Ruskell Rumored To Bears

[pbmax]

Well, now. All the debates about Ted's hiring can be settled soon. Tim Ruskell may have just had an opening cleared for him in Pro Personnel (via PFT) in the Bears' front office. Jerry Angelo booted Bobby DePaul out recently.

Ruskell versus Thompson. First man to the Super Bowl wins. Scores will be settled on obscure Packer message board.

http://www.packerrats.com/ratchat/viewtopic.php?t=1647

http://www.packerrats.com/ratchat/viewtopic.php?t=3647

P.S. In one of motife's old threads, a summary of NFL decision makers credits Ruskell and Holmgren's great relationship for helping that franchise climb to the top. Oddly enough, after both had left the Seattle organization after it had fallen to the bottom, the story changed to active dislike between the two. So sad to see friends fall out like that.

[Fritz]

My favorite comment following the Ruskell article:

"ruskell took over a super bowl team and turned them into a dumpster fire, should be interesting to see how low he can take the bears."

[Smidgeon]

Position-by-position 
RECEIVERS: "Driver is a solid player. The rest are either guys who never will do it or guys you hope will develop. Jennings has a chance. Ferguson is reaching the point where you don't think he's ever going to do it. Koren, I don't know what the heck you think you're going to end up with. They don't have a tight end who does anything really well. I don't think they'll ever develop." 

OFFENSIVE LINE: "The tackles are adequate. Tauscher, you can live with him. Clifton is kind of on the way down. At least he has not played back to his level. And the interior is just young guys you're hoping develop. Wells has improved as a center. He was awful as a guard. You'd think you'd have a chance to hit on a couple of the others. Spitz won't ever be a real athletic guy, but he's productive and tough. There's not an abundance of athletic ability in the others." 

QUARTERBACKS: "Favre, in the right situation, can still win games. I think he's past the point where he can win the game for you. You can't ask him to have to make big plays. I think that's the biggest problem. You don't want to be critical of the kid (Rodgers) because he's in another new system, but it looks like it will be awhile, if ever, if he develops. He doesn't look like he has a lot of confidence out there. At least Martin is an athlete. He looks like a much better athlete than Rodgers." 

RUNNING BACKS: "It's hard for the amount of carries that Green has had in his career to think he'll do it for 16 games. I would not see him as a full-time player at this point in his career. Morency is 26 years old. He made plays at Oklahoma State, but you're worried about the mental stuff. There's just a lot of question marks about him. Herron is just a try-hard guy. I just don't see a lot of upside at the position." 

DEFENSIVE LINE: "It's really not a bad group. There's a lot of depth at tackle and the ends are solid. You got a big-play guy (Gbaja-Biamila) and Kampman's a solid, blue-collar, every-down type guy. He's got a chance to win as a rusher. Not consistently but enough. There's depth with Montgomery. Hunter can run." 

LINEBACKERS: "You would certainly have to think they're on the come with that group. Barnett is pretty athletic. With Hawk and Hodge, you'd think that would be a pretty good group in a couple years. I always thought Poppinga never had a position. I thought he'd be a better end than linebacker. Hodge isn't a good enough athlete to play outside." 

SECONDARY: "I think the corners are on the downward slide. I don't know if Woodson is ever going to get back to the level he was playing at. Harris is on the downward end. I think you've got to keep it real vanilla for him to be successful. I personally don't think Carroll will ever get it. Blackmon is a project but has a chance because he's an athlete. Athletically, Collins has a chance to be a good player Now can he ever figure it all out? I think Manuel is a backup, but he's a tough guy. The rest aren't full-time players." 

SPECIALISTS: "It's a tough deal replacing a kicker and getting someone to kick there full-time. He (Rayner) better be a tough kid. At least (Ryan) can get you out of a bad position."

I thought it interesting looking at where the AFC personnel director rated the Packers players in 2006 in this article. Let's see where he was way, way off base in his projections:

Aaron Rodgers: "You don't want to be critical of the kid (Rodgers) because he's in another new system, but it looks like it will be awhile, if ever, if he develops. He doesn't look like he has a lot of confidence out there. At least Martin is an athlete. He looks like a much better athlete than Rodgers." Obviously Aaron showed himself to be very athletic and seemingly only the second time a HOF QB has been replaced successfully.

Aaron Kampman: "Kampman's a solid, blue-collar, every-down type guy. He's got a chance to win as a rusher. Not consistently but enough."Until the latter half of 2008, Kampman was as consistent as they come (in my opinion). You could count on him to produce pressures game in and game out. With KGB's injury, he was the only rushing threat and still got home more often than not.

Linebackers: "With Hawk and Hodge, you'd think that would be a pretty good group in a couple years."I think Hawk is a great thumper, but Hodge didn't even have the athleticism to stick in the middle.

Woodson and Harris: "I think the corners are on the downward slide. I don't know if Woodson is ever going to get back to the level he was playing at. Harris is on the downward end. I think you've got to keep it real vanilla for him to be successful."I don't think the personel man could have ever been more wrong than on his projection of the two CBs. Harris has proven that he's as consistent and flexible and dependable as they come, and Woodson just earned himself the 2009 DPOY.

I just think it's fascinating to look back at what the "scouts" said. Some things he was right on, but others way off base. Just an exercise on why to not take everything scouts say at face value.

[get louder at lambeau]

Here's a little sumpin for ya, pb-

Meanwhile, momentum continues to build regarding the arrival of former Seahawks G.M. Tim Ruskell in the Chicago front office. But as KJR host Dave Mahler, whose beat includes the Seahawks, said earlier today on the Danny Mac Show on WSCR of Ruskell: "He doesn't know what the hell he's doing."

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/02/16/report-gabriel-bream-could-be-next-to-go-in-chicago/

[pbmax]

I think there can be an argument made that the Bears have not replaced a significant portion of talent over the last few seasons. And that they draft much better for Defense than Offense. But I never got the impression that Angelo was in a panic mode over the team.

Do any of the folks who get Chicago sport talk radio have the sense that Angelo is a win now or else situation? PFT has been posting like that, but I had assumed it was all his speculation.

[get louder at lambeau]

I think there can be an argument made that the Bears have not replaced a significant portion of talent over the last few seasons. And that they draft much better for Defense than Offense. But I never got the impression that Angelo was in a panic mode over the team.

Do any of the folks who get Chicago sport talk radio have the sense that Angelo is a win now or else situation? PFT has been posting like that, but I had assumed it was all his speculation.

I think that speculation comes from Lovie Dearest being on his last chance, coupled with the stupid (in hindsight) trade for Jay Cutler. Now his team is bad, and without many draft picks they may get even worse.

[sheepshead]

I think the biggest factor here is the unknown for them. With the pending lockout or whatever, they didnt want to eat Lovies contract so theyre picking away at it in other areas. It'll be interesting to see what sort of upgrades there are if any. I think they took a cue from us and the results we had on defense. There still is no getting away from the hole they are in with older expensive guys under contract, a gutted draft board and a crap shoot under center.