Lance Briggs - Now Visiting Tampa [M E R G E D] (1 Viewer)

[Gin-Tilly]

I'm not so sure. There has been a lot of speculation going around concerning every team. The Saints just being mentioned in some of these exchanges says positive things. For some reason I don't see that Saints going after Samuel because of his over all price. On the other hand I do see them having some interest in Briggs.

We all know this is a copy cat league.... I'm sure after watching the Giants do their thing this organization realizes that you don't need outstanding corners. We only need a solid front four, pretty good LB's, and some snot making safeties.

We can get lower tier FA CB's and maybe one in something in the draft. I personally like this direction and aggressiveness I'm seeing from the team.

 

[Saint by the Bay]

What I heard his agent say this morning is it's very likely he'll stay with the Bears. Heard that during an interview with Drew on NFLN this monring (I think the interview was actually done yesterday).

 

[Lustmord]

I thought he was done with the Bears? He was ****** at them and almsot held out last year, and he only played in 07 if they did not franchise him this yeara and let him leave via FA

 

[Buickman]

You make a good point and I agree with liking the aggressiveness of the FO this year. I was just thinking about this, and with a Briggs-Vilma-Fujita corp, then maybe the safeties wouldn't have to play in the box so much for run support, and could provide better pass coverage and not bite so often on play action.

I hope we pull this off.

 

[REALCHRISM]

Has anyone else heard ESPN report this or is this actually the report from NFL Network?

 

[Albi]

Hey, If the Pats don't think you should draft LBs early in the draft, then maybe we shouldn't. Look who they signed last year (A. Thomas) and look who they aren't giving big money to(Samuel), so maybe the Saints have something here...

 

[Gideon]

How much does the cap go up by next year?

I'm just worried with all of this excitement that one of Smith, Evans and Colston might get left out in the cold...and I think the succesful teams have shown that keeping your own proven talent is more important than bringing in new free agent talent...

That said, a Fujita/Vilma/Briggs lb corps would be unbelievable to watch...assuming Briggs hasn't had his stats fluffed playing behind a good Chicago line alongside Urlacher...

Assuming this goes through (big assumption), what do we do in the draft at 10?! It looks like we're prioritizing front 7 over secondary (which I agree with), so if Ellis and Dorsey are out of reach (they won't be there at 10, but if one is there at 7/8, trade up?) do we take a CB? Or do we try and trade back, pick up extra picks and take Balmer? I'd really like to see us getting an extra second round (would only need to trade back 5 spots or so) - we could take Balmer in the first (improving the line and protecting our now STUD linebackers, which also protects the secondary) and take guys like Cason, Flowers, Chevis Jackson, Patrick Lee, etc. in the 2nd and 3rd rounds...

Damn! The more I think about this the more excited I get! 8mil for Briggs still leaves us with 20mil odd of cap space...another medium signing or two (1 db, 1 wr) and we can work on giving our 3 big FA's next year deals...

 

[MSUSousaphone]

Has anyone else heard ESPN report this or is this actually the report from NFL Network?

From what I can piece together....

Two guys on NFLN said that he would 'best fit with the Saints'. There has been NO indiciations that he's talking with them, or even that we're pursuing him, just that he would best fit in with our system.

And then people took that and ran with it. That's what I'm seeing.

 

[Furious One]

I hate being a Debbie Downer, but it wouldn't surprise me if Briggs' agent puts that out just to negotiate a bigger contract with another team. For some reason it's sounding like NO is the spring board for jumping into free agency this year.

With all the help we need on defense, I guess it's true that we would be a good springboard this season. I just hope one or two of those players hop on over here.

 

[robsmith32]

as the mention by rosenhaus, it was on nfl network, watched a vid of it there, they were talking about how he has so many hitting FA this year. and this weekend would be VERY busy for him..
he was mentioning not to be surprised with signings happening within an hour past the start.
and that briggs is close to staying a bear.

 

[REALCHRISM]

From what I can piece together....

Two guys on NFLN said that he would 'best fit with the Saints'. There has been NO indiciations that he's talking with them, or even that we're pursuing him, just that he would best fit in with our system.

And then people took that and ran with it. That's what I'm seeing.

Right, I saw that report. But the OP poster said that the guys on ESPN were making the speculation. So my question had more to do with rather or not the OP had mistakenly said ESPN but meant NFL Network, which would mean that this thread was not reporting any new info/speculation on the matter and only repeating what was already said and known on this board last night. And that's not to disrespect the OP but I am trying to see if we are dealing with more speculation that could add fuel to the idea of Briggs signing here.

 

[cdogg]

as the mention by rosenhaus, it was on nfl network, watched a vid of it there, they were talking about how he has so many hitting FA this year. and this weekend would be VERY busy for him..
he was mentioning not to be surprised with signings happening within an hour past the start.
and that briggs is close to staying a bear.

Believe nothing Rosenhaus says! Not saying Briggs will be a Saint, but he is the last person you should listen to.

 

[dapperdan]

Smokescreen so the 49ers won't be penalized when they sign him.

I don't think so...He doesn't really fit the 49ers scheme at this point. They're looking for a 3-4 TED and an Elephant ROL possibly. I just don't see the 49ers spending big money on Briggs, unless they move back to a 4-3, which could happen.

 

[Hollywoodrow70]

Briggs Visits???

I know someone wrote on here earlier that there were 4 teams looking to be in the Lance Briggs picture. Someone even wrote that ESPN mentioned that we could be in the mix too. But has there been any information on where Briggs is planning his visit today or this weekend?

 

[Professor]

Smokescreen so the 49ers won't be penalized when they sign him.

I am not sure where all this "penalizing a team" stuff comes from. The Bucs had a deal in place for Faine when I got out of bed this morning at 5:30 Eastern time. You think there wasn't some contact prior to 12:01?? Deals like that don't happen in a couple of hours. They won't be penalized any more than any other team will for signing on the first day of eligibility.