New Bears pass rusher wants to say thanks for jersey number Brad Biggs
Jarron Gilbert didn’t ask Julius Peppers for anything after the Chicago Bears took the No. 90 jersey out of his locker and presented it to the freshly minted Pro Bowl pass rusher.
But Peppers plans on making the move easier for Gilbert, who will now wear No. 70, his third number in less than a year.
"I hit him up about it, but it was kind of late because they had already announced that I was going to get it,' Peppers told Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune. "When I talked to him, he was like, 'It's all good.' I told him I appreciated it and that I had to do something to show my appreciation.
"(Gilbert) told me not to even worry about it, but I'm going to hook him up anyway. What am I going to get him? I don't know yet. I'm still trying to decide, think about what's going to be good. I didn't even meet him yet. I'm going to meet him and see what he likes and then try to hook him up with something.'
Gilbert wore No. 90 at San Jose State before the Bears made him a third-round draft pick last year, their first selection in the draft. He was assigned No. 73 but switched to No. 90 early in training camp after linebacker Joey LaRocque was released.
Peppers said when he signed his $91.5 million, six-year contract that Gilbert would give him the number out of respect. Now, he’s preparing to say thank you.
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I know he's a big guy, but he's a big guy that can play 1-gap with the best of them. You just don't find that every day. No one in this draft is even CLOSE to the prospect Hayneworth is right now. If he was in the draft, he'd be ahead of Suh and McCoy and any team that would draft and move him to a 3-4 would be laughed at.
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Mar 22, 2010
11:40 AM
With that contract, he better get him something good. The Bears keep wasting their money. Peppers cannot make up for the lack of depth and age of the rest of that defense. The mulligan is Urlacher though, that team needs him to get healthy and back on the field as soon as possible. But even Urlacher is not the same player he was a few years ago. The Bears move to get Jay Cutler was exposed last season. Paying this much for Peppers shows that they are wrongheaded in their approach to building a team. They are Washington Northwest. I predict high level firings after next season. That said, I do predict Jay to be better this year with some time with the young receivers and if Urlacher is healthy, he, Briggs and Peppers will provide scheming difficulties -- but not insurmountable ones.