Samuel and Briggs Fail To Reach Agreements With Patriots and Bears

At the 4:00 deadline today for teams to give an extension to franchise-players, Asante Samuel of the Patriots and Lance Briggs of the Bears did not receive one. Now the 2 franchise-players can only sign a one-year tender if they want to play in the league this year.

Both star defensive players, Samuel, the cornerback, and Briggs, the weakside linebacker, have both repeatedly said that they will hold out until week 10 to sign the tender if they do not get a multi-year deal, therefore not playing until that time. The reason they would start to week 10 would be that it is the last possible point at which a player can sign and still receive credit for an accrued season toward the NFL pension plan.

Last year, Samuel was great, making 65 tackles, 60 of which were solo, 1 forced fumble, and 10 interceptions. His one-year tender would be $7.79 million which would be guaranteed. There are some reported rumors that Samuel has softened his stance, and might report when training camp starts, but nothing is certain yet. Samuel is clearly New England's best cornerback in front of Ellis Hobbs and Tory James. It is very important for the New England defense to have him, as none of those 3 cornerbacks are good enough to fill the top 3 spots on the depth chart.

Briggs, last year, made 134 tackles, 113 of which were solo, made 1 sack, 4 forced fumbles, and got 2 interceptions. The one-year tender for him is $7.206 million. Briggs is still maintaining that he will be holding out until week 10, and I don't think he is bluffing. He, in my opinion, will not report to training camp now that he did not get a multi-year deal. He was really mad that the Bears did not even negotiate with him even when they told him that they would. Briggs, along with Brian Urlacher and Hunter Hillenmeyer, makes up Chicago's starting linebackers. Behind Briggs on the depth chart is Leon Joe, 3rd round pick Michael Owko, and maybe Brendon Ayanbadejo. Briggs is very important to the "Monsters of the Midway" defense, and Chicago better hope that he changes his mind and reports to camp.