Tampering? Peppers could cost Bears more than just a pile of cash

The Bears like Julius Peppers and he likes them back.  It’s the equivalent of an awkward  junior high boy passing a note to the popular girl that he likes and her passing one back saying “I like you too.”    OK, put your first stiffy away.

I’ve heard and read a lot about the Bears having an interest in Peppers.  So far, I’ve taken it all with a grain of salt, thinking that the Bears were just getting their name out there in the mix to appease fans by being ‘active’ in the free agent market.

Yesterday I read that the Bears supposedly met with Peppers’ people during the scouting combine and thought two things:

1. Wow, maybe the Bears are serious about this Peppers thing.

2. Isn’t it considered tampering to talk to agents before free agency officially begins?

I guess I am not the only one to think that.  You might recall the Bears accused the 49ers of tampering with Lance Briggs a couple of years back and actually got some draft compensation.

Great, so with an already weakened draft without the a first or second round pick in a tremendously deep draft, the Bears might be at risk for giving up one of their precious few selections over a chat with Peppers’ agent.

As I understand, normally a lot of this tampering goes on at the NFL Combine, but because agents who are there have multiple clients.  Here’s the problem – Carl Carey has but one client – Julius Peppers.

And that client will become a very rich client if reports are correct.  Rich like $40 million up front plus another $15+ every year.  That’s more than a million bucks per sack if he can keep up his 10+ annually.  Is the Bears defense better with Peppers?  Hell yes!  Is Peppers better than Adewale Ogunleye and Gaines Adams (rest in peace) put together?  Yup.  Is he worth that kind of coin?