Seems like a weird fit to me. I don’t know that the Jags are close to being a championship team nor do I think the Jags offense with Gerard is a particularly good fit for Holt. Jacksonville certainly wouldn’t be close to the top of the list of cities to move to either if that’s a priority.
Tennessee seems more likely to be in a Super Bowl and the Bears seem more likely to have a dynamic passing game with Cutler and be a more fun city to play in.
Jacksonville was arguably the 3rd-best team in the AFC in 2007 and 2006. They were pretty piss-poor last year, but not many of the pieces that were there before went missing. They just had a down year.
Holt’s already got a ring and more stats than you can shake a stick at. I imagine he’s just going where the money is best.
Not really. Leftwich only started 6 games in 2006 due to injury; Garrard started the other 10.
Byron Leftwich never threw for more than 3,000 yards or 15 touchdowns in 4 years as Jacksonville’s starter. Garrard eclipsed all of Leftwich’s best numbers in his first season. Last season may have been a big dropoff for Garrard, but his numbers were still much better than Leftwich’s.
It’s official. Torry Holt goes to the Jags in a unusual deal that could be worth up to $20M. When I saw that the deal was 3/years and $20M I was suddenly very glad the Bears didn’t sign him, that was just too expensive for a guy like him. Now that I see the deal is a little more atypical I’m not so sure. There’s no signing bonus, which means no chance of an accelerated cap hit if he gets cut next year. It’s worth $13M in base over 3 years, not sure what the distribution is but he’s probably getting about $5M base in 2009 plus incentives that could add up to $7M more over the life of the deal. So, assuming you can get Holt for $7M this year with no cap hit if he’s over-the-hill and you cut him next year that’s not so bad.
Seem like this deal is a great one for Holt if he’s still got 3 years of strong production left.
If they find a QB to get the ball to him, Holt may be right about that. I think he has more left in the tank then last year showed. It is not easy to rack up big numbers when your QB is spending the game on his back.
Anyway, Garrard threw for 3,600 yards last season with arguably the worst receiving corps in the league. Should be interesting to see what he does with Holt.
Avery did do good. But still ended up second in receiving behind Holt with 674 yds and 3 TDs, not exactly a breakout year. Imagine what the two of them could have done if Bulger had decent protection.
Holt should be a big improvement for the Jags this year and I predict Garrard will be a happy man for it. They will still want to look at drafting a speedster to put across from him who can take advantage of learning from him over the next 2 years or so.
What in the name of hell where they thinking? Did they see him last year? The guy’s arm is worse than Pennington’s at this point. I know they needed to renegotiate his deal to get under the cap, but why would you give him that much money guaranteed?
Mid-June, with a month and a half gone since the draft and a month and a half until training camps start, is the longest, dreariest, and most boring time of year. I want football, dammit!!!
In the news, it appears Favre, if he is healthy enough, is going to find a brand new team to ruin this season. Congratulations Vikings!! Enjoy him while you can.
And, while we’re talking about the NFC North, I propose that the Bears should trade for Brandon Marshall to team up with Cutler. I’m not sure they have any draft picks left to squander, though, so I doubt it would happen. But boy that would be interesting.
Finally, in news that should depress everyone, Donte Stallworth only gets 30 days in jail for killing a man while drunk driving. Ahhhh the joys of finding out what money and fame can buy in the criminal justice system.
That’s your pathetically boring update on free agency and offseason NFL moves. Sad, isn’t it.
The Bears have all their draft picks under contract with some pretty favorable terms, positive news though not surprising considering the lack of a 1st or 2nd round choice.
Matt Forte pulled a hamstring during OTAs and has missed 2 weeks and will probably not play next week either. All reports are that this is a very minor injury and that the Bears are being ridiculously cautious with him here. Hamstrings are scary due to the tendency to linger and recur, but hopefully the timing and rest will make it a non-issue.
A fringe benefit to Forte’s time off is the work Kevin Jones is getting as a starter in the new look offense. He was signed to a new deal in the off-season under the presumption that his recovery from knee surgery 2 seasons ago will be complete and he’ll be able to take the load off Forte and show some of the versatility he had in his first couple seasons with the Lions. Last season was something of a disappointment and you can attribute the performance of Forte and the Bears efforts to get him a ton of work in his rookie preseason as the cause of Jones inability to acclimate and get on the field. This off-season he will have no excuses with health and practice time no longer issues.
The only notable Free Agent signing is Pisa Tinoisamoa the strong side Linebacker from St Louis. I didn’t see him much in STL but he’s expected to win the job over Nick Roach and Hunter Hillenmeyer who sucked last year. That said, reports from OTAs are that Roach has been performing well with the first team as Hillenmeyer recovers from injury and Jamar Williams has been the biggest standout of any player in OTAs. Jamar was expected to be Briggs replacement when he was expected to be gone after being franchised and now that Briggs is secure perhaps Jamar will end up fighting for time on the strong side. At the very least I feel better about our LB corps than I have in a long time, we’ve got some depth and a competition for starting jobs.
The blogs are afire with talk about Brandon Marshall and Plaxico Burress being available. Both are clearly great fits for the Bears and embody the type of receiver that I coveted in the draft but the off-the-field issues are far too serious to make them viable.
First lets take Plax. He’d be reasonably affordable and as a free agent he’d be attainable, but he’s 32 years old and represented by Rosenhaus. Most critically he’s had serious gun charges, the same type of charges that got Tank Johnson shipped out of town. There’s just no way they make that move unless they land him for 25 cents on the dollar. Last but not least, Plax’s status with the league will not be determined until after training camp. Meaning a team signing him might see him suspended for 8 games or more. Gambles like that are not in the Bears DNA.
Next is Marshall. He’s under contract and his saber rattling is essentially a ploy for more money. Money the Bears aren’t going to be able to pony up without sacrifice. Marshall’s off-the-field issues are also very serious and liable to get more serious over time. Unlike Plax’s 1-year deal Marshall would probably be locked up for 3-5 years. In addition to a big salary and big commitment there’ll be the price tag in draft picks. Draft picks the Bears already sacrificed to get Cutler. There’s just no way that the Bears could make this deal and there’s little chance the really want to. It’s of no small import that Cutler and Marshall weren’t exactly best buddies in Denver either.
Answers to still be found:
Who’s going to step up and solidify the FS and SS spots?
Are early reports of Bennett and Knox’s performances reason for optimism?
If not Plax or Marshall (both headcases, no doubt), who in the hell is Cutler going to throw the ball to? Himself? The Bears did a good thing in acquiring (finally) a good QB, but they as of yet have relatively nothing in the WR department compared to most other NFL teams.
I hope they fixed those oline issues too, or it’s going to be a long year for them.
Well, first off it’s not like it’s this year or bust. Certainly our WR corps aren’t elite but there doesn’t seem to be much wisdom in gutting the future of the team further in a one-year buying binge. Marshall and Boldin (as well as the other rumored elite guys on the block) all have seriously bloated price tags, a tough sell for a team that already mortgaged a big chunk of it’s future getting a very pricey QB.
The Bears like the group they’ve got now and so does Cutler. Remember, this is still a black and blue team. Defense is first, running the ball second. Cutler’s job is to convert 3rd and longs and stretch the defense for Forte. You don’t need a elite WR to do that, you need some really fast guys with home run potential and some great route running possession guys. Knox and Hester will make the defenses fear the bomb and Iglesias and Bennett will move the chains. They aren’t going to be the 2007 Patriots or anything, but that was never the plan. Remember our TEs are elite too.
Of course we’d be better with a stud WR who can win jump balls and dominate the press, but it’s not worth it if it costs us a chance to reload the defense and O-line for the next 2 or 3 years.
With a good enough quarterback, running back(s) and tight end(s), you can build a dominant offense regardless of your wideout corps. Look at Kansas City under Dick Vermeil; they were consistently among the top five in yardage and scoring despite trotting out Eddie Kennison, Marc Boerigter (sp?) and that little guy from Detroit who Matt Millen called a pussy.
I wouldn’t normally have brought up anything said by Millen, since he’s such a total waste of space, but I can’t remember the guy’s name for the life of me. Johnny something?