Thread: Pompei: "Urlacher and Bears must reach understanding"

Originally Posted by motownbear

good thing for players like urlacher going forward is the diminished use of teams using the run. That can keep him fresh for a few more years. At his age he is still a top 5 mlb imo and not being a homer about it either. It is going to be a sad day when he eventually does hang it up but Im hoping we can enjoy his services for a few more years

He is a perfect fit for our defensive scheme. And it isn't easy finding these kind of LB's. I was looking at the crop of LB's coming up for the 2013 draft, and none of them really fits well into our "D" scheme for MLB. Granted, you don't shake any tree and have an "Urlacher" fall into your lap. He's a rare player who has an incredible combination of football IQ, size (especially height) and speed (for his size he's a freak speed wise). Our scheme really demands a guy like this to be effective. Also, with the NFL moving more to big/fast TE receivers, you gotta have somebody who has the speed/size to cover them.

It's not just a matter of spending a 1st round draft pick and replacing Urlacher. I don't see a single person in next year's draft that even has the raw "potential" to be equal to Urlacher. We'd better hope Brian is an iron man and can play at a high level for a couple of more years.

I posted a pretty interesting article about Osi Umenyiora's tiff with the Giants over his contract. The Giants offered to raise his salary for this year but they wouldn't give him the long term deal he wanted. His agent advised him against accepting saying is was a "substandard" offer.

So what did Osi do? He fired his agent and accepted the offer saying you can't afford to pay everybody like and All Pro. He actually acknowledged that teams have limitations and other players to pay. Wow, you mean somebody finally "gets it". No matter how wealthy a team is they can only spend so much.

Urlacher has made mention of his needing to consider that in his negotiations as well. I just hope they make him a fair offer and avoid having him trying to establish his value in FA.

Originally Posted by Bobby_Boucher

I'm pretty confident that he will be a bear his whole career. this is just off season fodder.

I think you're right. I can't imagine (at this point) that Brian would leave, even for more money. The Bears need him for a few more years. He's playing about as well as he every has. He surely wants to cap his career off with a Super Bowl win - and he has a good chance of doing that with this team. I don't see him going to another team.

Originally Posted by motownbear

dude urlacher fits every scheme!!! he made his bones in Jauron system and he was a world different in lovie's but you have to also consider he hit his prime in lovie's system. Eitehr way we look at it our defense collapses without 54 out there.

I hope we can keep the tradition alive and bring in another future Hall of Famer. Urlacher will be our 6th Hall of Fame LB. I know this is easier said than done. But hopefully we'll draft an absolute stud in the 1st round (like Butkus, Urlacher et. al.).

Chances of finding another like him are pretty slim just like it was difficult to replace Mike Singletary until Urlacher came along. It makes no sense to let him go to another team now. The bad press from that wouldn't end for months if even then and every bad play the following season would be met with "that wouldn't have happened if Uralcher was still playing here".

I'm kind of intrigued by this idea of bulking up Hardin if his frame can carry the added weight. He could be a monster Safety but at 240lbs or so he'd also make a good prospect for LB.

Having Hall of Fame quality LB's takes a "mindset" from the franchise - putting value on having these guys takes a bigtime draft commitment. The Bears have done that (even before Butkus' era). You're probably not going to get THIS kind of guy on the cheap. You're going to have to pull the trigger on a high draft pick - and during a year where they HAVE a super quality LB prospect (they are not available every year).

Our particular defense benefits more than some schemes with a MLB of highest quality. Yeah, any defense is better with a Butkus/Singletary/Urlacher etc. But we really need a stellar guy with Lovie's scheme. Urlacher really makes it all happen. The other positions are important too. But it really gets driven by Urlacher.