Article: It’s Now Time to Explore Trading Alshon Jeffery

[Burrberry]

This is the dumbest thing I've read today by far.

 

[xcutioner1977]

Alshon is fat, trade him.

no no no D.J. Moore is fat

 

[The Hawk]

It is funny all of this talk about how these teams call Marshall a "negative influence" because he was traded. Guess what.... some team WANTED HIM. IF this guy was such a bad SOB, no one would have wanted him. It is funny, really, baseball players get traded all of the damn time and no one thinks bad about it. Gee.... why aren't those guy treated as bad players> It is really all bullshit. For example, Slauson will be on his 3rd team shortly. Is he a bad guy? Must be because the Bears cut him, right?

 

[number51]

There was a lot of talk about Alshon not wanting to be in Chicago, being lonely with his BFF Marshall gone. If that's true, trade him, the guy seems fragile. My problem is Pace settles for shit deals, if he gets good value fine. I just don't trust Pace to not **** up a trade.

That said I hope the talk of Alshon not liking Chicago is overblown and he can play for the Bears for years.

If the Bears decide that AJ has no future with the team I will be very disappointed. If it turns out they were right, I hope they get decent return. If they dump him and they were wrong, I will be Billboard level pissed.

They would need a new contract in place before any trade. No one is trading for a tagged player without knowing they can agree on a new contract.

Great, let AJ and his people shop him around. If there is a team willing to pay that, make a trade with the Bears getting compensation for a $15M player.

If not maybe AJ's guys come to the table with more realistic expectations.

win/win

For me this is not about missing voluntary workouts, it's all about if he wants to be here or not. If not, why drag this shit out?

I'm all about the football talk until some dip shit hijacks the thread with a travel log.

Where are your Bears insights Chicagowin?

 

[pseudonym]

I've been to all of them.

So how did you enjoy Mercat a la Planxa in the Blackstone Hotel? I think Iron Chef Garces is doing some nice work.

And I think AJ will be invigorated by playing alongside White. He just needs a bro out there on the field with him, a pal. BM was that to him, a mentor. Maybe he mentors White. Could be cool.

 

[number51]

Everyone should mentally prepare themselves for this happening as it's a possibility.

Continues here:

Mental prep, a quote, and a link? Devastating insight, thanks Hub.

Please more about how Oak Brook and Peoria are the same thing because Illinois.

 

[CNiel36]

If something new is on the table, dump the players who weren't producing at a high level. Right?

And to be clear, this was the #2 offense in the NFL just 2 years ago.

Success was not hampered by a bad offense. It was because the GM/coaching staff at that time decided they were going to shit-can the D. Now? Exact opposite. And exactly what everyone on here trashed Locie/Angelo for doing.

And as I have said half a dozen times, you don't have to shit can one side of the ball for the other. When you have talent and coaching on both sides of the ball, you win.

How is hit 'shit canning' the offense exactly? He has had 15 draft picks the last 2 yrs and has drafted 7 offensive players and 8 defensive player. That is a pretty sound split. He has spent a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd on both sides of the ball. He has cut older talent from both sides of the ball (Tillman, Rolle, Jennings, etc...).

He tried to sign CJ Anderson, Gresham, and Hill this offseason. He brought in 3 need Olineman via free agency. Your argument isn't based in reality. I get it, you liked Forte & Marshall. So did I, but it was time to move away from Marshall, he burnt his own bridge here. And Matt was great, but the reality is we are not winning a Super Bowl this year, and we have some youth that needs touches so we can see what we have.

 

[SeriouslyImNotPace]

How is hit 'shit canning' the offense exactly? He has had 15 draft picks the last 2 yrs and has drafted 7 offensive players and 8 defensive player. That is a pretty sound split. He has spent a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd on both sides of the ball. He has cut older talent from both sides of the ball (Tillman, Rolle, Jennings, etc...).

He tried to sign CJ Anderson, Gresham, and Hill this offseason. He brought in 3 need Olineman via free agency. Your argument isn't based in reality. I get it, you liked Forte & Marshall. So did I, but it was time to move away from Marshall, he burnt his own bridge here. And Matt was great, but the reality is we are not winning a Super Bowl this year, and we have some youth that needs touches so we can see what we have.

Is he still on that "second best offense" kick after I schooled him about using irrelevant years to make a point, when more relevant years are available? He mentioned the "second best" year, but left out the 20 something worst year, which is what Pace actually inherited.

By Mongo's logic, Urlacher was one of the best mlb'ers when he retired, because had been in previous years.

Yet, we are supposed to take his word for it because he claims to know half the coaches and players and talks to them regularly. And all this over a temper tantrum throwing wr and a t.e. who routinely assaulted other players and had a whopping 3 td's last year. Last year, we had two of the three, minus Marshall. Remind me again how close we were to the second best offense?

 

[Calabis]

Trade Jeffery...sure why not....it seems like we don't need production here....hell we have Jay and that's all that counts.

 

[Bear Pride]

It is funny all of this talk about how these teams call Marshall a "negative influence" because he was traded. Guess what.... some team WANTED HIM. IF this guy was such a bad SOB, no one would have wanted him. It is funny, really, baseball players get traded all of the damn time and no one thinks bad about it. Gee.... why aren't those guy treated as bad players> It is really all bullshit. For example, Slauson will be on his 3rd team shortly. Is he a bad guy? Must be because the Bears cut him, right?

Why do you like Marshall so much? Probably cuz he's talented, right? You think that different for other teams? Then why do you think teams keep trading him? Sheesh Hawk, what a dumb thing to say.

 

[PapaBear]

If Alshon doesn't sign a new contract before the season he is gone! With the release of Marshall, Bennet, Forte, and Slausson, Pace has hit Alshon upside the head with the reality of the business side of football. With best friend and mentor Marshall gone and seemingly no other friends on the team, he just doesn't seem to want to play in Chicago anymore. He'll play the good soldier this year advertising for his next big FA contract and then Pace, not willing to pay the second franchise tag at a 20% increase, will let the best wide reciever drafted by the Bears in my memory walk for nothing!

At some point Bears fans have to realize that it may be better to let a talented player walk as a free agent than to pay him more than he is worth. Letting him walk is not 'for nothing'. We would get a compensatory pick for him if we do the smart thing and avoid signing high priced free agents. A pick between the 3rd and 4th round is fine by me.

 

[PapaBear]

That's a terrible philosophy. You should want to retain your talented players. They are proven commodities within your system. I get that one of Pace's first moves was to strip Cliff Stein of his "salary cap management" duties, but Pace's pattern of getting rid of established players is a bit troubling.

In the salary cap era you must value a player based on two factors, not one -- value as a player minus what you are paying him. If you are paying a player exactly what he is worth, then his only trade value is for another player who is being paid what he is worth or more. Winning teams will have a large number of young talented players who are on their first contracts. In this case, the player will hopefully be playing above his contract. Expensive free agents should only be used as the last couple of pieces that are needed to get a team 'over the top' in terms of making it to the superbowl.

For years the Bears have been relying on free agency -- signing players to large contracts and at the same time trading away draft picks for players who are pretty much worthless, or who die within a year after coming to Chicago. The truly great teams tend to trade back in the draft to accumulate draft picks and stay away from free agency as much as possible. Look at the number of players that New England has 'let walk' in free agency over the years -- now granted New England had the good fortune of drafting one of the best QBs of all time in the sixth round of a draft and he has played for 15 years -- and that has certainly helped them become the most successful franchise this millenium.

 

[Teddy KGB]

That's a terrible philosophy. You should want to retain your talented players. They are proven commodities within your system. I get that one of Pace's first moves was to strip Cliff Stein of his "salary cap management" duties, but Pace's pattern of getting rid of established players is a bit troubling.

It only ends up being troubling if he cannot replace them.

Right now, the team has a long term goal of a Superbowl, and they seem to be very selective about what traits and character they want the players on their team to have - not unlike New England, mind you.

Fox has a history of rebuilding teams into Superbowl contenders, so he likely knows exactly what kind of person it takes to put in the dedication to accomplish this.

So yes, he is getting rid of some talented players. But if it makes the whole team more cohesive, and if he can find talent to replace what is lost (not necessarily 1 for 1 at the position, but in general), then he should be commended for having a bold vision and sticking to it.

Ultimately, like all things, he will be judged by the results.

 

[PapaBear]

The reason is you would trade him is if you become convinced he will never sign a deal with the Bears.

What do you think you can get for Alshon Jeffery in a trade? If you can get a 1st or 2nd round pick, then fine the trade may be worthwhile. If not then let him play under the tag and then let him walk as a free agent and get a compensatory pick.

 

[Teddy KGB]

New England's short term goal every year is Super Bowl title. I couldn't think of a worse comparison to the Bears right now.

Did you misrepresent what I said on purpose?

When I said not unlike New England, I was referring to their similarity in how they are very particular about what players they want for their team, and how those that don't end up conforming end up not lasting there, regardless of talent.

 

[PapaBear]

New England's short term goal every year is Super Bowl title. I couldn't think of a worse comparison to the Bears right now.

The point is not whether the Bears and Pats are comparable right now. The Patriots have had a consistent philosophy over the past 15-20 years (at least as long as Bellicek has been there). They do not over pay to keep their own players, they know the type of player that they want on the team and they consistently build through the draft -- they get better picks by trading back (e.g., trading a second round in one year for a first round the following year, or trading a first round for a 3rd round plus and a 1st the following year). Although their goal is a Super Bowl title every year, they tend to operate under a 'long-term' philosophy, rather than signing high priced free agents to long-term contracts. They are very careful in resigning their own players -- the very best will be resigned -- the players who are only 'very good' tend to leave under free agency.

If we continue to focus on short-term results, we will never make it to a Super Bowl again.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Did you misrepresent what I said on purpose?

When I said not unlike New England, I was referring to their similarity in how they are very particular about what players they want for their team, and how those that don't end up conforming end up not lasting there, regardless of talent.

See Moss, Randy.

 

[PapaBear]

I'm not sure how this is in any way comparable to the Bears' situation. You make it sound like the Bears can simply "decide" to emulate the Patriots success by copying their philosophy. The Patriots can plug in whomever on offense because they have arguably the greatest QB in NFL history. They can plug in whomever on defense because they have arguably the greatest defensive coach in NFL history. They draft well, so they can (usually) replace the players they lose in free agency.

Yeah, once the Bears have the best QB of all-time, the best Head Coach of all-time, and have a foundation of several good drafts...then they can operate under the Patriots philosophy.

If the Bears continue to lose productive players and not replace them, then they will never make it to a Super Bowl (again?).

Losing productive players has not been the Bears problem. Their problem is not drafting productive players in the first place. You can only win big in the NFL if you have a roster that consists primarily of draft picks working on their first contract. Only in that way will you have sufficient cap space to sign a very small number of free agents that meet your specific needs.

It is much better letting a player go a year or two early than a year or two late. The cap space hit that you take from keeping older less productive players who are being paid based on past performance rather than current performance is devastating to the long term competitive viability of the team. I have absolutely no problem letting players walk in free agency. The team must determine what a player is worth and pay him no more than that amount. If a team consistently pays its players more than they are worth, that team will be a loser for years to come.

Many of the big mistakes that the Bears have made over the years is paying players too much and structuring their contracts in such a way as to make it impossible to release or trade them (Cutler is a perfect example of this). The Pats do not make these mistakes.

BTW, does anyone remember who was ultimately drafted with the second round pick that we gave up to Tampa for the guy that kicked the bucket. That pick was traded a couple of times but it was ultimately used by the Pats to draft Gronk.

 

[Teddy KGB]

But they aren't rebuilding. They are simply adding final pieces to the puzzle. They already have an established talent base (Brady), established schemes (Belichick), etc. They bring in their share of problem players, too, knowing that the established club can reel them in. And I'm not really sure how many talented "nonconformists" Belichick has actually shipped out...I know the Seymour trade didn't work out, but its not like Belichick is ridding himself of his most productive players on an annual basis.

Its a completely different situation. The Pats can afford to be particular. The Bears can't.

It's not so different. The Pats never had to do a full rebuild BECAUSE OF that philosophy. The Bears CAN do that, IF they get the right players, and by all accounts, Fox has a very good track record on finding those players.

Really, your impatience reminds me of the people who 2-4 years into the Cubs plan were bitching that the Cubs weren't going for it or spending more. Yet now we see the fruits of a more patient approach on that team.

The Pats take a patient approach. The Bears also are doing that, and at the same time, should be more competitive quicker by virtue of the league having more parity.

You simply are not exercising enough patience, especially given how many years the Bears have been absolute shit at drafting. Rebuilding that takes time, and I applaud Pace for bringing in people to match a Football-cultural philosophy. It will give the Bears an identity for a very long time if successful.

 

[Washington]

It only ends up being troubling if he cannot replace them.

Right now, the team has a long term goal of a Superbowl, and they seem to be very selective about what traits and character they want the players on their team to have - not unlike New England, mind you.

Fox has a history of rebuilding teams into Superbowl contenders, so he likely knows exactly what kind of person it takes to put in the dedication to accomplish this.

So yes, he is getting rid of some talented players. But if it makes the whole team more cohesive, and if he can find talent to replace what is lost (not necessarily 1 for 1 at the position, but in general), then he should be commended for having a bold vision and sticking to it.

Ultimately, like all things, he will be judged by the results.

You are counting on FoxPace to always be able to replace that talent. To strike gold 100% of the time in the draft when they let a KNOWN commodity go. Talent like Alshon has not exactly sprouted on trees for this organization. If he stay's he'll easily end up being the #1 receiver in Bears history.

They offered him the Franchise Tag for a reason. They know what they have with him. If they did not, they'd have let him walk then. They need to retain him and not get butt hurt over him skipping VOLUNTARY workouts. Good teams do everything in their power to retain their young talent coming off their 1st contract. Contract negotiations sometimes run long and get tense. You can't get butt hurt when that happens. Sign the guy and then hug it out and watch the star perform. I'm tired already of FoxPace letting good talent go for a bag of Skittles because they don't want to put in some extra effort coaching and managing people, all of which will not be choir boys and that should be 100% expected.

Another thing - **** this perpetual "we're rebuilding" shit. We're ready to compete today. They need to have that mindset. You don't get 5 years anymore in today's day and age of parity. Resign your good players like perennial contenders do and build through the draft best you can and try to win now. I am so tired of constantly hearing we're rebuilding. It's been like that for 50 years of my life matching the shitty QB play we've had most of those years.