Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Lance Briggs Threatens To Sit Out 2007

In the latest chapter of the soap opera that is Lance Briggs' contract situation with the Bears, he has now gone on record saying he will sit out 2007 rather than playing one more season with Chicago.

"I am now prepared to sit out the year if the Bears don't trade me or release me," Briggs told FOXSports.com via cell phone Monday. "I've played my last snap for them. I'll never play another down for Chicago again.

"People think I can't afford to sit out the year, I can take out loans to get me through that year just fine because eventually I'll have a deal somewhere," he said. "There are things I can do to make sure I'm fine financially if I sit out.

"I can also decide what other course of action I can take as the season gets closer. The Bears have shown I'm not in their long-term plans so if that's the case, I don't want to be here."
But once again, it's not about the money.

I love Lance Briggs, but the fact that somebody would complain about making $7.2 million for a year's work and bitch about it just does not compute in my feeble little brain. He needs financial security in his life through a multi-year deal? What the hell does he plan on doing with the $7 million?

There is another reason that Briggs wants out of Chicago, and it's not just the "disrespect." Nope. He wants to be the man.

"I've talked to Brian [Urlacher] about it," said Briggs. "I'm a competitor and I want the same thing he has. I've learned a lot from Brian as a player and a leader and I eventually want to be 'the man' somewhere. I want to be like him and have everything put on me too. Obviously I'll never be able to do that there.

"Still, had the Bears made me a long-term offer that I found acceptable, I probably would have sacrificed this desire and stayed. I don't want to be somewhere I'm not wanted long-term."
In case you weren't aware, Lance's agent is Drew Rosenhaus. I know. You're shocked. These are the types of things that Rosenhaus' clients tend to do, so to think that he has nothing to do with this situation would be ignorant.

Oh, and if you're one of those Bears fans that's still holding out hope Briggs will be playing as a Chicago Bear next season, think about this: Thomas Jones is also represented by Drew Rosenhaus. We all know how that worked out.
Posted by
Tags: , , , , , ,

5 comments:

  1. yeah, seven mil for one year sounds pretty good but let's look a little deeper.

    start by taking 1.5 m for agent and manager (maybe more), which leaves 5.5.

    the government will get around half. let's be generous cuz he's got a good accountant (who, by the way,he's also paying through the nose for) and keeps around 3 million.

    so, in reality he's being paid 3 million for a one-year contract with no guarantees of anything beyond that.

    big deal, you say, that's still a sweet payday and the guy's got lots of good years ahead of him.

    but what if he has a career-ending injury in game 15 of next season? and instead of a lucrative multi-year contract with a guaranteed minimum way bigger than that 3 million, he's sitting at home watching the games in 2009?

    briggs is a commodity. why on earth would he risk a GUARANTEED larger payday for a one-year check?

    tough luck, it's still 3 million, you say. but if he suffers ted johnson-style injuries, you know how long that money will last?

    NOT LONG.

    when you have a marketable skill - especially one with a limited life span - you want to make as much damned money as you possibly can while you're able.

    trust me, it's about money for the mccaskey's. so why the FUCK shouldn't it be about money for briggs?
    ReplyDelete
  2. Good points.

    It shouldn't be about money for Briggs because I don't want him to leave the Bears.

    Also, I'm reasonably sure I could live the rest of my life off of $3 million, even if I had medical bills.

    Also, it's not really the McCaskeys. It's the salary cap. If the Bears give Briggs the kind of long term deal he wants for the type of money he wants they'll have to get rid of half their defense in the next few years to fit under the cap.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Briggs is a douche, I want him out of the Bears organization. Why is it that all of Drew Rosenhaus' clients think they are better than they are.

    Don't get me wrong, I think Briggs is good, very good. But the Bears did offer Briggs a very good offer at 4.7 million a year for seven years. That sounds like long term plans to me. And of course, it wasn't good enough for him.

    I don't want him there anymore. Look what happened to T.O. (another Rosenhaus client). Do we want the same situation in Chicago. No, not at all. Let him go break another team. You can feel sorry for him if you want, but think of the other players who are going to have to get cut from the team or not get "their money" because of his greed. Not to mention, he's not even the best linebacker on the team. Trade him now.
    ReplyDelete
  4. i fucking hate Rosenhaus. he did the same thing to Javon Walker for my beloved Packers


    trade him chicago, get a 2nd and live with it.
    ReplyDelete
  5. It always makes me laugh when people say things like

    "It shouldn't be about money for Briggs because I don't want him to leave the Bears."

    Well woopdie doo guess what IT DOESN"T MATTER WHAT YOU WANT. Lance wants to get paid what he's worth. Guess what that's more than what the Bears were offering. Can you blame him? Sure you could say he's holding out cause he's greedy, guess what Americans tend to do things for money more than any other reason. Professional Football is a business folks its just so happens that the employees get paid alot more.
    ReplyDelete

Try to play nice with each other, or else I will remove your comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Follow by Email