New details on Briggs deal

[nfoligno]

Caught this from the Sun Times

 

Briggs' deal has protection for team after 2009

The Bears have never had issue with the performance Lance Briggs has provided on the field. Ultimately, it’s why general manager Jerry Angelo said at the combine that he did not have a problem investing in the three-time Pro Bowl linebacker long term as a core player after he earned more than $7.2 million last season with the franchise tag....

 

But they’ve also protected themselves in the future. Briggs’ $3.3 million roster bonus for 2010—the final roster bonus in the deal—does not come due until June 10 of that year. That’s three months after most roster bonuses are paid at or near the start of the league year in March. What it means is the Bears will be able to decide whether or not they want to stay on the hook for the contract, or if they want to cut ties. The key is they will have time to make that decision after free agency and the draft have taken place.

 

Briggs is going to be well paid in the first two seasons. He will collect $8.805 million this year and $6.1 million in 2009. But after that, if Angelo decides for whatever reason he doesn’t want to go forward, he can get out of the deal with minimal impact against the salary cap because the contract included a signing bonus of $4 million. The bulk of the bonus money is contained in three roster bonuses totaling $11.8 million. Those first two roster bonuses are payable in March, the first last month, and the next in March 2009.

 

Key point of the article was Briggs late 2010 roster bonus, which could put Briggs in line for a 2010 departure. For me at least, that wasn't the key to the article. How little his SB was. When LT and I have talked about Briggs deal, I do not recall our even having considered so little of his bonus money being in the form of a SB. Nearly $12m of his bonus dollars are in roster bonuses, w/ over $3m not due until 2010.

 

So two things from this.

 

One. Our current cap space is lower than expected. While I believe we were going off the assumption most of his bonus money was in the form of a SB, meaning spread out over the life of the deal, instead most is in roster bonuses. Briggs will hit us for nearly $9m this year. More than the franchise tag hit we accepted last year, and far more than expected.

 

Two. As the article point out, after the first two years making big bucks, while we hope this would not come to pass, he would be relatively easy to cut. W/ so little in SB and most in roster bonus, we would not take much of a hit by cutting him.

 

Final point. W/ less money in cap to play w/, how does this affect Urlacher demanding more coin? We are talking w/ Harris now, who appears to be our top priority. Gould and Hester are not far behind, and I read we want to lock up Anderson too. Do we have the coin to get all this done, sign our rookies, AND give Urlacher a new deal?

[balta1701-A]

Doesn't this suggest that the market for Briggs was even less than we thought?

[DABEARSDABOMB]

The Bears still should have ample cap room to be able to extend Harris, renegotitae with Urlacher and take care Gould (kickers don't make a ton), Hester (this will be the interesting contract), and Anderson.

[DrunkBomber]

The Bears still should have ample cap room to be able to extend Harris, renegotitae with Urlacher and take care Gould (kickers don't make a ton), Hester (this will be the interesting contract), and Anderson.

Ive been curious for a while to see what theyre going to do with Hesters contract. Its going to be very interesting...