David Bruton - Possible FA Target

dafridge72

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Free agent S David Bruton said he's "heard" the Bears, Dolphins, and Giants are interested in him.
The Bears connection makes sense from a mere dot-connecting standpoint, as coach John Fox was with Bruton in Denver. Bruton has started just eight games total since being a 2009 fourth-round pick of the Broncos, but he figures to draw heavy interest because of his special teams prowess. Bruton said he's looking for a deal in the three-year, $15 million range.
Related: Bears, Dolphins, Giants
Source: Cameron Wolfe on Twitter Feb 17 - 11:17 AM
 

dafridge72

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My guess he would come in and play Safety as well with a chance to start.
 

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This sort of reminds me of Jeron Johnson. Physically they are very different. Johnson was more a ball hawking safety while Burton is a bigger body who plays in the box. Johnson was the backup in Seattle, meaning he only played special teams unless there was an injury. In the 2015 offseason he signed a 2 year, $2.5M deal with Washington. He ended up starting only one of the 14 games that he played.

Anyway, Im' sure Burton is just doing his part in trying to get every dollar he can, but at $5M/year you could be looking at guys like William Moore, Rashad Johnson and Tyvon Branch who have all done a lot more. Heck, put a bit more money into the deal and you are talking Eric Weddle or Eric Berry.
 

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LOL. No. No. No. These are the types of guys you should be drafting in the mid to late rounds. No more spending big money on special teams guys please. Spend the money on your starters. Learn to draft well in the mid to late rounds. Those guys spend a year or two contributing on special teams and then some of them develop into starters later on. I wouldn't pay him half of what he wants.
 

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Burton is a starting caliber safety. Do not be fooled by the fact that he has not started yet in his career.

Bruton also is one of the best special teams players in the NFL.

3/15 seems a little rich, but he is a good player.
 

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Burton is a starting caliber safety. Do not be fooled by the fact that he has not started yet in his career.

Bruton also is one of the best special teams players in the NFL.

3/15 seems a little rich, but he is a good player.

If he's being brought in as a potential starter then yes, that's a different scenario.
 

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Burton is a starting caliber safety. Do not be fooled by the fact that he has not started yet in his career.

Bruton also is one of the best special teams players in the NFL.

3/15 seems a little rich, but he is a good player.

WHy not? Our special teams are horrible and he is a terrific ST player and would also fit in the Bears defensive set-up for Fangio. I'd make him a decent offer and hope that no one else would beat it.
 

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This sort of reminds me of Jeron Johnson. Physically they are very different. Johnson was more a ball hawking safety while Burton is a bigger body who plays in the box. Johnson was the backup in Seattle, meaning he only played special teams unless there was an injury. In the 2015 offseason he signed a 2 year, $2.5M deal with Washington. He ended up starting only one of the 14 games that he played.

Anyway, Im' sure Burton is just doing his part in trying to get every dollar he can, but at $5M/year you could be looking at guys like William Moore, Rashad Johnson and Tyvon Branch who have all done a lot more. Heck, put a bit more money into the deal and you are talking Eric Weddle or Eric Berry.

William Moore was hot garbage this year
 

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If he's being brought in as a potential starter then yes, that's a different scenario.

I think you bring him in for the purpose of starting him at SS.

Cut Rolle or let him back up.
 

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I think you bring him in for the purpose of starting him at SS.

Cut Rolle or let him back up.

Yeah, I've seen enough of Rolle. He's on his last leg and I don't think there is any dead money if we cut him.
 

rawdawg

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Burton is a starting caliber safety. Do not be fooled by the fact that he has not started yet in his career.

Bruton also is one of the best special teams players in the NFL.

3/15 seems a little rich, but he is a good player.

This. I'd probably pay Bruton 3/15 and pencil him in as the starting SS. Actually, I was planning on doing just that (maybe slightly less money) in my next mock offseason. He started 3 games this season.

Week 1: 4 tackles, 2 passes defensed
Week 15: 6 tackles, 1 PD
Week 13: 13 tackles, forced fumble

He also had a sack and 2 INTs in a reserve role along with another forced fumble. Didn't play a ton of snaps on D, but he makes things happen when he's out there.
 

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William Moore was hot garbage this year

He wasn't horrible in the 11 games he played and I'd also give him a partial bye with the whole new coach/scheme thing. Overall he's been solid for 4 of his 7 seasons in the NFL. You can make an argument that he's always banged up (only played 16 games once in his career), but when he's been in there he's always been a starter.

I'd also say I'm comparing him to Bruton, who's fairly unknown at this point.

Maybe another name to throw into the mix is Walter Thurmond. He's a ball hawking safety that can easily come down and cover a slot WR/TE. He'll probably get around $5M a season and I think the Eagles will be targetting a bigger body to pair up with Malcolm Jenkins in the secondary.
 

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This. I'd probably pay Bruton 3/15 and pencil him in as the starting SS. Actually, I was planning on doing just that (maybe slightly less money) in my next mock offseason. He started 3 games this season.

Week 1: 4 tackles, 2 passes defensed
Week 15: 6 tackles, 1 PD
Week 13: 13 tackles, forced fumble

He also had a sack and 2 INTs in a reserve role along with another forced fumble. Didn't play a ton of snaps on D, but he makes things happen when he's out there.

I agree that he produced in his limited opportunities, but that was while being surrounded by extremely talented defenders with an extremely strong pass rush. Can the Bears replicate the pass rush of Ware/Miller/Wolfe/Jackson? Can the surround him with guys like Harris Jr./Talib/Roby/Ward? That's ignoring the ILB comparitive downgrade because thinking of that will only make people sad.

I'm not saying Bruton is bad, but at that asking price there will be more proven options.
 

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But he needs talent to help him indeed make it better. Just needs to have the right kind of team.
 

rawdawg

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I agree that he produced in his limited opportunities, but that was while being surrounded by extremely talented defenders with an extremely strong pass rush. Can the Bears replicate the pass rush of Ware/Miller/Wolfe/Jackson? Can the surround him with guys like Harris Jr./Talib/Roby/Ward? That's ignoring the ILB comparitive downgrade because thinking of that will only make people sad.

I'm not saying Bruton is bad, but at that asking price there will be more proven options.

I think you guys are underestimating price tags. Cap going up by about 12Mil. Everyone will get more than their similar counterparts from last offseason. 3/12M-15M isn't bad for a starter of any kind.

And the Bears don't have to duplicate the Broncos D for him to have success. Maybe, the guy can actually play football on his own talents!!! The Bears didn't replicate the Ravens defense and McPhee worked out just fine doubling his snap count.
 

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I think you guys are underestimating price tags. Cap going up by about 12Mil. Everyone will get more than their similar counterparts from last offseason. 3/12M-15M isn't bad for a starter of any kind.

And the Bears don't have to duplicate the Broncos D for him to have success. Maybe, the guy can actually play football on his own talents!!! The Bears didn't replicate the Ravens defense and McPhee worked out just fine doubling his snap count.

RE: Salary cap - Completely agree that the contracts will go up and continue to do so for a few years. I think like all seasons there will be tiers of FAs. The first tier will get paid stoopid money. The second tier will get a bit of a jump up. The third tier won't see much of the cap bump. IMO he's a 2nd-3rd tier safety for FA, so he won't fully participate in the big money grab.

RE: Team around him - Looking back at my post I can see how it's misleading. I was more looking to take his current existing production with a grain of salt. It's really tough to judge how good someone is when they are surrounded by play makers. Let's look at my team and Byron Maxwell. I still think he's a good corner, but when watching him with Seattle he could get away with different things because the pass rush was always there and he was covering a lesser option while having help around him. He had a smaller defined role. When asked to do more his efficency took a hit. Will that happen to Bruton? Who knows, but I was more saying past success with Denver's players in Denvers scheme (Wade Phillips is pretty good as well) doesn't always mean it will transulate to his new situation.
 

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