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Rosenhaus Briggs-ing The Gap

Bears linebacker Lance Briggs may soon be a Washington Redskin.

Remember when everyone was going nuts about the Lance Briggs situation? Briggs was mad that the Bears Franchise Tagged him, he loathed the Bears organization, and wanted out of the city [The End Of The Franchise?]. But the major thing that I pointed out here at SportsAgentBlog.com was something that most major news sources were overlooking. They were too busy bashing Briggs, bashing the Bears, or somewhere stuck between both extremes. As I declared:

Maybe his agent should inform him that there is a difference between being designated an exclusive franchise player and a non-exclusive franchise player. See, Briggs is wrong in thinking that he has no right to negotiate with other teams. As a non-exclusive franchise player, Briggs can bump up his pay check by signing with another team and playing with the new franchise for that amount of money (and the new franchise giving up 2 first-round picks to the Bears), or being re-signed by the Bears for the new salary that was offered by the new team. In all honesty, the chance that a team is going to give up 2 first-round draft picks is slim, but at least there is some course of action for Briggs.

It looks like his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, may finally be explaining the situation to Briggs with a trade to the Washington Redskins [Agent: Bears’ Briggs could go to Redskins in trade]. And who would ever imagine that Rosenhaus would threaten to sit his player out of games if he does not get what he wants? Rosenhaus is threatening to have his client sit out 10 games, play the final 6, and still earn his money for a season of play if Briggs remains a Franchised Bear instead of being traded away. It seems like both sides have come a long way since this story was last reported and that Rosenhaus is in control of his client’s future.

One more reason why it is important to 1. have an agent to know the terms of the business and act in your best interest and 2. do the talking. Briggs has allowed Rosenhaus to do whatever he can to remedy the Franchise Tag situation, but next time, he should keep his mouth closed and let his agent handle the microphone.

-Darren Heitner

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

3 replies on “Rosenhaus Briggs-ing The Gap”

[…] • Wait … so what’s so wrong with Curt Schilling blogging again? [Fire Joe Morgan] • They might have some drug issues in Australian Rules Football. [Dave’s Football Blog] • Put your faith in Drew Rosenhaus. Really. [I Want To Be A Sports Agent] • If JoePa visited Louisiana … [Every Day Should Be Saturday] • Nationals blogs discuss the upcoming season. [DCist] […]

With CHicago being a super bowl contender, i am still flabbergasted that Briggs, as a team player, would go to a team that has had recent poor performances to get more money. I don’t see Washington in the Bowl hunt yet.

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