I could have sworn that the Lions fans on this site were claiming that the Bears were being cheap with Matt Forte after they offered him a lot of money and he held out for more.

“Pay the man!” you cried.

As a Lions fan I can still see how much more important is to the Bears’ offense than Avril is to Detroit’s defense. Forte IS worth top 5 money, Avril is NOT. Avril deserves a pay increase, but NFL fans of all 32 teams would know who Julius Peppers is without the internet, NFL Network etc. How about Cliff Avril? The difference between Avril and Peppers is Peppers gets the doubles while Avril benefits from not. I love Avril and hope he and the club can meet in the middle somewhere, but if he’s unwilling to bend then the team should be more than willing to let him walk. LoJack and Willie can handle it

“Pay the man!” you cried.

Let him go and be overpaid somewhere else…looking at his stats for the past four years, he doesn’t deserve more than 4 yrs/$32 with maybe $10 guaranteed…and I’m being very generous.

Extend Calvin, sign Tulloch and Wright long term…that’s a start….

“this guy had 5 sacks, 5.5 sacks, then 8.5 sacks and 11 sacks this year in a contract year, shocking right?”

If he hits the market as a free agent, a lot of teams would see that as a young guy who has steadily improved in his first 4 seasons and who is ready to peak. Perfect for big free agent bucks. The fact that he had less sacks in his first two seasons, but has steadily improved, is not surprising and is not necessarily indicative of anything other than a player adjusting to the next level.

I personally have liked what I’ve seen out of Willie Young when he has played, only player who touched Brees in that debacle.

Also, I enjoy seeing these early comments with 1 thumbs up so it’s clear who has been liking their own posts.

Actually Cliff, I don’t think anyone fails to realize that. But thanks for insulting your customers’ intelligence. Smart move. What YOU and every other sports star, franchise owner and celebrity fail to realize is that you are EXTREMELY overpaid compared to what you contribute to society. And the level of “compensation” you SHOULD be receiving is a lot lower than what almost all of you are getting.

Maybe if you got paid to do real work instead of playing a game for a living, you’d understand how much more the fans who pay your salary need the money than you do. And why we’re getting so tired of athletes whining about how they’re underpaid. Instead of alienating people, why don’t you just try saying “I want to hit free agency so the market can determine my value”? No one can argue with that. And you wouldn’t come off like an out-of-touch a-hole, either.

this guy had 5 sacks, 5.5 sacks, then 8.5 sacks and 11 sacks this year in a contract year, shocking right?

about 32 sacks in 4 seasons, he has value, but he shouldn’t be a huge priority imo.