I really hope we keep him.

Letting Sitton go proved to not hurt very much while saving a good chunk of money. Though, with how long our QB likes to hold the ball, we need to maintain a strong line as best we can.

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I agree. We got lucky with letting Sitton go. We need to keep TJ.

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I'm starting to think we'll let him go. There have been a few articles about how we pass block. It's alleged it's borderline illegal. Presumably, the technique we teach makes it easier to keep rushers at bay. If we believe the technique is so solid we may just let him go believing we can just plug and play. Don Barclay is the evidence to the contrary but wouldn't be surprised if TJ isn't back.

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This will be a classic case of letting a player go one year too early rather than one year too late. It's probably the best decision in the long run.

TJ Lang is a warrior. I want him to retire as a Packer. As injury prone as our team is, we need quality players who will play through any type of injury at a high level. TJ Lang has done that for us. I'll be pissed if we let him go to a different team.

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It's kind of funny how the opinion of Lang has changed over the past few years. Not long ago he was considered the worst link on the OL.

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September 2011 Sitton was 25 and got a 5 year extension with new money at 33.75/8.9M Guaranteed [6.75 per]. In 2011 the cap was 120M, now 168M, which puts Sitton’s hypothetical 2017 adjusted salary at about 9.45M per. I think 9.45M represents the MAX Ted will pay for a pro bowl type durable young Guard with some upside remaining in 2017.

………………Sitton……………………….Lang
Year……Age……Snaps%........Age……..Snaps%
2012…...26……….100……….….25………..90.7
2013……27……….100…………..26………...97.4
2014……28……....94.8………….27………..90.2
2015……29…….…99.3……..…..28….…….90.0
2016……30….……72.6……..…..29…………72.7

Sitton’s 99.3% snaps in 2015 can only be described as super-human. Sitton didn’t take many practice snaps and his back and foot got treatment 24/7/365 during the season. Ted knew that Sitton’s snaps would have been in the low 80s or worse if he was an ordinary OLman human.

Sitton was cut for that Saturday morning incident; but I suspect if that same incident occurred in 2012, he wouldn’t have been cut [Like when RBs Lacy and Harris broke curfew; but only Harris got cut]. But, knowing Sitton was breaking down and was not going to be resigned; Taylor and Tretter [on Linsley’s return] were ready; and faced only 600K in dead cap; they knew Sitton could be cut without harming the team.

Bigby is right, Lang is a warrior, but so was/is Sitton and Lang only played one season at about 100%, something OLmen take huge pride in. GB’s Med/training staff right now is in the best position to determine how many and how well Lang’s next 2-3,000 snaps will be. Is it fluke injuries or is his body breaking down!

Seeing there’s hardly a guard playing well over 30 in the league; that no Guard I know of got a big contract at 30 [Except Sitton; but Pace is a dolt]; that the above chart projects badly on Lang’s future snaps; and that GB’s OLmen need to be built to go 19-20 games, not 16 or 12. I cant see Ted paying over 5Mper x3 or 5.5Mx2 for Lang with injury protections, nor should he. So it’s really out of his hands.

Oh, and if all Bears’ interior guys [Long, Grasu] are projected to fully recover I expect Whitehair to move to G and Sitton will take a paycut or be cut. Half of Sitton’s 4.6M that could be saved if he’s cut is guaranteed on March 11.

Another real possibility is that GB is happy with Flores, Patrick, Murphy and Spriggs and they don’t want Lang back at any price.

Great post Barfarn, love TJ the guy made the pro bowl on a broken foot but the smart move is to let him go. Spriggs is a second rd pick he has to play.

Spriggs is a T, although Kyle Murphy could move inside. Might even do him some good.

Far as I'm concerned, Tretter is both younger and more versatile. Make him a reasonable offer. Let the Bears overpay Lang.

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I think we need Lang. I just always hearken back to the day we lost both Whale and Rivera. Too much interior pressure! I don't think we can rely on Tretter given his injury history. Like him as a swing player, but don't want to pay him starter money.