Lamar Houston

[NCChiFan]

at $15mil guaranteed $21mil first 3 years, contract 5 year though... think they're saying $32 over all.

 

[packerzrule]

Is that just speculation or did that really happen? I know the Bears had interest in him but have not heard that Houston was offered a contract or that he accepted.

 

[nebearsfan70]

Bears signed Houston???

I've been looking everywhere but can't find any info...

 

[NCChiFan]

Is that just speculation or did that really happen? I know the Bears had interest in him but have not heard that Houston was offered a contract or that he accepted.

Yes, it is a done deal. Reported on The Score and a twitter feed from someone... I'll have to check.


"Schefty just repored pending physicals Houston to the bears for 5 at 35 mil" off one of the other boards... Plus they're talking about the signing on 670 The Score.

 

[Trudem]

yeah its a done deal

 

[nebearsfan70]

Yes, it is a done deal. Reported on The Score and a twitter feed from someone... I'll have to check.

That would be a great pick up if indeed it happened.

 

[nebearsfan70]

Sweet!

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

Well, the contract itself isn't bad. He was my favorite end on the market talent wise.

But how the hell are we supposed to fill out the roster now? Emery must be ready to do something significant.

 

[nebearsfan70]

Well, the contract itself isn't bad. He was my favorite end on the market talent wise.

But how the hell are we supposed to fill out the roster now? Emery must be ready to do something significant.

My thoughts exactly...

 

[NCChiFan]

Since we are talking about filling out the roster also being reported:


"Mike Garafolo ‏@MikeGarafolo 3m
LB DJ Williams to stick with the Bears. Sides have agreed on a one-year deal. "

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

Since we are talking about filling out the roster also being reported:


"Mike Garafolo ‏@MikeGarafolo 3m
LB DJ Williams to stick with the Bears. Sides have agreed on a one-year deal. "

So this means shea will be our strong side linebacker. Oh god yikes. Maybe they can somehow trade him.

 

[NCChiFan]

So this means shea will be our strong side linebacker. Oh god yikes. Maybe they can somehow trade him.

That's a good question, what do you do between Shea, Greene and Bostic...

 

[nebearsfan70]

That's a good question, what do you do between Shea, Greene and Bostic...

Yeah, good question.

 

[NCChiFan]

Well, the contract itself isn't bad. He was my favorite end on the market talent wise.

But how the hell are we supposed to fill out the roster now? Emery must be ready to do something significant.

They're talking about that right now on the radio... Basically, impact signing now would require the Bears to Cut Peppers.... They're at the cap now. The bump in salary cap and the release of Resario, Bush gave enough wiggle room for the Houston signing.

If Peppers takes a pay cut??? Could still sign a few guys in the secondary.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

They're talking about that right now on the radio... Basically, impact signing now would require the Bears to Cut Peppers.... They're at the cap now. The bump in salary cap and the release of Resario, Bush gave enough wiggle room for the Houston signing.

If Peppers takes a pay cut??? Could still sign a few guys in the secondary.

No, it has to be more than that. If they don't cut Peppers outright (saving $10 million, which is about what we need for the emergency cash, to sign the draft class, and at least sign scrubs and vet minimums at every other position to fill out the roster), and figure they keep Julius by saving, say, $5 million (would he really take a bigger cut than that? I doubt it), then they basically need the other $5 million to come from somewhere else (i.e. other restructures and, more likely, cuts).

Of course trading Lance Briggs would get us that $5 million.

My money is still heavily on an outright Peppers cut. But even that still just gets us to basically zero. There's no money for secondary signings right now. None.

 

[beardown07]

We had less money last year at the start of Free Agency than we did this year, and landed 3 solid FAs.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

We had less money last year at the start of Free Agency than we did this year, and landed 3 solid FAs.

That's not actually correct. Because we did not re-sign Roach, Urlacher, and Lance Louis, etc., then cutting Carimi and Campbell, we were in much better position last year.

The roster structure this year compared to last can be summarized very simply. Jay Cutler's new contract chews up $10 million more, and the Peppers escalators. You can't simultaneously have two of the top 4 salary cap hits in the league on a roster and have a deep team, especially when your drafts have sucked for several years running.

 

[anotheridiot]

they will restructure all the contracts that were just signed and start cutting checks to land whoever they can get. they are gonna need a massive draft class over the next three years to get out from under these deals.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

We had less money last year at the start of Free Agency than we did this year, and landed 3 solid FAs.

and, by the way, we had the same problem last year we are going to have this year at this rate: the roster was too thin and more vulnerable than normal to injuries because of it. The thinness of the roster has everything to do with the 2013 Chicago Bears not making the playoffs, and we were thin because we overspent on a few guys in free agency.

Hey, I like Bushrod, Bennett, and Slauson. Bushrod is overpaid though. This Houston contract isn't bad, I actually like it for what it is evaluated with blinders on, but Emery's chronic weakness is for expensive free agents at the expense of the rest of the roster. If he is hitting it in the draft, then it is less of a problem.

So, pressure's on Phil. Better do better in the draft than you did the first two tries.

 

[NCChiFan]

We were fine this year until we ... um ... hit the Jay Cutler price tag wall... I know, we weren't really ok.


We picked up another couple of camp fodder ST'ers in Mundry a Safety and the ST captain from the Panthers, a LB, Senn.