Can Urlacher Still Help The Bears?...............

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by soulman

No he wouldn't but at the very least he seems to feel he's far from that so this is an exaggeration of the erosion of his play. Jeez he's far from useless last year. Look at his stats and his play.

Here's what I see happening among the fans. Urlacher is no longer the perennial All Pro LB he once was. Fans see him as having slowed down. Yeah so did I at age 35 and that was a while back. It's about the time I stopped playing competitive softball at a AAA level but that didn't mean I stopped playing.

Just because he's not the Urlacher of old doesn't mean that he can't play or that a younger, faster but far less experienced player will outplay him yet. It's gonna happen one day just as sure as God made little green apples but how 'bout we find that guy and make sure he can before we say sayonara to one of the best football players we've ever had period.

Do any of you take your old car to the junk yard before you buy one to replace it? Do you walk barefoot to the shoe store when your last pair wears out? All of this assumption that he's hurting the team and that we can just go find anybody to fill his shoes is a huge load of crap. My response to that is OK, prove it. Go find him and convince me.

---

Hopefully he still has a year or two of good play left and he'll work out a deal that is good for the team and for him too. I'm not wishing anything bad on Brian. Just pointing out that even the great ones, eventually get old. Brian may or may not be at that point where he should retire. I am saying that I trust Emery/Trestman will do the right thing here.

One other point. Just because Urlacher may think he can still play well, doesn't necessarily mean that is the case. Great players often have a tough time hanging it up as a career. There is nothing more pitiful than seeing a great player from any sport, hang on too long and look pathetic.

We'll know soon enough. Hopefully Brian has another good year or two with the Bears. Time will tell.

I have pretty much put all the "talking heads" and writers on ignore. Especially at this time of year when there really isn't much to talk about. They just talk/write spew to try and justify their paychecks and stir things up. Even then they ultimately FAIL !
:18_1_205:

CAN he? Sure.
WILL he? Who knows.
Will he earn what he settles for/demands from the Bears? No idea

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

CAN he? Sure.
WILL he? Who knows.
Will he earn what he settles for/demands from the Bears? No idea

---

Did Ray Lewis help the Ravens ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

CAN he? Sure.
WILL he? Who knows.
Will he earn what he settles for/demands from the Bears? No idea

---

FWIW, this is saying rumors are it's a 1-2 million dollar difference.

that's the difference between signing OG Moore or not...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Henry Burris

FWIW, this is saying rumors are it's a 1-2 million dollar difference.

---

And that's what I believe to. Urlacher proposed something in the $5-$5.5 mil range and Emery figures he's got around $3.5 to $4 mil to spend on him because he can leverage about that much cap space by extending Peanut.

There's also Izzy to consider and I think he'd like to have them both for about what Urlacher is asking for himself. In a year when cap space wasn't as tight I'd say that maybe he'd give Brian $5 mil and Izzy $2.5 again but that extra $2 mil or so may be enough to fill another hole with a vet like Moore or for a backup QB which is another spot that needs filling.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

that's the difference between signing OG Moore or not...

---

What a quandary ... Landing both somehow would make the draft a ton more flexible.

FWIW here's some updated info on what may be reasonably accurate info on the Urlacher situation. Jensen tends to write pretty good stuff and seems to research his stuff pretty well so I think what he has to say here make some sense.

From any perspective there Bears simply don't have the cap space to give Urlacher a deal that would cost them a hit of around $5 mil. Not even close. But as suggested the could potentially do a two year deal that guaranteed him $2-$2.5 and pay that as a signing bonus along with a vet minimum salary of $940k. That would get his compensation for 2013 in the $3-$3.5 mil range I think Urlacher might compromise on but his cap hit stays in the $2-$2.5 mil range the Bears can probably live with.

Then as Jensen suggests and I've mentioned before as well, they could add some incentive bonus dollars based on playing time and stats that wouldn't be earned until 2014 and there for not counted against this years cap. That's about the only way I can see getting even close to the $5 mil he'd like to make and even then I think they may come up short of that by a mil.

Based on what Jensen has found other sources saying if Brian can get a deal from the Bears that will pay him up to $4 mil this year with incentives if he earns them he should take it. He's not likely to get better elsewhere.

Brian Urlacher must take hefty pay cut to return to Bears

By SEAN JENSEN sjensen@suntimes.com March 18, 2013 12:20PM
http://www.suntimes.com/csp/cms/site...YPE=image/jpeg OAKLAND, CA - NOVEMBER 27: Brian Urlacher #54 of the Chicago Bears stands on the sidelines during their game against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on November 27, 2011 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Brian Urlacher

Updated: March 18, 2013 10:14PM


PHOENIX — The Bears repeatedly have expressed a desire to re-sign middle linebacker Brian *Urlacher, a point reinforced Monday by team president Ted Phillips. “We’d obviously love for Brian to retire a Bear,” Phillips told the Sun-Times, “and we’re still hopeful.”

There’s the will, but is there a way?

Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said signing Urlacher “doesn’t make sense” for his team, and four other league sources at the NFL owners meeting Monday told the Sun-Times that the Bears remain the most logical — and likely — destination for the perennial Pro Bowl player.

But the two sides still have to work out an agreement.

The Bears have $5.45 million in salary-cap space, and they likely want to bolster their depth at other positions in a buyer’s market. They kept the cap numbers of left tackle Jermon Bushrod and tight end Martellus Bennett low, and they need to set aside about $3 million for their draft class, although they don’t need to worry about that until they start to sign the rookies.

The Bears certainly aren’t willing to pay Urlacher the $8 million he made last season. So where is the middle ground?

There might not be one.

Two sources said Urlacher would be fortunate to command a one-year, $2 million deal based on his 2012 season and the market. On Monday, the Cincinnati Bengals re-signed middle linebacker Rey Maualuga to a two-year, $6.5 million contract that reportedly includes $2.5 million guaranteed.

But two other sources suggested the best route might be a deal similar in structure — albeit cheaper — to the two-year, $10.75 million contract the Washington Redskins gave middle linebacker London Fletcher in April 2012. Fletcher, 37, finished with 139 tackles, three sacks, 11 passes defended and five interceptions. Though he isn’t as big of a name as Urlacher, Fletcher never has missed a game in 15 seasons. Fletcher’s 2012 cap number was $2.45 million, but his 2013 base salary inflates to a whopping $5.5 million.

What would that mean for Urlacher, who turns 35 in May?

The Bears can inflate the second year of a deal to whatever number they want because it means virtually nothing. If he gets a $2 million signing bonus, which is guaranteed, they can spread the cap hit over the duration of the deal. The veteran minimum for a player with Urlacher’s experience is $940,000. Between the proration and the base salary, the cap number is already pushing $2 million. The Bears probably want to keep his cap number close to that. For perspective, consider that Bennett’s cap number is $1.9 million.

One option for the Bears is to allow Urlacher to make more money by reaching incentives, often based on playing time. That wouldn’t affect the salary cap until after the season. “It’ll work itself out in time,” Phillips said. “Sometimes those things take a little longer than you’d like them to.”

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jackiejokeman

Did Ray Lewis help the Ravens ?

---

When he played and was not injured yes.

BUT Lewis is/was better than Urlacher