Chicago Bears Picked the Worst Time To Hibernate
Published by Gene Chamberlain on November 25, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears not only are bad, they’ve also picked a bad time to be bad.
Obviously, it’s never good to trade away your first round draft pick for a quarterback who isn’t producing—whether it’s his fault or the lack of an offensive line. It’s also not good to trade away your second round pick for a defensive end like Gaines Adams, who looks less physically imposing than the average NFL punter.
So the Bears can expect little or no improvement next year through the draft. Considering general manager Jerry Angelo’s draft record, they probably could have expected this even if they had both those picks.
Yet, there is another reason the Bears have picked a poor time to become one of the NFL’s have-nots.
It’s called labor strife.
Without a collective bargaining agreement in place, the salary cap vanishes after this year.
A lot of casual NFL followers see this is a great opportunity for teams to become talent-rich in free agency.
Certainly, no one would ever expect the McCaskey family to start throwing around nickels like they were manhole covers in an effort to land talent, but let’s assume they actually saw the error of their frugal ways and did want to make an effort to get experienced talent for big cash.
They’ll still have a tough time doing it—an extremely tough time.
Without a CBA and salary cap, the old rules of free agency kick back in and players would need to be in the league six years before they become unrestricted free agents.
I’ve read a list on one of my stories submitted by some Bears fans detailing the wide receivers who will become unrestricted free agents after this season, and how they would fit in well in Chicago as targets for Jay Cutler.
The list contained Braylon Edwards, Roddy White, Steve Breaston, Brandon Marshall, Greg Jennings, Vincent Jackson and a few others.
You can forget every one of those names.
Without a collective bargaining agreement and salary cap, none of those wide receivers will be unrestricted free agents. Edwards, White, and Jackson are in their fifth years. Marshall and Jennings are in their fourth years. Breaston is in his third year.
None has six years in after this season so they have to wait another year to become unrestricted free agents.
The list posted also had players like Kevin Walter (a native of Lake Forest where the Bears practice, by the way) and Chris Chambers, Torry Holt and Hines Ward.
Acquiring one of those players would be a far more distinct possibility, but during an uncapped year there is another restriction in place that could keep any veteran with his old team.
Currently, teams can tag franchise and transition free agents and keep them at either the average salary of the top five or top 10 players at their position. With no salary cap, the rules allow a team the ability to tag three players.
Hines Ward, for instance, will be 34 years old next season. That’s crypt age for a wide receiver, but the Steelers will have three ways to tag him and keep him.
In my opinion, the Bears are better off trying to add at least one more free agent offensive lineman than a wide receiver. The offensive line has been the main reason the offense has struggled. If you have an offensive line blocking, you have a running game and an ability to keep defenses off balance.
The longer the offense can be on the field, the less your own defense is on the field. With the threat of a running game, Jay Cutler is far more effective regardless of receivers.
However, it’s going to be difficult to sign free agent offensive linemen since they can also be protected.
A labor agreement is the only way talent is going to be in the unrestricted free agent market this year.
Bears followers have to hope there is some sort of contract agreement reached. It might be more important than anything else that happens in the off-season to their team.
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