Thread: Free agent Louis making visit

if Lance Louis can make it back healthy, drafting a C would make this such an AMAZINGLY better o-line.

But Emery says the Bears are going to be slow in their approach even when it comes to their own free agents as they move forward.

“It just means that every signing is going to be scrutinized in terms of current cap implications and future,” Emery said. “There are not a lot of dollars, there is not a lot of room to wiggle.

The team was left with a lot of holes to fill and not a lot of money. Emery is just trying to make every penny count. I hope we do sign Louis. Just prior to his injury, he was finally looking like a quality starting guard.

Originally Posted by short faced bear

By Brad Biggs, Tribune reporter

4:58 p.m. CDT, March 13, 2013
Most observers felt Lance Louis was the best offensive lineman the Chicago Bears had in 2012 and now he could be exiting.

Louis is making a free-agent visit to an unidentified club beginning Wednesday night, meaning he’s got serious interest on the open market from at least one team.

Bears general manager Phil Emery said that the club is going to be deliberate moving ahead in free agency because it is pressed up against the salary cap. If the Bears do not bring Louis back, they will have more work to do on an offensive line that was upgraded Tuesday when left tackle Jermon Bushrod was signed to a five-year contract.

Louis, 27, is recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee suffered on an illegal hit by Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen on Nov. 25. The former seventh-round draft pick started 11 games in 2012 and has 28 career starts.

But Emery says the Bears are going to be slow in their approach even when it comes to their own free agents as they move forward.

“It just means that every signing is going to be scrutinized in terms of current cap implications and future,” Emery said. “There are not a lot of dollars, there is not a lot of room to wiggle. When we talk to free agents and when we talk contract negotiations with free agents and the implications of those, definitely that is always in the forefront for us".

“So, in terms of flexibility, are we going to be able to go out and sign a starting right tackle at starting right tackle money? No. Are we going to be able to go out and sign in the UFA market a starting guard? No.”

Louis will surely be seeking starting money and he is expected to be healthy at some point this summer. An ACL injury isn’t a serious concern for an offensive lineman. He told the Tribune in January he hoped to remain with the team.

“I want to be a Bear for life,'' Louis said. “That's a no-brainer. I love Chicago. I love everything about it. The Bears' organization is a great place to be. And I want to be here a lot longer.”

Bears coach Marc Trestman sounded like he is high on Louis, too, and spoke positively about a return .

If the Bears do not bring Louis back, they have a few internal options. Emery said former first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi will be considered at right tackle with J’Marcus Webb and at guard. James Brown made three starts as a rookie and Edwin Williams is under contract through 2013.

The Bears will have decisions to make at linebacker. Nick Roach, who has started at strong-side linebacker for most of the time since 2009 and filled in for Brian Urlacher last season, is on a visit to the Oakland Raiders. Reserve Geno Hayes signed a two-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Emery acknowledged there are holes to fill.

“There are players that we’ve got to either sign back or add to the team if it isn’t our current players,” he said. “Again, that will be a slow methodical process. We looked last year at how our signings fell, we had several the first week and then we had signings all the way up to the end of April so I would anticipate we are going to have a spread of signings and it will be in small bits more than batches.”


Chicago Bears free agent Lance Louis making visit - chicagotribune.com

You have to admire Emery. Once the game has officially begun, he has his game face on, and he starts talking about his plans he's about as honest and straightforward as they come. He comes right at you with his plan and he tells you how he plans to get it done as well.

I'd say that unless another guy he has his sights set on falls in line with his expectations for what he can pay our first burst will be our only burst. The rest will come slowly either in the form of getting our own guys re-signed or finding reasonable replacements if we lose one or two. He filled what he believed to be out two biggest needs and now it looks like he's strictly a second phase player from here on out.

I can understand his reluctance to do any more restructuring of Pep deal yet it's the only place where he can come up with a significant addition to the cap and it's gonna take far more than he's got to either get his guys back or replace them. Then there's also the issues of redoing deals for Tillman and Jennings which could also add some significant cap space. I have to wonder what they're thinking and why they haven't moved on any of that.

I don't see many more players he can let go to free up space so unless they restructure some deals where else does the cap space come from? Up until now he's done pretty much what I thought he might as far as signing starters at higher need spots but he's done just the opposite of what I thought he'd do as far as the cap in concerned.

When you add up all of the guys he wants to bring back and the need to reserve room to sign draft picks we're still far short of what's needed. I can understand his approach as far as letting guys test the waters to determine their market value but in the end what's the benefit of doing it if he doesn't increase his ability to spend to keep them?

Originally Posted by Henry Burris

if Lance Louis can make it back healthy, drafting a C would make this such an AMAZINGLY better o-line.

I have Barrett Jones as my #1 realistic desire in the first round. Think he can be the anchor for the next 10 years.

He was our best lineman last year before he was injured. Shouldn't we naturally try to re-sign him? Or did the ACL thing scare Emery away?

Originally Posted by soulman

You have to admire Emery. Once the game has officially begun, he has his game face on, and he starts talking about his plans he's about as honest and straightforward as they come. He comes right at you with his plan and he tells you how he plans to get it done as well.

I'd say that unless another guy he has his sights set on falls in line with his expectations for what he can pay our first burst will be our only burst. The rest will come slowly either in the form of getting our own guys re-signed or finding reasonable replacements if we lose one or two. He filled what he believed to be out two biggest needs and now it looks like he's strictly a second phase player from here on out.

I can understand his reluctance to do any more restructuring of Pep deal yet it's the only place where he can come up with a significant addition to the cap and it's gonna take far more than he's got to either get his guys back or replace them. Then there's also the issues of redoing deals for Tillman and Jennings which could also add some significant cap space. I have to wonder what they're thinking and why they haven't moved on any of that.

I don't see many more players he can let go to free up space so unless they restructure some deals where else does the cap space come from? Up until now he's done pretty much what I thought he might as far as signing starters at higher need spots but he's done just the opposite of what I thought he'd do as far as the cap in concerned.

When you add up all of the guys he wants to bring back and the need to reserve room to sign draft picks we're still far short of what's needed. I can understand his approach as far as letting guys test the waters to determine their market value but in the end what's the benefit of doing it if he doesn't increase his ability to spend to keep them?

I'm not sure that emery has counted on xtra CAP dollars that will come free if and when he signs Melton to a long term contract. Let's say for example Melton signs for something like 5 years 38 million with 20 guaranteed. We can pay him a first year salary of 2.5 million and a 10 million signing bonus spread over 4 years amounts to a CAP hit this year of 4.5 million and leaves us with almost 4 million from his FT CAP hit (8.45 - 4.50). This should take care of the draft class. Now to our own UFA's and additional UFA's I would rather mortgage a couple of years of CAP space because we tend to be in "Win Now" mode. Additionally I am not a fan a trading down and would rather try to trade up 3-4 places now to get one of the 2 stud LG's available in the draft. I would rather see Emery trade this year's first plus a third next year for a LG. Then take a good LB with our 2nd this year. If we have a good run and pound defense and keep the opposing D on the field all game then it keeps our D fresh especially if we are thinner this year in certain spots.
Lastly, not sure if there used to be a user named DB54 here or not but on the old CBMD forum he kept us very up to date on CAP spending and he was very accurate. IIRC he said theat in either 2012 or 13 ech team would be able to carry over an extra 4-5million as provided for by the new CBA but I can't find that clause anywhere. Has anyone heard of this special one time CAP rollover only for these years?

Originally Posted by TheBaschnagelnator

He was our best lineman last year before he was injured. Shouldn't we naturally try to re-sign him? Or did the ACL thing scare Emery away?

My take is that the ACL injury gives Emery a little time to work things out w/ extensions/restructures. He was injured in late November, meaning he won't be available until halfway through camp, at best. That alone may make teams hesitant to make a large offer, at least until they kick the tires a bit w/ a doc in the room.

Originally Posted by dabears

I'm not sure that emery has counted on xtra CAP dollars that will come free if and when he signs Melton to a long term contract.

Let's say for example Melton signs for something like 5 years 38 million with 20 guaranteed. We can pay him a first year salary of 2.5 million and a 10 million signing bonus spread over 4 years amounts to a CAP hit this year of 4.5 million and leaves us with almost 4 million from his FT CAP hit (8.45 - 4.50). This should take care of the draft class.
Now to our own UFA's and additional UFA's I would rather mortgage a couple of years of CAP space because we tend to be in "Win Now" mode. Additionally I am not a fan a trading down and would rather try to trade up 3-4 places now to get one of the 2 stud LG's available in the draft. I would rather see Emery trade this year's first plus a third next year for a LG. Then take a good LB with our 2nd this year. If we have a good run and pound defense and keep the opposing D on the field all game then it keeps our D fresh especially if we are thinner this year in certain spots.

Lastly, not sure if there used to be a user named DB54 here or not but on the old CBMD forum he kept us very up to date on CAP spending and he was very accurate. IIRC he said theat in either 2012 or 13 ech team would be able to carry over an extra 4-5million as provided for by the new CBA but I can't find that clause anywhere. Has anyone heard of this special one time CAP rollover only for these years?

Lots of good stuff here bother.

1) The Melton scenario fits like a glove and I think what you're forecasting for his deal is in the ballpark. He'll want an average of $10 mil but under the circumstances just like Forte, he wont get top dollar and he needs to recognize that or play for the tag money and take the risk he doesn't get hurt like Harris did. A DT who plays like he does is vulnerable to knee injuries from cut blocks so it's some thing he needs to consider if the Bears are willing to put $20 mil up to protect him from that.

We have to plan for the draft class but those dollars don't hit the cap until we sign them and traditionally that doesn't happen until late May or early June so there's still time to work out the Melton deal before then and I think just as they did with Forte they'll pursue it aggressively. Tags are cap killers.

2) They're most definitely in a win now mode which is why redoing some deals to keep the defense intact and guys like Izzy and Urlacher around for at least one more year makes sense. If they redo contracts for Jennings and Tillman they should have what they need for those two and it's just a matter of repositioning current cap dollars. Emery wants every dollar spent to be accountable and I'm convinced there's no way to replace those two for any less than we'll have to pay them. Not with rookies or with UFA vets.

I don't think we'll need to trade up for an OG if that's what we want nor do I think we'll need to trade up for Ogletree if he's the guy who Emery sees as being an heir apparent to Urlacher and a replacement for Roach now. Warmack will probably go in the mid teens but right now Cooper and Ogletree are both ranked after #20. Cooper is a little more finesse than physically dominating like Warmack and Ogletree has those character issues to battle back against. Cooper could conceivably be either a LG or an OC prospect and if we take a guy like Ogletree I think we can be sure Emery and his scouts have done their homework on the guy just like he did with Marshall and Bennett and he's not all that concerned. Guys need to grow up fast if they want to play here.

3) I can't keep up with and chart the cap space on a spread sheet any longer like DB54 did. I just don't have the time to do it any more but I can answer your question.

Teams are permitted to designate what ever amount of unused cap space from the previous year they would like to rollover to the following year and that's done in December. The Bears had a $3.2 mil excess and rolled all of it over. It's been accounted for in the current number posted at the beginning of the FA signing period which IIRC was $7.02 mil.

Based on what they had, what they spent of it so far, and what they gained by releasing three players they should still have an amount that's in the $6-$7 mil range left to work with. So they aren't broke but that's not enough to do what's left to be done.