Johnny Knox harbors no ill feelings toward the Bears after the club terminated his contract, his marketing agent told the Sun-Times Tuesday morning.
"The Bears have been tremendous to him," said Bill Horn, a close friend of Knox's and his marketing agent. "He really appreciates everything they've done for him."
Asked if Knox still plans to play, Horn said, "He's going to explore all his options, but his first priority is obviously his health.
"He appreciates everyone's prayers."
With Knox's contract set to expire in a few weeks, the Bears terminated his deal Tuesday morning.
It's a disappointing end for a promising player. Knox started 27 of 45 games in three seasons (2009-11) with the Bears, hauling in 133 receptions for 2,214 yards and 12 touchdowns. But after suffering a serious back injury against the Seattle Seahawks in December 2011, Knox required surgery and missed the entire 2012 season, spending it on the PUP list.
Knox told the Sun-Times in December that he still wanted to play.
"I know what I can do," Knox told the Sun-Times. "I know what I can contribute out there on the field.
"I'm jus another weapon when I can get back out there."
Knox also said he would "love" to re-sign with the Bears.
But the Bears have decided to move on from the fifth-round pick who appeared in the Pro Bowl in 2009 as a kickoff returner.
A very sad and tragic end to such a promising career. Not only was Knox a dynamic player, but he seemed like an all around good guy as well. Wish him the best with his recovery and that at the very least he can live a normal, productive life.
If I may change gears for a moment though, Sean the blog site has been a meager shell of its former self. Updates have been slow (I think the last entry was on the 4th) and discourse and debate on this site have been little to non-existent; partly due to the lack of updates, and partly due to comments that can take days to get posted.
So the site has taken a turn for the worst in terms of quality, but then on top of it the Sun-Times now requires us to pay for going on the site, and also to log-in through Facebook or AOL or whatever to even read a whole story.
What's happened to this site, Sean? A few years ago it was a Bears fan oasis where you'd regularly see like up to 60 comments on a story. Now, it's a virtual ghost town.
Just my thoughts and I hope things can improve in the near future.
In the February offseason there's not going to be many posts or much in the way of news. The paywall is another issue. Using it for full-length articles/exclusives/premium content might make sense, to gate-keep a blog is asinine, and a sure way of killing it. But maybe that's the objective from above?
For a while it appeared, then disappeared and I had assumed somebody had come to their senses. Apparently not.
Why did they feel the need to terminate his contract when it was scheduled to expire in a few weeks? That just seems like cruel and unusual punishment... what to save a couple dollars.... not worth the bad PR...
Gotta agree with the previous comment on this blog has completely gone to heck in a hand basket.....this past year it was pretty bad and now after the season...HORRIBLE!
Please improve since I paid for the suntimes solely because of this blog.
Yeah not to beat a dead horse but this the only Forum I pay to use. In fact it's the only forum I know that charges. Like PFF, you are only charged for premium content, but you can post at any time.
And I really don't get the double login, not only do we pay for the site, but we have to login twice just to read a story. I don't know any site that does that. Login once just to see the cover page, then login via some retard site like Facebook or twitter. If I wanted to use them I would use them. Charge me for something I can't even see unless I join another site.
Make the blog a legit forum. Let fans post the topics, and have some Mods to police the joint. How is it that my little pony can create a fan forum that pays for itself and is free to kids. But the Chicago Bears can't? An annoying kids cartoon that is not even on TV, can pull more fans than a Bears forum?
If you build it, they will come.
Ps. I get to be the chief mod. It's my idea. And the Sun-Times should listen to me. Hell look at the Bears, it took them 6 years to figure out what I new in 1, and posted it. My work is documented.