Surprised Briggs 'happy' with deal

Surprised Briggs 'happy' with deal


The sting of losing wide receiver Bernard Berrian to the rival Minnesota Vikings did not last long for the Bears, who followed up a free-agent loss with a win in securing the future of linebacker Lance Briggs.

By keeping the three-time Pro Bowler, the Bears ensured their starting corps of linebackers will remain in place for a fifth season. The club was able to bring him back at its price, one he was happy with. A market never developed for him as teams he expected to be bidding for his services did not come calling.

Briggs admitted being somewhat surprised that he's returning.

''There were certain things that happened,'' he said. ''I thought San Francisco was going to be a place I was going to be. New Orleans was another place that was high on me. But they traded for Jonathan Vilma, got a linebacker. Those are kind of the setbacks as far as free agency went.''

When you factor in the $7.206 million Briggs earned last season, he has done well even if he didn't approach the $20 million in guaranteed money Adalius Thomas pocketed from New England last year. His contract will pay him $21.6 million over the first three years -- $13 million of which is guaranteed -- and that means he's in line to have earned more than $28 million in four years by the end of the 2010 season.

''I got the market that I felt I was supposed to get,'' Briggs said. ''There's three or four years that my contract is right in line with [Thomas']. So I'm not mad, I'm happy.''

He should not be as upset as he was in the past year because he was prevented from reaching the open market by the franchise tag. Now he embraces the idea, saying he's essentially earning the average of the franchise tag for the next few seasons.

As for losing Berrian, it's true the Bears have only two wide receivers under contract who have caught passes in the NFL -- Mark Bradley and Devin Hester -- but they're a running team with an unstable quarterback situation. So what else is new?

Investing in Berrian as a top receiver, by matching the $42 million deal he got or franchise tagging him at $7.848 million, could have been dangerous overspending, and there's no telling if the tag would have created the acrimony it did with Briggs. Now the Bears will monitor the market for a veteran wide receiver and turn their efforts toward contracts for special-teams standout Brendon Ayanbadejo, defensive tackle Tommie Harris, kicker Robbie Gould, defensive end Mark Anderson and Hester.

The Bears spoke with agent Drew Rosenhaus about Ayanbadejo on Saturday when they finished off the Briggs deal.

[www.suntimes.com]