Thread: Cowboys say "no" to Urlacher

With what appears to be limited options out there for Urlacher and with his aging battle tested body... could this situation turn into something similar to that of Favre & GB with Urlacher holding out till the last possible moment to skip out on the majority of OTAs to preserve his body for training camp and beyond.

This comment came from another article by Sean Jensen that I posted in my thread on Urlacher.

Two sources said Urlacher would be fortunate to command a one-year, $2 million deal based on his 2012 season and the market.

They may be predicting a little bit on the light side here but not by that much. One thing I've maintained all along is what Jones is saying here.

“You’re talking about a Hall of Fame player here, an Urlacher,’’ Jones tells the Chicago Tribune. “You don’t ever dismiss Hall of Famers in my book. But obviously it’d be difficult.

I believe other teams are very hesitant to go after aging iconic players from other teams. It's somewhat of an unwritten "hand off my guy" policy. QBs may be an exception because of raw need but other than that it's tough for future HOF players like Urlacher or Lewis and many other NOT to finish their careers where they began.

Even if Minny had any serious interest beyond rattling the Bears cage because of our interest in Loadholt it's two very different things and they should consider how the Favre deal turned out for them before they do it again. Brian also needs to consider what moving to a division rival would do to his post football future in Chicago. He may say he doesn't care but common sense tells me he does and if he doesn't his agent should be there to remind him that it does matter.

If he retires a Bear he can write his own ticket in Chicago forever but if he leaves for another team THAT will be the last memory Bears fans have of him and it won't be a good one. The extra mil or so he MIGHT get couldn't possibly be worth that from where I sit.

I think teams see him as not being able to play that well anymore. But like the year we brought in the iconic Orlando Pace, you never know when a crazy team will pay for a "name" guy past his prime.

I could still see a team take a chance with him, if the price is cheap enough. The whole thing is kind of pathetic. I applaud Emery for being careful here. If Brian comes back it will not be a situation where Emery overpays and hurts our team.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I think teams see him as not being able to play that well anymore. But like the year we brought in the iconic Orlando Pace, you never know when a crazy team will pay for a "name" guy past his prime.

I could still see a team take a chance with him, if the price is cheap enough. The whole thing is kind of pathetic. I applaud Emery for being careful here. If Brian comes back it will not be a situation where Emery overpays and hurts our team.

I guess we're lucky the Jets didn't hire Angelo then because if they had Brian might be wearing green and playing for Rex Ryan.

The chances of anyone else offering a deal much better than the Bears can isn't good and then there will be the opportunity to match it as well. If he wants to finish here there has to be a way to do it that will work for both sides. But I can't see anyone offering him a deal that pays him $5 mil per year guaranteed based on that knee and the time he's missed. That's a huge gamble and everyone is cap tight this year.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

You don't see a lot of LB's getting a ton of action in general right now, there are some exceptions, but still a ton of LB's are sitting in FA. BU just doesn't have a market right now, and w/that many LB's still sitting available it's hard for any of them to command a market; what Oak gave Roach considering that was a HUGE overpayment. Glad the team wasn't waiting on him.

I'm guessing the team will offer him 2-3 mil when this all settles down.

Yep that's pretty much the limit the cap will bear although they could sweeten it with some incentives that wouldn't come into play until next year if he earns them. In the final analysis I think that's the key to getting it done. We can only give him what we have to give now but we can find a way to allow him to get closer to his asking price if we do it right.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

“You’re talking about a Hall of Fame player here, an Urlacher,’’ Jones tells the Chicago Tribune. “You don’t ever dismiss Hall of Famers in my book. But obviously it’d be difficult. He plays what Sean (Lee, Dallas’ starting middle linebacker) plays and to move everything around for a year doesn’t really make a lot of sense. But at the same time you don’t ever rule it out.”

Maybe my reading comprehension is a bit off, but how exactly does that equate to a "no?" (not that im complaining mind you)