'TD'

Would that not by definition make you a bigot? big·ot noun \ˈbi-gət\ : a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

I'm glad you are passionate in how you feel on the subject. I may not agree, but America could use more passion in peoples views. Like I said in my edit above, I really liken May to Tebow more than I do Robinson.

Jackie Robinson didn't go on television and tell everyone in America he was black. The hate that was spewed his was during his career from the fans and coworkers is something that May will never close to experiencing in his life. It's really not a parallel. I'm sure that is what was meant by calling it ignorant, not that he was implying you were racist. The 2 just don't relate. Redefining the term marriage just doesn't equate the hurdles that King, Robinson, or women have had to face. May will be embraced by the media and fans. He's going to open himself up to endorsements he never had, and have a stage to present himself that isn't available to most the other players in this years draft. It is all positive for him. I don't think anyone is saying the guy should remain silent or hide. It's just that doing a national interview to come out isn't needed either. Edit: I'd personally liken him to Tim Tebow than Robinson. He's going public with a part of his life that will win him fans and lose him fans due to how they live their lives.

Right there is how someone "coming out" should be done. WWE and wrestling in general had many stereotyped gay gimmicks in the past, but there has never been an openly gay person in the WWE. Darren Young is getting off his flight to the second biggest WWE event of the year, and he get's stopped by a reporter. He was asked a generalized question about gays in the WWE. He just owned his sexuality, talked about it nonchalantly, while going about his business. That has more impact in my opinion, than making a media circus and national announcement. The way Darren Young went about it has more class, and lends being gay as normal instead of a spectacle. I really don't think it will effect May's draft position any. A majority of teams, the owners have little say on who will be drafted in his projected area. GM's are there to be successful and can't afford any kind of biased. Phil Emery could have the opinions of Phil Robertson, but he's going to get the guys that give the Bears the best chance to win. Rodger's has already denied being gay BTW. He got confronted with the rumors and said he liked the laidies a lot, or something like that. I remember the SCORE giving him the business because of how he responded.

I think it is ridiculous. Someone liking penis does not warrant the top story on a national news outlet. If it did, I know some girls that would be on the front page of my local paper daily. Today's media is so liberal and PC. Today's America isn't exactly the south in the 60's. Sam's name would rarely be brought up in such media outlets if not for his sexuality. There is an environment of support and instant celebrity for athletes that do come out. It's far from courageous. To be clear, I'm not criticizing Sam for coming out. I'm criticizing the media for the pedestal that they place on athletes that do. Being a homosexual has no relevance on Sam's ability to play football, and therefore irrelevant. It's not like it's a disease could possibly effect his play, like Cutler with diabetes. The only effect this will have on his team is that players will be put in awkward situation of having to comment on it when asked. It has the potential of ruining his teammates careers, if they say something the media deems homophobic.

That's a pretty fair assessment. I'd maybe move long up to 2 just because he was voted as a Pro Bowl alternate. 2/3rds of the vote is by players and coaches, so they must have seen something more in him other than just being Howie Long's son.

If he makes their team, I don't see him making it past kick or punt returning.

Indeed, it's a lot to make up in one offseason. I wasn't talking about team needs, just what is not signed for the roster and what they will have to spend on this year. I wonder if Emery didn't realize that it wasn't fixable this year also. Jennings's number goes from 7.5 million this coming year down to 4.5 2015. Cutler's deal goes from 22.5 million down to 15.5 million in 2015. That's 10 million extra in addition to the 10 million they will save in 2015 in Peppers's dead money that will be on the cap this year if he is cut. That's 20 million extra the team will have next year that won't be available this year. It looks like they maybe saying we can't fix the D this years. We will do what we can this year really cheap, then next year we'll be able to come out with a bang and not be cap strapped in the future.

22.5 for cutler, 3.5 for gould, 7.5 for jennings = 33.5 million. I'd have to imagine Slauson got atleast 3 million if not more, and Fiametta probably is in around a million. That would put it up to 37.5. If you sit out 5 million for the draft you are up to 42.5 million. Take that away from 46 and you are around 3.5 million. 2 million sounds about right going by that even.

The Bears are going to need a starting Center, 2 starting DE's, 1 or 2 starting DT's, a starting CB, 2 starting safeties, and a starting Punter. That's a lot before start adding in depth and filling out the roster.

After Cutler's signing, I imagine Mel Tucker will keep his job this year as a scapegoat for a bad defense this coming year.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/...ion-thereafter/ There's the full details on his contract. After the first 3 years there won't be a cap hit if he is cut. This year however, he's going to count 22.5 million against the cap.

I'd like to know the details on the other 2 contracts. For slauson's age, he really seems like a steal for the Bears in free agency last year.

Did you see the defense this year? It's not that it's coming out of people's pay checks, it's about having money to improve the team. The quality of quarterback play by Jay Cutler at 30 years old does not warrant 1/6th of the teams cap space for the next 7 years.

It's a longer deal than I thought, but around what I thought he would get a year. He just warrant the pay to me. It's a very bad signing imho.

My memory may be off, but seems like he was right about Jay coming back in two weeks for the Lions game or whatever. It very well could be inside info coming from him, even if I hope that it is not.

double post

I know this doesn't make it sound better, but it would average out to about 3.3 over the last 4 years with out knowing more. 5 years of 9 million guaranteed would average out to 1.8 million and then the 6 million over 4 years would be 1.5 a year. It's not much of a savings but still only 400k more than he was making this year.

Emery said they had a little money saved back incase of an emergency. They were looking at resigning one guy, Gould's agent contacted him and they worked it out. His guaranteed money should be spread out over this year too, so the 9 mil part will be spread over 5 years instead of 4 or atleast part of it.

4 years, 15 million and over 9 million guaranteed, most guaranteed to a kicker ever.

... 4 years, not sure of the details.

I'd love to have him here, but it's likely he will pull a Lovie this year. I don't see why a coach would want the stress of being a coach and work for free this year. If I remember right, his contract would basically be guaranteed, but the Jets wouldn't have to pay what he makes this year. Like if he was getting paid 5 million dollars, and someone offered him a a head coaching job making 7 million, the Jets would have to pay nothing. He'd make 2 million more than if he sat at home. If the bears hired him as a DC making 1 million dollars, then the Bears would pay a million and the Jets would pay 4 million. He'd basically be working for free.

I think the Bears lose money if they cut Shea, so I would keep him around to do something.

Honestly, I think Mel Tucker is the key on what they do on defense next year. If they give him a bye, due to injuries, then he will probably have the chance to move away from the Lovie two. The defense was a major fail this year and I can;t think of a team that ran a solid cover 2 defense this year. The that has had the most success with it in the NFL has put up historically one of the worst defenses in NFL history. I think the defensive strategy will change next year due to the failure this year, and the massive change over due to happen with the roster, even if tucker is retained.

He scored 11 points against the worst ranked passing defense in the league. He doesn't give the Bears their best chance to win. The game wasn't his fault but he did nothing to win it.