Brenda Briggs wouldn't call her son...

Brenda Briggs wouldn't call her son nervous, moreover he couldn't stay in single in kind place. While the Bears appeared to be hammering public a long- term contract agreement with agent Drew Rosenhaus in April, Pro hollow linebacker Lance Briggs was shuttling back and forth between his mother's household in Elk Grove, Calif., and Arizona, where he went to guild -- working out and awaiting word.

It was the weekend before the draft, and the Bears were bracing for a big announcement, figuring they were terminate to ensuring they would have undivided of the NFL's best linebacking corps for years to get to with Briggs next to Brian Urlacher.

"It was exciting just sitting and waiting and hoping," Brenda Briggs recalled. "I would say he was anxious, not nervous. He wanted it to happen because one time this [contract] happens, it takes a division off of him. He could just relax and go on do his thing, just play."

That contract at no time happened, but if Briggs' approaching status as an unrestricted delivered agent is affecting him at all, he's not saying -- and it indisputable doesn't show. Through three preseason games, he has played with the kind of intensity fans have issue to expect, ranking second upon the team with 12 tackles.

The Bears are counting forward him to remain at a Pro hollow level this season. The team exigencys him to realize its postseason aspirations, and Briggs exigencys a good season to come by a contract that will establish him and his family for life. If that's a carrying capacity there is no way of telling.

"I don't perceive pressure," he said. "At more [i]or[/i] less point during the summer, a dowdy I played with in literary institution [i]or[/i] seminary of learning told me: 'You know what? You secure to play football. No matter what's going in succession and no matter what is stressing you gone out you get to play football. I wish I could still play.'

"He was right. Regardless of what happens, I obtain to play football. I be in love with it. I can't think about doing anything else"

WHAT A DEAL

Briggs will play for $721600 this season, the same of the biggest bargains in the league. The 2003 third-round pick cast asideed a substantial offer in April, a six-year contract worth more than $33 million -- essentially what the Bears paid left tackle John Tait pair years ago.

on saying, "No thanks," Briggs has made it clear he thinks he can earn more. Maybe, maybe not. Linebacker Julian Peterson landed a whopper of a contract in the offseason, getting $18 million guaranteed from the Seattle Seahawks as part of a seven-year, $54 million package.

Briggs said he doesn't have any reflections about Javon Walker, the former flourishing Bay Packers wide receiver who angled for a strange deal last offseason, then blew on the outside his right knee in the season opener Walker got a five-year, $40 million extension from the Denver Bronco this spring after a trade, on the contrary the deal is structured with copiousness of protection for the team.

"I wouldn't say I'm rolling the dice," Briggs said. "I'm playing football. Whether or not I procure hurt doesn't really matter because unles it is a career-ending injury, I've played hard. If anybody wants to know what kind of player I am or what kind of teammate I am, I think everybody knows -- especially the the community who matter."

Briggs calls his mother his closest counselor, however she didn't offer her son advice when it came to currency matters in the spring, saying he knew more about what was going in succession than she did. But as a single parent who raised three kids -- Briggs has sum of two units sisters -- and worked about tough jobs, including operating a jackhammer in Sacramento, Calif., she knew it was a part of money to turn down.

While Briggs wouldn't reveal specifics when asked if he has purchased an insurance policy, he said, "I've taken the special precautions."

An insurance policy pays single if the player never plays again, and there is risk. Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Shawn Barber inflected down a four-year, $16 million extension in 2001 He signed a one-year deal for $116 million and blew disclosed his right knee three month later, ending a bullet at a big payday.

"I'm not mad," Briggs said. "I'm not sad. I'm happy to be here and be practicing."

The Bears are happy to have him, too. He's more than a tackling machine; he makes big plays.

Briggs is the barely player in the league to have an interception revert for a touchdown in each of the last three seasons. He has increased his tackle total each year, finishing with 170 last season -- single behind Urlacher -- and he has started 45 consecutive games, the third-longest streak onward the team. He led the Bears in tackles in a team-high seven games last season.

Urlacher said he's not too make uneasyed right now about breaking up the 'backers, not with the season fast approaching.

"I'm not going to worry about that," he said. "I don't think it is going to be an issue. I will play with the stays who are here.

"There has been a doom of talk all summer. Lance is here now, and that's all that matters to me If he's not here nearest year, I hope he does well wherever he goe I waiting under the possibility of fulfilment it's here."

THE present to view MUST GO ON