A Little More On What Zuch Said

Someone explain this:

"This week, the Bears doled out two contract extensions -- a five-year one to linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, and a three-year one to running back Adrian Peterson. But there were no extensions on the near horizon for linebacker Lance Briggs, cornerback Nathan Vasher and running back Thomas Jones, each of whom missed at least a portion of Chicago's Organized Team Activities in a form of protest."

Last year Adrian Peterson rushed a career-high 76 times for 391 yards (5.1 average). Now, those numbers, while limited are certainly not bad. But three years??? THREE YEARS???

Now, NFL contracts are special because the length really doesn't matter because front offices can terminate the deals whenever they want to, so the Bears aren't really locked into Adrian Peterson (the sucky pro, not the awesome college kid, mind you) for any real amount of time.

But come on, what are they accomplishing by giving Adrian Peterson a three-year deal? Is this setting some sort of symbolic example for the rest of the team? As far as I know, Adrian Peterson is still third on the Bears depth chart behind Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson (who they're already paying first round pick money) and hasn't shown any signs of being on the virge of a breakout season.

Also, I don't see any reason, whatsoever, at all, in any way, shape or form, that the Bears haven't given Lance Briggs his money. Mind you, as a Packers fan I hope they never do and he goes to play in a different division while the Bears keep giving money to guys like Adrian Peterson and Hunter Hillenmeyer (a former Packers castoff, woo!). Seriously, Briggs can flat out play and if the Bears let him get to the open market they're going to get into a bidding war that they can't win.

As for Vasher, he may be a one-year wonder, the jury's still out. I'm not really in favor of giving him his money right away because you never know what kind of effect that will have on an individual player. But, the Bears should be ready to lock him up if he continues to show the same kind of ability this year as he did in his breakout season last year.

And then there's Thomas Jones. At 27 (he'll be 28 on opening weekend) he's not quite yet at the age where running backs start to slow down. Though durability has been a concern throughout his career, it's a surprise to me that the Bears chose to give Adrian Peterson a three-year deal while seemingly alienating a proven rusher. Maybe they think Jones is soft and Peterson is poised for a breakout season. Maybe they're going to ride out Jones' current contract and then dump him in favor of youth. Maybe they're going to part ways with Jones to make room for Cedric Benson. Who knows. But the situation at running back highlights the greater issue that the Bears, like a lot of NFL franchises seem to overrate stagnancy in a market that is constantly changing and necessitates multiple moves every year to remain competitive. In the NFL, teams that stay too much the same get passed by the teams that go out and improve outside of their ranks. Winning doesn't come from resigning Hunter Hillenmeyer and Adrian Peterson and giving free agent money to Brian Griese.