Lance Briggs

Lance Marell Briggs[1] (born November 12, 1980) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Arizona and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft, where he played his entire 12-year career.

Lance Briggs
Briggs in 2011
No. 55
Position:Linebacker
Personal information
Born: (1980-11-12) November 12, 1980
Los Angeles, California
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:254 lb (115 kg)
Career information
High school:Elk Grove (CA)
College:Arizona
NFL Draft:2003 / Round: 3 / Pick: 68
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Tackles:1,173
Sacks:15.0
Interceptions:16
Forced fumbles:19
Player stats at NFL.com

Early years

A Sacramento, California native, Briggs attended Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove, California. While at Arizona, he was a two-time first-team All-Pac-10 Conference selection as a linebacker for the Arizona Wildcats football team. Briggs finished his college career with 308 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 36 tackles for losses, three interceptions, 10 passes deflected, five forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in 33 games at strong side linebacker.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears selected Briggs in the third round (68th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft. Briggs was the 13th linebacker drafted in 2003.

On July 25, 2003, the Chicago Bears signed Briggs to a four-year, $2.06 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $690,000.[2] Throughout training camp, Briggs competed to be a starting outside linebacker against veteran Bryan Knight.[3] Head coach Dick Jauron named Briggs a backup outside linebacker to start his rookie season, behind Bryan Knight and Warrick Holdman.

Briggs (55) at the Bears summer training camp in 2008.

He made his professional regular season debut during the Chicago Bears' season-opener at the San Francisco 49ers and made one solo tackle as they lost 49-7. On October 5, 2003, Briggs earned his first career start and recorded one solo tackle during a 24-21 against the Oakland Raiders in Week 4.[4] In Week 9, Briggs collected a season-high 11 combined tackles (seven solo) during a 12-10 loss at the Detroit Lions. On December 7, 2003, Briggs recorded nine combined tackles (seven solo), deflected two passes, and intercepted a pass which he returned for the first touchdown of his career during a 34-21 loss at the Green Bay Packers in Week 13. Briggs made his first career interception off a pass by Packers' quarterback Brett Favre and returned it for a 45-yard touchdown during the first quarter.[5] He finished his rookie season in 2003 with 78 combined tackles (65 solo), four interceptions, one interception, and one touchdown in 16 games and 13 starts.[6]

In 2004, he made 126 tackles 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 attend the Bears' summer camp, resulting in a temporary demotion.

He finished the 2006 Chicago Bears season as a clutch performer on the Bears' defense. Briggs was selected to play in the 2007 Pro Bowl, but opted to decline the invitation because of an injured foot. He became a free agent following the 2007 playoffs, leaving his future with the Bears in the air. Despite Briggs’ high price tag, commentary from NFL on Fox revealed Brian 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.[7]

Lance Briggs in November 2009.

On the morning of March 3, 2007, Briggs was featured on the Mike North Morning Show, and stated he was upset with the amount of money he was currently earning. Briggs later stated he enjoys 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.[8] 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." [9]

On March 12, 2007, Briggs announced that he no longer considered 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."[10] 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.[11] On March 28, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo confirmed that the Redskins have made a trade offer and stated, "We'll evaluate if that's good for us and get back to them".[12] Angelo rejected the offer on April 3,[13] but later stated they were interested in negotiating a deal the following day.[14] The Bears then proposed a trade with the Redskins which included linebacker Rocky McIntosh as well as the Redskins first-round pick in exchange for Briggs.[15] Briggs did not attend the team's first meeting after their Super Bowl XLI loss, or their mandatory mini camp session in May 2007.[16][17] Despite his comments, the Bears re-signed Briggs to a six-year, $36 million contract on March 1, 2008.

On September 2, 2011 Briggs and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, formally asked the Bears organization for a trade, with three years left on his six-year contract.[18] The request came after Briggs asked the Bears for a raise.[19]

Briggs made the 2012 Pro Bowl team, but was unable to play due to an ankle injury.[20]

On April 11, 2012, Briggs was given a one-year extension, increasing his contract through 2014.[21] In week 7 of 2013 against the Washington Redskins, Briggs suffered a fracture in his shoulder.[22] He rejoined the Bears in week 16, a 54-11 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.[23]

Briggs recorded 24 tackles and one interception during the 2014 NFL season. After starting the season as the Bears' weak-side linebacker, Briggs was injured during week 5 and missed three games. He commented that his future with the team was in jeopardy, as he was in the final year of his contract.[24] Briggs returned to play four more games, but injured his groin muscle during a week 13 game against the Detroit Lions. The Bears subsequently placed Briggs on their injury reserve list. He retired on September 2, 2015.[25]

Briggs became a free agent but remained unsigned through the offseason. He announced his retirement on September 9.[26]

NFL statistics
Briggs (upper right) and Charles Tillman pursue Seattle Seahawks receiver Nate Burleson in a game in 2009.
YearTeamGPCOMBTOTALASTSACKFFFRFR YDSINTIR YDSAVG IRLNGTDPD
2003CHI167865130.0000145454514
2004CHI16126102240.50001383838110
2005CHI1610783242.03202301520111
2006CHI16134113211.041021891809
2007CHI1410283192.0210000003
2008CHI1611090200.5122131249011
2009CHI1511893252.5000100005
2010CHI158976132.0210211107
2011CHI1610586190.0200100004
2012CHI1610374291.520021105574211
2013CHI97151203.0200000008
2014CHI83524110100120003
Career1731,17493623815.016732162561774586

[27]

Key

  • GP: games played
  • COMB: combined tackles
  • TOTAL: total tackles
  • AST: assisted tackles
  • SACK: sacks
  • FF: forced fumbles
  • FR: fumble recoveries
  • FR YDS: fumble return yards
  • INT: interceptions
  • IR YDS: interception return yards
  • AVG IR: average interception return
  • LNG: longest interception return
  • TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
  • PD: passes defensed

Personal life

In August 2007, Briggs crashed his new Lamborghini Murcielago into a light pole. He then left the scene of the accident and reported his car stolen. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He was also cited for failure to give immediate notice of an accident and improper lane usage.[28]

Briggs currently serves as a Bears analyst for NBC Sports Chicago's Football Aftershow, working alongside host Laurence Holmes and former teammates Olin Kreutz, Matt Forte, and Alex Brown.[29]

gollark: Also a few minor things dealing with peripherals.
gollark: In mildly incompatible ways, even.
gollark: I have stuff like "read file to string", "write string to file", "recursively copy table", "map over table", "read URL to string", "convert byte table to hex", and "split string" duplicated all over the place.
gollark: I've been meaning to make a useful utility library but never got to it.
gollark: I think the potatOS one returns a table, doesn't include the separator, and uses a string as a separator, not a pattern.

References
  1. "Briggs on Pro-Football-Reference". rbref.com. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
  2. "Spotrac.com: Lance Briggs contract". Spotrac.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  3. "Briggs Pushing Knight". ChicagoTribune.com. August 20, 2003. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  4. "LB Bryan Knight: Second string again?". 247sports.com. March 18, 2004. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. "Chicago Bears @ Green Bay Packers - December 7th, 2003". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  6. "Pro Football Reference: Lance Briggs stats (2003)". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  7. Chicagobears.com, Bears designate Briggs as franchise player Archived February 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on February 17, 2007
  8. Chicago Sun-Times, Briggs to Bears: Pay me or trade me Retrieved on March 3, 2007
  9. Associated Press (March 7, 2007). "Briggs not happy with Bears; Angelo feels salary is just". ESPN. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
  10. Glazer, Jay (March 12, 2007). "Bears Pro Bowler ready to sit out season". Foxsports.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
  11. Foxsports.com, Redskins to make play for Bears' Briggs Archived May 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on March 27, 2007
  12. USAToday.com, Owners make no change to sudden-death system Retrieved on March 29, 2007
  13. ESPN.com, Bears tell Redskins draft pick swap won't do Retrieved on April 3, 2007
  14. Chicagobears.com, Bears still negotiating with Redskins Archived April 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on April 4, 2007
  15. La Canfora, Jason (April 27, 2007). "Redskins May Still Trade for Briggs". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  16. Chicagobears.com, Bears determined to complete unfinished business Archived April 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on April 4, 2007
  17. Yahoo! Sports, Briggs a no-show at Bears minicamp (May 18, 2007), Retrieved on May 21, 2007.
  18. Seifert, Kevin. "Hard to imagine Bears trading Lance Briggs"., Retrieved on September 3, 2011
  19. McClure, Vaughn (August 29, 2011). "Bears' Briggs wants raise, not trade". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  20. "2012 NFL Pro Bowl: Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher Ruled Out - SB Nation Chicago". Chicago.sbnation.com. Retrieved August 4, 2012..
  21. "Briggs excited about one-year extension". Chicagobears.com. April 11, 2012. Archived from the original on June 5, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  22. Sessler, Marc (October 21, 2013). "Lance Briggs (shoulder fracture) out 6 weeks for Bears". National Football League. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  23. Mayer, Larry (March 17, 2014). "Briggs happy Bears re-signed Tillman". Chicago Bears. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  24. Wiederer, Dan (November 8, 2014). "Lance Briggs faces uncertain future with resolve". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  25. Edholm, Eric (November 28, 2014). "Lance Briggs lands on IR; career with Bears could be over". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  26. Schwab, Frank (September 2, 2015). "Lance Briggs retires (probably) to join CSN Chicago's Bears coverage". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  27. "Lance Briggs Stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  28. usatoday.com, Bears' Briggs: 'I panicked' after crash Retrieved on December 10, 2014
  29. "Olin Kreutz to join NBC Sports Chicago's Bears coverage team". NBC Sports Chicago. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
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