Montez Sweat Massive New Contract

[Utah John]

Comparisons between the Bears now and the Bills during the dark years, are a little unfounded.  The Bears are spending too much money, while the Bills refused to spend anything.  There was an accountant who worked for Ralph Wilson (can't remember his name, thankfully) who blocked the Bills from ever being competitive.  The Bears are spending too much, at least it appears that way.

 

I watched parts of Bears games and saw Tremaine Edmunds floating around the defense and joining in on tackles that he should have made himself.  Brought back a lot of bad memories.  I think Bernard is turning out to be a better player and much cheaper as well.  

[BADOLBILZ]

27 minutes ago, Utah John said:

Comparisons between the Bears now and the Bills during the dark years, are a little unfounded.  The Bears are spending too much money, while the Bills refused to spend anything.  There was an accountant who worked for Ralph Wilson (can't remember his name, thankfully) who blocked the Bills from ever being competitive.  The Bears are spending too much, at least it appears that way.

 

I watched parts of Bears games and saw Tremaine Edmunds floating around the defense and joining in on tackles that he should have made himself.  Brought back a lot of bad memories.  I think Bernard is turning out to be a better player and much cheaper as well.  

 

Yeah it's different.........for one thing, Ralph was a nightmare for coaches to work for.   To paraphrase Chuck Knox "Buffalo is where coaches go to die".    Ralph had no respect for the value of coaches and by the time he finally realized he needed a quality HC to turn his team around in the late 2000's good coaches like Mike Shanahan and Bill Cowher wouldn't even take a blank check to work for him.    

 

The Bears could actually get a great HC but their leadership is just clueless in general,  not boycotted by the coaching profession like Ralph when he had to hire Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey. 

 

And the accountant was Jeff Littman.   He played his part, and had his own selfish reasons,  to encourage Ralph to treat the team like it was just a business with a limited shelf life to suck cash from instead of as a going concern.

 

Ralph would spend big.........but only if he thought the team was close to winning big.    He was notorious for being a football idiot who couldn't tell what kind of team he had until he saw them play thru a preseason and then when it was clear the team was going to suck he would look to cut solid players he could "lose without" and save money before salaries became guaranteed in week 1.

 

That was a profitable business move in the short term........but it was bad for the development of the team.   Guys like Dwan Edwards and Langston Walker were replaced by total incompetence that made it hard to even evaluate the talent at some other positions and made the organization look like a clown show that only hurt their ability to bring in outside talent in offseasons.  

 

I do agree that the Bears could be turned around quickly by good ownership.  

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by BADOLBILZ

[DrPJax]

JUST THROWING MONEY at two “names” does not recreate BUTKus  AND RICHARD DENT.     I guess refrigerator perry and McMahon are next in line ,,,,,like line dance reruns of the SB shuffle!    Gm is playing w Monopoly money.   Got to admit i love seeing edmunds running alongside a screen pass cuz at 6’5” he is too valuable preventing crossing routes and his waist towel hopefully never comes loose from his belt. Best looking non hitter in nfl history.    Looks fantastic fixing his dreads and gloves after every play.  

     Butkus is rolling and urlacher just yanked out his transplants.  Fields is the antithesis of McMahon as a leader.   Amazing How the black and blue division, Well Chicago, has  gone from Windy City to little red riding hoodville, in a straw venue.   All they need is to bring on their past mayor in the role of singletary eyes!   Good thing they have great hospitals like RUSH, cuz da bears fans are going to be filling the ers up with coronaries as they down brats flushed w pitchers of green beer. Well. They had’85 And that win over grogan and the pats!  Seems like yester………,,,40 years ago!  

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

What a time to be an elite team in the NFC!

 

Meanwhile being an elite team in the AFC makes you anywhere from 1-6 best team.

[Saratoga Leo]

5 hours ago, BigBadBills said:

He’s been 19 years old for 6 years now!

My wife has been 39 years old for 26 years. What's your point?

[C.Biscuit97]

Eh, he’s a young pass rusher. They get paid. He’s also had 9 and 8 sack season and is on pass for 13 this year. I guess the question is should you pay the guy who produced but is getting old and declining (Von) or the one who is ascending and has his best football ahead of him? A lot of bills fans could talk themselves into Sweat really quick if we got him.

 

the Bears might have the top 2 picks of the draft (Williams or Maye who both might be better than a bunch of starters in the league now on a cheap contract) with some legit talent. I think the word disaster is getting throw around too easy. I’d rather have their situation than a bunch of teams, NE, Arizona, Rams, etc.

1 hour ago, Utah John said:

Comparisons between the Bears now and the Bills during the dark years, are a little unfounded.  The Bears are spending too much money, while the Bills refused to spend anything.  There was an accountant who worked for Ralph Wilson (can't remember his name, thankfully) who blocked the Bills from ever being competitive.  The Bears are spending too much, at least it appears that way.

 

I watched parts of Bears games and saw Tremaine Edmunds floating around the defense and joining in on tackles that he should have made himself.  Brought back a lot of bad memories.  I think Bernard is turning out to be a better player and much cheaper as well.  

Yeah, the Ralph is cheap is one of the dumbest myths around. 

3 hours ago, ProcessTruster said:

well,  I would have kept the pick and grabbed a guy in FA, probably not as good, but hey #2 pick is one you do not want to part with 

I don't to hear a peep out of those who want to roast McBeanes. Thank your lucky stars for "The Process"

 

 

How many young elite pass rushers hit FA? And if they are that good, they are going to get a ton of money. 

[DCofNC]

First signing a decent ILB to 18M a year, now trading a high second round pick to get a decent DE and pay him like a HOFer, their GM is awful.

[BillsShredder83]

9 hours ago, aristocrat said:

zero chance they stay with fields. They’d have to give him a new contract I think after next year. 

The Bears staying course would be the most bearsy thing I've ever seen.

 

Also, the new GM will have no loyalty to that RB that plays QB

[Prospector]

Seems excessive 

[BADOLBILZ]

3 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Yeah, the Ralph is cheap is one of the dumbest myths around. 

 

It was more of a gaslighting technique used by Ralph's apologists than a "myth"............because there was abundant proof that it wasn't always the case that he was cheap.

 

The game was to say Ralph was cheap and roll your eyes........then wait for people to object to the eye roll part.......so they could then point to some expensive signings etc..  

 

Larry Felser said it best...........the one word definition for Ralph was "mercurial"..........and it's very difficult to be a consistent, systematic winning organization when your leader is prone to sudden changes of mood and mind.     

[Richard Noggin]

6 hours ago, Utah John said:

Comparisons between the Bears now and the Bills during the dark years, are a little unfounded.  The Bears are spending too much money, while the Bills refused to spend anything.  There was an accountant who worked for Ralph Wilson (can't remember his name, thankfully) who blocked the Bills from ever being competitive.  The Bears are spending too much, at least it appears that way.

 

You're probably thinking of Jeffrey Littman? He was Wilson's chief bean counter, and after Polian, and then Butler, were gone, the personnel dept didn't have anyone competent and confident enough to just override his (Littman's) influence and force Wilson's hand. 

 

Edit: turns out @BADOLBILZ already ID'd Littman as the unnamed accountant several posts above mine. That guy's (Littman's) influence definitely grew as the Bills were employing lower and lower profile HCs and GMs (which is where Ralph WAS actually cheap).

Edited November 5, 2023 by Richard Noggin

[Buffalo_Stampede]

15 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

You're probably thinking of Jeffrey Littman? He was Wilson's chief bean counter, and after Polian, and then Butler, were gone, the personnel dept didn't have anyone competent and confident enough to just override his (Littman's) influence and force Wilson's hand. 

 

Edit: turns out @BADOLBILZ already ID'd Littman as the unnamed accountant several posts above mine. That guy's (Littman's) influence definitely grew as the Bills were employing lower and lower profile HCs and GMs (which is where Ralph WAS actually cheap).

My favorite drought era story was one that rarely gets talked about. Littman released Troy Vincent and they never even told head coach Dick Juaron.

 

I don’t think Littman made decisions though. He was just a cap guy and contract negotiator.

[Richard Noggin]

5 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

My favorite drought era story was one that rarely gets talked about. Littman released Troy Vincent and they never even told head coach Dick Juaron.

 

I don’t think Littman made decisions though. He was just a cap guy and contract negotiator.

 

I think Littman gained significant influence over all expenditures once Butler left, and then even more so once Donahoe left. He became RW's proxy, essentially. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 minutes ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

I think Littman gained significant influence over all expenditures once Butler left, and then even more so once Donahoe left. He became RW's proxy, essentially. 

Only when it came to the cap and contracts. 
 

I also might be thinking of Jim Overdorf. I get them confused.

 

[Richard Noggin]

13 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Only when it came to the cap and contracts. 
 

I also might be thinking of Jim Overdorf. I get them confused.

 

 

Overdorf has persisted through it all, and mostly because he is a dutiful, ethical, excellent lawyer/accountant who never sought undue power. He used to catch some flack, but that guy is not to blame for any of the floundering. 

 

Littman had major influence over cap decisions and broad contract parameters, whereas Overdorf was the guy who made those green-lighted deals workable and well-constructed for all parties involved. I suspect Littman had major influence over all the non-cap salaries as well, meaning he had a hand in bringing in less expensive GMs, HCs and their staffs, scouting depts, etc. (And also played a major role in the more expensive, established names not even considering Buffalo, due to his (and RW's) reputation for interfering with football ops.)

 

ANYWAYS...Montez Sweat is probably underrated by many fans due to meh sack numbers and lesser draft status than Chase Young, but I'm pretty sure he has some solid secondary metrics, like pressures, hits, forced fumbles, etc. Kind of like when Jerry Hughes was obviously being disruptive for the Bills but wasn't recording a ton of sacks. Guess the Bears are gambling on him continuing to improve despite joining a much worse DL group? 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Richard Noggin

[Buffalo Barbarian]

13 hours ago, Process said:

In the past year the bears have 

 

- Traded a top 40 pick for a DE who has never had double digits sacks, and paid him $25M /yr

 

-Signed Edmunds to a contract paying him $18M /yr

 

- Traded the #32 pick for Chase Claypool only to basically cut him a year later 

 

😳

 

 

go bears !!!

 

13 hours ago, wppete said:

He’s a disaster. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pass on Caleb Williams if available to them at this point. 

 

I know one bears fan who is praying they dont draft Williams. Thinks hes overrated

 

 

[JoPoy88]

17 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

What. Are. The Bears. Doing?!

 

First of all, Sweat was a free agent after the year, they could’ve handed him the bag without losing a draft choice. No other team was paying Sweat close to $25M/yr. All this before they’ve even seen him take a snap in their defense. I could run that organization better and do it for less than half of what Poles is making 😅 Poor Bears fans.

Well that’s the rub - waiting for free agency potentially puts you in a bidding war for the guy, but trading a high asset for him to avoid that just gives the player more leverage in negotiation, since the GM would be skewered/fired for giving away a 2nd rd pick for a rental. 

[The 9 Isles]

Stupid teams do stupid things to their own teams but in the process these contracts screw over the other teams too by escalating the pay scale. 

[machine gun kelly]

7 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

Overdorf has persisted through it all, and mostly because he is a dutiful, ethical, excellent lawyer/accountant who never sought undue power. He used to catch some flack, but that guy is not to blame for any of the floundering. 

 

Littman had major influence over cap decisions and broad contract parameters, whereas Overdorf was the guy who made those green-lighted deals workable and well-constructed for all parties involved. I suspect Littman had major influence over all the non-cap salaries as well, meaning he had a hand in bringing in less expensive GMs, HCs and their staffs, scouting depts, etc. (And also played a major role in the more expensive, established names not even considering Buffalo, due to his (and RW's) reputation for interfering with football ops.)

 

ANYWAYS...Montez Sweat is probably underrated by many fans due to meh sack numbers and lesser draft status than Chase Young, but I'm pretty sure he has some solid secondary metrics, like pressures, hits, forced fumbles, etc. Kind of like when Jerry Hughes was obviously being disruptive for the Bills but wasn't recording a ton of sacks. Guess the Bears are gambling on him continuing to improve despite joining a much worse DL group? 

Noggin, as always, right on the $ with Sweat.  His secondary evaluations are impressive and good for him in a solid contract.  If a team wants to pay that much for a pass rusher, then it’s their money.  That’s the point of capitalism.  If they made a mistake, they’ll pay for their choices down to road.

 

The real opportunity for the Bears is to find a solid President of football operations, GM, then HC.  Follow the McBeane playbook.  Purge guys like Brandon and Wrex, and replace with the right people.  Purge bad contracts, build with sound draft decisions, and buy intelligently role players.  What did McBeane do by 2019, they had been drafting well, got rid of Darius, and Sammy, and they bought an O Line.  People can complain about the line, but it was better than in 18.  
 

Until the Halas family starts making good decisions, they will continue to flounder even with Ngakoue, Sweat, Edmunds, and so on.  They need to find their Josh Allen.  My advice, is have mgmt make every attempt to tank, get Caleb, and buy an O Line.  From there they can build a team and with the Packers finally rudderless with a QB thank god for the last 30 years they’ve run the NFCN.

 

Detroit is the new hot team in the north and they have built a team in the right way.  People laughed at Campbell until they finally came around to accepting he knew what he was doing.

[Brand J]

3 hours ago, JoPoy88 said:

Well that’s the rub - waiting for free agency potentially puts you in a bidding war for the guy, but trading a high asset for him to avoid that just gives the player more leverage in negotiation, since the GM would be skewered/fired for giving away a 2nd rd pick for a rental. 

They’re not a defensive end away from being competitive. Any team that doesn’t have an established starting QB has to find that guy first before beefing up the roster, that’s why these other bottom feeders are sellers, they need cheap rookie contracts. And I still don’t believe the Bears would’ve had to outbid some other team in free agency and arrive at a number that was MORE than what they just signed him for.