Berrian almost a Viking

[Rastak]

I'm not going to rip the signing--even though I think it could be a bad signing. Fans of opposing teams do this when a rival signs a guy. However, there are two philosophies working here. Would you rather have Ted Thompson announce tomorrow that Greg Jennings had been signed to a 6y/$42M extension or announce that the Packers had acquired Bernard Berrian to that kind of money? That's sort of what it boils down. The good GMs find great talent, and then they keep most of the talent they truly want to keep. Indianapolis has kept guys like Manning, Harrison, Wayne, Clark, Tarik Glenn, Sanders, Freeney, Mathis, Lilja, etc. with high salaries. They let other guys go that were replaceable (Edge James when they had Joseph Addai waiting in the wings). Ideally, if your GM is good at finding talent, this works. This strategy doesn't work if the GM doesn't do a good job finding talent. Then, you are desperate and have to make moves like this.

Yea, I agree to a point. Draft well and you have TT's issue of who to resign. Draft poorly or inherit crap and you have to react. Signing the best guy you can when you can certainly afford him seems to make sense to me. These guys take a while to develop when you draft them. James Jones looked really good in my opnion but he has room to improve, he has upside. Other than Sidney Rice, they had very average talent and crap. Crap got traded so why not get something decent to replace crap? It makes sense to me. Unless I hear that it was structured like Fitzgeralds contract I'm fine with it.


edited cause I can't spell......DRAT!

[RashanGary]

We just resigned Nick Barnett for 6 years, 36 million. That's not even close to market value. Look what these guys are getting!!

You have to remember, when you resign your own early, you get a discount. They want security and that instant 10 million dollar hit to their bank account. The team ends up getting a really good player for about 65% of what he would have gotten on the UFA market.

It's more than just spending it because you have it. Your goal is to win the Superbowl, right? In order to win, your talent has to be performing at a higher level than everyone elses. If your guys are performing higher than everyone elses but the cap is the same, that means they are underpaid.

Bottom line, you'll never be able to fit SB levels of talent under the cap if you make too many high priced mistakes.

[Lurker64]

You wonder who the Bears are going to throw the ball to this year? It's not like they had much in the way of WRs last season, and Berrian was far and away the best of the bunch. The FA WR tree is already pretty well plucked this early in the game (only Moss really remains and Chicago can't pay him enough), and 1st year WRs rarely deliver much.

So right now we're looking at a Bears team that doesn't have a QB, doesn't have a RB, and doesn't have WRs. Hopefully we won't lose to them twice next year.

[BallHawk]

Shocking, yet hilarious stat.

The 4 WRs currently on the Bears roster had 1 TD combined last season.

I doubt we'll see much of Bearman this upcoming season.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

kinda makes the 20 million for Fitzgerald seem reasonable. The cards know what they are doing.

[Patler]

We just resigned Nick Barnett for 6 years, 36 million. That's not even close to market value. Look what these guys are getting!!

A list that was published of all franchise tag values by position showed the five player salaries used in determining the amount. For the 2008 tag on linebackers, Barnett's 2007 salary was the fifth highest.

Seems to have been imminently fair when signed.

[Fritz]

Sorry Rastak, but your team's management is whacked.

The salary scale there is now effed up. This doesn't bode well for the Queens, in my humble opinion.

[Cheesehead Craig]

If nothing else, the Vikes are trying to improve in FA where they can. Can't fault a team for doing that.

[Fritz]

Sure you can, if it's a move that's going to cost more than what it's worth - which is the case here.

[Zool]

This is a good signing IMO. Way too much money, but the one the that Stone Head Jackson does well is throw a deep ball. BB can actually catch unlike the #7 overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Speaking of ole stump hands, does Jax now have the worst hands team in the league?

[HarveyWallbangers]

This is a good signing IMO. Way too much money, but the one the that Stone Head Jackson does well is throw a deep ball. BB can actually catch unlike the #7 overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Speaking of ole stump hands, does Jax now have the worst hands team in the league?

Actually, Jackson throws a nice slant and has a good arm from about 20 yards or less. He's inaccurate on his deep balls--a couple of balls that bounced off Williamson's hands notwithstanding.

[Zool]

This is a good signing IMO. Way too much money, but the one the that Stone Head Jackson does well is throw a deep ball. BB can actually catch unlike the #7 overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Speaking of ole stump hands, does Jax now have the worst hands team in the league?

Actually, Jackson throws a nice slant and has a good arm from about 20 yards or less. He's inaccurate on his deep balls--a couple of balls that bounced off Williamson's hands notwithstanding.

I seem to recall the sails those slants quite often. Maybe I'm remembering wrong.