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Bidding war expected for Berrian Scout.com


 Updated: February 29, 2008, 2:45 AM EST

 Chicago Bears wide receiver Bernard Berrian could see a bidding war
for his services between two or three teams starting on Friday.



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 Complete NFL free-agency news, as well as audio and video, can be
found at Scout.com.


The Bears wide receiver is expected to be hotly pursued by two teams,
the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans, according to league
sources. A third team, the San Francisco 49ers, are the wild card.
They could choose to enter the fray, as well, and are in dire need of
a speedy receiver.

Last year at this time, the Vikings and Titans were in a three-way
battle to sign free-agent wide receiver Kevin Curtis. But the third
team involved in the process, the Philadelphia Eagles, wound up
signing the former St. Louis Ram.

The interesting facet of the battle was that Philadelphia wound up
signing him for less than Minnesota offered Curtis.

Curtis chose Philadelphia over Minnesota, sources say, because he
wanted the best chance to win.

But sources say the first two teams that were involved in the Curtis
negotiations last year will go after Berrian hard. In fact, we could
see a bidding war between Tennessee and Minnesota.

Both teams are badly in need of receiver help and neither team was
able to secure a top-flight receiver last year.

As Scout.com first noted last week in the NFL Insider Free-Agent Blog,
Minnesota has Berrian as their top free agent to sign. And as
Scout.com also first noted last week, the Oakland Raiders' Jerry
Porter is another receiver who has their interest. So Minnesota has a
plan should they miss on securing Berrian or if they decide his price
is too high. Sources also say that the team was interested in signing
Houston Texans wide receiver Andre' Davis who wound up re-signing with
the team on Thursday. Minnesota planned on using Davis as their
primary kickoff returner in addition to using him in their receiver
rotation.

Minnesota also is expected to pursue Cincinnati Bengals free safety
Madieu Williams as also first noted by Scout.com last week.

As for Tennessee, despite re-signing wide receiver Justin Gage, they
have their attention on Berrian.

Titans offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger's scheme features a
deep passing game and Berrian is known for stretching the field
vertically. Berrian is the kind of down-the-field receiver Tennessee
covets. If Tennessee is unsuccessful in signing Berrian or if they
deem his price too high, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Bryant
Johnson could enter the mix. He runs well for a receiver of his size.

Adam Caplan's NFL news is published across the Scout.com network..



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