TheConsigliere (03-06-2024)
I have a childhood friend who’s a Bears fan (not sure why because his family’s from Alabama and he moved to Rochester in 8th grade, but I digress….).
He stopped watching football maybe 8 years ago or so. He said he got tired of the greed and commercialism of the NFL. I think he just got sick of the Bears organization being a steaming pile of garbage.
I'm glad I got to see the 85 Bears they are totally an anomaly!
Bears and win now mode?
The Bears really wanted him. Tried to sign him two years ago, and the Bills matched their offer and retained him because he was a restricted FA at that time.
He will be missed for depth purposes. Those celebrating him leaving are short sighted as he was a capable back-up all across the O-line and is extremely capable of being a starting center. He is the leading candidate to be just that for Chicago....and he will probably perform quite well.
With Mitch Morse the stalwart at C, the $5.439M cap hit for the next two years are too rich for the Bills for a backup.
This is a cap causality. Good that Beane was able to get a 5th round pick. Two years ago, they would have gotten nothing for him.
Never saw anything wrong with Bates...he played great at lg...so they promptly moved him to rg and signed overpriced vet guy who flopped, he gave up 2 sacks next to the struggling Brown and went back into the glass case. Should have left him at lg and signed a vet rg at the time. He clearly wasn't going to replace Morse...but he did fine at center when he played there. Had he continued to succeed at lg, they'd not have needed McGovern and would still have gotten Torrence, and wouldn't have needed Saffold besides.
My best to him and hope Morse stays healthy.
Their issue has always been the same since I've been alive- no QB. I'm a little too young for Sid Luckman and Bobby Layne lol. The only time the Bears had a decent QB (decent not great) Jim McMahon they won the SB. They're going to draft Caleb Williams. Only makes sense to do what they can to keep him safe.
Ditka was entertaining
They were fun to watch.
They told you they were gonna kick your azs and then proceeded to do so.
They used to give William “The Refrigerator” Perry a big old DT the ball sometimes on goal line…I don’t know if he ever did NOT get in lol.
Pats used to use DL players on O as well. Not sure why more teams don’t try. I’d love to see Ed Oliver get a shot running it in on goal line for example.
The cap hit savings is minimal this year, but from my extremely novice understanding of the cap, trading Bates will save the Bills over $5million in each of the next two years. Considering how the team seems to be up against the cap every year, this could've been a move with the future cap in mind moreso than 2024. Can any cap gurus confirm?
It's basically saying they think Alec Andersen who makes roughly 1 million, and is an ERFA after this year, can do just as good, if not better of a job than Bates, who makes 5 million this year and next. They eat 4 million against the cap this year, but get a 5th round pick out of it. If they had waited until after June to cut him, they'd have saved most of that 4 million, but get nothing in return.
David Edward's is back.. $6 million for 2 years..... backup guard spot taken care of.. alec anderson.. and almost a dozen draft picks