Yesterday was Franchise Tag Day in the NFL. (Apparently that’s now a day on the NFL calendar.) It joins the ranks of the start of free agency, the announcement of the coming year’s schedule and the NFL Draft. Yesterday we saw the free agency market come into clarity. Vincent Jackson, Mario Williams, Marques Colston and Cortland Finnegan will be available. Dwayne Bowe, Stevie Johnson, Cliff Avril and apparently a half dozen kickers will not.

What this spurned on Twitter was a lengthy (seven hour) debate about what the appropriate approach for Phil Emery should be for the Chicago Bears 2012 offseason. Here were a few proposals:

1. Sign Vincent Jackson at ANY cost. Use first round draft pick on the edge of the defensive line and look for good receivers during 2-7 rounds.
2. Sign Mario Williams at ANY cost. Use first round draft pick at wide receiver and perhaps look at the lower tiers of free agency to strength the outside as well.
3. Spend the $30 million of cap space on both players and retain Matt Forte for 2012 on the franchise tag. Draft whomever you want in the first round.

Note: All of these ideas include attaining a backup quarterback capable of winning games.
Now the question. What’s your approach? How would you run the next two months if you were Phil Emery and charged with building the 2012 Chicago Bears?