adam

You need another option, like "will sign a 2 yr deal that is incentive laden".

You know what I mean, and I know the average annual salary doesn't equal the cap hit. Ok, so if the $2 million is not applied this year, and you only add $1 million to the cap this year, then the extra million gets added eventually, so it is a moot point. If he is averaging $2 million more a year, and you take one year for less, then at least one year is going to be more than $2 million. So why not just take the difference and apply it evenly to every year's cap hit to make it easy? It comes down to we did not have the $9/yr to pay for Long. I would love to have him, but the Bears didn't have the cap room to even entertain the idea.

How much of that will be used for the rookie pool ($3 mil)? They can't spend exactly up to the cap, as they need to have a buffer for injuries, etc. So in reality that number is probably less than $2 million, which is not enough to resign Urlacher, Izzy, and Campbell, and that's without the extra $2 million added on from Long. So paying someone $2 million more would not prevent the Bears from acquiring or re-signing someone? That would leave the Bears with $3.45 and they would not be able to sign anyone else at this time. Lastly, Long has to want to sign with the Bears, and unless we offered more than the Rams, then this was never even a possibility. Is Long better than Bushrod, sure, does he have some health concerns, yes, but in the end I don't think he ever was a realistic option for the Bears.

Rey Maualuga re-signed with Cincinnati, one more name off the board.

$2 million a year is pretty big when you have to fit it into the cap. If we had to pay more for him, we would not have been able to sign someone like Bennett, so I would rather have Bushrod and Bennett over Long. It looks like Miami offered $8 and he went to the Rams at $9, so it seems like he was going to the highest bidder. We would've had to outbid the Rams to get him, and who knows, they may have upped it to $10. We were not going to get into a bidding war, and I don't think the Bears were willing to pay $9 million a year anyway.

Here is what Forte said: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id...heed-matt-forte I know they want to make football safer, but this seems almost counter productive as runners would not be able to protect themselves from a hit. Almost the first thing you learn to do is lower your shoulders when you are about to get hit. Now they want you to stay upright as the defender plows into your ribs at full speed? How about just improve the helmet and move to some sort of kevlar composite that absorbs some of the impact.

Here are some quotes from McCaskey on Urlacher: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,4712817.story

If that was the case for McClellin, you would think they would at least have played him as an OLB. Going from DE to MLB seems like a huge jump to me.

Here are the only 4 teams to ever have 3x 1,000 yd WR's in one season: ARZ 2008 (Warner 401/598-4583, 30 TD) Fitzgerald, Boldin, Breaston - 262-3475 yds, 26 TDs IND 2004 (Manning 336/497-4557, 49 TD) Wayne, Harrison, Stokley - 231-3400 yds, 37 TDs ATL 1995 (George 336/557-4143, 24 TD) Metcalf, Emanuel, Mathis - 256-3267 yds, 22 TDs WAS 1989 (Rypien 280/476-3768, 22 TD) Monk, Clark, Sanders - 245-3353 yds, 21 TDs E. James was the only player on two of these teams, and Manning has a chance to be the only QB to be on this list twice.

Here are the only ILB's that had over 500 snaps last year and are younger than Urlacher (with PFF ratings, stats, and age): Brad Jones +9.0, 687 snaps, 56 tackles, 0 INT, 4 PD, 2 Sacks, Age: 27 Karlos Dansby +6.0, 1123 snaps, 101 tackles, 0 INT, 9 PD, 1 Sack, Age: 31 Bart Scott +1.1, 582 snaps, 36 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD, 2.5 sacks, Age: 32 Chase Blackburn -10.9, 798 snaps, 64 tackles, 1 INT, 6 PD, 3 Sacks, Age: 29 Brian Urlacher -11.2, 726 snaps, 53 tackles, 1 INT, 7 PD, 0 Sacks, Age: 34 Rey Maualuga -26.2, 1047 snaps, 62 tackles, 0 INT, 4 PD, 1 Sack, Age: 26 Of these, who would come at the same price or cheaper and be better than Urlacher in the Bears' scheme in 2013? Jones or Dansby maybe, but would they come in at the same price or lower than Urlacher? Also, these are ILB's, not necessarily all MLB's. Slim pickings. To me, unless you could get Jones or Dansby, then it would seem better to bring back Urlacher and groom someone like Ogletree or a 2nd Round pick for a year or two while he plays alongside Urlacher and then can move inside in 2014 or 2015.

Based on last year's stats, they would be the best trio ever combing for 297 receptions, 3852 yards, and 29 TD's. GNB's trio won't sniff those numbers. The closest trio of Receivers is ATL (White, Jones, and Gonzalez) combining for 264 receptions, 3479 yards, and 25 TD's. Obviously Welker will take away targets from both Thomas and Decker, but I can see them having a season on par with ATL's receivers did in 2012.

Actually Bush would have a BIGGER cap hit if cut. If he plays, his cap hit is $3.55, if he is cut the hit goes up to $4.10, so 550k more to cut him. The good thing is next year they can keep him for a cap hit of $3.85, or cut him and save $1.75. So we will at least have options next year. Unless we trade him this year, we are stuck with him.

Yeah, it crazy to see all the teams Brian listed having "franchise" QB's. That one fact seems to solidify the team to the point where they can address the other pieces and build around the QB year after year. It will be an interesting year for the Bears and Cutler. He now has all the players he needs to excel as well as an Offensive-minded HC. If he can't perform at a franchise-QB level, he probably never will - and the Bears QB carousel will spin again. One one outlier team is New England, however, who have had a good mix of Free Agents and draftees, and to me that is the most effective way. For the Bears, they addressed 2 immediate needs with impact players that will be upgrades at both positions. Now they can go into the draft, fill out other weaknesses and add depth.

Yeah, they gained Jennings, but lost Harvin. At most this is a wash.

Actually, from what I've heard on NFL Network, they are projecting his numbers to jump up considerably. Jackson is way better than Turner. Jackson has 8 straight 1,000 yard seasons, and averages 40 receptions a year while Turner has 70 receptions for his entire career. This is a pretty decent upgrade for them. I would rather see him go to ATL than GB.

No way the Bears let Urlacher go now. Hard to lose 2 starting LB's in one offseason.

I updated my cap page with the latest numbers: http://www.pcgamingtech.net/bears/bearscap.htm Looks like we have just under $8 million in cap space (which includes roll over money). Without it, we have about $4.8 million available.

For Urlacher it is going to come down to money vs health. If healthy, he is probably better than 99% of the options out there at this point. If he is healthy, he then has to fit into the tight cap space and be willing to accept less money. If all those can be met, re-signing him is a good move. Not for sentimental reasons, but because he gives the Bears the best chance to win. If he is not healthy, or will not accept less pay, he is a goner.

Does Detroit even matter? I would be more worried about if Green Bay got better or worse.

So we got Bushrod and Bennett for a cap hit of less than $5 million this year. That is really nice.

Jason, I see your point, but teams have much more information available to them than the general public. It is much easier to be an armchair GM. You don't think Kromer knows more about Bushrod and his value than we do? PFF said he was barely better than Webb last year, but I have to believe that he will be closer to being a Pro-Bowler/All-Pro level player than a replacement level player this season.

I know you have not been high on Bushrod, but I believe he is better than his PFF ratings properly show. Kromer knows better than anyone how good he is, and by picking him up, Kromer is putting his name on the line that this guy is a legit LT. If we pickup a Guard in the first 2 rounds, the O-Line will almost be considered a strength vs a huge liability.

It shows he has no guaranteed or dead money, so the cap savings would be $2,350,000 for this year. Robbie Gould is a possible extension candidate with him owed $2.9 for this year.

Yeah, I figure this is for Urlacher, Roach, and others.

Here is a Bennett workout video: I love the ball grip exercises.