February 2008 Archives

Whew. It has been a long 23 1/2 hours since free agency opened, and the Bears haven’t landed a single player. There have been a lot of signings leaguewide, a lot of innuendo and as usual a few misdirection plays. All in the name of the almighty dollar in the frenzied market we find every year.

Some initial reactions:

-- It’s nice to learn a little bit more about Tommy Kelly, the Raiders lineman who agreed to a record contract for defensive tackles on Thursday, $50.5 million over seven seasons with $18.125 million guaranteed. Kelly was an undrafted free agent from Mississippi State and the retiring Warren Sapp has been giving him props for some time. Kelly is even coming off a torn ACL.

That must make the arthroscopic surgery Tommie Harris had on his left knee in January not even worth discussing when it comes to contract negotiations for him.

The market for interior offensive linemen is shrinking and if the Bears are going to pursue one, they will need to act quickly.

Seven-time Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca did not need the weekend to weigh his offers. He agreed to a $32 million, four-year contract, according to ESPN.com, that includes $23 million guaranteed. The Bears were never involved in discussions with the ex-Steeler.

But the Bears have two holes to fill along their line. They need to replace left guard Ruben Brown and right tackle Fred Miller. The draft promises a handful of talented tackles, and the team interviewed Virginia guard Branden Albert at the combine, another projected first-round pick.

Mike Mulligan checked in this afternoon with some info for us.

The Bears are working to line up a visit with free-agent wide receiver Bryant Johnson. He could be at Halas Hall by early next week.

Hello.

Anyone out there for Lance Briggs?

The names keep dropping today, now a little more than 12 hours into free agency, and one we’re not hearing is Lance Briggs.

Profootballtalk.com reports that cornerback Asante Samuel has fled New England and will sign a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Adam Caplan of Scout.com and profootballtalk.com reported in the wee hours that linebacker Demorrio Williams would be making a free-agent visit to the Bears.

That information has been confirmed and his itinerary has been nailed down.

Williams is visiting with the Kansas City Chiefs today. He will travel to Tampa Bay where he will meet with the extremely busy Buccaneers on Monday, and Williams is expected to arrive at Halas Hall on Tuesday.

That’s provided he doesn’t strike a deal with the Chiefs or Bucs first. Tampa, armed with $44 million in available cap space when free agency, has been one of the league’s busiest teams. The Bucs have already reached agreements with center Jeff Faine and tight end John Gilmore and have several other players lined up for visits.

If you need running back Michael Turner to satisfy your free-agent needs, you’re going to have to wait.

Turner, according to Adam Schefter of the NFL Network, will visit the Atlanta Falcons.

The Bears are focusing on efforts to re-sign their own players and failed with tight end John Gilmore when it was learned this morning he is on his way to Tampa Bay to sign a three-year contract with the Buccaneers.

Wide receiver Bernard Berrian is visiting the Minnesota Vikings. They could put a full-court press on him. It’s tough to get up and walk out of the room if someone is continuing to throw money at you. If the Vikings’ bid for Berrian comes up short—and the Bears are hoping to get back in the action after not receiving a counter-proposal from agent Drew Rosenhaus last week—Minnesota is expected to turn its focus to Donte Stallworth. He is also represented by Rosenhaus.

Veteran tight end John Gilmore worked to negotiate a contract with the Bears this week.

When efforts failed, he turned to free agency and the interest he received bowled him over Thursday night.

It took tight end John Gilmore a couple weeks into free agency two years ago to start generating interest.

He's a more popular player on the open market this time around.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are reportedly working toward bringing him in for a visit.

Adam Caplan of Scout.com reports that free-agent linebacker Demorrio Williams has lined up a visit with the Bears.

Reports that the Niners were no longer interested in linebacker Lance Briggs appear founded.

San Francisco agreed to terms with another linebacker tonight, Dontarrious Thomas.

His jet does not get the publicity in NFL circles that Daniel Snyder’s does, but that doesn’t mean Zygi Wilf’s wings will not get it done.

The Minnesota Vikings sent Wilf’s personal aircraft to California Thursday night to pick up free-agent wide receiver Bernard Berrian, prompting one league insider to suggest a contract is already in place.

Berrian will meet with Vikings officials at the club’s Winter Park, Minn., facility Friday and a huge contract could be finalized before he leaves the building.

With the free-agent market for safeties thin and the draft class ``anemic’’ in the estimation of general manager Jerry Angelo, the Bears ensured they will not lose Brandon McGowan.

The club tendered the restricted free agent at the mid-level meaning he will be paid $1.412 million in 2008. It virtually guarantees no other team will attempt to sign him to an offer sheet because if the Bears declined to match it they would receive a second-round draft pick as compensation. No one is going to swap that for McGowan even though he did show solid improvement in the second half of the season starting at strong safety.

You've made your wish list, you've checked it twice.

The NFL shopping season is upon us.

Looks like the Bears are waiting to see how the action unfolds for their own free agents -- wide receiver Bernard Berrian and linebacker Lance Briggs.

Check back as we offer details as soon as we gather them -- with a few hours taken off for a nap at some point.

Wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, who agreed to a contract with he Carolina Panthers on Wednesday, visited with Ray Buchanan on Fox Radio on Thursday.

Again, he said he was not a fit in the offense and pointed out the Bears are still trying to figure out what to do on offense.

RAY BUCHANAN: “Not too really burn a bridge with the Chicago Bears man, but what was it like not really being able to be yourself? I know the Moose that we’ve seen back in Carolina, but tell them what it was like actually being there with Chicago.”

You get a sense right about now how productive the Bears’ system of signing draft picks from the second round on down to four-year deals really is.

The Bears started with safety Todd Johnson, a four-round pick in 2003. When he agreed to a four-year contract, they told the remainder of their draft picks from that class that it was their policy to do that.

General manager Jerry Angelo and cap guru Cliff Stein have been successful every year since.

It means higher signing bonuses for the players because they are not doing three-year contracts. And it prevents them from becoming restricted free agents after three years. To compensate for that, the contracts have escalators built into the fourth year of the contracts.

With less than seven hours to go until the opening of free agency Bernard Berrian got a real boost.

Andre Davis’ four-year contract with the Houston Texans can only aid Berrian on the open market. Davis reportedly will be paid $4 million annually with the deal reaching $16 million and containing almost $8 million guaranteed.

If Davis, who made 33 receptions last season for 583 yards and three touchdowns, is worth almost $8 million guaranteed over five years, what is Berrian worth?

More.

San Francisco general manager Scot McCloughan fired back at charges by the Bears that the 49ers were guilty of tampering when it came to trying to work out a contract with linebacker Lance Briggs last season.

The Bears and Niners talked before the October trade deadline about a possible deal, and the Bears charged San Francisco with trying to work out a contract with agent Drew Rosenhaus at the time.

``There’s nothing to it,’’ McCloughan told Bay Area reporters Thursday. ``We have no response because there's nothing to respond to.

``I think it's maneuvering by an organization trying to find the best way to keep their guy. From our standpoint, there’s nothing to it. It doesn't mean we will or we won't go after him. It's something [the Bears] put out and we have no comment.’’

Players like nothing more than for other players to get paid.

They’re smart guys, you see, and they know the trickle down e