Lamar Houston

[beardown07]

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.

I'm just going by what Michael Wright of ESPeNis is reporting.

 

[packerzrule]

I dunno. A helluva lot of coin for a guy who only had 10 1/2 sacks over the last two seasons? Still, a huge boost to their sagging defense.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

there are a couple of things not captured by his sacks stats. One, he played on an all-around shitty defense, which is harder to get sacks with. Two, he played a lot of defensive tackle. Three, his main strength was run defense, which is the Bears D problem.

I like the guy, I'm just worried this one signing is going to limit what we can do with the rest of the D.

Houston can actually play 4-3 DE or DT. You know what else he is ideally suited for? A 3-4 DE. He's perfect. Just pointing out the obvious.

 

[richig07]

I dunno. A helluva lot of coin for a guy who only had 10 1/2 sacks over the last two seasons? Still, a huge boost to their sagging defense.

His play against the run last year was very good. Which, after a season of Shea getting beat to death off the ball, and Julius showing signs of his age. A 26 year old, 300 pound DE that can play the run and is solid pass rusher is a pretty damn big upgrade.

 

[beardown07]

Should help the run D, which was woeful last year.

 

[richig07]

there are a couple of things not captured by his sacks stats. One, he played on an all-around shitty defense, which is harder to get sacks with. Two, he played a lot of defensive tackle. Three, his main strength was run defense, which is the Bears D problem.

I like the guy, I'm just worried this one signing is going to limit what we can do with the rest of the D.

Houston can actually play 4-3 DE or DT. You know what else he is ideally suited for? A 3-4 DE. He's perfect. Just pointing out the obvious.

Saw that too.

 

[63bears40]

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.

Pep's contract has been terminated.
If they want to sign other FAs. They need 5 mil for rooks.
They can still redo Jay's contract to gain a few extra bucks.

 

[Peter Gozintite]

I like

 

[NCChiFan]

"Great attitude, great team mate, great motor, has gotten better and better each year, student of the game, you guys got him at the right time" - This from a radio announcer who's watched his entire career in Oakland.

 

[leomaz]

snatched from the enemy

I dunno. A helluva lot of coin for a guy who only had 10 1/2 sacks over the last two seasons? Still, a huge boost to their sagging defense.

You know Houston is a great player if Ted Thompson was pursuing him.....that rarely happens.

 

[anotheridiot]

Should help the run D, which was woeful last year.

300 pound run stopping defensive end, sure fits a 3-4.

 

[richig07]

"Great attitude, great team mate, great motor, has gotten better and better each year, student of the game, you guys got him at the right time" - This from a radio announcer who's watched his entire career in Oakland.

Heard that too. Looking forward to see if he can breakout with us.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

he already "broke out". He's a good player. Maybe because I am in California and got to see more of him, and he was probably ignored by national coverage...but...yes he is good. I like him as a player. Of the DEs we were rumored to be after, I was definitely, definitely rooting for him.

My only issue is the whole notion of sinking that much money into the most expensive defensive free agent position in the NFL when you have cap issues. But if we were going to turn the roster into a few stars/bunch-of-scrubs roster, he's not a bad guy on it.

 

[63bears40]

he already "broke out". He's a good player. Maybe because I am in California and got to see more of him, and he was probably ignored by national coverage...but...yes he is good. I like him as a player. Of the DEs we were rumored to be after, I was definitely, definitely rooting for him.

My only issue is the whole notion of sinking that much money into the most expensive defensive free agent position in the NFL when you have cap issues. But if we were going to turn the roster into a few stars/bunch-of-scrubs roster, he's not a bad guy on it.

Seems you always have to pay for what you want. Seems to be a fact of life.
I like the signing also. But he can't do it by himself.