Urlacher Watch ‘08

Will he or won’t he show up?  That is the question on the minds of all Bears fans around the world as the team’s first mandatory mini-camp approaches.  The player in question is of course Brian Urlacher.  The superstar linebacker has gone on record and said that he does not expect to attend the mini-camp.  However, it is now being reported that if he does not attend the mini-camp, Urlacher stands to lose millions of dollars in pro-rated signing bonus money.  The whole deal is very convoluted and bogged down in contract semantics, but I’ll do my best to explain it as I understand the situation.

Basically, as I understand it, Urlacher’s present contract requires him to show up for all mandatory camps and practices and other team events.  Urlacher’s signing bonus is contingent upon him fulfilling his every contractual obligation.  That means that if Urlacher misses this mandatory mini-camp, the Bears could come after him for a pro-rated portion of his signing bonus.  This portion would total more than five million dollars.  It will be interesting to see if a cool five million is enough money to keep Urlacher from boycotting the mini-camp.

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Permalink - Posted in General on May 29, 2008 - Post a comment