Thread: Bears Free Agent News/Rumors

Originally Posted by Coolhandluke

whether this happens or not, it shows to me that the bears realize that they need to bring in an experienced OG. Now I didn't expect it to be this good, wow, but I'll take it! This guy is a true LG as well, just what they need to help solidify the middle of the line. He won't come cheap though as the top ranked FA OG, best guess at least 5/35mil and probably 17.5 guarantees. As a comparison, ben grubbs signed with the saints last year for 5/36 16mil guaranteed with a 10mil signing bonus and a 700k base salary. Using that as a guideline, The bears have enough to fit Levitre under the cap right now with a 2.7mil cap hit. I dont care whose job this costs, hester, izzy, even urlacher, if they can do it, then wtf!

That's crazy talk. Levitre is a nice player, but at the cost of several pieces and $7M per, screw that.

Originally Posted by lklrlolnlilklsox

That's crazy talk. Levitre is a nice player, but at the cost of several pieces and $7M per, screw that.

Its cap hit man, around 3 mil. I'd rather have him for 3 mil than any of our FA's. Hell, BU wants 5mil, u can get levitre and someone else for that.

Originally Posted by lklrlolnlilklsox

I'd rather not get in a bidding war over a guard when this offseason is flush with quality there in both FA and the draft. I'd rather go all-out for Long than give Levitre even half of the ludicrous deal Nicks just got averaging $9+M per.

he wont get Nicks money, as for Long, why cant we have both :)

Originally Posted by Coolhandluke

Its cap hit man, around 3 mil. I'd rather have him for 3 mil than any of our FA's. Hell, BU wants 5mil, u can get levitre and someone else for that.

You understand that if he get's that contract and only a $3M cap hit this season he'll be making damn near $10M the remaining years, right? Now THAT'S crazy talk.

Originally Posted by little bear

God damn, stop being so cheap. Sometimes you HAVE to spend money to make money. If we can't sign the #1 FA LT, then sign the best OG available. If not, sign the best FA TE available.

I don't care, just DO SOMETHING! Otherwise Emery will soon become Jerry Angelo 2.0.

Spending money and spending money wisely are two different things. Look at the best teams year-in and year-out, they are not the ones spending big on outside talent FA. There's only a handful of OGs in this league I wouldn't consider a team foolish to pay $7M+ per, Levitre is not one of them.

This is my opinion about Levitre.

He is going to be expensive.

That being said if Emery and Stien think that they can afford him and not cripple themselves it would be a GREAT move.

Levitre is an elite player playing the Bears weakest position LG. He has been healthy and at 26 years old he is still a young player who could get even better than he is right now. The Bears need someone who can anchor the interior of their OL and Levitre is that type of talent.

I would applaud them for using the resources on the OL and if you can afford it why not get the best to fix your weakest.

That being said we know being involved does not mean much and JA use to get involved so he could say he was involved.

i think levitre would be the safest money the bears could invest...there's no doubt what you're getting...one of the better young guards in football who has no injury history...will he be expensive? yes...but in my opinion he's worth it...the bears have very little money invested in the o-line, and there's very little risk involved in giving levitre a big contract...

ben grubbs is a good blueprint for what levitre would get in free agency...grubbs got $35 mil over 5 seasons...his cap hit in year 1 was $2.7 mil, year 2 its $4.3 mil...jumps up after that, but you worry about that in 2 years...there are always options...if the bears can land levitre for a deal like that, i'd be all for it...