Little FYI from Chicago:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay24.html
Suggs is right fit for Bears
April 24, 2003
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Sid Stopwatch, I am not. But someone will have to explain why the Bears, the most likely NFL team to flunk the Wonderlic test, are so worried about the 40-yard sprint times of a pass-rushing end. Isn't the position about instincts, pursuit, quick bursts, exploding past a fat lineman to sack the quarterback? Shouldn't more emphasis be put on sack numbers, how a player does in uniform, how he looks on tape?
Straight to the point, isn't general manager Jerry Angelo bordering on kooky to pass on Terrell Suggs, he of the 24 sacks and well-established havoc at Arizona State, because his 40-yard clockings have slowed recently to an average of 4.85 seconds? I mean, it's not like they have to time the guy with a sundial.
And it's not like he isn't hungry for quarterback meat, that he doesn't have the attitude of a football stalker. "There's nothing like a sack,'' Suggs said. "When you're playing at home, it's almost like a touchdown. When you're playing on the road, it's priceless. The crowd gets quiet. They don't know if their quarterback is dead.''
Alas, the Bears don't want Suggs, who spent his formative years on the South Side, costing them an ideal replacement for Rosevelt Colvin and leaving Angelo vulnerable to Chicago's slings and arrows if Suggs becomes a terrific player. If it were me doing the drafting, I sure wouldn't pass on a 6-4, 258-pound QB-crumbler who has been called the next Simeon Rice. I'd realize Rice recorded 40 times of 4.84 and 4.89 at the 1996 scouting combine, that a 253-pound Michael Strahan ran 4.96 and 4.89 at the '93 combine and that Marcellus Wiley ran 4.89 and 4.94 at the '97 combine. Those, my friends, are three of the best and highest-compensated ends in the NFL.
Sometimes, though, scouting gurus become so immersed in combine science and test-tube fever that they think themselves into silly knots. Paralysis by analysis, the condition is called, and I appeal to Angelo to reconsider Suggs in the coming hours. Otherwise, he'll show up Saturday morning at Halas Hall and step on Beardom's buzz, either using the No. 4 pick on defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson or trading it for two lower picks in the first round.
As it is, Angelo is gambling his professional reputation by not taking a quarterback with the Bears' first top-four pick since 1979. Byron Leftwich would be my selection, with his efficiency, arm strength and guts outweighing concerns about his left leg. But Angelo and coach Dick Jauron are reluctant to take a quarterback with such a high pick--scared is a better word--because they know another Cade McNown flop will mean the end of their Chicago careers. So while Leftwich goes on to possible stardom with the Jacksonville Jaguars or Baltimore Ravens, the Bears will hope for two miracles: that clueless John Shoop can help directionless Kor-dell Stewart and that Chris Simms or Dave Ragone, both fraught with risk and flaws, will be plucked in the second or third round and develop into the quarterback of the future.
We could better deal with it all if Angelo's grand plan involved Suggs. By blowing him off as well, Angelo is risking double trouble in a demanding town. It's as if he is paranoid about taking any player at No. 4, fearing the worst instead of showing the confidence he'll nail a premium pick. Just what's the trepidation here, big guy? "I am not afraid to take a top pick,'' Angelo said. "That is not what I am saying. It's just that to whom much is given, much is expected, and sometimes those expectations are totally unrealistic.''
Let's all crawl into a big hole, then, and draft no one. Please. The Bears aren't going anywhere if Angelo doesn't take some chances, especially after his numerous gaffes in his first 22 months on the job. The more he talks, the more he sounds as though he's protecting the coffers of team boss Teddy Bear Phillips. By trading down for, say, the 17th and 18th picks of the New Orleans Saints, the Bears could sign two players for about $12 million in guaranteed money. By signing the No. 4 pick, the Bears would spend closer to $20 million for one player. But if that player is a difference-maker, wouldn't the investment be well worth it?
Let's hope Angelo isn't so consumed with saving money and not making a mistake that he is intentionally magnifying Suggs' downside. There are no sure things in this racket, of course, and Suggs also raised some eyebrows by bench-pressing 225 pounds only 19 times--six reps fewer than the average for defensive linemen last year. He also has yet to explain to Phoenix police his role in a March29 fight that left him with a bloody back of the head, courtesy of a metal rod, during a three-on-three basketball tournament. While Suggs claims he was trying to break up a fight involving his cousin, Detective Antonio Morales told the Arizona Republic: "I would think he wanted this to be taken care of a long time ago. It's not going to go away because he doesn't cooperate.''
But the NFL guys in Suggs' backyard, the Arizona Cardinals, aren't too concerned about the issue. They'll be delighted to take him at No. 6. Imagine if would-be Bears coach Dave McGinnis and former Bears executive Rod Graves benefit from Angelo's lack of interest. "Terrell has got something a lot of people look for within our league,'' McGinnis said. "If you have a guy who can make a game-deciding play with a pass rush, that's a big advantage.''
Through it all, Suggs counts down the final days as a nervous wreck. "I don't get why so much [stock] is put on my 40s,'' he said the other day. "As a defensive end, you don't run 40 yards.''
And to think he's only 20, with a good dozen years of football prime ahead of him. He would love to return to Chicago, be a Bear, team with Brian Urlacher in a fearsome twosome. But he reads newspapers like everyone else, and he saw what Angelo said: "Everyone expected a 4.65 guy. At worst, I thought he'd run 4.75. It's going to hurt him.''
No, I suspect it's going to hurt the Bears more than it hurts Suggs.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay24.html
Suggs is right fit for Bears
April 24, 2003
BY JAY MARIOTTI SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Sid Stopwatch, I am not. But someone will have to explain why the Bears, the most likely NFL team to flunk the Wonderlic test, are so worried about the 40-yard sprint times of a pass-rushing end. Isn't the position about instincts, pursuit, quick bursts, exploding past a fat lineman to sack the quarterback? Shouldn't more emphasis be put on sack numbers, how a player does in uniform, how he looks on tape?
Straight to the point, isn't general manager Jerry Angelo bordering on kooky to pass on Terrell Suggs, he of the 24 sacks and well-established havoc at Arizona State, because his 40-yard clockings have slowed recently to an average of 4.85 seconds? I mean, it's not like they have to time the guy with a sundial.
And it's not like he isn't hungry for quarterback meat, that he doesn't have the attitude of a football stalker. "There's nothing like a sack,'' Suggs said. "When you're playing at home, it's almost like a touchdown. When you're playing on the road, it's priceless. The crowd gets quiet. They don't know if their quarterback is dead.''
Alas, the Bears don't want Suggs, who spent his formative years on the South Side, costing them an ideal replacement for Rosevelt Colvin and leaving Angelo vulnerable to Chicago's slings and arrows if Suggs becomes a terrific player. If it were me doing the drafting, I sure wouldn't pass on a 6-4, 258-pound QB-crumbler who has been called the next Simeon Rice. I'd realize Rice recorded 40 times of 4.84 and 4.89 at the 1996 scouting combine, that a 253-pound Michael Strahan ran 4.96 and 4.89 at the '93 combine and that Marcellus Wiley ran 4.89 and 4.94 at the '97 combine. Those, my friends, are three of the best and highest-compensated ends in the NFL.
Sometimes, though, scouting gurus become so immersed in combine science and test-tube fever that they think themselves into silly knots. Paralysis by analysis, the condition is called, and I appeal to Angelo to reconsider Suggs in the coming hours. Otherwise, he'll show up Saturday morning at Halas Hall and step on Beardom's buzz, either using the No. 4 pick on defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson or trading it for two lower picks in the first round.
As it is, Angelo is gambling his professional reputation by not taking a quarterback with the Bears' first top-four pick since 1979. Byron Leftwich would be my selection, with his efficiency, arm strength and guts outweighing concerns about his left leg. But Angelo and coach Dick Jauron are reluctant to take a quarterback with such a high pick--scared is a better word--because they know another Cade McNown flop will mean the end of their Chicago careers. So while Leftwich goes on to possible stardom with the Jacksonville Jaguars or Baltimore Ravens, the Bears will hope for two miracles: that clueless John Shoop can help directionless Kor-dell Stewart and that Chris Simms or Dave Ragone, both fraught with risk and flaws, will be plucked in the second or third round and develop into the quarterback of the future.
We could better deal with it all if Angelo's grand plan involved Suggs. By blowing him off as well, Angelo is risking double trouble in a demanding town. It's as if he is paranoid about taking any player at No. 4, fearing the worst instead of showing the confidence he'll nail a premium pick. Just what's the trepidation here, big guy? "I am not afraid to take a top pick,'' Angelo said. "That is not what I am saying. It's just that to whom much is given, much is expected, and sometimes those expectations are totally unrealistic.''
Let's all crawl into a big hole, then, and draft no one. Please. The Bears aren't going anywhere if Angelo doesn't take some chances, especially after his numerous gaffes in his first 22 months on the job. The more he talks, the more he sounds as though he's protecting the coffers of team boss Teddy Bear Phillips. By trading down for, say, the 17th and 18th picks of the New Orleans Saints, the Bears could sign two players for about $12 million in guaranteed money. By signing the No. 4 pick, the Bears would spend closer to $20 million for one player. But if that player is a difference-maker, wouldn't the investment be well worth it?
Let's hope Angelo isn't so consumed with saving money and not making a mistake that he is intentionally magnifying Suggs' downside. There are no sure things in this racket, of course, and Suggs also raised some eyebrows by bench-pressing 225 pounds only 19 times--six reps fewer than the average for defensive linemen last year. He also has yet to explain to Phoenix police his role in a March29 fight that left him with a bloody back of the head, courtesy of a metal rod, during a three-on-three basketball tournament. While Suggs claims he was trying to break up a fight involving his cousin, Detective Antonio Morales told the Arizona Republic: "I would think he wanted this to be taken care of a long time ago. It's not going to go away because he doesn't cooperate.''
But the NFL guys in Suggs' backyard, the Arizona Cardinals, aren't too concerned about the issue. They'll be delighted to take him at No. 6. Imagine if would-be Bears coach Dave McGinnis and former Bears executive Rod Graves benefit from Angelo's lack of interest. "Terrell has got something a lot of people look for within our league,'' McGinnis said. "If you have a guy who can make a game-deciding play with a pass rush, that's a big advantage.''
Through it all, Suggs counts down the final days as a nervous wreck. "I don't get why so much [stock] is put on my 40s,'' he said the other day. "As a defensive end, you don't run 40 yards.''
And to think he's only 20, with a good dozen years of football prime ahead of him. He would love to return to Chicago, be a Bear, team with Brian Urlacher in a fearsome twosome. But he reads newspapers like everyone else, and he saw what Angelo said: "Everyone expected a 4.65 guy. At worst, I thought he'd run 4.75. It's going to hurt him.''
No, I suspect it's going to hurt the Bears more than it hurts Suggs.
