The Ballad of Ricky-Bobby: Salt & Peppers

It's 9:52 a.m. as I type this sentence and Julius Peppers is reportedly on his way to Chicago.

RICKY: As the world has heard by now, the Bears are going all out to sign the best player on the free agent market: Lovie Smith flew out to Carolina to meet with Peppers at midnight-ish this morning, and the Bears have a "substantial offer" on the table.

Shades of an O'Hare parade for T-Mac? Maybe, but at least the Bears are showing they aren't messing around. Peppers may be able to get more guaranteed money from other teams, but the Bears are clearly the most proactive team.

The Bears. Proactive. Yes, this is all happening, and it really looks like the Bears are going to get this done.

ESPN's Adam Schefter sez:
There are obvious downsides to signing Peppers: he's 30, has a reputation for taking plays off, and will get the richest contract in franchise history if not the richest contract ever for a defensive player. But as a Bears fan, this has to excite you.

If there are 100 things on my mind, the Bears are 101st, or at least they were two days ago. Peppers would change everything. Recognize the risk, but recognize the reward. More importantly, the Bears are trying to win, and that's pretty awesome.

When news broke that the Bears traded for Cutler, I was seriously floored. This time I'm surprised, but, like I noted 10 days ago, Peppers makes sense.  The Bears are desperate, the Bears need some good P.R., and, perhaps most importantly, the Bears really love pass rushers.

Throw in the news that the Bears have already signed blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna and are going hard after ex-Viking running back Chester Taylor, and yeah, this could be a pretty crazy day.

BOBBY: It's weird, because as excited as I am for all of this, it's so damn easy to be negative. I think I'll start negative and work my way back to positive.

1) Remember the Redskins: Albert Haynesworth was a monster two seasons ago in his contract year for the Titans. Easily in the debate for the league's best player. Despite the massive amounts of money thrown his way, it wasn't a bad signing -- by any means -- for the 'Skins. But he kinda flopped. Peppers has the potential to do the exact same thing -- but he was never as great as Haynesworth to begin with. So, yeah, clich time: the off-season winner rarely wins the Super Bowl.

2) The Uniform Theory comes into play in a big way: I have long been of the mind players get worse by simply wearing a Bears jersey. The ultimate examples are probably Kordell Stewart and Muhsin Muhammad. What makes Moose's example so funny is he was good in Carolina, dece with the Bears, and then went back to Carolina and became good again.


You're telling me Peppers doesn't fit the mold? Let's peep the headline pic they're showing on ESPN.


So cool looking. Like he'd be fast, athletic, beastly... healthy. The Bears jersey is like wearing a big body weight. Everything about you as a player becomes worse (unless you're Tommie Harris in his prime). This could be the beginning of the end for him. Plus there's real reasons, like his aforementioned age. The good news is the Uniform Theory primarily affected offensive players, so there's reason to think a defensive player can overcome the setback of the jersey.

3) It's the Bears: If you had to bet your life on Peppers being very great or a huge bust, what would you choose? Very great?! Liar!

But ignoring all of these points, I just don't care, I'm happy with all of this. Completely. The Bears aren't going to get better by doing nothing. These moves are proactive, have high upside, and are a major step in the right direction if they pan out. I love 'em.

If only we had the terror of no draft picks motivating the Bears every year...

RICKY: What's maybe most shocking about the Bears off-field transformation the last two years is how flexible they've been. Like, we're on the verge of a historic trade (how many guys have been traded for two first rounders?) and a historically big free agent contract in back to back years. If I was told this in March 2009, there's no way I'd believe it.

This is because the Bears are generally pretty stubborn. Most teams are, and I'm sure it makes sense for business reasons. But the Bears realized that their Plan A for getting good - grabbing productive players in the draft - wasn't working out. They blow virtually every high draft pick, and haven't hit on as many sleepers late in the draft as they did during the first couple years of the Lovie-Angelo Era. Their plan was broke. But, to the Bears' credit, they switched up their game plan. Maybe they recognized their own faults.

Hey, if we can't draft and develop our own talent, let's throw unreasonable amounts of money at other teams'.

You're right that it's so easy to be cynical, but what's the point? As fans, isn't this what we want? Fans of the 31 other teams all wish it was their coach flying to Charlotte to meet with Julius Peppers at midnight. The Bears actually did it.

Assuming this deal indeed does goes through, might it blow up in the Bears' face? Sure. But remember the NFL isn't the NBA: these contracts aren't guaranteed. When the Bulls sign Luol Deng to a $72 million contract, they actually have to pay him $72 million. That's not the way it works in the NFL. The Bears can cut Peppers whenever they want. They'll have to take a cap hit, sure, but from a team's perspective, it's an infinitely better system.

Another way to look at this: If I said you could have any defensive end in the league on your team for next season, who would you take? I bet Peppers is the answer for a lot of people, and probably in the top five for everyone. So maybe we can view this deal like the Cubs' signing of Alfonso Soriano: it might not look great in the future, but if the team wins a championship, who cares? Of course baseball contracts are guaranteed, so the Bears come out better regardless. But the point is that the Bears are actively going for a Super Bowl. Things like "winning a negotiation" can be damned.

Other things to chew on: are the Bears the new Redskins? Is Jerry Angelo the new Kenny Williams? What are the chances Peppers signs with someone else? What if he signs with the Patriots, who reportedly also have an offer on the table.

Either way, I'm hoping Peppers gets done soon. I need this to be 100 percent before I can get too excited.

BOBBY: Yeah, you're right, this is fuckin' cool.

A handful of other random thoughts I've had throughout this morning...

Does Peppers think the Bears defense is still good/dominant?: He can't possibly think that, can he? This has to be all about the money.

Going back to his college days at UNC, Peppers has never played outside of the Carolinas before: Not saying that's a good or bad thing... just sayin'.

Mike Lombardi, one of the better talent evaluating journalists wrote this about the Peppers signing:

Free agency started and the Bears appear to be the 2010 version of the Washington Redskins. With no first or second-round pick, the Bears need free agency to get their team competitive with two playoff teams, the Packers and the Vikings, in their own division. With Peppers, the Bears now have a legitimate left end that can rush the passer and create problems in their opponents' protections. But he is not a one-man show as the Bears will need the rest of their defensive line to play well.

Many teams were willing to look at Peppers, but once the money went north of $10 million per year, some teams dropped out. The Bears were never dropping out and they were committed to make this work, in spite of the rising cost of the contract

Lovie/Player's Coach effect: I've read a million things about this Peppers courting already, but someone, somewhere brought up a good point about Peppers inclination to like Lovie because he's a player's coach. It'd be interesting to see how big of a factor it truly was.

Treat Peppers like a draft pick: One of the things that helped my outlook on the Cutler trade was pretending we got him in the draft as opposed to a trade. It's interesting perspective. Like, if the Bears had a Top 3 pick, they'd probably end up with Suh or Gerald McCoy. Both defensive lineman have enormous potential, but both would be unproven rookies. And they'd be getting a ton of money without ever have playing a down of NFL football. Peppers is where that rookie money would have been going. And success or fail, at least he's done it before. If he doesn't pan out, it's not because he wasn't polished.

The Bears are giving me an odd, CFB vibe: Everyone knows college football sucks, but it's been kind of fun to see the Bears operate like a college team. They're not free agent spending, they're recruiting. Lovie on a plane? Nuts. It's also cool to see them getting guys to maximize the strengths of Martz' system (blocking tight ends, pass catching running backs). It'll be interesting to see how this team takes shape over next couple of days. Hopefully they don't trade Olsen.

It's 11:41 a.m. as I write this, and while the signing's not official, it seems imminent. However this plays out, the Bears are going to be in a very interesting spot.


BobbyStompy is the assistant editor of Tremendous Upside Potential. He can be reached at stompaberdeen [at] aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy.