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Sad release but 100% expected. It's never easy to let the truly good guys go.

Lot's of vet Safeties on the market. That's good for us.

Umbali wrote:My opinion on this is going to be followed up by a question.

I think they will restructure Mack and maybe Danny, however it will not be to keep Amos if they bidding goes too high. The safety market is so deep you can afford to wait and see and maybe even get him for less than you could any other year. My hope would be someone like Trey Flowers could be worked in if we didnt overspend trying to keep Amos and Callahan. Personally I think a slot cover guy is harder to find then a safety and even tho McMannis did good filling in I would still prefer Callahan.

Now my question is, when you look at a guy like Acho ( great guy , solid ST, etc but hardly a factor on defense, ) and honestly you look at someone like McMannis who is a good ST leader etc, do you think that with the way the NFL is changing the ST games , does that devalue the need to have these good gunners and cover guys and even return guys on ST? That in turn could make having good depth on offense and defense much more important.

What do you guys think

With players like Acho and McMannis, you have to look past the phase that they play in (ST) and look at what they do for a locker room. You need really good veteran ST guys, because they are usually really good locker room veterans, and help show the rookies how you play the game, and how you carry yourself. They are players that, talent wise, could be replaced by rookies or cheaper FA's, but they are worth their weight in locker room glue.

People keep bringing up locker room leaders, espically when talking about Acho, Long and McManis. IMO, the bottom line is the culture has changed at Halas hall and that started with NAGY! True, every locker room needs player/leaders but even more so when the team is loosing and going through many years of change. This team is new, young and winning, most never knew the dog days. Acho is a good man/teammate but this locker room nor this team needs him to continue success. Over the past 100 years of the league players have come and gone and the team remains. Why? Because new leaders emerge and fill the void. It literally happens every year. The bottom line is when a players cap hit out weights his field performance, you have two options. 1.) take a significant pay cut aka Long (2.) You get cut (Acho). In the case of Acho, he really didn’t bring anything to the field on game day. His cap hit was making it so the team couldn’t keep their own or be competitive in free agency. Football is just a numbers game!

IMO, McManis is really good depth and the right price. He filled in great last season and the team will need his service in the event an injury occurs. I don’t see the bears showing him the door over his 1.9 million cap hit. He pulled his weight on the field, in the locker room and at the bank.

There are plenty of other guys who are candidates to lead the team: Mack, Trubs, Whitehair, Trevathan, Eddie Jackson. Losing Acho, team won't miss a beat.

The culture has changed, but the foundation doesn't set in a single season. It would still be very easy to crack the culture of the team. What happened last year was remarkable, but it was also the easiest part. I could name so many coaches that seemed to change the culture in their first season only for it to quickly turn back into a mess. I have faith in Nagy and Pace, but I also recognize how fragile what they did last season still is.

I liked Acho. Sucks for a guy like that to live through the sucky Fox rebuild years and not get to reap the fruits. But the proiduction isn't there, and we have positions to resign/sign. I hope we do a restructure extension with Trevathan next.

sturf wrote:The culture has changed, but the foundation doesn't set in a single season. It would still be very easy to crack the culture of the team. What happened last year was remarkable, but it was also the easiest part. I could name so many coaches that seemed to change the culture in their first season only for it to quickly turn back into a mess. I have faith in Nagy and Pace, but I also recognize how fragile what they did last season still is.

Not too worried about releasing a backup, ST player that was out all but the first 4 games of the year.

Acho is by all acoounts a great guy. Shame this is part of the business, but it is.

A guy like Acho who can play the run and run around OK, but not rush the passer really seems more like a 4-3 OLB to me.

Thanks for the hustle and timely hits. Good luck in the future.