Tommie Harris: April 2008 Archives

With the Bears and defensive tackle Tommie Harris appearing to be near nitty gritty time for a contract extension to be worked out, you’d have to imagine any deal crafted will make him the highest-paid player at his position in the league.

Harris has to receive more money than Oakland’s Tommy Kelly whether the Raiders’ spending spree this offseason has been sensible or not.

When you talk to offensive coaches around the league, Harris is the first person they are concerned with when game planning against the Bears’ defense. Not Brian Urlacher. Not Lance Briggs. They’re worried about dealing with Harris. The Bears know what his value to the scheme is and that’s why a priority is being placed on ensuring he has help inside this coming season. Dusty Dvoracek is said to be doing fine in his recovery from a torn ACL from last September, but don’t be surprised if general manager Jerry Angelo makes a move for another tackle in the first three or four rounds of the draft.

The luncheon Tommie Harris attended Tuesday at Maryville Academy celebrated his performance this past season.

The dinner he attended Tuesday evening zeroed in on the Pro Bowl defensive tackle’s future.

Harris got together with agents Drew and Jason Rosenhaus to meet over the Bears’ latest contract proposal. The outcome of their talks is unknown, but this is much is evident: Things are heating up when the Rosenhaus brothers come to town.

They’re not going to travel to Chicago in the offseason for a casual visit. This is business and if past negotiations with linebacker Lance Briggs are an indication, we’ll know more about Harris’ future soon.

Wow. The mailbox is stuffed and I’ll start work soon to get as many questions answered as I can on Friday. No promises I can get through all of them as there is much draft news to hunt down.

Defensive tackle Tommie Harris was honored at Maryville Academy Tuesday afternoon at a luncheon in which he was given the Ed Block Courage Award. Harris showed up with coach Lovie Smith and a few teammates and owner Virginia McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips were also on hand.

Phillips got hit with some questions about linebacker Brian Urlacher, who is seeking more money. Urlacher had neck surgery this offseason and is coming off his first non-Pro Bowl season that was not shortened by injury. He has been absent from the first two days of the voluntary offseason program, which began Monday.

``You know what, he didn’t come to all the workouts last year either so we understand, he told Lovie,’’ Phillips said. ``Obviously, we’d like 100 percent participation and I think we’ve been spoiled over the years because we’ve gotten very close to that and sometimes it turns out that players don’t want to come for different reasons, we respect that. We’ll still try to get him here as soon as possible. Because he's a leader of our team, he's the face of our organization and we want him here.’’

It’s been almost three weeks, so either the figure has grown since Drew Rosenhaus put the finishing touches on a $4 million, two-year contract for Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Justin Hartwig, or the agent has taken a little vacation.

That figure is the $440 million in contracts Rosenhaus had negotiated this offseason when he completed Hartwig’s deal March 18. Included is the $42 million that went to ex-Bears wide receiver Bernard Berrian in Minnesota, the $36 million linebacker Lance Briggs bagged from the Bears, and the $4.9 million Brendon Ayanbadejo received to play special teams in Baltimore.

Rosenhaus will look to pad that figure when he arrives at Halas Hall Tuesday to work on a deal for defensive tackle Tommie Harris. That will be the order of business for the day as general manager Jerry Angelo works to secure one of the cornerstones for the defense longterm. Harris’ rookie contract expires after this season.