Was Tatupu's deal really significantly below market? I don't think Urlacher has a lot of leverage here, but I'm not sure Tatupu is really relevant. If anything, given age and injury history, I'd say Urlacher's probably worth less than Tatupu at this point.

Urlacher and/or his agent are idiots. "Pay me more money or else I'll retire cuz my neck and my back hurt!" Why would they think that'll get more money out of the notoriously cheap Bears?

If I were Angelo, befor all this, I might've considered an extension as a lifetime acheivement award after Hester and Tommie Harris are taken care of.

Now? I wonder would Cincy take him for Chad.

My initial reaction to this story was to think of LaDainian Tomlinson. He signed his monster deal prior to the 2004 season, if memory serves, and the market has changed significantly since then. If he weren't a team player and/or were more greedy, he could easily hold out for more money and probably sign for twice what he did just 4 years ago. I don't know, it's just a reflection on the person's character to me - how many millions are enough millions for you and subsequent generations to be happy and secure? How much money does one need to make them have the passion to pursue a championship with and for their team and their adopted city?

#3: The same number of millions it takes to ignore the immediate risks of paralysis and frankly sickening longterm increases in brain damage and heart failure.

I think it's silly when people say they'd play football for the minimum so why don't the athletes? Frankly, you couldn't pay me enough.

Urlacher's a fool for torching his relationship with Chicago fans. Chicago goes crazy for the players they love -- The 85 Bears are still cashing in and will continue to do so until they die. Now Urlacher will be written off just like Sammy Sosa was.

#4 nobody said anything about playing for the minimum. We're talking about the difference between having 40m and 45m in the bank. Yeah, I'd like to have 5m extra to play with, but I make 38k per year. That would be the equivalent of a 5,000 raise for me. Now for me, in my situation, I take that money. For Urlacher, with all the ancillary affects (i.e. post #5, not having leverage, etc) of trying to force the Bears to increase his salary by about 10% seems foolhardy. He's already got more than enough money to pay for his medical bills.

To follow up - there's a difference between Urlacher and Allen because Allen is only guaranteed this year's salary under the franchise tag, where Urlacher has multiple years guaranteed and already earned a sizeable signing bonus.

Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher disputed a report that he threatened to retire if the Bears don't reward him with more guaranteed money.

``I never said that I was going to quit,'' Urlacher told the Tribune early Friday morning. ``That's just a gossip column. Reports like that is why I choose not to speak to the media.''

link in my name

Arguing in the alternative doesn't work well in contract negotiations.

I think it's the other way around. The media gossip because you won't tell them anything.

Though, maybe it wouldn't matter. But *NOT* speaking to the media is not going to stop the rumor-mill.

Personally, I think it is more an issue with ego than it is with money.

Re 5:

There is a good chance that we all forget about this is in a few years. Depending on how the negotiations go. Remember Ditka forced a trade since he was unhappy with his contract, and that didn't really hurt his popularity.

@4: I'd play football for the minimum because I'd be so bad, they'd be better off playing a man down than letting me on the field. No risk of injury, significant pay raise!

He needs more money for child support.

Has Al Davis offered the #4 pick to Chicago and $48M/6yrs to Urlacher yet?

(I'm joking, of course. But as a Raider fan, sadly, I can't say I'd be surprised if Davis tried this.)

12: Ditka's (only partially deserved) god-like reputation in Chicago is because he was the head coach of the Super Bowl winning team in 1985. Bart Starr could have coached that team and he'd have been deified as well.

I'd love to see the "Tatupu is undermarket" argument fleshed out, because like several other of the commenters in the Tatupu deal extra point I don't buy it.

I really hope not too many Chicago fans take that Sun-Times article too seriously. I read it this morning and thought it read like just a lot of rumor-mongering. In case people missed brasilbear's comment (#8), the article he linked to quotes Urlacher flat-out denying that he has threatened to quit or that he's at all interested in being traded.

10: The media asks stupid questions, and the players are so worried about saying something controversial that turns into a circus that they repeat the same platitudes over and over again to be safe.

Televised sports interviews are rarely interesting. How often is there an intelligent and well thought out question that receives an intelligent and well thought out response?

I agree it is more about respect and pride than having more money. Even if I was making alot I'd be ticked off if someone with less ability/performance than me was being more highly compensated than I was, especially if they were on my own team.

Mulligan's generally pretty solid but the sourcing on this is really thin. It sounds like his agents are just being stupid.

"Most mocks have the Bears taking Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall at 16, a move that certainly makes sense"

I'm surprised no one has pointed out the two mistakes in the above. First, the Bears' first round pick is #14, not #16. Second, most mocks (at least those by people who have some knowledge of the Bears and their needs) have the Bears picking an offensive tackle (likely Chris Williams or Jeff Otah) with their first pick. As long as Williams or Otah are available (or if somehow Jake Long, Ryan Clady and/or Branden Albert slide and are still on the board at 14), I would be shocked if the Bears don't take one of those OTs. I think that they would then take a running back in the second or third round. If all of those top tackle prospects are gone, then maybe they would take Mendenhall at 14 if he's still on the board.

#13: I had the same idea, but I'm not so sure I would survive the first practice session!

stupid bears should pay urlacher more money because he is the only reason to even bother showing up to a bears game. I guess thats one more reason than the number of reasons I have to watch the orioles :/

I guess we'll get some kind of yardstick for the Tatupu deal next summer when the Texans extend Ryans. To my mind, they're extremely similar players - very, very good but not quite dominant undersized middle linebackers with excellent range and coverage skills, who took ownership of their respective defenses very early in their tenures. Both will have been extended entering their fourth season after being drafted in the second round. Both were DROY in their first year and pro-bowlers in their second. Ryans was also a second team all-pro last year, while Tatupu missed the all-pro lineup as a sophomore but was first team in 2007. If Tatupu's deal was roughly on-market, Ryans should get roughly the same deal once adjusted for the rise in the cap. If not, Ryans will likely receive a deal that is larger even after factoring that in.

I really have no idea what Urlacher is playing at. The Bears simply have no reason to cave. Their offense is now such a disaster area that not even a historically great defense would make them a contender, and it's likely that that unit will in fact be merely very good and not historically great in any case. They can let him kick his heels for as long as he likes.