between his contract and Forte’s.  After two seasons, Lynch will have received $17 million, the entire guaranteed portion of his contract.  At that point, the Seahawks can cut him loose if they so desire without owing him another penny.  Forte, on the other hand, will have received $18 million after two years with another $5.5 million in guaranteed money still on the table.  That extra money is in the contract as a $4 million roster bonus and a $31,000 bonus for each game for which he dresses in 2013.  This money is very likely to be earned (in contract speak, they call these LTE, or likely to earn bonuses).  So while Forte’s contract only guarantees $18 million, it is likely to be at least $22.5 million.  The only realistic way he’s not getting that extra amount would be due to a catastrophic injury.  So let’s say he takes out an insurance policy against such an event.  Then, for all intents and purposes, he can consider this a contract with $22.5 million guaranteed.  The icing on the cake then becomes the fact that it’s only a 4 year deal which allows him to hit free agency a year sooner and possibly get another contract while he’s still productive.  With this in mind, look at the chart again and imagine that that guaranteed number for Forte is $22.5 instead of $18.  Suddenly, it looks like he may have gotten the best deal of the group.

So, I guess the answer to the original question is that everybody wins.  The Bears were able to keep one of their best players without having to dish out a prohibitive amount of guaranteed money.  Forte was able to get a deal which gives him both financial security and the possibility of another lucrative deal down the road.  Phil Emery gets credit for accomplishing something that his predecessor was repeatedly criticized for not being able to accomplish.  Perhaps most importantly, the fans win.  This signing guarantees that Forte will be at training camp on time and there should be no distractions taking away from this team as they prepare for what could be a magical year.  With this signing done, the Bears are at full strength heading into training camp.  And that is fuller strength than any Bears team since the mid 80’s.