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We're Black and Blue All Over: We're down to five unsigned draft choices here in the NFC North after the Chicago Bears wrapped up contracts for their 2013 class over the weekend. First-round draft pick Kyle Long agreed to terms on a four-year deal...

The Bears agreed to terms on a four-year deal, plus an option, with 2013 first round draft choice Kyle Long on Friday, the team announced.

We're Black and Blue All Over: Good mid-Friday morning and let's get straight to our morning tour: Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune answers several questions about Chicago Bears guard Kyle Long in his weekly mailbag. The Bears promoted Mark...

Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery took the diplomatic route Wednesday when asked about Gabe Carimi's absence from the team's organized team activities. Carimi missed OTA sessions on Monday and Tuesday, the first two workouts of 10 league-ma...

Maybe it's a habit. Despite the NFL's near-elimination of drama in signing draft choices, I still field daily questions about the status of negotiations. So it seems to be a good time to re-set things here in the NFC North now that the Minnesota Viki...

Welcome to the 2013 version of Insider's offseason staple series: Red Flags. This is the sixth of an eight-part examination in which Football Outsiders identifies the biggest remaining issue for every NFL team, division by division, after the NFL dra...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Monday nights in May are not supposed to be as newsy as yesterday's was. We noted the unveiling of the Minnesota Vikings' new stadium/Fortress of Solitude, but several other items popped up as well. We'll start with ...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Mike McCarthy is going to wish he thought of this one. The Green Bay Packers' coach often unveils some sort of new technology or practice approach in his efforts to improve over the previous year, but the newest thin...

We noted earlier that the Detroit Lions have signed their 2013 draft class and that the Chicago Bears are one contract away from doing the same. Friday afternoon, the Green Bay Packers announced agreements with nine of their 11 draft choices. The ...

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears first-round draft choice Kyle Long is approaching the club's three-day rookie minicamp like a student who is given a copy of the teacher's lesson plan before missing school for several weeks. That's because foll...

So it looks like I zigged this week when I should have zagged on the eligibility of three former UCLA players for NFC North offseason work. As it turns out, running back Johnathan Franklin, offensive lineman Jeff Baca and punter Jeff Locke are eli...

As we've noted many times over the past two years, signing draft picks isn't the adventure that it used to be. The NFL's collective bargaining agreement, ratified for the 2011 season, created a streamlined negotiating process and provided far less wi...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spent some time digging into stories about the surgically repaired big toe of the Green Bay Packers' second-round draft pick, running back Eddie Lacy. The bottom line: La...

With the Chicago Bears set to start Day 1 of a three-day rookie minicamp on Friday let's take a look at a few things to keep an eye on before things get really interesting when the club opens its first workout on May 14 of organized team activities. ...

This week, NFC West colleague Mike Sando posted the NFL's little-known rules for rookie participation in offseason programs. The key portion for our consumption: Draft picks and college free agents can't participate in organized team activities until...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Conventional wisdom suggests Monday could be the day the Minnesota Vikings part ways with punter Chris Kluwe. As we've discussed, the Vikings made UCLA punter Jeff Locke their fifth-round draft pick last month. Te...