In Regards to the Urlacher Holdout
Let it be known that I think Brian Urlacher's great. He's easily the best player the Bears have had since Mike Singletary retired, if not Payton, and I want nothing more than to see Brian retire in a Bears jersey. I appreciate everything he's done for the organization, and he's been the face of the franchise for eight years.
That said, the Bears should absolutely not give him a contract extension right now. He's signed for four more seasons through 2011. Last year was a down year for him, he's coming off neck surgery, and he's got an arthritic back. What are the chances of him actually being a productive player for the Bears in 2012? One-in-five, maybe?
The bottom line is that Urlacher signed a contract. Nobody forced him to sign anything. When he signed the deal in 2002, that signing bonus looked awfully good. Now, though, the annual salary is far from impressive. But nobody held a gun to his head and told him to sign the deal. If his agent was smart, he would have negotiated an player option to re-negotiate. But he didn't do that and now Urlacher's stuck.
Now, I should point out the fact that the Bears are severely under the cap this season. If they want to give Brian a one-year extension for 2012 with a base salary of $1 million with a $10 or $12 million signing bonus to keep him quiet, er, I mean happy; I guess that's fine. It's not a franchise crippler and the money going against the 2012 cap would be minimal. Just save some cash for Tommie Harris and don't hurt the franchise in the long run.
I guess the bottom line is that Joe Montana didn't finish his career with the 49ers. Neither did Jerry Rice. Emmitt Smith didn't retire a Cowboy, and Junior Seau didn't retire a Charger. The NFL is a business, and if Urlacher doesn't want to honor his contract then all he can do is hold out. If he wants to play that game, let him. Just don't do anything crazy.