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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

This is "You're not breaking up with me, I'm breaking up with you"

He was a good player for a lot of years.

Injuries caught up with him.

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What's the cap impact if he walks away rather than be cut?

Either way he battled with this franchise through some very lean years. He was our best player for a while. Have nothing but respect for the guy, he probably is too plugged into the Twitter-world if he thinks the overwhelming majority of Bears fans weren't appreciative of him.

Why would he lead with the negative. A tough, multi time pro bowl and layer who was a bear from the day he was drafted. He will he remembered fondly by the fandom

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Retirements
Teams can end a contract at any time, but so can players. In a player's case, though, the only way they can do this is by retiring. In the end, though, the math looks pretty much the same as if the player had been cut -- and the June 1 rule applies here, too.

For instance, if our player from the example above had retired instead of being cut, his money would account the same way as if he had been cut by the team. If he files his retirement paperwork on or after June 1, the money counts as if he was cut on or after June 1.

Just like anything else in the NFL, though, there is a "but" for this rule, too: if the player retires with time remaining on his contract, then chooses to come back into the league later, he is not a free agent. Contracts apply, in most cases, to accrued seasons, not calendar years. If the player doesn't play, he doesn't accrue a season. Therefore, his return to the field would put him back under the control of the same team, unless that team chooses to cut him. This rule is part of the reason why Barry Sanders chose to retire: the Lions refused to cut him, and he decided he'd rather stop playing altogether than play another season for Detroit. Conversely, Brett Favre retired, and then the team chose to cut him while he was retired. He was then able to return to the league later as a free agent.

Okay, there are actually two "buts" for retirements. When a player retires, the team has the option to pursue the return of a portion of the signing bonus equal to the unplayed portions of the contract, and that money is no longer counted against the salary cap. This is typically done through an arbitrator. This is known as the "Barry Sanders Rule" because this is exactly how the situation played out in his case, as he was required to pay back a portion of his bonus. The difference between now and then is there was no precedent when Sanders played; now, it's explicitly written into the CBA to allow for this arbitration.

He was like Kerry Wood...always hurt yet brought back every year expecting a different result.

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He and his brother were both stand up men and ballplayers impossible not to root for. I wish them both well.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

+1

Good luck in the future, Kyle.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I don’t mind seeing age take away a player’s abilities, but I really hate when injuries do a guy in early. He turned out to be one of the few solid first round picks by the Bears.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Wow no love for Howie Jr.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Bad pick

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I didn't know about him. But in respect to the rest of the family , I wish him as well as I do you, and the overwhelming majority of the people around here.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

The Bears currently have $16-17M in cap space. What does declining Long's option do for that number?

Will Jerry azumah emcee the retirement press conference?

He was a weird dude.

Can't blame him but I think he always had some inferiority thing he battled with...which makes sense when you follow a Hall of Fame father in the same profession.

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You know me like that.

I didn't think you would be wishing me too well today.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

My best friend is a Viking fan and I grew up trying too hard to be Fran Tarkenton.

Plus, Randy Moss and John Randle. And Millard.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

He definitely made an impact here, and was a good football player, but this was inevitable. His time was done with the Bears, and its good that he is going out on his own terms.

Solid player. Stand up dude. One of Emery's better draft picks.

I wish him nothing but the best of luck.

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He's not going out on his own terms which I think is the reason for the little bit of bitter in his post and a few previous ones

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Explain how its not on his own terms. He is retiring. Not being cut or released. Hence, his own terms.

I think he saw the writing on the wall in that the Bears were probably going to cut him or force him to take a drastic pay cut. The injuries are more or less forcing him to retire. His own terms would have been walking away from the game still being at or near the top of the league in terms of his position as he was at one time not that long ago.

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As he wrote in a recent tweet, he played every snap in the game before he was put on IR. Putting him on IR was more dignified than benching or cutting him mid season but everyone knew what it meant.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

That is up for debate. He played every snap because he was a warrior, but that does not mean in his head he knew he was injured and unable to perform at his best. Either way, its not important.

The writing was on the wall when he pulled a "Myles Garrett" before Myles Garret on a teammate then puked on the sideline. He's a weird dude that was decent when healthy but I'm glad he's gone. He and his SJW brother can shut up now.

His father is hot and turns 60 today.

Seems like you're one or two good decisions away from donning purple.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I think his father is one of the reasons the Bears didn't cut bait sooner.

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