This is pure fukking gold :yao:
David Terrell defends himself after being labeled 'bust' by RedEye - redeyechicago.com
In light of the Bears trading former first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi to Tampa Bay for a sixth-round pick in 2014, RedEye compiled a list of the biggest Bears busts in recent memory.
Stats were researched. Fifteen players were selected. Blurbs were written. The story was posted on Monday.
You can debate the list all you want. Its just opinion. Youre entitled to yours, ours to ours.
But the ping of a new email at 5:30 on Tuesday night added an unexpected opinion.
Why did this emailers opinion matter? Well, because his name is on the list.
Call me, the subject line of the email read.
The email began with a phone number. It was followed by 153 words--no periods or commas to be found. It was signed, Sent from DT.
It was David Terrell, the Bears former first-round pick--eighth overall--in the 2001 draft. He didnt agree with his placement on the list, so RedEye gave him a call and a chance to plead his case.
Heres how the conversation went:
RedEye: David, so lets hear your opinion. Why--(Terrell interrupts)
David Terrell: First of man, lets get this straight. Like I was saying to you, like bro, your opinion is your opinion. I cant say nothin about that. But I mean, man, that email wasnt sent without no love. No hate there, bro. That was just a touch up to say like hey, man, cmon. But anything you want to ask me, man, go for it.
RedEye: Well, all right then. Lets hear your opinion--why do you think you dont belong on the list?
Terrell: My opinion? I dont have an opinion. I just have facts, you know? Factually, my first year with the Bears--my first and my last year--those were like my best years here. My first year was the best team I ever played on besides my Michigan teams, you see what Im saying. But my first year we was one game from the Super Bowl, and I think I was a big, big piece in a lot of those wins. I think I may have won four, five games for my team. I mean, hey, maybe I didnt win em all by myself, but I sure played a big part. (He had 34 catches for 415 yards and 4 TDs that year; 2 catches for 18 yards in the playoffs) The next year I went to Bourbonnais and I kicked the season of with what? Like four touchdowns in three games? (3 TDs in 5 games; 127 total yards
)Then I broke my foot. Then I was done for the whole year. Then my third year I couldnt play cuz my foot was just broke and they had my time limited. shyt, then the last year, I led the league for like the first four games with Rex Grossman at quarterback. Until Rex Grossman breaks his foot against Minnesota. Did you forget that? I think you musta forgot about that. Man, I led the league in like every category basically until Rex broke his foot. When Rex broke his foot, after that, the season was over. I caught, I mean, I had nine different quarterbacks after Rex Grossman. I caught a ball from nine different quarterbacks in one year. Did you forget that? (
14 catches for 267 yards and no TDs led the league, huh?
)
RedEye: Thats not a bad argument, I suppose.
Terrell: Man, thats no argument. Thats fact. Thats what Im saying. But then on top of all that, Jerry Angelo didnt draft me. The person that drafted me was Mark Hatley. Mark Hatley left after the draft and took on the Green Bay job right after our draft was over. Like the day after the draft was over. We could have went into the supplemental draft. That was a breach of contract. It was me, I mean, I asked all the rookies in that draft class, I was like, hey, if I go back in the supplemental draft, are all of yall going back to the supplemental draft? Do all of yall want to be a Chicago Bear? At that particular time, I loved Chicago cuz it was close to Michigan and I had family here. So, my family ties pulled me in. But to me, my thought process anyhow, I was gonna go to Arizona or Cleveland with like the second pick. I wasnt even supposed to come to Chicago. Chicago had Marcus Robinson, Marty Booker . They had like 10 receivers when I came to Chicago, did you forget that? I beat them all out. I won games. I was the first one dancing, touchdown dances. And we was winning. We was the 13-3 Bears. Then Jerry Angelo broke the whole team up. Did you forget about that? We had a great team. We had an awesome team. But new people have to have their team.
RedEye: Would you say you didnt really have a chance playing with so many different quarterbacks?
Terrell: What Ill say is this, to be able to play with a guy like Jay Cutler is one thing. Jay Cutler is without a doubt a top 10 quarterback in the league. No doubt about that. His knowledge of the game, his pocket presence makes him that. I never witnessed that in the NFL. I could have with Rex, but I had limited time with Rex. I only had four games with Rex, you know what Im saying? Great quarterbacks know whats going on before the play. My last year here was just in disarray cuz the quarterbacks didnt even know the play calls. So it takes out some camaraderie, yeah. You look at Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall, they have camaraderie cuz they were in Denver together. The shyt that Jay and Brandon have going on, that shyt is unstoppable. They can look at each other one time and know whats going on. Its like eye contact shyt. They be like, yup, yup--and Boom! Fade route. I didnt have that anywhere but at Michigan with Tom Brady and with that quarterback Drew Henson or Hanson, or whatever. (had by far his best college year with Henson :fukkthis: ) [Editors note: It's Henson.]
RedEye: What would you have given to play with a quarterback like a Jay Cutler?
Terrell: (Laughs, for a long time) I would have cut off both my balls. Id give those up, no problem. You could have neutered me. I woulda been neutered with a smile. shyt, man, for real.
RedEye: With that said, do you wish you went to the supplemental draft for the chance to play with a better quarterback?
Terrell: Nah, not at all. I wouldnt have traded the experience I had here in Chicago for nothing--period. You got me, bro?
RedEye: What do you think your career would have been like if you did go into the supplemental draft?
Terrell: shyt, I dont know. Maybe I would have gone to New England or even Green Bay. (laughs) shyt, my last year in Chicago was huge. That was worth it for real. But man, its money shyt too though. A lot of money shyt went into me not getting balls, bro. Understand that. Jerry Angelo was not a Dave Terrell fan. You talking about if I caught 50 balls my last year I got like an extra $2 million or something and if I did get 1,000 yards that was like an extra $2.5 million. Come on man, shyt, I was wondering why Jeff George took some snaps out there, shyt.
RedEye: Why wasnt Jerry Angelo a David Terrell fan?
Terrell: Cuz he didnt draft me. Did you not hear me? He didnt draft our class. He came in right after the draft. Thats a breach of contract. We could have gone to the supplemental draft.
RedEye: Then why didnt you go into the supplemental draft?
Terrell: Youre talking about young kids and all of them saying, Dave youre gonna be straight. You feel me? ... Im looking at it like, all right, we gonna embark on this. But after (the 2001 draft classes) contracts be done, none of them were on the team. After Anthony Thomas contract was done, he was gone. A-Train got done bad here, man. It could have been Dave Terrell and the A-Train show, you never know. We talked in the rookie camp after the draft we were sitting down in the basement together and talking about the supplemental draft. What do we all want to do? And me, to be honest with you, I kinda wanted to go in the supplemental draft. I knew the situations, I talked to the GMs, I knew what was going on and was like, shyt, these are my guys and Im gonna roll with em. Ive always been a cool team player like that. Ask anybody. Urlacher, all them will tell you the truth. I had fun with my guys.
RedEye: For a long time, Chicago has developed a reputation as a place where, as Muhsin Muhammad said, receivers go to die. Would you agree with that?
Terrell: No, man, no. You know me, man. Look, when I was here in Chicago, the one thing I can say for myself--and anybody can say anything they want--but the proof is in the pudding, bro. Look at the truth. Chicago was (bleep) losers before I came here. But in my first interview with them I was like we gonna win. Were going to change this whole losing persona here in Chicago. Were gonna start being a franchise that people respected, and thats what we went out and did. I didnt say I did it all myself. I guarantee games that we won, that we did win, we needed Dave Terrell. I had a different swagger. Im always going to carry that, you know what I mean. Thats never going to be lost. Thats why I hit you with the email. I dont mind people saying whatever they want to say man, but people need to be factual when they talk about me.
RedEye: So, why do you think you dropped to Chicago in the draft anyway?
Terrell: Man, I dropped cuz they saw a stress fracture in my foot. I played my whole first damn year on a broken leg, bro. I aint complaining about it, though. I was mad cuz I wanted to play. I couldnt sign a Nike deal cuz I had to spat my shoes up. Nike was like we aint giving you no money if you spat up. But I had to. I had to protect my foot.
RedEye: Things didnt really work out in Chicago, but what happened after the Bears?
Terrell: Man, when I went to New England, I damn near had my leg amputated. Like nobody knows that. For real. I had a staph infection that set me out for the whole year. The doctor came in to amputate my leg and my mom wouldnt sign off on it. Thankfully the gangrene didnt get my bone I went to the Broncos, and the whole time I was with the Broncos I had a hole in my leg that I was trying to heal and I tore up my knee. I couldnt get healthy. The last time I played football in Chicago.
RedEye: What do you think about these current Bears?
Terrell: Man, shyt, to be honest with you, like I dont know the new coaches or whatever but I think, man, shewww, they got something. When you get pieces like Jay and Brandon and Forte, with his contract all done. Hes back, damn. My biggest thing would be build that offensive line up, man. Give these guys a chance to grow together and learn and become a good team. But my thought process would be to never let Olin Kreutz go as an organization. That would be the only thing Id say. They have to do a better job of befriending the right people.
RedEye: So how do you think the Bears handled the whole Urlacher-contract thing?
Terrell: Exactly! We aint even got to talk about Urlac! We aint even talked about lach. But I cant speak for them. But this is a business man. Hey, shyt, hey, I cant speak on them because in my eyes I wish theyd given me my fifth year. Who knows. Like if they resigned me for minimum or whatever, I woulda took minimum money, too--Ill say, man, it coulda been real.
RedEye: You keep in touch with any former Bears?
Terrell: Me and Train, shyt, Train is my man. I see Jerry Azuma in the city all the time. Cuz you know, Zoom runs the city. Zoom should be running for mayor sooner or later.
And no, I do not know Sam Hurd. I never met the man a day in my (bleep) life. (laughs)
RedEye: What have you been up to nowadays anyway?
Terrell: I have a newfound respect for single mothers. Especially if they have more than one kid Im a single father. My son is raised by me 24 hours a day. You know what Im saying, I aint married. Maybe it was written like that because I had to be a parent. I think that maybe my life was written like that to be a parent to my son.
David Terrell defends himself after being labeled 'bust' by RedEye - redeyechicago.com
he took something and never came back down
lol
DT!
that nikkas in barber shop be talking about when they talk about their high school ball days.
face
sure he wasn't a bust