[CBFF] ESPN - Bears rewarding corners but not budging stance on Briggs

[Jerry Madsen]

 Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Bears rewarding corners but not budging stance on Briggs
By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

The five-year, $28 million extension to which the Chicago Bears signed
Nathan Vasher on Monday, and the reports the team is prepared to lay
out big money to retain fellow starting cornerback Charles Tillman,
are an indication of the kind of commitment the defending NFC
champions have made to keeping together the nucleus of their defense.

It's not a sign of things to come, however, for disgruntled Lance
Briggs, the two-time Pro Bowl weakside linebacker who has been
designated as a franchise player, but who is still unsigned and has
stayed away from all of the Bears' offseason workouts.

Although the Bears signed Vasher to a five-year deal through 2012 that
included $14 million in guaranteed money, and are believed to have
proposed a similar extension to Tillman, who is entering the final
year of his contract, the negotiating stance toward Briggs is
unchanged. Chicago has remained intransigent in its proposal to
Briggs, not budging from a one-year qualifying offer for a franchise
linebacker, a tender that carries a price tag of $7.206 million.

There have been no substantive negotiations with Briggs and agent Drew
Rosenhaus on a multiyear contract. And the long-term deal for Vasher,
and possibility of one for Tillman, might mean Chicago is even less
inclined to modify its Briggs strategy.

For his part, Briggs continues to insist that he wants a long-term
contract and that, in lieu of one, he will wait until the 10th game of
the season to report. That would allow the four-year veteran to play
the minimum number of games required to earn an accrued season toward
his league pension and to perhaps become an unrestricted free agent
next spring.

In March, when the Bears were involved in the Rosenhaus-instigated
trade discussions with the Redskins, Briggs essentially agreed in
principle with Washington on a deal that would have guaranteed him $20
million. So while the $14 million in guarantees Chicago awarded Vasher
is a huge payday, it falls well shy of Briggs' expectations in terms
of upfront money.

And there are these elements as well: The Chicago organization doesn't
feel at all compelled to lay out $20 million for Briggs, doesn't
consider him worth that kind of money, and seems confident it has
young linebackers with whom to replace him in a unit that
statistically rated No. 5 in the league a year ago.

Posturing or not, the coaches claim to be impressed with second-year
pro Jamar Williams and rookie Michael Okwo, fourth- and third-round
picks, respectively, and certainly have hinted that they consider both
as viable contingencies should Briggs not report. Reports are that the
two have similar athletic skills to those Briggs possesses.

Chicago is already paying five-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker Brian
Urlacher more than $6 million per year, and management doesn't think
it's especially prudent to have another big-money player at the
position.

A much more pressing priority for Chicago is a long-term extension for
Tommie Harris, the standout defensive tackle who has two seasons
remaining on the rookie deal he signed as a first-round pick in 2004.
Harris is only 24 years old, has been named to a pair of Pro Bowl
games, and is viewed as essential to a defense that has been decimated
at tackle this spring by free agency defections and the Monday release
of Tank Johnson.

Look for Harris, who seems to be well on his way to a full recovery
from the hamstring surgery that ended his 2006 season after a dozen
games, to be the next target of the Bears' front office for a
long-term extension.

For most Tampa 2 defenses, the weakside linebacker position manned by
Briggs is a high-premium one, and some franchises that employ the
mostly-zone scheme attempt to get by with more modestly paid
cornerbacks. But Vasher and Tillman are not typical Tampa-2
cornerbacks, and Chicago is miscast as a Tampa-2 team.

Over the second half of the 2006 season, the Bears played about 40
percent in man-to-man coverage. Vasher has 16 interceptions in three
seasons, and Tillman has 14 pickoffs in four years, and both are more
adept at single coverage than most Tampa 2 cornerbacks.

Also, the Bears don't have as many contingencies at cornerback as they
do at weakside linebacker. If the team failed to keep Tillman and he
eventually left as an unrestricted free agent next spring, it might
mean switching second-year veteran free safety Danieal Manning to
cornerback.

So, while the Bears are well on their way to resolving a potential
crisis at cornerback, the team's largesse on defense means little to
Briggs' future with the franchise.

Senior writer Len Pasquarelli covers the NFL for ESPN.com.