The Monday after the end of a playoff-less football season is never a happy time. Players clean out their lockers, say their goodbyes and, for many, wonder if they will get another chance to make an impression in the NFL.
Lance Briggs isn't one of those players. He knows that when training camp begins he'll be one of the highest-paid players in the sport, he just doesn't know who is going to be signing his checks.
Briggs is going to be on the open market and Pro Bowl linebackers with 140 tackles do well in such situations. His current teammates seem resigned to a Briggs-less 2008 in Chicago because they don't believe that the Bears will
open their wallet to bring him back.
Brian Urlacher - "I don't think he'll be here. I don't think the Bears will pay him what he wants."
Adewale Ogunleye - "No matter what offer the Bears give Lance, there's going to be another team that's probably going to give a better deal than that."
It's a tough spot for the Bears. They've got
a lot of holes that need patching and only so much money to spend on one player. Losing Briggs obviously hurts the defense but $7.25 million could do a lot to help the offense. Spent wisely, Briggs' money could land two or three players who make the Bears better in 2008. It's asking a lot of
Jerry Angelo to do that but new years can mean new beginnings.
Bears Say Their Goodbyes to Lance Briggs - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog
01-01-2008, 06:04 PM
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