Angelo and Benson: In retrospect

Cedric Benson is innocent until proven guilty... That's why I have been almost quiet on his boating incident.

Its good to see friends and people who were on the boat come forth and speak up for him in defense of what happened.  I think this will play itself out and we will be better off letting the law have its way in this matter.

Regardless of how that situation plays itself out, in my opinion, Benson is STILL an aloof, overpaid, underachieving bust. 

I still find it interesting how Benson even became a Bear.

Let’s all remember that following the 2002 season, Jerry Angelo announced that Anthony Thomas was not an elite running back.  Decent, but not elite.  So prior to the 2004 season, Angelo signed Thomas Jones to a very reasonable contract before the sun rose on the first day of free agency. Jones was a perfect fit for Terry Shea’s hybrid Kansas City/St. Louis offense, we were told.

Following a miserable offensive season in 2004, Shea was fired and Ron Turner hired. Jones didn't do too bad and actually put pretty good numbers in rushing, receiving, and as a blocker.  Angelo thought they needed more of a POWER runner coming out of the backfield, more in the mold of a Marshall Faulk with SPEED, AGILITY, and POWER.

I didn't object to that opinion.  I thought we could definitely use a stronger back seeing as though Thomas Jones had been injured most of his NFL career.  I thought to get a bigger back in the mold of a Larry Johnson might not be such a bad idea.  But when I heard the pre-draft knocks on Benson, I wasn't too enthusiastic.  Many scouts compared him to Ricky Williams.  A physically BLESSED individual, but a head case.  Questions of his motivation and desire were on the minds of Mel Kiper and many other websites.  I thought...

... "so what makes this an upgrade over A. Thomas and T. Jones?"

But alas, that’s not how it worked out, and Bear fans sit in the offensive morass year after year. Indeed, the Benson saga prompted Pro Football Talk to release their bust list from the 2005 first round, and Benson sits VISIBLY on the list.

Let’s just hope that Angelo thinks Matt Forte is an elite back, after investing a high second-round choice in him.

There are a few things I think that are going for Matt Forte.

One he's a second round pick so he has less pressure on him to succeed right away.   If he comes in and breaks 1,000 yards this season he's exceeded expectations.  3

Two he's improved each year at school which I think is big deal.  I feel like we're getting a RB on the upside of his career.  Even though he did carry 369 time his senior year he has relatively low mileage, compared to Cedric Benson who had over +1100 carries over his college career.

And last, his attitude is going to make the big difference.  He doesn't seem bewildered, he has that, "I've been here before" attitude.  Similar to Barry Sanders (attitude not ability)

7.  Troy Williamson, receiver, Vikings:  We once tried to throw Williamson a compliment, but he dropped that, too.  BUST.

LMMFAO!

Nice post. 

But, JA isn't the only GM wishing he could get a '05 do over.  Aside from commitment issues, all 3 of the RBs taken in the top ten have had injury issues.

Am i the only one that remembers that Cedric Benson was considered the safest picks in the draft?  His biggest knock was that he may be tired because he had never missed a game at 22 years old.  Tired at 22 years old?  The kid had not even reached his prime and they were saying that he may be tired.

Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams shared time at Auburn.  Everyone thought that if either of them were that good they would have beat the other one out. 

Also in that draft Marion Barber and Frank Gore went far later and have become far better backs than either of these other three.

Why Jacksonville Jaguars traded for him is beyond me but he was a 6th round draft trade and it looks like he will not even make the team this year with Reggie Williams, Jerry Porter and what might be a competition of Matt Jones and Dennis Northcutt for the #3 WR. The 4th and 5th WR seems to be Mike Walker and John Broussard. So it looks like Troy Williamson might not even get a chance to compete.

I am actually an HM that served with the 0311 faithful.

Miss it sometimes but the parker brother games they play I do not miss one bit.

I was in Plans and Ops when I detached a whole mess of HMs to the 2/24 over in Iraq.

I was injuried in Kosovo and just now able to get it healed.

honestly INFL, who in this draft that was still available would be better in the next 2 years than grossman or ortan for that matter.

you pretty much have to look at qb's from the second round or later, because the Bears first priority had to be an ot. i don't think anyone available for the bears in this draft is or will be better than the two qbs we have now.

just to add to my last post, im so tired of all these Bears fans complaining how we didn't draft a qb.  this was the worst year for qbs that i can remember. i think the two free agent qbs that we signed are as talented as anyone remaining from the 4th/5th round. there were too many holes to fill to waste a late round pick on a guy who would proly be a bust anyway just to make all these grossman haters happy.

dont get me wrong, i have just as many doubts about grossman as everyone else. that doesnt mean i wanted them to waste a pick on somebody of the trash heap to try to fill his shoes. regardless, for what was available to them it was smarter to fix the line and the run game and maybe look next year for a replacement at qb.

DaBear_Great Post!!!

He was supposed to be the safe pick.  I didn't agree with them on Anthony Thomas at the time but they were right.

And I'm if they believe Cedric Benson's best days are behind him, Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith will make the necessary adjusts.

You can bring up all the "safest pick" comments and high draft grades and flattering comments all you want.

The fact is that for people that actually watch games, they knew that Bumson was going to suck in the NFL.  This isn't North Texas and Baylor that he is playing against on Sundays.  He racked up big time stats against subpar competition.  He only played against one good team per season and he was a non factor in those games.

We all know that Kiper and other draft "experts" love the guys that come from the big name colleges with big time stats.

Average guys like myself that actually watch the games and watch a lot of different players knew he was a one dimensional headcase that didn't have the brains or heart to be a great player.  Heck, he didn't even have the talent to be great.  He can't catch a pass or figure out who to block on passing downs but Angelo thought he was worthy of the #4 overall pick because he "dominated" powerhouses like TCU, Baylor, North Texas etc. etc. etc.

That pick set the franchise back years.  They could have drafted an offensive lineman that year or some depth on defense, but no, we were saddled with another "power" RB.  A RB that has been injured 4 times and runs like he can't wait to get on the ground.

I hope he gets cut before the season starts and his NFL career is over.