UMFan83

Mark Stein:

stop panicing. There's a chance he never does get on that plane to Buffalo. And just because a team doesnt want the player to leave without a contract doesn't mean the player can't leave if he wants to.

Twitter is loving the Bears right now. They are saying if we got Mario Williams we will compete for the Super Bowl. (this is just random fans of various NFL teams not analysts) My favorite tweet was the guy saying that if the Bears got Mario Williams as well, the Bears will be his Madden team this year.

Hub Arkush is down on the trade....what a surprise! He is saying that Marshall is a big trouble maker, and is saying there has to be something wrong with him if he could be had for 2 3rds. Also if Manning doesnt want Marshall thats a bad sign. Repeatedly saying he can't be comfortable with how inexpensively they got him. He did say he's a great WR and Cutler is comfortable with him so that's good.

Sully is trolling us

You have sources?

Greg Olsen and a 3rd round pick in 2013 for Brandon Marshall.

Jerry Angelo would never have made this move considering Brandon Marshall's history, which isnt really that bad, but enough to deter Angelo. Already we are heading in a new direction.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-bears-acquire-pro-bowl-receiver-brandon-marshall-20120313,0,6269822.story

COME ON DOWN MARIO WILLIAMS OMG this is awesome. I like Marshall better than Jackson even

WHATW>ERGTSDRHGSH

Do you think Lovie, Phillips and Emery are all sitting in a board room with 3 phones in front of them watching the clock slowly move towards 3PM? Or do you think it's like the ticketmaster get around where they call a players agent at 2:50 to talk about another player they represent who plays for the Bears and then at 3PM exactly they say 'hey, you don't happen to have Mario Williams around do you? Can I speak with him?' so that they beat all the other teams to the punch?

I don't see how anyone can be favorites for anything when they can't even talk to FA's for another 10 minutes. I'm not naieve to think that both sides don't communicate through back channels and agents, but I still think theres no way for any media guy to know who is the favorite for what. The only thing they should know is what individual teams are looking to do and possibly what teams the FA is interested the most in. You can put 2+2 together and make a logical guess, but I don't think its particularly accurate until teams fully unveil their gameplan 10 minutes from now.

what does that mean? It means don't be disappointed if the premiere FA on the market coveted by a number of teams doesn't end up on the Bears because a couple of journalists tweeted that the Bears were the favorites. Also means that the Bears have a ton of holes to fill so don't be surprised if they get out bid at some point because they need money left over to address other needs.

2 tidbits about Rose: 1) Rose basically went off on the officials last night for constantly missing foul calls when he drives. Obviously in the NBA that's hardly noteworthy but Rose doesn't really do this sort of thing (off the court). When warned he might be fined for his comments his response was that he didnt really care. Also, he said on that dunk last night he sort of blacked out and took out his frustration from not getting calls. 2) Rose is going to be hanging out with Kaner http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/03/13/rose-buys-2-8-million-condo-in-trump-tower/

There's no way we could afford both, correct? Or even if we could it wouldnt be a good allocation of funds to blow it on two players, even if they are very good ones. Also, has anyone heard anything about Forte since he got tagged? I am assuming the plan is still to negotiate a long term contract this offseason, correct?

Yeah, game 2 IIRC, maybe game 3. I've seen certain people say that the injury was an underrated reason why the Bulls lost in 5 games.

It doesn't maximize a new strength on the team, which is the passing arm of Cutler. I think a premiere pass rusher to go along with an even better pass rusher will bring more benefit to this team than Jackson. Not saying Jackson wouldnt help that much because he would help immensely, but if we got Williams we'd have the best pass rush in the league. As you know, Lovie's Cover 2 is absolutely dependent on getting to the QB (ok most defenses are). Having that pass rush changes or defense from slightly above average to among the best in the league IMO. Plus, while there are other options at WR that will help the Bears a ton, IMO the drop between Williams and the next best option is much bigger than Jackson and Colston.

Wheeeeee yeah booooyee I want Vincent Jackson so badly but I'm sorry if Mario Williams is out there, you have to do everything you can to get him. It's definitely not a surprise that Lovie prefers Williams over a WR. Hopefully they can sign a quality WR too because we obviously really need that as well.

I have no idea how Washington's financial structure is, but it seems like cutting $36 million in salary during one offseason is basically suicide. $36 million is close to 30% of the cap this year. Going into the season with a rookie QB, do you think Washington thinks this year is the year to "go for it"? Are they sure the pieces are in place? Because if they aren't, and Washington doesnt get to the SB or even make the playoffs, its going be a huge disaster for them, and they will have to gut a significant portion of the team. If the Redskins were really willing to take the entire hit in 1 season, I'd guess it would be this season, so they can let Griffin play under low expectations and then get him a ton of help next offseason. Most likely though, they will probably do $18 and $18 or something close to that. Taking that much off their cap space makes it very unlikely that they spend most of it on 1 player, especially considering they just completely gutted their draft. Edit: I should say that gutting their draft is both a good thing and a bad thing given this news. It's a good thing because they will have more money to spend for FAs given that they don't have to spend the money on draft picks, but its obviously a bad thing because they will have a difficult time splurging on 1 premier player in FA, without the ability to upgrade the team via the draft as well. The Redskins are better than their record last year, but I don't think there's a chance in hell that they are 1-2 players away from competing for the Super Bowl.

If he doesn't want to be here, whatever it wasn't meant to be. Everyone always says that Chicago is an attractive market for NBA FA's but what has that gotten us? Two highly visable rejections by superstar FA classes in the last 10+ years (McGrady, LeBron, Wade, Bosh), and Ben Wallace and Carlos Boozer the only All Star caliber FAs to sign here. That's still more than many markets would be able to get, but for a supposedly attractive destination that's a disappointment considering the number of years the Bulls have gone out for FAs.

Meh, I don't think the Bucs having double changes much. Regardless of how much they want to spend, there is still a point where it doesnt make financial sense to pay Jackson any more money. The Bucs are talking a big game making it seem like money is no object, but so were the Marlins regarding Pujols and Cespedes, and in the end it turned out to be an attempt to excite the fan base. TB has been traditionally very stingy with their spending, so it makes sense that they are out there talking about throwing their money around. Maybe they are sincere maybe they aren't. Regardless, the Bears should be able to afford whatever the Bucs offer and still run their offseason the way they are planning to.

I am having a lot of fun watching Redskins fans flip their [expletive] over this. http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?363378-Per-Adam-Schefter-amp-PFT-NFL-Taking-away-millions-of-salary-cap-space-from-Cowboys-amp-Redskins-for-front-loading-deals-during-uncapped-year/page5

Wow did this come out of nowhere or were they expecting it?