Maybe now he'll shut his yap and play. Still have mixed emotions about the Berrian signing.

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RFDC thinks I'm retarded.

Id have let him walk. With the coaching staff and the young talent in Williams and Okwo, I don't see why we resigned him when we need to address other positions so badly. I dont understnad why we didnt go after a veteran O-lineman.

I'm interested in the numbers though. Doubt he was a steal, but who knows.

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"Mattress technology has come a long way"

- Dan Bernstein, 2016

I hope Mr. Two Sacks for '07 comes in with the right attitude after getting his $13M bonus.

6 year / 36 million overall....

Good signing, but great contract. 12 mil guaranteed on a six year contract are the key numbers.

Briggs and Rosenhaus pissed down their pantsleg and shit in their pants. They were WAY too confident going into this thing.

Briggs signed for less money than the 'best FA LB' from TWO years ago. LOL... When you have crappy sack and INT numbers you get paid for tackles - not too sexy:

Briggs wanted what Mr. Big LB got in '07 - Adalius Thomas - and he didn't.

Matter of fact he didn't even get what Mr. Big LB got in '06:

KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) — Julian Peterson signed his $54 million, seven-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks on Monday, a full week after he and the NFC champions agreed to it. But what's one more week for a deal the two-time Pro Bowler has been seeking for years? Peterson's agent, Kevin Poston, said last week that Peterson's deal with Seattle includes $18.5 million guaranteed. The contract is worth $10 million in the first year. It could go to $18.4 million after two years and $23.5 million after three.

ROTFLMAO!!!!

I wish we could have retained Berrian and let Briggs go elsewhere.....

Last offseason:

The Packers gave Nick Barnett with a six-year, $34.85 million contract extension last year.

ROTFLMAO!

I bet he wanted the $8.3 franchise tag and they said NO

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"Woof Woof"

Do you really think Bernard Berrian is a better player than Lance Briggs? All things being equal, I'd rather have Lance Briggs on my team any day of the week. The concern has always been that they'd overpay, and it sure looks like they didn't do that.

Three cheers for Jerry Angelo. He played the Lance Briggs situation exactly right, used the franchise tag and called his bluff, plus got the deal he wanted. In the meantime he made sure to lock up Tillman and Vasher when a similar strategy probably would have led to a price war on the open market.

It's supply and demand. Berrian can play in anybody's offense, and most Offensive Coordinators probably said "If Berrian did that well in THAT offense, with THAT quarterback, in THAT weather - imagine what we can do with him. Argue all you want if he's a #1 WR or not, the fact of the matter is he WAS a top 32 WR in the NFL - so he's going to get paid like a #1. Also keep in mind that Bears castoffs Bobby Engram, Bobby Wade, Marty Booker AND Justin Gage all led their teams in yardage and catches last year. Pretty scary stuff.

Briggs is a WLB in a cover two defense - now think about how many teams are running 3-4 and unsure if he can play in the inside.

I'm sure him knocking up women and crashing a sports car right after he was more or less 'guaranteed 7M' didn't help matters much.

There is no universe in which Bernard Berrian is one of the 32 best receivers in the league.

It's funny, Briggs made more in his 'franchise tag' year than the yearly average of his new signed contract.

So it turned out good for him to be tagged. He got his signing bonus the following year.

Good for the Bears. They got him at their price.

Yeah he is Irish Boy. He's some where between 20 to 30. That still doesn't justify his salary from the Vikings.

26th in receiving yards and receptions.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats; ... 447263-n=1

Facts are facts.

Sigh. Must you make me do work on my Saturday night, Beardown? Here we go, in no particular order- wide receivers better than Bernard Berrian:

Randy Moss
Terrell Owens
Reggie Wayne
Wes Welker
Marcus Colston
Chad Johnson
Bobby Engram
Larry Fitzgerald
Torry Holt
Andre Johnson
Santonio Holmes
T.J. Houshmanzadeh
Dwayne Bowe
Donald Driver
Anquan Boldin
Jerricho Cotchery
Anthony Gonzalez
Kevin Curtis
Braylon Edwards
Joey Galloway
Brandon Marshall
Antwaan Randle El
Patrick Crayton
Amani Toomer
Donte Stallworth
Hines Ward
Mike Furrey
Calvin Johnson
Plexico Burress
Nate Washington
Laverneous Coles
Isaac Bruce
Deion Branch
Ernest Wilford
Dallas Clark (he's basically a WR)
Marvin Harrison
Steve Smith
Santana Moss
Joey Porter (when he wants to be)
Javon Walker
Roddy White
Chris Henry
Nate Burleson
Lee Evans

I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

Today was a good day for the Bears. I'm shocked at the price tag they got Briggs back at. Agree 100% with Irish Boy, Angelo called Briggs buff and won out. He held firm with his offer to Berrian, rightfully so, and the Vikes grossly overpaid for him. Did you ever think Berrian would get more guaranteed money than Briggs a year ago?

Sure the Bears WR's suck right now, but does anyone honestly think that there won't be wideouts added to this roster before September? Between the draft and still having money to spend in free agency, they'll add people. They will have to find some speed in the draft at the wideout position, but this is a good year to have that problem.

Need to re-up Tommie Harris and then gear up for the draft. Can't blame Angelo for any of his decisions yet. I'd say he's had a good offseason so far.

I'd still take Briggs over Berrian.

Briggs has made 3 Pro Bowls I think.

Berrian will never make a pro bowl.

By the way, his QB for the Vikings sucks worse than our 2 guys.

Isac Bruce? No. Not at this stage in his career.

Donald Driver? Maybe equal at this point.

Antowon Randle El? Hell no. Berrian is better.

Galloway? Equal at best and Galloway is always hurt.

There are others in that list that are equal to Berrian. I said 20-30. I still haven't been proven wrong by you Irish Boy

That's all fine and dandy, but FACTUALLY (aka statistically) speaking, you're wrong. Berrian was 26th best in the league last season.

There are quite a few reasons why that's a poor method, but here's a couple of the most obvious: 1.) teams with two good wide receivers will have their receptions and yards split. A fewer obviously better WRs have fewer yards or receptions for that reason or injuries, including Boldin, Andre Johnson, Greg Jennings, Donte Stallworth, Hines Ward, etc. 2.) Wide Receivers are often as responsible for the balls they don't catch as the balls they catch. Berrian's catch rate of 53% is below par, even lower than Rasheed Davis and the same as Devin Hester, as well as much less than even receivers on bad QB teams (Roald Curry 59%, Bobby Wade 63%, Roddy White 61%, etc, etc). 3.) Berrian has a very annoying habit of breaking off routes prematurely which has resulted more than once in INTs.

Football is stuck in the same position as baseball in the 1970s. Stats are stats, but some stats are just crappy stats.

It's not that I love Berrian Irish Boy. I'm don't. I'm just saying he's top 30.

I'm also not upset that the Bears didn't keep him for the price. If it came down to Berrian or Briggs I'm happy it was Briggs.

There you go Irish Boy.

Galloway WAS TBs offense, as the playoff game vs NYG made painfully clear. He's a true #1 receiver

Bruce had a higher catch percentage and a similar number of yards as a clear #2 receiver in an offense with backup QBs worse than anything the Bears put out there.

Donald Driver was a 1,000 yard receiver last year and caught 67% of the passes thrown to him. It's not even close.

Antwaan Randle El was the clear #2 in a poor offense and still caught 66% of the passes for over 700 yards.

You need to look inside of the stats.

I'm thinking Briggs's production might drop off now. It's a good contract if he produces.

I'm glad Minnesota gave Berrian that contract and not the Bears. That's huge money and they are definitely over paying. I hope it doesn't bite the Bears in the ass twice a year.

Anybody else pissed the Bears have 2 shitty QBs, an ass clown for a RB, no offensive line and no WRs?

Good signing, especially not knowing how Urlacher's back and neck will be.

See I'm the exact opposite as most. I think we have talent waiting in the wings at LB, and none at WR.

Trying to gauge Berrians ceiling on a team that has had such issues at QB, and last year started 3 QB's, just isnt possible.

I think he is a weapon on a team with a solid QB, and while the money was difficult to justify, I just don't agree with signing Briggs and not pushing harder for Berrian. I mean, we have no WR's, and Bryant Johnson isn't the answer!

Berrian is an athlete. People forget he led the nation in returns at Fresno State. His numbers here were not that bad, and on a team with a solid QB I think he can be one of the top deep threats in the game.

I cant understand why he choose to sign with Minn when we are starting to hear what other teams were involved.

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"Mattress technology has come a long way"

- Dan Bernstein, 2016

Bernard was just looking to get paid. He want to a team with a worse QB than what he already had. I think Jerry realized he had to sign Briggs looking at his offense, and knowing they will need to shutout teams to win. This could be a record setting bad offense this season.

I'll just say this. It's easier to find a WR at Berrian's level than it is to find a LB at Briggs level.

Now, that doesn't mean the Bears will sign or draft a WR at Berrian's level.

We'll see.

One thing is clear after dumping Moose and not signing Berrian.

It's Devin Hester time!!!

It's obvious the Bears are banking on him. I think he'll be fine. I hope I'm right. We still need to sign another decent receiver.

Briggs was the best LB we had last year. This will pay off big time.

The defense had a dropoff after Roosevelt Colvin left before and Briggs is much better than Colvin was. This now keeps the Bears LB core as a major strength.

I'm very happy that Lance Briggs is staying.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm not

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

The emboldened names are definitively worse than Berrian, and really hope you were joking about some of them(Roddy White? )

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Berrian isn't "definitively" better than any of those guys. He isn't necessarily worse either. The bigger point is that Berrian may be as good as the 25th best receiver in the league, but he's no better than the 50th best receiver in the league...to me that means he's not that difficult to replace and not worth the money or hassle to re-sign him.
Excellent work by Angelo on both accounts.