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**BULLITT** · 04-18-2008, 12:47 PM

Brian Urlacher situation is tricky business for Bears

Agents ask Bears for trade while LB threatens retirement

April 18, 2008

BY MIKE MULLIGAN mmulligan@suntimes.com
If even half the rumors swirling around the NFL about Brian Urlacher's negotiation tactics are true, then maybe the Bears ought to reconsider their offense-building pledge for the draft and take a hard look at the middle linebacker class.
One league source says Urlacher's agents have asked the team if they could explore a trade. Another says Urlacher is threatening to retire because of neck and back problems, a move in which he wouldn't have to repay any portion of the $13 million signing bonus he received in 2003, when he received a nine-year, $56.65 million deal.
» Click to enlarge image

Bears' linebacker Brian Urlacher
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times)

Brian Urlacher situation is tricky business for Bears

Urlacher feels he has outplayed his contract and is demanding more money. He's boycotting the team's voluntary offseason workout program and threatening to hold out of minicamp, organized team activities and even training camp if he doesn't get a new deal.
One NFL insider laughed off the situation as the equivalent of a child taking his ball and going home or threatening to hold his breath until he passes out.
''Urlacher has no leverage,'' the source said. ''He wants to be paid, right? If he takes a medical [retirement], then he's got to prove he's hurt. If he does that, he'll never get paid. They're not going to trade him. All he can do is be disruptive.
''It's a joke. Players never walk away from millions. They threaten to, but they never do it.''
The Bears don't find the situation funny. Nobody at Halas Hall has a bad word to say about Urlacher, despite his strong-arm tactics. And even though president Ted Phillips was dismissive of the issue recently -- saying the team was ''talking to his representatives about how to look at his contract and try[ing] to educate them on the value of his deal'' -- the Bears are taking the matter seriously.
It's tricky business for a number of reasons. Urlacher probably has outplayed the deal. He signed it with two years left on his rookie contract, becoming the first defensive player to renegotiate a deal with two years left.
At the time, the salary cap was $75 million, and it has grown by more than $40 million since. Urlacher was an essential piece of the Bears' Super Bowl run in the 2006 season, and he seems to be making the difficult mid-career transition to playing with chronic injury.
Urlacher is respected in the locker room, although his role as a team leader has been overstated -- he's a leader by example who prefers to be one of the guys -- and the notion that players will revolt if he doesn't get paid is flat-out absurd. Players revolt only on an individual basis when they aren't getting paid.
Urlacher will be 30 this season and is coming off the worst year of his career. Despite leading fan voting at his position, he failed to make the Pro Bowl for only the second time (the first was after an injury-shortened 2004 season) and was not among the top five inside linebackers in voting among players and coaches.
He engaged in a strange public-relations showdown with the media -- reportedly out of support for teammate Lance Briggs -- that featured one-word responses and grunted answers to questions, often in front of a backdrop featuring the team logo and the name of an important sponsor.
Moreover, Urlacher has four years left on his contract, and given the uneven nature of his performance last season, depending on how his back was feeling, he might not be able to complete that deal.
The team could call his bluff and wait him out, knowing that he keeps himself in excellent physical condition and is in no danger of showing up overweight or out of shape. Or it could set a dangerous precedent and allow him to force his way into a better deal.
That precedent has been set around the league, however, with wide receivers Steve Smith and Laveranues Coles forcing new deals with the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets, respectively, and defensive end Michael Strahan reportedly close to doing so with the New York Giants.
It's a delicate situation because the Bears don't want to poison Urlacher's relationship with fans while resisting the Machiavellian tactics.

**BULLITT** · 04-18-2008, 12:51 PM

Briggs another linebacker who's taking the offseason off

April 18, 200
BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com

Brian Urlacher isn't the only Pro Bowl linebacker choosing not to participate in the Bears' offseason program.
While Urlacher is bucking for a raise and has introduced the prospects of being traded or retiring, that can't be the explanation for the whereabouts of Lance Briggs, who also has skipped the workouts, according to teammates. Briggs just signed a $36 million deal that's already $250,000 lighter because he has missed the maximum number of days.
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Briggs' absence could speak volumes about how he feels about the six-year contract he received last month after there surprisingly was no market for him following his long-awaited arrival in free agency.
Briggs, who missed the majority of the offseason programs the last two years, has been making stops on national TV and radio shows recently to rehab his image, sources said. Apparently, showing up for voluntary workouts isn't part of the PR campaign.
The offseason program began April 7 and lasts 10 weeks. It runs Monday through Thursday each week, with makeup dates on Fridays. Briggs' contract mandates he attend 85 percent of workouts to earn the $250,000 bonus. With 40 dates, the most he could miss and reach the threshold was six.
Urlacher is missing out, too. His nine-year, $56.65 million contract contains a modest $50,000 workout bonus. The work is voluntary, but you can't collect if you don't volunteer.
Coach Lovie Smith said last week he wasn't concerned about Urlacher's absence. At best, the Bears no longer will be able to trumpet terrific offseason participation. At worst, it's a sign that the message isn't resonating with cornerstones in the locker room.
Urlacher and Briggs aren't the only ones missing. Kicker Robbie Gould, entering the final season of the bargain four-year contract he signed in 2005, hasn't checked in.
Skipping the workouts is the only leverage Gould has in pursuing a new contract after making the Pro Bowl in 2006 and being an alternate last season. The Bears have been in discussion with his agent, Brian Mackler, who declined to comment on the situation.
Gould didn't receive a signing bonus when he replaced Doug Brien in Week 5 of the 2005 season. The Bears can hang the franchise tag over his head, but there's only one of those for 2009, and if defensive tackle Tommie Harris can't work out an extension, he might wind up wearing that collar. The Bears also could apply the less-used transition tag.
Without another kicker on the roster, the Bears could look into Mike Vanderjagt. The most accurate kicker in league history had a tryout in Denver earlier this week. Vanderjagt doesn't have a strong leg for kickoffs, but neither does Gould.
Harris, who's in negotiations for an extension of his own, has been showing up. That's staying true to his word to be involved and not become a sideshow. Returner Devin Hester also is in the hunt for a big payday, and his confidant Deion Sanders let it be known Hester is upset this week on NFL Network.
''Devin Hester isn't happy with his contract, and he deserves to be paid among the league's best,'' Sanders said.
And you thought finding an offensive tackle, running back and quarterback were general manager Jerry Angelo's only issues eight days before the draft.

**Rhode** · 04-18-2008, 06:59 PM

Urlacher said it's all a lie. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

That said, the Sun-Times are teetering on bankruptcy. Anything they print should be viewed with suspicion.

Briggs on the other hand, is a spoiled brat.

**BU54** · 04-21-2008, 08:48 AM

Sometimes if not most you have to read between the lines. This sounds mostly like Mulligans opinionated assumptions.
Stiring the pot if you will. A reporters goal is to get readers not neccessarily the truth.

preacher · 04-22-2008, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BU54

Sometimes if not most you have to read between the lines. This sounds mostly like Mulligans opinionated assumptions.
Stiring the pot if you will. A reporters goal is to get readers not neccessarily the truth.

Thats true,but underneath all that smoke is a little brush fire,count on it.