Rick Mueller Talks about Vilma and Free Agency on WIST Sports Saturday
Actually, the list of players we have to re-sign by next year also includes Jon Vilma. That's 4 players who are arguably as good, if not outright better, than all but 1, maybe 2, on the open market this off-season. That's 4 players over the next 2 seasons who will legitimately command top dollar to retain their services. I think that's more prevalent in the minds of our front office than simply being frugal. Furthermore, I wonder if Briggs ever really intended to leave Chicago, or if he was simply determining his market value. If that was the impression on the minds of GMs around the league, it would explain the seemingly limited interest in him. Even if we had been able to convince him to leave an ideal situation for him with the Bears, how much might it have cost us? With all the young talent that we have to consider extending, I'm not sure it would have been feasible to over-extend for a player like Briggs or Samuel.