Does This Man Deserve More Money?

A lot has been made over the last week of Brian Urlacher’s decision to hold out of voluntary work outs in order to bring attention to his contract. As in all cases there are two sides to every story. The Bears would like to point to the fact that the Bears signed Urlacher to a record breaking 9yr/$59mil contract that runs through 2011 and they feel has held up over the years. Urlacher’s camp hightlights the 30% increase in the salary cap since the defensive captain signed his contract. Making things all the more complicated is earlier admission of Urlacher that he has an arthritic back at the start of 2007 and then he followed up the year with surgery on his neck. It could be those injury concerns that has Urlacher grasping for more guarunteed money. For now it’s not too big an issue, but if Urlacher decides to hold out through mandatory what do the Bears do?

Oh yeah… and then there’s that Tommie Harris extension…