These are the type of articles that are written that seem to do nothing but fire up readers and the comments section fills up with a bunch of “You’re an idiot (or more likely ‘your an idiot,’ but I digress).” But what the heck.
There was some rather surprising news in the NFL on Friday when it was reported by ESPN’s Rich Cimini that New York Jets’ Left Tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson will retire.
Filed to ESPN: Jets LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson is retiring today after 10 seasons, per sources. Only 32. Completely healthy. A stunner. #nyj
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) April 8, 2016
Ferguson is a cerebral player that is as durable as anyone that has ever played in the league (he missed one snap in his entire career). His retirement comes as a complete shock and many people made the jump that he was retiring at a young age because of the concussion issues that face the NFL. Ferguson wrote a piece for Sports Illustrated describing how he was bothered after seeing the Concussion movie and learning more about CTE. The assumption is a logical one but is it the main reason?
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The Jets have salary cap issues. They are currently $700,000 under the cap (before Ferguson’s retirement), but they still need to sign the rookies that they draft at the end of the month. That means, in essence, the Jets are over the cap. Oh, and they still have’t signed Ryan Fitzpatrick who they desperately need to return at quarterback. It’s quite possible that Ferguson, who is a 3x Pro Bowler and has been nothing but a great teammate, was irked that the Jets came to him and asked him to take a pay cut so they could sign Fitzpatrick. Nothing like a case of feeling disrespected to tell your team you are calling it quits. Ferguson has plans for life after football, he wants to write and do some other things so he isn’t necessarily desperate to continue to play. But there is a definite possibility that he still wants to play two to three more years but was too classy to demand a trade from the Jets, despite the fact that he may have felt slighted from the franchise for continually asking him to slash his salary.
Keep in mind that Cimini only reported that Ferguson decided to retire. That’s different than actually retiring. To retire from the NFL you have to actually file paperwork with the league and the players association and Ferguson has almost certainly not done that to this point. So in theory, any team could still contact the Jets and Ferguson to see if he was interested in being traded to another club. It has to be done before Ferguson files the paperwork, otherwise it will be too late.
Chicago Bears
If you are Ryan Pace, why not pick up the phone and see if Ferguson would be interested in changing uniforms? Ferguson is still a very good left tackle He may not be the presence he was three or four years ago, but he’s still a top ten left tackle in the league and one that Jay Cutler would feel very safe if he was protecting his blindside.
Ferguson may tell Pace he’s not interested and hang up the phone, but what if he is? Charles Leno had a nice season at tackle but he’s not a game-changer. If Pace wants to see what he can get for Matt Slauson, he could move Leno back to guard and not lose too much in the interior. Leno is a superior guard to Ted Larsen. The Bears have enough cap space to play Ferguson who is paid at a clip of $10 million per year, but with two years left on his contract, none of the money is guaranteed.
The Jets have salary cap issues and now know that Ferguson doesn’t care if he walks away. If the Bears can interest him in coming to Chicago, they could get him for something like a sixth or seventh round pick. If he’s not going to play for the Jets, from their perspective, why not get a little compensation for him? The Bears are in the driver’s seat in any trade talks, the Jets can’t ask for a fourth or fifth round pick or the Bears will just walk away and the Jets will still lose Ferguson.
With an offensive line of Ferguson and Leno on the left, Bobby Massie and Kyle Long on the right, and at center Chicago could play Slauson if he’s not traded, Manny Ramirez, or young Hroniss Grasu if he’s ready to start. That’s a much better offensive line than what the Bears are considering running with in 2016 as we speak. With no Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett or Brandon Marshall, the Bears are really restructuring their skill positions on offense and a strong offensive line to help protect Cutler and give Jeremy Langford an extra boost in the running game seems like a good idea.
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Let me stress, this is just an idea and not a rumor. But Pace is constantly trying to make the roster better, and although he’s rebuilding, bringing in a veteran presence at left tackle for a couple years can assist in the development of the young players and help in the rebuild process, even though he won’t fit in the team’s long-term plans. If the plan is to get better in all aspects, than why not see if Ferguson wants to be a part of the Monsters of the Midway? It just makes sense.
Bill Zimmerman is an editor and featured writer for FanSided‘s BearGogglesOn. Like his Facebook page or follow him onTwitter for more news and interaction.