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The focus in Chicago and many other Bears fans in relocated cities for years has been their disdain for Lovie Smith. Nine years with Lovie Smith through all of the hot seat periods calling for his name seemed to be a little too long for the relationship to last. Frankly I thought he should have been let go a few years back. His coaching over the last few years actually was solid. Ultimately the front office decided it was just time for an overhaul of change. Change is good in the NFL ranks for coaches, and the time had come for Smith to depart.

Change though can be a period that players and coaching staffs undergo rough stretches. We all know how Jay Cutler has been portrayed by the media, and how he has a tendency to forgo making the right play with idiotic throws. His play will definitely be an adjustment for his new head coach in Marc Trestman. Cutler is not your ordinary temperament type of personality.

Trestman’s football background is there, and his success in the CFL convinced the Bears organization to take an unorthodox approach in hiring Trestman from the CFL.

A head coaching change was not the only big announcement the Bears had this offseason. They also did not retain Brian Urlacher at linebacker. The cornerstone linebacker had been with the team for 13 seasons. The Bears decision to only offer him a one year two million dollar deal at first drove Urlacher irate. He believed the offer was basically a cop out to tell him he was not wanted as a Bear anymore.

His plan to test the market as a free agent died quickly as he announced his retirement.

There were no mysteries that Lovie Smith was a defensive minded head football coach as a Bear and the team reigned and fed off his leadership defensively. Heck there style of play even got them to an improbable Super Bowl with Rex Grossman/Kyle Orton leading the way. That seems like many years ago, and it was. Chicago unlike most teams has retained quite a few players on the defensive side of the football.

This year is going to be a true test of their defense that has lost nine years of Smith’s coaching, and thirteen years of Urlacher at linebacker. A combined twenty two years of experience.

Looking at the Bears roster they have players such as Charles Tillman (11th season), Lance Briggs (11th season), Julius Peppers (12th season), Tim Jennings (8th season), and DJ Wiliams (8th season) all as starters. You definitely do not see as much age on a defense as you do in Chicago. Particularly their core stars in Tillman, Peppers, and Briggs who are all in double digit years in the NFL. Longevity has never been a friend to NFL players and you have to believe at least one or two of these players is going to hit the backside of their talent this season.

The Bears will have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, and they’ll likely be just as tough as to how Urlacher’s ended. Baltimore made headlines the way it handled its championship defense and let them go via free agency. Their defense played solid in 2013 but was not elite at all. The key word for the Ravens is that they were opportunistic, but they gave up their fair share of points. As Ray Lewis said often, Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense was the reason the Ravens got as far as they did.

Bears fans be ready to embrace a down year in terms of defense.

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On the mound for an early start at 2:10 PM EST will be the Detroit Tigers- Rick Porcello against John Danks and the White Sox. The White Sox have stymied the Tigers in the first two games of the series, and Porcello will certainly be called upon to deliver once again for the Tigers. Porcello has had three starts against the Tigers in nearly a month, getting two wins and a non-decision on August 4th. Look for the series to continue to be a tight run scoring affair. Porcello’s three starts against the White Sox he has only given up a total of four runs. That’s a number I like, and for Detroit to continue to struggle to get a high amount of runs. Look for a 5-2, or 6-2 finish, going under the nine run set line.

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The media has criticized, praised, and lambasted Tim Tebow continuously. His time as an NFL starting quarterback has come and gone, yet the media will strangle their hold on his publicity until he is completely off an NFL roster. Truth be told, quarterbacks come and go by way of their play on the field daily, weekly, and yearly. You’re not guaranteed to be a starter no matter what round you’re picked in or the size of your contract.

Unfortunately over in Tennessee they’ve dragged on with Jake Locker a bit too long. Every characteristic that has been attributed to Tim Tebow can be categorized the same for Locker. In college he was boasted as a supreme athlete that could do-it-all and he did. The four year starter was predicted to be an easy lock as a top five or even the number one pick.

He did not declare as a junior, and therefore, so his stock overall decline as a senior. Locker was still expected to be a first round pick but no one believed he be a top five pick, in fact most had him as a mid to late first round pick. Draft day came and the Titans believed Locker was their guy to not pass on with the eighth selection.

Legs and an ability to produce on the run and broken down plays have cast a few years to many as starting quarterbacks in the league. Vince Young was able to do it successfully to as a Titan before Locker. Locker’s inefficiencies with his arm were there in college, and have haunted him in his young career thus far. In college Locker’s completion percentage was just around 54 percent. Guess what it has been in sixteen games in the NFL? ….55 percent

Locker is not dropping back and throwing it 40 to 50 times a game either. The only quarterbacks behind Locker in completion percentage a year ago were Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman, Andrew Luck, and Chad Henne. All but Luck, who was a rookie, will likely be demoted after this season (Henne is a backup). Stats do not lie and the Titans will be faced with a tough decision soon on the amount of money they’ve invested in Locker.

He can probably be a solid backup or situational quarterback, but too succeed in the NFL you need to have a consistent arm. Those extra five to eight completions can be all the difference in winning a game.

I believe the Titans made a mistake by letting Matt Hasselbeck sign as a free agent with the Indianapolis Colts, as they’ll definitely need a different signal caller under center when Locker struggles. Hey Titans fans, does the name Ryan Fitzpatrick ring a bell?

Fitzpatrick is a quarterback that just finds himself in opportune situations time and time again, even though his skillset is not that of a starter. He has been on the Rams, Bengals, and Bills. With every team he was brought in as a backup and ended up starting games either due to injuries or poor quarterback play. There is no doubt he will start games for the Titans, his fourth team that he will do so. Frankly, I believe he gives the Titans a better chance to win on the field. The burden of a huge contract that the Bills mistakenly gave him is off his shoulders now.

By mid-October expect Fitzpatrick on the field and to actually play decent as he has notoriously done when called off the bench.

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Randall Delgado takes the mound for a dispirited Arizona Diamondbacks club that has fallen behind the LA Dodgers by 7.5 games. A reversal that no one thought would be possible in even mid-June. The Diamondbacks have spiraled South in large part to zero consistency from most of the starting pitchers and especially with their bats. Kirk Gibson has tried all he can in revamping the lineup, even switching out multiple players on short notice a few weeks ago. The team is too inconsistent and is just 9-12 since the All-Star break. Until a guy or two steps up and gives the team some momentum to ride for a series, it’s not going to change. The Diamondbacks have only won consecutive games twice since the All-Star break (Cubs, and a two game series with the Rays at home). Look for Baltimore to snap back and get the win tonight.

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The spread offense is not just for the wildcat or to expose a simple mismatch at the tight end position or with a team’s number one wide receiver. Third receivers or slot receivers use to make their bread and butter primarily on third and longs. That has all changed, and teams are in three wide receiver formations more now than ever. All the continued progress in quarterback’s stats climbing has to be divied out amongst his receivers.

A top caliber fantasy quarterback and even mediocre is going to eclipse the 4000 yard mark with ease. Factor in a top tight end that’ll snag 800-1000 of those yards and an elite wide receiver who will garner between 1000-1400 yards. That leaves a good 40-45 percent of yards left for the rest of the receiving core to gobble up.

St. Louis and Az Hakim were the ones that set the tone in the 2000’s on turning up the offense and having the capability of having three consistent fantasy studs (Bruce, Holt, Hakim) on any given week. Being a notch below as a third receiver on a solid passing team can mean all the world. You have seen third receivers outdo certain teams number ones and twos.

Who are this year’s top Az Hakim potential studs?

Sleepers:
Robert Woods- Buffalo, Domenik Hixon-Carolina, Davone Bess-Cleveland, Terrence Williams- Dallas, Josh Boyce-New England, Kenny Stills- New Orleans, Andrew Hawkins- Cincinnati

1. Eric Decker-
It’s hard to classify Decker as the third wide receiver option, but someone has to be amongst Thomas and Welker. Decker can play any number of roles at wide receiver as he did in college at Minnesota and in his first few seasons with Denver.

2. TY Hilton-
Hilton may be the Colts third wide receiver listed on the depth charts but he is soon to be Andrew Luck’s favorite target. Reggie Wayne keeps staving off age but his years are dwindling down. Hilton just has that big play explosiveness that will keep him on the field for a high amount of plays.

3. James Jones-
Last year was sort of a reappearance for Jones in terms of value. He had dipped quite a bit but was able to get back in the fold with injuries at the receiver position. With Jennings gone to Minnesota and Jordy Nelson recuperating from minor surgery, expect Jones to continue to splatter the fantasy radar.
4. Reuben Randle-

I do not expect Hakeem Nicks to be in and out of the Giants lineup anywhere near to the amount of games that plagued him last year. Randle stood out in action when necessary, but Cruz and Nicks are going to get a high share of Eli Manning’s percentages.

5. Keenan Allen-
I’m one of the few expecting Philip Rivers to bounce back from an awful past couple of seasons. He seems to always find talent amongst his rather non-standout talents at receiver. Malcolm Floyd and Vincent Brown are still around, but I expect Allen to jump into the mix sooner than later.
6. Andre Roberts-

Roberts flourished with quarterbacks such as Kevin Kolb and John Skelton, mainly because they saw him as their safety net. Fitzgerald is going to continue to draw the disguised coverages to prevent big plays, so that will keep Roberts freed up in one on one coverage. Michael Floyd is about a year away from making a difference. I expect Roberts to outdo him statistically for a second consecutive year.

7. Ryan Broyles-

Broyles steps into to the spot occupied by Titus Young just a year ago. Young for all his issues had some quality production as the Lions third wide receiver. The Lions love throwing the three wide receiver set at defenses, and Broyles is the perfect speed-slot option for this offense.

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The old adage of learning from the sidelines in the NFL has been displaced over the last five to ten years. Teams never wasted time with their high draft picks in other positions to learn on the sideline, so why did they do it for years with quarterbacks? There was a time and age when salaries were not in as high of demand and coaches could dictate a relative time span to insert a quarterback. The goal would be to progress enough with a veteran while the young quarterback learns his role and offense properly.

Advancement in college offenses has enabled quarterbacks to come in with playbook smarts to adapt to the game quickly. Sure coaches may have to tailor their game plan a bit more to five to ten secure safety net plays, but that’s expected. You do not want to overwhelm your rookie quarterback off the bat. The more and more success rookies have (Roethlisberger, Newton, Dalton, and last year’s crop) gives future draftees a little less worry.

I expect the Bills to give EJ Manuel his keys to the offense and let him start week one against New England. Many know the Bills new head coach, Doug Marrone, as the ex-Syracuse coach, before Syracuse though he had many years helping as an offensive coordinator with the Saints and other NFL teams. He has an NFL background and will have the Bills prepared to surprise some people.

At Syracuse the offense is what made Ryan Nassib a high valuable quarterback in last year’s draft. He matured as a four year player at Syracuse, but the offense Marrone and his Syracuse staff tailored for him made Syracuse all that much better. They also had a solid ground game that busted open defenses time after time. Jerome Smith and Prince Tyson-Gulley were the two backs that ran the system to perfection last year. Marrone will aim for the same success and likely get it with CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson.

A two back system as quality as the Bills have partnered with their boosted defense should dramatically lessen the burden on EJ Manuel. The offense will be predicated on simple throws from Manuel when needed. He also has the scrambling ability necessary to extend drives.
This Bills team for all the damage of turnovers they had with Ryan Fitzpatrick, still managed to perform decently and hang in games. Their defense should be even stronger this year and they will be able to steal a few surprise games.

Week one at New England may be one of those games.

Flashback to a year ago in the NFL and take a look at who won on the road in New England’s first home game of the season. That was the Arizona Cardinals, led by…….Kevin Kolb. Kolb went on to have a horrific rest of the season that all but ended his ties as an Arizona Cardinal. The key point is that you never have to have an All-Pro quarterback to win games in the NFL. Heck, the Cardinals did not even have a solid ground game.

The Bills have much to offer Manuel as a team, and he’ll grow with that nucleus of players the Bills have. I expect Manuel’s role to be a bit less but comparable to how the Vikings use Christian Ponder. Select throws and enough rollouts and scrambles to keep his mind free during the games. The Bills will let their backfield and defense decide the games for them in year one of EJ Manuel’s career as a Bill.