Lance Briggs

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Lance Briggs
Date of birth	November 12, 1980 (age 26)
Place of birth	Sacramento, California
Position(s)	Linebacker
College	Arizona
NFL Draft	2003 / Round 3/ Pick 68
Pro Bowls	2006, 2007
Statistics	Pro Football Reference CBS.com
Team(s)
2003-present	Chicago Bears

Lance Briggs (born November 12, 1980 in Sacramento, California) is an American football linebacker who plays for the Chicago Bears. He is currently the team's starting Weakside linebacker. Briggs, a two-time Pro Bowl contender, is known for his productive performances and controversial remarks.^[1]

1 Early life
2 Professional career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life

A Sacramento native, Briggs attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, California. He was a three-time first-team All-Pac-10 Conference selection as a linebacker at the University of Arizona. Briggs finished his college career with 308 tackles, ten and a half sacks, 36 tackles for losses, three interceptions, ten passes deflected, five forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 33 games at strong side linebacker.

[edit] Professional career

Briggs was a third round draft pick (68th overall) by the Chicago Bears in the 2003 NFL Draft. In 2004 he led the team in tackles with 168, and was elected as a second alternate to the Pro Bowl. In 2005, Briggs was selected to represent the National Football Conference in the 2006 Pro Bowl. However, Briggs drew controversy when he refused to attended the Bears' summer camp, resulting in a temporary demotion.

He finished the 2006 Chicago Bears season as Brian Urlacher’s key sidekick. Briggs was selected to play in the 2007 Pro Bowl, but opted to defer the invitation because of an injured foot. He became a free agent following the NFL playoffs, 2006-07, leaving his future with the Bears in the air. Despite Briggs’ high price tag, commentary from NFL on Fox revealed Urlacher was willing to take a pay-cut in order to keep Briggs on the team. On February 16, 2007, the Bears officially placed the franchise tag on him, which guarantees him a one-year contract for the 2007 NFL season at slightly more than $7.2 million dollars.^[2]

On the morning of March 3, 2007, Briggs was featured The Mike North Morning Show, and stated he was upset with the amount of money he was currently earning. Briggs later stated he enjoys the his teammates, coaches and fans, but was fed up with the organization. He later went on to state he no longer wanted to be a Bear, and demanded a trade.^[3]. Briggs also made his unhappiness known in a March 2007 interview with a Chicago radio station in which he said "I'll do everything that's within my power to not be with this organization." ^[4]

On March 12, 2007 Briggs announced he no longer considers himself a member of the Chicago Bears. During a cell phone interview with FOXsports.com Briggs said "I am now prepared to sit out the year if the Bears don't trade me or release me, I've played my last snap for them. I'll never play another down for Chicago again."^[5] In explaining his demands, he said "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." A report from FOX Sports on March 27 claimed that the Washington Redskins allegedly offered the Bears their first round pick in exchange for Briggs and the Bears' own first round pick.^[6] On March 28, 2007 at the owners meetings in Pheonix, Arizona, Bears GM Jerry Angelo confirmed that the Redskins have made a trade offer and announced "We'll evaluate if that's good for us and get back to them,".^[7]