Splendid Splinter

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID32543/images/Choke.jpg Never mention his name. EVER.

Bingo. I would give restructure his contract this offseason and feel confident enough to add 3-4 more years for an extension. You can always just cut him that last year (assuming his cap hit isn't like Peppers) if he isn't performing. He got the skill set to last longer than most WRs, but the only questions will be injuries (like every other WR/player) and his size (staying in great shape). There's also the question of his mental state. Has he had any problem ever since he found about BPD? Did he know about it before or after the incident in Miami when he was at the bar with his wife? It was during the time he got traded. I can't remember exactly when he knew he has BPD, but he seems like a completely changed man ever since he found out so I'm not as worried about this as others would be.

Bingo. I would give restructure his contract this offseason and feel confident enough to add 3-4 more years for an extension. You can always just cut him that last year (assuming his cap hit isn't like Peppers) if he isn't performing. He got the skill set to last longer than most WRs, but the only questions will be injuries (like every other WR/player) and his size (staying in great shape). raw- 5 years deal (next season + 4 years extension) would put Marshall through his age 34 season, not 36 so he will be a FA at age 35. Now if you want to give him a shorter deal so you can pay Jeffery if he keeps improving, then ok I can get behind that too.

When he leaves to coach Virginia or whoever else starts waving money at him, his kind of players are going to hate him. And after he leaves you'll actually be relieved. Sure I may be a homer, but I don't think Mike Anderson will be going anywhere for awhile. Nolan and Rose Richardson, who still live just outside of Fayetteville, have been a major part of his life since 1980. Arkansas has largely been his home since 1985 and he has children and grandchildren there. He's always said Arkansas is his "dream job" and everything around his life supports that notion. The UA/Coach Anderson history goes WAY back, and they know exactly what they're getting with him. If I were a Mizzou fan I would probably have a bad taste in my mouth about Anderson too, but nothing in his career suggests that he is a job hopper. He has a very long leash at Arkansas, because he's loved up there but also because fans wish he would have gotten the job after Nolan was fired. He was more or less the de facto Razorback coach after around 1994 and Hog fans see him as a return to Arkansas basketball in its heyday. Yep. I was there when he was signed and to me, it was like the prodigal son has return. They LOVE Mike Anderson down there. I don't think he'll leave either unless he gets fired for doing something bad/stupid (alas Petrino).

Every time I read something like that about Trestman and him explaining each situation, I sit here thinking, "What the [expletive] would Lovie say?" Then again... he probably wouldn't have any timeouts left at that point.

Wow... very impressive. Should be a great fit here.

Peppers look shocked that Ravens wanted the ball when they won the toss. Hahaha

YES!!!!!!! LMAO!

I hope somebody GIF the Long celebration there.

How are they playing on that field? What a mess.

At least the Ravens OL are making tackles for us.

As ugly as that 1st half been, Bears are only down 4 somehow.

What happened? Freakin local news came back to talk about the weather.

So Bears D had about 10 penalties on that drive.

AND the Bears game FINALLY came back on CBS for me.

Field looks amazing btw...

They're not going to lose out but I imagine 5-11 would get you somewhere around picks 5-8. Wouldn't that mean Cutler's exit? If the Bears are in a position to draft a top flight QB, Jay has to be gone, right? Not saying this is right or wrong, just how it seems it will shake down. Most likely, but it would be a lot easier to put a non-exclusive tag (i know I've said it multiple times already) on Cutler. A 1 yr 12.5 mil deal (if Cutler doesn't sign to an offer sheet from another team) is still good for a QB like Cutler and still be able to sign players.

Might as well lose the rest of the way to get the best possible pick. What pick would Bears get if they end up 5-11? Is that good enough for like 6th or so?

To be fair... Dickson grabbed the crap out of Conte right before. Still, Conte sucks.

I don't get this part. Are Eli/Flacco really "championship-caliber QB"? Esp. before they won their SB. If so, then Cutler "can be" as well. This really grind my gears. Of course every coaches/FOs are looking for "championship-caliber QBs". They're also looking for "championship-caliber player" at every other position. I wouldn't mind a QB who can "lock down that 2nd wild card" if I don't have an elite QB. Just get to the playoffs and you got a chance. Eli/Rodgers won their SB by getting that last wild card. If you don't want to sign him because inconsistent play/lack of dominance/horrible mechanics/injuries/etc, then ok. I get that reasoning. There's no need for this "not a championship-caliber QB" crap. That phrase to me is like "clutch" in baseball or "but he's a winner" in any sports. Heck Peyton is a championship caliber QB and it took him 9 years to get to the first and only SB win and he practically been in the playoffs every year of his career. Brees went in his 9th season. Rodgers been there once so far. Brady and Big Ben are the only active "starting" QBs who been to the SBs more than twice. I wanna know what Jaws would do if he's Emery. He said Cutler shouldn't get a long term contract. Didn't say much about franchise tag and I really don't think he would give Cutler ~19 mil on 1 yr deal (which is a big contract in itself since it's all guaranteed) when you got about ~45 mil cap space and you got to sign about 20-25 players. Said there's no guarantees for the draft although there's "some good options" and there's no clear upgrade in FA. What exactly is left? Try to sign him to a 2-3 year deal?

Itoi turns 33 this year, but looks like a decent platoon OF at the very least. He'd be a nice Schierholtz replacement, especially if they could get a deal similar to what the Brewers did for Aoki(2.5M posting fee, 3/5M contract). Just nitpicking here, but Itoi won't turn 33 until July 31st.

Did the ref seriously call a foul on that? Looks like he was calling for something before the ball went out.

Do they base the top 5 calculation on salary cap hit or AAV? Either way, it looks to be significantly higher than $16.5 mil. Looks like about $19.5 by AAV and just a little under $19 mil by salary cap hit. Ahh... Found it. That 14.6-14.8 is for non-exclusive tag. Apparently that was the top 5 avg in QB cap hit in 2012 (which is what it is based of while exclusive tag would be on top 5 in 2013). So if Bears use an exclusive tag on Cutler then it'll be ~19.28 mil (top 5 avg in 2014) while the non-exclusive tag will be ~17.47 mil (top 5 avg for 2013) or 120% of last years cap hit which will be around 12.4 mil (10.37 mil cap hit this year) whichever is less so you're right. That's basically a ~7 mil difference. I didn't think it was that big. Still... I think Bears would rather try to save that 7 mil (to sign another impact player at that price) and why I would rather give him an non-exclusive tag. He's not worth 19.28 mil IMO even if he does SOMEHOW gets us to the SB this year. That's a HUGE chunk of the salary space Bears have for this offseason. Bears are going to need that $$$ for the defensive side.

I don't think you can do this unless you're completely prepared to walk away from Cutler entirely, regardless of another team making an offer or not. This move would do nothing but piss off the Cutler camp and make further negotiations on a contract nearly impossible because of the ~$8MM slap in the face of not making the full franchise offer. Even if he really doesn't play much for the last half of the season? It seems reasonable if the guy can't stay healthy for the Bears to look for a way to lower that hefty price tag somehow, or seek a method of compensation if he wants to go elsewhere and make more money. No, I think you could pull it off in that scenario. I was basing that on him coming back reasonably healthy and playing fairly well. I was more thinking like Soul and raw here. Also... 2013 franchise tag for a QB was 14.8 mil. I'm not sure how much it'll be raised for 2014, but it's not gonna be a ~8 mil difference. It's more like ~4 mil since a non exclusive tag for Cutler would be around 12.5 mil I believe?

Again I don't disagree. But can you save $15 million a year and draft a QB who works great in this system and barely miss a step? If you are extremely lucky. Again, you're not getting the pick of the litter at 18-22nd draft pick. So that becomes a longshot. And even if you do miraculously barely miss a step at QB, you still have to basically remake the defense almost from scratch, and have 2 FAs on the OL. We can just trade two first rounders and McCown for a hotshot QB that's having a falling out with the team that drafted him. Then, we can trade more draft picks for the #1 receiver that came up at the same time as him and helped him experience early success. Easy peasy. Dunno why this is so hard. I already posted this in the week 11 thread, but I'll put it here as well since you guys are talking about Cutler vs new QB... "About the only positive thing is Cutler really can't be asking for the moon in the offseason. That being said, I would rather just offer him a non-exclusive franchise tag now (1 yr 12.5 mil I believe... it's the lesser between 120% of this years salary or top 5 avg at that position) and see what the market value will be for him. If a team wants to overpay for him, don't match it and gain 2- 1st round picks." I wonder how many teams would be willing to offer Cutler a contract KNOWING that they could lose 2- 1st rounders if Bears don't match it. It's a win-win situation IMO.