Richard Dent will play out the option year of his contract with the Bears for $99,000 in 1986 if agreement on a new contract can`t be reached, according to Dent`s agent, Everett Glenn.
”They gambled at the beginning of last season and lost. If they want to gamble again, we are prepared to gamble,” said Glenn after meeting all day Monday with Bears` general manager Jerry Vainisi and Dent in Lake Forest.
Glenn said the two sides are ”less than a half million” apart over the proposed three-year contract. The Bears are offering $1.8 million, and Dent is asking an estimated $2.3 million.
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Glenn said he postponed a trip back to Oakland to meet again with Vainisi on Tuesday.
”Our position will change no further,” said Glenn.
If Dent plays out his option, Glenn said he will gamble that the new collective bargaining agreement for the 1987 season will include a more liberal form of free agency, and Dent will be able to make up lost money on the free market.
Glenn said the Bears don`t want to pay Dent more than Dan Hampton`s new four-year contract of an estimated average of $750,000 a year because Hampton is entering his eighth year and Dent his fourth.
”We think Richard Dent is better than Dan Hampton,” said Glenn.