LT2_3

That would have been the helpful bit of info as your handle here has nothing to do with your email address.

Copart49 hasn't rejoined yet. We still have space for 2 more if anyone is interested. Does anyone have times to avoid for the draft? If you work on the weekend, you may have to autodraft, but I'm willing to try and accomodate people as long as it doesn't get too complicated. Looking for feedback guys.

Please include your email address is any requests for an invite. Thanks, LT

I've renewed the free league. So far Bowlingtwig and Adam have rejoined. PM me if anyone needs an invite.

Ya got me on that one.

I have two : Justerini & Brooks

Where your point breaks down is that the Rooney rule only affects Head coaches and GMs. Coordinator positions aren't subject to the rule. So by suggesting that he got his job due to a minority requirement, you simply discredit your opinion by displaying your ignorance. I think that last season he just didn't have the horses on the line after injuries and had some bad position coaches not familiar with Lovie's scheme that they were still running. The defense looked half-way decent early last year until the injuries mounted and the youngsters didn't know what they were doing. This year, we are in year one of a new scheme and all we have seen is preseason where they may scheme a little, but I and others have noticed that he was running a lot of man to man coverage ostensibly to evaluate player skills. The Seahawks game was a disappointment, but I don't think I personally would have felt as bad about if Alshon and Brandon hadn't dropped so many key passes and they were only a TD behind at halftime. The phantom PI call on Marshall didn't help either. I don't know if Tucker is a good OC or not - I think we simply haven't had enough time to judge yet. Unfortunately that takes time. We will know better after a few games this year.

ok guys - we're a 10 team league this year and our draft is this Sunday at 5pm CST. Any questions?

I'm sure they emphasized the TE position to send a message - and no. It was not subtle.

PM me your email address and I'll send you another invite.

Ok - 3 slots left guys

Hi guys! When I recreated the league, it set a default draft date of this Sunday. I've changed it to Sunday the 24th of August, but that's written in sand. For the weekend of Sat/23rd Sun/24th, when are times that people are absolutely not available? Also, we only have 8 signed up so far. Are there people that just haven't signed up yet? Otherwise we have 4 slots available if anyone would like to join. I prefer 12 team leagues but we can go with 8 if that's what we've got. Give me your thoughts

Just to clarify the timeline, the coaching decisions were made in January and the situation with Urlacher happened in March after the start of free agency. There likely hadn't been much communication between the team and Url after all his coaches left. I do agree though that had Maranelli stayed, Urlacher would have more likely returned for another season.

Briggs made a comment in preseason that not everyone had bought in yet. After the season it was speculated that he was referring to Peppers. I've seen many times in the corporate world where a new management team comes in and some of the existing employees (particularly really talented people) tend to groan and whine about all the changes. Their points usually tend to fall along the lines of "We've done this such and such a way for years and we've always performed at a high level." I've seen those types stay, I've seen them leave voluntarily, and I've seen them fired. The ones that stay tend to be miserable. The ones that leave end up better off because they find a new situation that they accept at face value because it's new. Now in this instance, I have to imagine that Urlacher (who was very close to Lovie) might not be thrilled with ANYTHING that changed. And, being a leader, he could have had a negative influence on the younger guys simply by example. Now I for one would like to think that when games that count started, Urlacher's competitive spirit would take over and he would play at a high level. I'm just not sure that that fact alone could overcome the negatives that he might have displayed during TC that might have delayed the younger guys buying in and become a general distraction. Personally, I was relieved when Urlacher wasn't re-signed - and in particular retired. I potentially saw a power struggle just because - well - Urlacher is kind of a vengeful dick. As for why no other teams signed him, I think he still had enough in the tank to help some other team - and certainly the Bears if Lovie was still around. The problem may have come in where his accustomed position of leadership couldn't be given to a guy that might not even start, or would be a one year mercenary. And another concern would also have to be how much effort he would put into learning a new scheme if he was on a one year deal. An example that comes to mind is Kreutz. He was THE leader on the offensive line for years. The Bears offered him less than he thought he was worth so he took a one year deal with the Saints for less than the Bears were offering. In October of that year, he quit the team. He just left the team because he wasn't feeling a love for the game any longer. Can anyone say bad signing by the Saints? I'm not saying that would have happened with Urlacher either with the Bears under a new regime or with a new team, but there does seem to be the possibility that his pride may have gotten in the way and prevented him from being what he used to be on the field no matter who he may have played for.

I have a couple possible scenarios that could have happened had Url been re-signed. 1) Url could have gotten injured and missed some or all of the season. It's not out of the realm of possibility. 2) He could have had a negative effect on the locker room by not buying in to the new regime - like Peppers