2018 Free Agency targets

[IotaNet]

3 hours ago, Rogerthat said:

Not buying it. Giants won’t be back at #2 next year it’s now or who knows when you’ll get another chance to draft a QB.  Eli is not a franchise guy anymore and the Golden rule is if you don’t have a franchise QB and one is available then that trumps everything else. 

 

3 hours ago, Rogerthat said:

Eli Manning is 37 years old.  You don’t build around a QB that old who sucked so bad he was benched for geno smith.  

There you go. Gettleman will have to pick a potential franchise QB while he has the chance. (Similar to what Pace did last year) You gotta get a QB when you can.

[Sugashane]

4 hours ago, Rogerthat said:

Eli Manning is 37 years old.  You don’t build around a QB that old who sucked so bad he was benched for geno smith.  

I attribute most of the benching to McAdoo being a damn coward who wouldn't admit he was outcoached repeatedly.

 

But I agree they need to draft a QB. They had Warner keep the seat warm for Manning when they drafted him, history needs to repeat itself and let Manning have his last year while they develop whoever they get. Shurmur should be able to get him in the system and get him up to speed. I don't feel like this class is worth much in franchise QBs, but he has done well with Keenum. Should be able to get an offense to run around Rosen or Darnold.

[IronMike84]

9 hours ago, Rogerthat said:

Eli Manning is 37 years old.  You don’t build around a QB that old who sucked so bad he was benched for geno smith.  

Eli Manning may be the weirdest QB in NFL history. He’s like a peg above Joe Flacco and yet has two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs vs. the Patriots.

[G08]

On 3/21/2018 at 4:05 AM, Superman(DH23) said:

Facts dont care about your feelings.

By my math it was at $44M so im guessing the $37M is likely spot on.  I keep having to point this out.  For all intents and purposes we started the year with $86M in cap space.  Yes the reported number was $62M but as soon as the league year started we got back $14M from cutting Glennon and another $10M from cutting Cooper & Wheaton. Had we cut Sims before Friday we would have added another $6M so essentially we signed nearly everybody we wanted to and still have a boatload of capspace.  

NFLPA has the Bears currently with $29,163,459 in cap space, but only 59 contracts (Timu’s isn’t in yet, so soon it’ll be 60, but a long way to go to fill the roster).

[WindyCity]

2 hours ago, G08 said:

NFLPA has the Bears currently with $29,163,459 in cap space, but only 59 contracts (Timu’s isn’t in yet, so soon it’ll be 60, but a long way to go to fill the roster).

61 with McManis coming back.

They need to sign 10-12 guys still.

[ColGerBear]

You forget the top 51 rule. Only the biggest 51 cap hits for this year count against the cap. Signing a bunch of minimum free agents and UDFAs won't have a big impact on our cap situation.

[WindyCity]

1 year deals for more than a million

S Eric Ried [49ers]-Nickle LB 
DE Shamar Stephen [Vikings]
NT Bennie Logan

1 year deals for a million and change

OT Austin Howard [Ravens] 
OLB Arthur Moats [Steelers]
LB Gerald Hodges [Saints]
RB Thomas Rawls
WR Brice Butler 
C Wesley Johnson

[CBears019]

Allen Hurns signs with Cowboys for 2 years.

[AZBearsFan]

2 hours ago, WindyCity said:

1 year deals for more than a million

S Eric Ried [49ers]-Nickle LB 
DE Shamar Stephen [Vikings]
NT Bennie Logan

1 year deals for a million and change

OT Austin Howard [Ravens] 
OLB Arthur Moats [Steelers]
LB Gerald Hodges [Saints]
RB Thomas Rawls
WR Brice Butler 
C Wesley Johnson

Like Rawls as a RB2. 

[topwop1]

1 hour ago, AZBearsFan said:

Like Rawls as a RB2. 

I think I'd prefer them bringing back Cunningham.  He's already familiar with the guys on the team and Rawls is very injury prone.

[Madmike90]

5 hours ago, WindyCity said:

1 year deals for more than a million

S Eric Ried [49ers]-Nickle LB 
DE Shamar Stephen [Vikings]
NT Bennie Logan

1 year deals for a million and change

OT Austin Howard [Ravens] 
OLB Arthur Moats [Steelers]
LB Gerald Hodges [Saints]
RB Thomas Rawls
WR Brice Butler 
C Wesley Johnson

Logan, Hodges & Butler would all be great.

[IotaNet]

17 hours ago, IronMike84 said:

Eli Manning may be the weirdest QB in NFL history. He’s like a peg above Joe Flacco and yet has two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs vs. the Patriots.

Agreed. I always think of Eli as being two miraculous catches away from mediocrity.

 

 

[Heinz D.]

On 3/22/2018 at 12:18 AM, AZBearsFan said:

Having another team sign a player to an offer sheet is the truest form of determining that player’s market value without just allowing him to hit FA. Market value on a contract is, literally, the financial value placed upon the player by a team or teams on the open market who wish to secure his services. The entire point of NOT franchise tagging him was to let the market tell you his value while maintaining a right to match it, and then paying him the value the market set. 

Franchise tagging Fuller would have been the exact opposite of determining his market value. It’s assigning him a pre-determined salary figure using a math formula that has no specific ties to his own abilities and no regard for what any team would offer him if he was available without restriction. Franchise tagging him is paying him top 5 money even if you don’t believe he’s a top 5 player. 

You're constructing your argument while ignoring everything I bring up about Fuller's history. He hasn't had a normal start to his career, at all. 

On 3/22/2018 at 7:33 AM, Superman(DH23) said:

Bc he had a plan and executed it.  They always wanted a long term deal for Fuller.  

You may well be right about that. If that's the case, that in and of itself is sort of misguided. But if they did want a long term deal, why didn't they offer him one earlier? They potentially could have saved even more money.

On 3/22/2018 at 8:49 AM, topwop1 said:

Don't you think that maybe Pace agrees with this sentiment and perhaps that is why he slapped the original round tender on Meredith?

Just think about it for a minute.  If Pace sees Meredith's arrow continuing to pointing up and wants to keep him long term on reasonable terms, then what better way to play this situation other than using this tool to let another team set his market rather than just handing him the 2nd round tender for $3M, and let's say hypothetically he goes on to have a great year in 2018, you potentially save yourself a lot of money re-signing a nice player.

I don't think Pace misplayed this situation at all. 

It's becoming apparent most folks in the group think it's impossible for Pace to misplay any situation. 

We'll have to disagree about the wisdom of allowing Meredith to leave without any compensation for the Bears, I suppose.

On 3/22/2018 at 9:57 AM, WindyCity said:

JPP traded to the Giants for a 3rd round pick. Chubb seems more likely at 2 now.

Maybe? Or maybe they're leaning more toward pure rebuild? You got me...

[Superman(DH23)]

3 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

You're constructing your argument while ignoring everything I bring up about Fuller's history. He hasn't had a normal start to his career, at all. 

You may well be right about that. If that's the case, that in and of itself is sort of misguided. But if they did want a long term deal, why didn't they offer him one earlier? They potentially could have saved even more money.

It's becoming apparent most folks in the group think it's impossible for Pace to misplay any situation. 

We'll have to disagree about the wisdom of allowing Meredith to leave without any compensation for the Bears, I suppose.

Maybe? Or maybe they're leaning more toward pure rebuild? You got me...

They did offer him a long term deal reportedly at $10m per and Fuller turned it down.  At the combine Pace said they were aggressively working on a long term deal with Fuller. 

On AZs point hes not ignoring Fullers history, hes telling you that Fullers market value is determined by the market. The Bears let Fuller find it out and they appropriately met it.  

Many of us who are on Paces side have no problem pointing out his mistakes.  Transition tagging Fuller was not one unless you are unhappy with the Bears signing him long term and think its worth $2m more on one year and potentially $4-6 more per year if he plays well in 2018.  Thats really what it comes down and what you need to understand about it is, the Bears have better info on Fuller than anybody on this board and anybody in the league.  Fangio & Donatell know what they see.  How hard he works.  How well he knows his job and responsibilities.  If we are going to say these are very good coaches then we have to give them the benefit of the doubt if they think 2017 Fuller is the real Fuller.

[AZBearsFan]

5 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

We'll have to disagree about the wisdom of allowing Meredith to leave without any compensation for the Bears, I suppose.

Why are you convinced that the Bears have any intention at all of letting Meredith walk? If he gets an offer and they let him leave he’ll be crucified for it here, but I think the likelihood of that is very low. The situation appears on its face to be the same as Fuller’s albeit in a lower income bracket. I don’t think, however, that is the case with Callahan seeing as how we already have both LeBlanc and Mincy who can play the slot if he leaves. I’m personally not as high on Callahan as the team is reported to be. 

5 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

It's becoming apparent most folks in the group think it's impossible for Pace to misplay any situation. 

Most of us lauding him for Fuller were on his *** all offseason last year for how he handled Jeffery. Nobody here thinks he’s infallible by any stretch. Making the generalization that people who disagree with you on Fuller think Pace’s moves are always played perfectly makes me think you’re skipping over a lot of the content on this site. Pace has faced constant criticism here over the past few years.