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20M guaranteed for Lance Briggs?

By Skin Patrol

It's important that fans, waiting to voice either their approval or apprehension over the possible trade of Lance Briggs to the Washington Redskins for a first round draft swap, are familiar with the terms currently being thrown around. Here's one possibility per the Chicago Sun-Times (emphasis added):

Sources said the Redskins are set to pay Briggs $20 million in guaranteed money as part of a multiyear deal that will average $7.5 million per season. It's a sweet deal for a guy who played out his rookie contract only to be hit with the franchise tag by the Bears, which means he would get $7.2 million for one year.
I'll try and remain as subtle and emotionally unattached to the deal as possible.

Please don't do this, Washington.

If the sources and stories are to be believed, the Redskins have formalized an offer made, by all accounts, by Dan Snyder in a bar without having discussed the move with Joe Gibbs or Gregg Williams. Evidence (emphasis mine):

When asked about such an offer Redskins owner Dan Snyder confirmed to FOXSports.com that he in fact wanted to make the move and they were waiting to talk to Chicago.

In fact, Snyder spent a couple of minutes talking to Briggs, who showed up with Rosenhaus at the meeting.

Snyder and football operations man Vinny Cerato left to find head coach Joe Gibbs regarding the deal. But before leaving Rosenhaus informed Cerato that he in fact spoke with the Bears and they were waiting an official call from the Redskins.

"The move" above refers to an offer to send our 6th pick to Chicago for Briggs and their 31st pick. Notice that the deal eventually sent to the Bears was formulated by Dan Snyder, on the spot, in a bar, prior to either Snyder or Cerrato communicating to Joe Gibbs or anyone else on the Coaching staff. Also per Tandler's Blog (who has an excellent write up on the entire situation):
The way Glazer told it on Sirius NFL radio yesterday, he was at the bar enjoying an adult beverage and chatting with Snyder. In came Briggs and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Ever the salesman, Rosenhaus started talking up his client. After a few minutes, Snyder said to Rosenhaus (paraphrasing here), "Call the Bears. Tell them we'll give them the #6 pick for Briggs and their first-round pick (#31 overall)."...

Vinny Cerrato materialized from somewhere and, instead of saying, uh, Mr. Snyder, shouldn't we go have dinner somewhere and chat about this privately, he jumped right on board. Where a fire hose was needed, gasoline was applied.

And then, after a few minutes of excited chatter among Snyder, Cerrato, and Rosenhaus, either Snyder or Cerrato said it.

"We've got to get in touch with Gibbs."

Taking all parties at their word here, and we've got a most disturbing and dysfunctional sounding trade procedure. Dan Snyder in a bar, talked to by Drew Rosenhaus, makes an impulsive trade offer (keep in mind he's the owner of a franchise that has experienced very little success under his tenure -- he is not a General Manager, he is not a Coach, he is not a Football person) that is immediately gobbled by Vinny Cerrato. The two than take the trade to Joe Gibbs.

Whatever else you might think of the trade offer, know that it was spawned in a bar in the mind of Dan Snyder, perhaps impulsively. It's important for fans to know how serious Football decisions give birth in the Redskins organization, and this entire process affords a unique look into that. I think it's absotively posilutely the most ass-backwards approach I've ever heard, but whatever. Personally I always imagined serious trade offers were discussed internally among a collection of (sober) Coaches and Redskins scouts who could pour over potential offers and weigh the costs/benefits holistically against team personnel needs and financial limits. Instead "Rosenhaus, go tell them Bears we'll swap first rounders. Peace."

At this point I believe the team has formally presented that offer to the Bears, and if the Sun Times is to be believed, we'd be paying Lance Briggs a cool 20M guaranteed. Obviously, if that's the case, my position hasn't changed at all. Take that back, it has changed: I'm now even more opposed to it.

Best case scenario is a stubborn Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo refuses to relent to Lance Briggs and saves Your Washington Redskins from themselves.

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