Tight end Christian Briggs overcame adversity and signed with the Seattle Seahawks.
The 2011 Franklinton High School graduate tore his ACL in the second to last game of his senior year at Southeastern Louisiana University in the 2015-16 season.
He said his recovery from the surgery went pretty quick for ACL surgery and he had workouts with a few teams, but decided to sit out last season for precautionary reasons.
On Jan. 18, he signed with the Seahawks.
“I couldn’t be happier with a team than I am with them,” Briggs said. “They didn’t give up on me. They told me they really liked me and they stuck with me.”
Briggs said his main goal is to make the team and contribute.
“The first goal is to make the team, but it’s no different than it has been. My goal is to be better today than you were yesterday,” Briggs said. “Even if I’m only 1 percent better today than I was yesterday, I’ll be 100 percent better in 100 days than I was today.”
Before signing with Seattle, Briggs was a wide receiver for Franklinton and was part of the Demons’ 2010 state title team.
In college, Briggs was part of a Conference USA championship team with the University of Southern Mississippi in 2011.
In his sophomore and junior seasons, the Golden Eagles had tough seasons, finishing 0-12 and 1-11, respectively.
Briggs transferred to SLU and redshirted before playing his final collegiate season. He moved to tight end for his senior season. Briggs went undrafted in 2016. He sat out last year and signed with the Seahawks this year.
“It’s crazy what hard work and dedication will do for you,” Briggs said. “If you can devote yourself and your time to a specific task and really give it your all, it’s amazing what you can accomplish. I’ve been able to come a long way over the last six years.
“Just to sign my name on that contract, it was all worth it — every sprint, every pushup, every workout and anything related to the task was worth it. I put all of my trust in God. Going through an injury, it seemed like I had come so far and during and after the injury, I had a lot of people that gave up on my dream. One person that never gave up was my mother (Eiesha Lee). I credit her and God for everything.”
For his college career, Briggs caught 26 passes for 368 yards and a touchdown with USM and he had 10 receptions for 168 yards and two scores in his season with SLU.
Currently, Briggs is one class away from a marketing degree.
This season, Seattle captured the NFC West with a 10-5-1 record.
The Seahawks won the first round of the postseason with a 26-6 victory over Detroit, but lost in the Divisional Round to Atlanta, 36-20.