PFT Bennet to sign with Bears....

[TDOTSEAHAWK]

If he is gone - I think we dropped the ball. We should have non-exculsively tagged him and worked out a deal. Moreover, if Chicago wanted him that badly - they would had to given up 2 first rounders.

 

[volsunghawk]

If he is gone - I think we dropped the ball. We should have non-exculsively tagged him and worked out a deal. Moreover, if Chicago wanted him that badly - they would had to given up 2 first rounders.

And take a $13.1 million cap hit in 2014 for him? The idea was to keep Bennett on a longer-term deal that would still allow for responsible cap management. Tagging would have done nothing to encourage him to stay in Seattle after the one year and would have negatively impacted our cap situation.

 

[Lady Talon]

Sure hope his social media isn't being lit up with butthurt. I'll just forget about that free agent mecca label. Annie Wilkes would be proud.

 

[Largent80]

Not surprised, and NEXT !!!!!

 

[MidwestHawker]

Sure hope his social media isn't being lit up with butthurt. I'll just forget about that free agent mecca label. Annie Wilkes would be proud.

Unfortunately this is too much to wish for, even though I agree with you.

 

[TDOTSEAHAWK]

If he is gone - I think we dropped the ball. We should have non-exculsively tagged him and worked out a deal. Moreover, if Chicago wanted him that badly - they would had to given up 2 first rounders.

And take a $13.1 million cap hit in 2014 for him? The idea was to keep Bennett on a longer-term deal that would still allow for responsible cap management. Tagging would have done nothing to encourage him to stay in Seattle after the one year and would have negatively impacted our cap situation.

He doesn't have to play for the one year at that rate. If we tagged him and then used that time and exclusivity to work out a deal - the franchise tag would go away and we would have our deal.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I seriously doubt anyone would give up 2 first round picks for Bennett. Easy to claim that, but no way in hell.

 

[EverydayImRusselin]

I'm going to miss his sack dance. Having said that though, I think it's silly to say "he has to go get all the money he can". That's ridiculous. If we offer him a 4/32m and he goes and takes a 4/40m it's not like we are being cheapskates. In more realistic terms, if my company offered to almost double my pay but one of our competitors offered me a bit more than that and wasn't as good of a place to work, I'd definitely stay where I am.

 

[volsunghawk]

If he is gone - I think we dropped the ball. We should have non-exculsively tagged him and worked out a deal. Moreover, if Chicago wanted him that badly - they would had to given up 2 first rounders.

And take a $13.1 million cap hit in 2014 for him? The idea was to keep Bennett on a longer-term deal that would still allow for responsible cap management. Tagging would have done nothing to encourage him to stay in Seattle after the one year and would have negatively impacted our cap situation.

He doesn't have to play for the one year at that rate. If we tagged him and then used that time and exclusivity to work out a deal - the franchise tag would go away and we would have our deal.

I think Bennett was determined to test the market. The guy came into the league as a UDFA and wasn't making a huge salary when he was with the Bucs. His first foray into full free agency was disappointing when the bottom fell out of the DE market last season. I'm fairly sure the tag would have created quite a bit of animosity between Bennett and the team, since it would have prevented him from being able to maximize his value - which is what he's doing right now.

 

[themunn]

I seriously doubt anyone would give up 2 first round picks for Bennett. Easy to claim that, but no way in hell.

"Seriously doubt"?
There are only a handful of players in the entire league that teams would give up 2 ones for, and almost all of them QBs.
JJ Watt is probably the only non-QB too - certainly Harvin going for a (low) 1st and a 3rd show how much value teams put on 1st rounders.
Yes, Atlanta gave up the house to trade up and take Julio Jones, but got a 22 year old on a rookie contract, it's not the same as paying through the nose in draft picks for someone in their prime and then dropping 10m+ a year on top of it.

 

[Lady Talon]

Except we gave him a prove it deal last year and he was obviously disappointed in not getting a long term contract. Why should he give us a discount for cutting him years ago then going cheapskate bringing him back last year? Not to mention the media rubbing it in his face for juicy quotes to make 12's hate him. I'd take the highest bid and run like my hair was on fire and my ass was catching.

 

[Largent80]

He played out of his gourd when HE and WE needed him the most. Great for both of us.

He also benefitted from other players hell bent on the same thing. Who is to say he will repeat the year he had over and over again?

We have a team here and to keep it together in this cap era we are going to lose players and gain players.

If he goes, he goes. There will be plenty of players that want his spot.

 

[nwgamer]

Guess we're keeping Clemons then.

Jared Allen.

:th2thumbs:
considering we were sniffing around for a trade for him in Oct..... that's my bet too

 

[drdiags]

I hear you L80. Bennett and the Seahawks had a mutually beneficial relationship last year. It was great for both parties but this is a new year. Instead of folks being happy the team was able to leverage a unique free agency situation last year to bring in some amazing add-ons to the team in Avril and Bennett, which shocked folks inside and out of the organization, we have people getting butt hurt that the man is making business decisions just like his employers have done.

The team owned his rights for a year. They chose not to restrict his access to the market with an eye on getting a deal that worked in their favor. It looks like that may not happen. If so, best wishes to the guy and let's see what the FO has in mind for developing the DL. I am sure we will get a new thread tomorrow when all this becomes official.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

I just said no way in hell a team would give up 2 first rounders, not sure how much more clear I can be munn

 

[Throwdown]

2 firsts for Bennett? When the hell did Bennett become the 2nd coming of Warren Sapp?

 

[ImTheScientist]

If he is gone - I think we dropped the ball. We should have non-exculsively tagged him and worked out a deal. Moreover, if Chicago wanted him that badly - they would had to given up 2 first rounders.

Glad you are not our GM.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

2 firsts for Bennett? When the hell did Bennett become the 2nd coming of Warren Sapp?

Never happen. The good to come out of this is that it may move up Earl's extension. Also we will pick up some pash rusher or three. With the cap going up so much the market for DE/CB's obviously is skyrocketing, at least some other positions beyond quarterback is actually seeing some money finally.

 

[mikeak]

Chicago....30th ranked defense.
Enjoy that extra million in defensive obscurity.

and a year ago they were one of the best - maybe just maybe they are trying to do something about it? Their offense doesn't really need any work, so they can afford to invest significant capital - cap and draft - to their defense in the pursuit of strengthening.

I'm interested to see what we do about a replacement, but the 8m in cap space that we won't be investing in Bennett over 4-5 years will now go a long way to securing a long term deal for ET

Peppers will count against the Bears cap with $18 million. If they cut him $8million is dead money, then they structure the Bennet deal so it only hits the cap $4-$6million this year leading to a saving against the cap with $6-$8 million this year. Peppers was going to count $20M against the cap next year.

Overall Chicago just changed out players and got younger and better and saved money while doing so. This will be a real good deal for them

 

[oasis]

Bennett looks like a hassadic Jew with that beard and hat from that bro to bro interview. I'm really sucks to lose someone that awesome. Now the season can't come sooner as I wait for Scruggs or Hill or Brooks to break out and quell my horrible grief.