2014 Chicago Bears Offseason Thread

[Soul]

For those of you who think this was a bad deal, please explain in detail how you would have handled it. If you think he should have been franchised, keep mind that managing Jay's cap number is essential to improving the defense , which is this offseason's unquestioned number one priority. If you think he should have been allowed to walk, who do you replace him with? What's the long term plan?

 

The alternate plan would have been to resign McCown and draft a QB with the idea that McCown handles the Bears while the new QB gets ready.

 

Not all that outlandish, but who in this year's draft really gets you excited at the mid-first-round level?

 

I don't think the Bears could afford to spend picks trading up either, so....

 

There doesn't appear to be anything on the horizon.

[Banedon]

Cutler gonna have a press conference or conference call or something here soon.

[jersey cubs fan]

Zach Zaidman ‏@ZachZaidman 14s

Slauson on Cutler: "Sometimes quarterbacks can be a little bit [soft], but he is not."

 

Zaidman too afraid to tweet the word, "wuss".

[Sammy Sofa]

You guys know me. You know I love Cutler. I want him on the Bears for the long-term, and certainly have campaigned that he be a part of the 2014 team. But that being said, I would not have signed him to this contract, yet. I would have franchised him and let him earn the big payday. Granted, I think he would have earned that this year, but he did miss 5 games and parts of 2 others, the 2nd time in 3 years he's missed a handful of games.

 

I'm guessing the cap hit for 2014 is significantly less than the 16.2 or whatever franchise number. That doesn't mean I'm unhappy whatsoever at this deal, but I just think it could have waited a little. Not like the Bears were in danger of salaries greatly being inflated to where he would outplay this deal.

Yeah, the only fear I have is that Jay gets injured every year.

 

True, but I don't know how that fear goes away, regardless of who is the QB. The only way to hedge against that is to bring McCown back.

 

THE ONLY way is to re-sign McCown? Seriously?

[rawaction]

For one, the point is that you are set at QB and don't have to consider overdrafting a QB early this year because of the instability. Cutler has not missed that much time before. Why is this an issue? He's missed a similar percentage as Rodgers. He's no different than other QBs with regards to health.

 

The next point is completely pointless since the Cutler situation was so incredibly unique, and since we already have Cutler we wouldn't want to give up 2 first round picks for a new guy.

 

And finally, "if the 2 sides know what is going on" means that Cutler's side knows the Bears want to wait until the last possible moment to sign him because they would love the opportunity to replace him, which is how the Bears got him in the first place. Cutler's side wasn't going to be happy with a situation where they were willing to sign a reasonable deal but the Bears wanted to wait because Drew Brees might break his neck and miraculously sign with the Bears 2 years later.

 

Also, who are all these elite QBs you speak of that could theoretically wind up on the Bears? Eli? Flacco? Tom Brady at the end of his career? Peyton Manning doing it again? Stafford? Rivers? Who is it you are holding out for that will theoretically be available?

 

Those were just examples. But the point wasn't that someone better might become available. The point is if I was the GM, I wouldn't have thought Cutler did all the things to warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed. So, therefore you keep the option open of moving on from him if he has another year where he doesn't warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed, even though the ultimate result is most likely to be him being far and away the best possible option to be the QB for the forseeable future.

 

Like sully said, my fear is that he's always injured. Sure every QB is vulnerable and Rodgers missed more time this year, but this is twice in 3 years Cutler has missed over 5 games. If I'm giving a 100M contract at the most important position on the team, I want to be 100% sure he's going to be out there more than 75% of the time. He hasn't in the last 3 years.

[Soul]

You guys know me. You know I love Cutler. I want him on the Bears for the long-term, and certainly have campaigned that he be a part of the 2014 team. But that being said, I would not have signed him to this contract, yet. I would have franchised him and let him earn the big payday. Granted, I think he would have earned that this year, but he did miss 5 games and parts of 2 others, the 2nd time in 3 years he's missed a handful of games.

 

I'm guessing the cap hit for 2014 is significantly less than the 16.2 or whatever franchise number. That doesn't mean I'm unhappy whatsoever at this deal, but I just think it could have waited a little. Not like the Bears were in danger of salaries greatly being inflated to where he would outplay this deal.

Yeah, the only fear I have is that Jay gets injured every year.

 

True, but I don't know how that fear goes away, regardless of who is the QB. The only way to hedge against that is to bring McCown back.

 

THE ONLY way is to re-sign McCown? Seriously?

 

OK, the BEST way. The easiest way.

 

Sheesh, Mr. Correcto.

[bukie]

Those were just examples. But the point wasn't that someone better might become available. The point is if I was the GM, I wouldn't have thought Cutler did all the things to warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed. So, therefore you keep the option open of moving on from him if he has another year where he doesn't warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed, even though the ultimate result is most likely to be him being far and away the best possible option to be the QB for the forseeable future.

 

Like sully said, my fear is that he's always injured. Sure every QB is vulnerable and Rodgers missed more time this year, but this is twice in 3 years Cutler has missed over 5 games. If I'm giving a 100M contract at the most important position on the team, I want to be 100% sure he's going to be out there more than 75% of the time. He hasn't in the last 3 years.

Interesting arbitrary cutoff of 3 years, since the previous two years he played every game necessary.

 

Basically, the point is you don't string Cutler around another year just in the name of finding a sure thing, since there are no sure things. Same thing with Forte, you want your best players playing with an assurance that the team wants you, so you give them longer term deals so that's one less thing on their minds when the games are being played.

[Banedon]

Seeing twitter speculation that they give Tucker another year, and move to a scheme with a hybrid front.

[Guest]

Cutler is going to be fantastic with this team if he stays healthy. That's my expectation.

[Sammy Sofa]

You guys know me. You know I love Cutler. I want him on the Bears for the long-term, and certainly have campaigned that he be a part of the 2014 team. But that being said, I would not have signed him to this contract, yet. I would have franchised him and let him earn the big payday. Granted, I think he would have earned that this year, but he did miss 5 games and parts of 2 others, the 2nd time in 3 years he's missed a handful of games.

 

I'm guessing the cap hit for 2014 is significantly less than the 16.2 or whatever franchise number. That doesn't mean I'm unhappy whatsoever at this deal, but I just think it could have waited a little. Not like the Bears were in danger of salaries greatly being inflated to where he would outplay this deal.

Yeah, the only fear I have is that Jay gets injured every year.

 

True, but I don't know how that fear goes away, regardless of who is the QB. The only way to hedge against that is to bring McCown back.

 

THE ONLY way is to re-sign McCown? Seriously?

 

OK, the BEST way. The easiest way.

 

Sheesh, Mr. Correcto.

 

It's not necessarily either of those things depending on how much money he wants.

 

The McCown shindig should be encouraging that the new offensive approach can be worked with different QB's, not "OMG, THEY NEED TO BRING BACK MCCOWN JUST IN CASE." If they can get him back for dirt cheap, great, but if not, oh well. I have little doubt they'd be able to find someone else who could step in as a capable backup.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Sammy Sofa

[jersey cubs fan]

Those were just examples. But the point wasn't that someone better might become available. The point is if I was the GM, I wouldn't have thought Cutler did all the things to warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed. So, therefore you keep the option open of moving on from him if he has another year where he doesn't warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed, even though the ultimate result is most likely to be him being far and away the best possible option to be the QB for the forseeable future.

 

Like sully said, my fear is that he's always injured. Sure every QB is vulnerable and Rodgers missed more time this year, but this is twice in 3 years Cutler has missed over 5 games. If I'm giving a 100M contract at the most important position on the team, I want to be 100% sure he's going to be out there more than 75% of the time. He hasn't in the last 3 years.

 

Jay Cutler is not Mark Prior. There is no point getting hung up on the health issue. But you will never by 100% sure about the health of any NFL player. He's played 15 or 16 games in five of the seven seasons he has been a starter. And let's not forget that despite what the horrible announcers said on Sunday, the offensive line was still not good this year. They weren't as bad as they've been, but they were not good. They can do a much better job of keeping him healthy.

[Soul]

For one, the point is that you are set at QB and don't have to consider overdrafting a QB early this year because of the instability. Cutler has not missed that much time before. Why is this an issue? He's missed a similar percentage as Rodgers. He's no different than other QBs with regards to health.

 

The next point is completely pointless since the Cutler situation was so incredibly unique, and since we already have Cutler we wouldn't want to give up 2 first round picks for a new guy.

 

And finally, "if the 2 sides know what is going on" means that Cutler's side knows the Bears want to wait until the last possible moment to sign him because they would love the opportunity to replace him, which is how the Bears got him in the first place. Cutler's side wasn't going to be happy with a situation where they were willing to sign a reasonable deal but the Bears wanted to wait because Drew Brees might break his neck and miraculously sign with the Bears 2 years later.

 

Also, who are all these elite QBs you speak of that could theoretically wind up on the Bears? Eli? Flacco? Tom Brady at the end of his career? Peyton Manning doing it again? Stafford? Rivers? Who is it you are holding out for that will theoretically be available?

 

Those were just examples. But the point wasn't that someone better might become available. The point is if I was the GM, I wouldn't have thought Cutler did all the things to warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed. So, therefore you keep the option open of moving on from him if he has another year where he doesn't warrant immediately signing him for 50 Mil guaranteed, even though the ultimate result is most likely to be him being far and away the best possible option to be the QB for the forseeable future.

 

Like sully said, my fear is that he's always injured. Sure every QB is vulnerable and Rodgers missed more time this year, but this is twice in 3 years Cutler has missed over 5 games. If I'm giving a 100M contract at the most important position on the team, I want to be 100% sure he's going to be out there more than 75% of the time. He hasn't in the last 3 years.

 

There's no 100% certainty of that either though. I'm not completely disagreeing with you, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't going to be a white knight coming to rescue the Bears at a low cost.

 

Do we really know what the numbers are, or is this educated guesswork?

[Banedon]

Cutler is going to be fantastic with this team if he stays healthy. That's my expectation.

 

Add to that, that I expect that every time he throws an interception, facebook explodes that Cutler sucks....Cutler's being Cutler...that's the most Cutler thing that ever happened....etc.

[davell]

So cap-knowledgeable people, is Cutler's salary for next year about where it needed to be? AKA is it likely to cause any issues?

The cap hits on first years of deals is usually friendly, with a jump in year 2. With us having so many FA though, it could include some even based deals, to help us from becoming a Redskin type team, who would look up every offseason and be 30 mill over the cap.

 

We should definitely have room to be players in FA though, if we want to be.

 

As for the 3 announced signings? [expletive] yeah!

[rawaction]

For those of you who think this was a bad deal, please explain in detail how you would have handled it. If you think he should have been franchised, keep mind that managing Jay's cap number is essential to improving the defense , which is this offseason's unquestioned number one priority. If you think he should have been allowed to walk, who do you replace him with? What's the long term plan?

 

I've been the only one not completely rejoicing and I've said how I would have handled it. I've also said that I'm very happy with the deal.

 

Also, the #1 priority of the offseason wasn't to improve the defense. It was to get the QB situation under order. Granted, now that shouldn't be an issue for at least 3 offseasons to come.

[Banedon]

Only 3 NFL QB's have played more games than Jay Cutler (95) since 2007.

[Guest]

Do we expect McCown to be Cutler's back up again next year? He's not going to get a starting gig out there anywhere. That's just not realistic at all.

 

The problem with keeping him as the back up will be all of the meatheads thinking he should be starting, and every time Cutler has a 3 and out, we will have to listen to the endless stupidity. But, I think he was a very capable back up that I'd have no issue with resuming that role again next year, outside of the previous sentence.

[JonJayCutler]

Excellent.

[jersey cubs fan]

Jay is looking good.

[Banedon]

Jay has started 109 games and missed 12. Aaron Rodgers has started 89 games and missed 9.

[rawaction]

Only 3 NFL QB's have played more games than Jay Cutler (95) since 2007.

 

That actually makes me feel a lot better. But again, I fully support this deal. It makes me feel better too that the coach/GM saw enough to do this deal this soon.

[jersey cubs fan]

Do we expect McCown to be Cutler's back up again next year? He's not going to get a starting gig out there anywhere. That's just not realistic at all.

 

The problem with keeping him as the back up will be all of the meatheads thinking he should be starting, and every time Cutler has a 3 and out, we will have to listen to the endless stupidity. But, I think he was a very capable back up that I'd have no issue with resuming that role again next year, outside of the previous sentence.

 

I believe they will draft somebody mid-draft and then sign a vet or two to compete over the summer for a chance to back-up.

[Soul]

Do we expect McCown to be Cutler's back up again next year? He's not going to get a starting gig out there anywhere. That's just not realistic at all.

 

The problem with keeping him as the back up will be all of the meatheads thinking he should be starting, and every time Cutler has a 3 and out, we will have to listen to the endless stupidity. But, I think he was a very capable back up that I'd have no issue with resuming that role again next year, outside of the previous sentence.

 

I thought I read that McCown really wants to come back here.

[Banedon]

Cutler talking now.

[USSoccer]

Do we expect McCown to be Cutler's back up again next year? He's not going to get a starting gig out there anywhere. That's just not realistic at all.

 

The problem with keeping him as the back up will be all of the meatheads thinking he should be starting, and every time Cutler has a 3 and out, we will have to listen to the endless stupidity. But, I think he was a very capable back up that I'd have no issue with resuming that role again next year, outside of the previous sentence.

 

I believe they will draft somebody mid-draft and then sign a vet or two to compete over the summer for a chance to back-up.

 

Aaron Murray. I want them to draft Aaron Murray.