How many of us would be completely ecstatic if somebody offered to pay you $7.2 million a year? Ninety-nine percent of the population would be, but Lance Briggs is extremely unhappy with the Bears contract offer.

Briggs has been quoted as saying that he never wants to play a snap for the Bears again and is willing to hold out for the entire season if they don’t trade him.

Great, now what am I going to do with the $75 Lance Briggs jersey that’s hanging in my closet? For a broke college kid, that was an expensive jersey. That’s 75 McChickens or at least 25 combo meals if I get the McValue fries and a drink.

But professional athletes these days rarely care about the fans that cheered them on from when they struggled as a rookie. Loyalty in professional sports is as scarce as a cheap ticket to watch these multi-millionaires play.

Briggs declined a six-year, $33 million deal this past season because he said it was below his market value. This is true. GM Jerry Angelo deserves some of the blame for low-balling Briggs, especially when Brian Urlacher said he would take a pay-cut to keep Briggs.

Briggs, 26, has made two Pro Bowls in a row and deserves a contract in the range of the other top LBs on the free agent market – Adalius Thomas, 29, received a 5 year, $35 millon deal.

But money isn’t the main issue here; rather, it’s that Briggs wants to escape Urlacher’s shadow. Briggs has publicly stated that he wants to establish himself as the leader of a defense, but on the Bears, Urlacher will always be the central figure as long as he’s around.

If it really was just about the money, there was no reason for Briggs to make his disagreement with the Bears such a public affair. In all contract negotiations in sports, the two sides always disagree on money, but 99% of them are resolved without them being a public issue.

By issuing such statements such as “I never want to play a snap for the Chicago Bears again” or “I no longer consider myself a Chicago Bear,” Briggs has forced the Bears to trade him, even if the team did want to resign him.

What Briggs doesn’t realize is that Urlacher’s presence allows Briggs to be the player he is. Opposing teams focus on stopping Urlacher, which leaves Briggs open to make plays. For all the criticism that Urlacher receives, there’s no doubt that he makes other players better.

The Bears were in a similar situation in 2001, as they had one of the premier linebacker corps back then, once again led by Urlacher. Flanking Urlacher was Warrick Holdman and Roosevelt Colvin. Both posted their best numbers playing alongside Urlacher and, of course, wanted to be paid more money.

Now, both of them play for other teams, and only fans of those respective teams would know who they are because they haven’t come close to replicating their performances on the Bears. Briggs is on the same career path.

If he wants to sit out a year, let him – he will be the one losing $7.2 million in the prime of his career. Briggs will get his money and his chance to be the No. 1 guy, and he will realize the increased amount of responsibility he has.

Briggs has the talent to be good wherever he goes, but he will never be as good as he was in Chicago, and he will miss out on being a part of an all-time great line-backing duo with Urlacher. Just wait and see how many more Pro Bowls he makes in his career.

For the fans, it is another example of a star player not being able to play out his career in one city. For me, I have to wait 20 years so I can once again wear that jersey, this time as a “throwback.”

Majesh Abraham is a junior in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected].