Urlacher dodges contract questions, picks up Piccolo Award from Bears
Brian Urlacher was at Halas Hall on Thursday, but not to participate in the Bears' voluntary workouts with teammates.
The six-time Pro Bowler is boycotting those activities until the team sweetens the nine-year, $56.65 million deal he signed before the 2003 season.
Although that contract still has four years remaining, the Bears have offered him a $5 million signing bonus with a one-year extension plus an additional $1 million in each of the remaining four years on his current contract.
The total value of the restructured package is $18 million, but Urlacher wants more and is threatening to stay at his Arizona home until he gets it.
But the face of the franchise showed up Thursday to accept the 2007 Brian Piccolo Award, which is voted on by Bears players who select one veteran and one rookie each year who most exemplify the courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor of Piccolo, a former running back and teammate of legendary Bears running back Gale Sayers.
Urlacher graciously thanked the Piccolo family, the Bears organization and especially his teammates for honoring him.
"They're the guys I'm out there playing with every day, going to practice with," Urlacher said of his teammates, the vast majority of whom have been involved in the off-season workouts for almost three weeks. "I appreciate their vote."
Afterward, Urlacher quickly left the building, declining to speak with the media.
In 1968, Piccolo's fourth season with the Bears, he was diagnosed with embryonal cell carcinoma and died at 26 on June 16, 1970. Partly through the work of the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, the form of cancer that killed the Wake Forest product and was 100 percent fatal at the time now has a 95 percent cure rate.
Tight end Greg Olsen was the rookie recipient of the Piccolo award, which Urlacher also won as a rookie in 2000. Olsen was fifth on the Bears with 39 catches and 391 receiving yards last season.
"You watch Greg Olsen play football and it's not real difficult to figure out that he's extremely talented," Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said. "His size, athleticism, hands, speed -- he's obviously a great player.
"But (what) makes him special, and makes him the player that he is, are the other things, the intangibles. That's what separates Greg and puts him in the category that he's in -- his character, his work ethic, desire to be great, leadership and intelligence, all the qualities that maybe you don't see but that he possesses."
Proceeds from the Piccolo Fund now benefit breast cancer research at Rush Medical Center and the Clearbrook Center for the developmentally disabled in Arlington Heights. The fund has raised more than $5 million since 1991, including the NFL's $100,000 donation Thursday, the final installment of a five-year, $500,000 pledge.