Thread: Bears Free Agent News/Rumors

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

I agree and hope we get a good TE... now we come to the chicken and the egg: Will Cutler have the time to get the ball to the TE if we don't adress our OLine needs at least a bit?

Peace G, they will one way or another.

Originally Posted by WindyCity

Age aside he is a very good starting OG, ranked top 5, for a reasonable price.

And his age paired with his talent and his lack of a history of injuries is what makes him a bargain if the price is right. He's a top interior lineman who can give us a couple of years of very good play while we develop younger talent under Kromer but for now if we signed him he'd be the best lineman we had.

Originally Posted by Coolhandluke

I dont know soul, I'm 90% certain that cooper/warmack wont be there and only 50% certain fluker will be there. Ol and TE are the two most important upgrades for sure and I would try to wisely allocate a substantial amount of the cap money towards those two positions. OL is a must, I don't want to hope that fluker is still there at 20 for my only immediate OL upgrade, and even then he is a rookie RT. Now maybe Kromer is all that and more, and he can quickly mold this band of misfits into a competent bunch within the new wco I dont know. All I know is I would like a competent veteran precense somewhere on that line if I were him.

Look at some mock drafts luke. Yeah I know I don't put a lot of stock in them either but they tend to be more accurate when it comes to interior linemen and RTs. The latest that NFP did had Warmack going to Dallas @ #18, Fluker to us @ #20 and Cooper to the Packers @ 26. There's a ton of DTs and DEs that will come into play before OGs or a RT only guy like Fluker.

Those three guys should be at the top of our board right now and I'll bet you $10,000 Bears Bucks right now that at least one of them will be there at #20 and most likely two, Fluker and Cooper. Warmack is the only one I think may go before #20. If we can sign a FA OG like Moore maybe they take Fluker as a hedge against Carimi not turning his game around this year although I firmly believe he will.

My guy is and always has been Cooper. If we signed Moore to play RG next to Carimi we'd have two great run blockers there and I think playing next to a vet like that would help his pass blocking as well. We draft Cooper for LG and let Louis compete there if he can make the transition and we may also have the option to try Cooper at OC as a potential replacement for Garza. I like that bunch on the inside far better than I do anything we had last year.

I still believe we have bigger problems inside than outside because a lot of the pressure we saw last year came up the gut. Webb was still inconsistent but he did improve and I don't think there's anyway that once he's back in playing shape again that Carimi won't improve dramatically as well. The kid can be a very good RT.

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.

Exactly. When there's guy who may be had far less expensively in Moore and two all world OG prospects in the draft as well as a RT who may also be able to move inside it's crazy to overpay for LeVitre. But it would be just as crazy to go all out for Long. I'm more than just hoping we pass on the high ticket guys I'm praying for it. Screw these $9-$10 mil a year deals for lineman and draft good young players. You cannot buy an offensive line long term. You can only fill shorter term needs in FA.

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!

Oh yeah. Tell me how we're gonna do that based on your numbers? If you paid him a $17.5 signing bonus the first year cost for that alone would be $3.5 mil and then add a minimum salary of $700k and you're looking at $4.2 mil minimum. You'd need to lessen the SB and put in a series of annual bonuses and guarantees that within another year or two would have his cap cost over $10 mil per year. No thank you! I'd rather have Brandon Moore for the next two years for $8 mil total and be done with it.

And you'd let two core defensive players and and you're top return man go just to get this one guy who's not gonna score one point for you, make one tackle, or get one sack? Nonsense. One guy cannot dominate on an offensive line. To make it work you need five good guys up there not one great guy and four average ones. Back to GM #101 for you, LOL.

Originally Posted by Coolhandluke

Not quite. if he's 5/35 with a 10mi sb and lets say 1mil 2013 base salary, then that means the bears paid him 11mil out of the 35mil leaving 24mil over the remaining 4 years. So averaging the 24mil in base salary plus the 2mil sb protated over the remaining 4 years he would recieve 6mil base salary with 2mil sb = 8 mil cap hit the remaining 4 years - on average.

Yeah except it won't be structured that way. Look at Grubbs deal and you'll understand what sox and I are talking about. To get his deal to fit this year the had to move $4 mil of his salary into a $1 mil per year roster bonus paid out over 4 years. His cap costs more than triple by year three and average $9.67 mil per year over the last three years. This is more the way these deals work.

Besides $7 mil per year is a ton of money to be paying to Levitre when there are two guys in the draft you could probably pay $7-$8 mil total over four years and have just as good an OG. His price is too high.

Ben Grubbs

Guard , 6 years (29 years old) Tweet

Drafted:	Round 1 (#29 overall), 2007
College:	Auburn

Saints:

Current Salary Information

Contract: 5 yr(s) / $36,000,000 Signing Bonus $10,000,000 Average Salary $7,200,000 End Year: 2016 Free Agent: 2017 / Unrestricted

Year Base S. Bonus Misc. Cap Hit Dead 2012 700,000 2,000,000 - 2,700,000 - 2013 1,200,000 2,000,000 1,100,000 4,300,000 13,200,000 2014 6,000,000 2,000,000 1,100,000 9,100,000 9,000,000 2015 6,500,000 2,000,000 1,100,000 9,600,000 6,000,000 2016 7,200,000 2,000,000 1,100,000 10,300,000 3,000,000 2017 UFA $15.9 million guaranteed (2012-13 salaries, signing bonus) Signing Bonus: $10 million 2013 Restructure Bonus: $4 million / 4 years 2013-16 Workout Bonus: $100,000

Originally Posted by WindyCity

Lets say hypothetically the Bears want to invest in an upper tier starting calibre OLmen.

Sox, who would you rather have Bushrod or Levitre?

Or if you don't think those guys are close in price Vollmer or Levitre?

I am torn, both are huge weaknesses and in the case of Vollmer and Levitre they are both elite players at their position. I might lean towards Levitre because he is younger and he is healthier than Vollmer. But I debate back and forth between which position we should sign and which position we should draft.

It was easier before Cooper moved himself into the top 15.

But Cooper isn't ranked in the top 15 by everyone. NFP now has him at #17 and Fluker below him at #39. Warmack is still top 5 but there's a lot of defensive players moving up which is what usually happens after the Combine. If they're really good LTs are always a prize in any draft and go early along with QBs and WRs. After that it's impact players. OGs and RTs are not impact players and usually get drafted lower than they're ranked.

I know I'm not sox but I'll respond anyway. I'm not in favor of pursuing any top tier OG who's gonna cost is $7 mil per year or more and I'd be hesitant to pay that to a RT either. Bushrod isn't a huge improvement over Webb as far as I'm concerned and not worth $7 mil of more per year either. So I'd be looking at second tier guys would cost me no more than $5 mil per year and I guess that includes guys like Winston and Moore.

But if this is all hypothetical and I'm forced to pick a top tier guy I'd spend $7 mil or more and then I'd really do my homework on Jake Long and see if he's well healed from his injuries and that maybe playing for a contender protecting a franchise QB wouldn't bring the best out in him again. But I still wouldn't give him $10 mil per year. IF I can get him then I can shift Webb back to RT to compete with Carimi, I still try to sign Moore and I draft Cooper.

So in my hypothetical world the line looks like this;

LT: Long
LG: Cooper (Brown)
OC: Garza
RG: Moore (Louis)
RT: Webb or Carimi

Now all you guys who want a major overhaul for that line can look at this and figure out how we can do it. I'd love to see it but I think it's a pipe dream.