The Bears didn’t feel comfortable with the interior of their defensive line and that spurred them to trade an undisclosed draft pick (believed to be a 5th rounder or higher) to the Buffalo Bills for defensive tackle Darwin Walker. Walker played in all 16 games last season with the Phildelphia Eagles and he made 36 tackles, had 6 sacks, 1 interception, defensed 3 passes and forced a fumble. Walker is a little small for the tackle position in the NFL at 6′3″, 294 pounds but he is very quick off of the ball and he makes a lot of plays in the backfield. Walker has played in 88 games in the NFL and he has made 170 tackles, 275 sacks, 1 interception, defensed 11 passes, forced 5 fumbles and recovered 5 fumbles. This was an excellent move by the Bears.

Lance Briggs had been talking like he was going to sit out the first 10 games of the season because he was upset that the Bears made him their franchise player. But, Briggs caved in and signed a 1-year contract that specifies that he can’t be franchised in 2008 if he plays at least 75% of the Bears’ defensive snaps this season. It’s a good thing that the Bears and Briggs compromised a deal because many experts believe that Briggs, not Urlacher, is the best player on the Bears defense. Briggs played in all 16 games last season for the Bears and he made 130 tackles, had 1 sack, 2 interceptions, defensed 8 passes, forced 4 fumbles and recovered 1 fumble.