Chicago Bears Give Darnell Wright a $116 Million Deal

On August 4th, the Chicago Bears decided to give Darnell Wright a brand new deal as Jeremy Fowler would post on X.

Fowler posted: “Chicago Bears and RT Darnell Wright reach agreement on a four-year, $116M extension with $93M guaranteed, per me and @RapSheet.

Deal is biggest ever for a right tackle and most guaranteed money for an OL in NFL history.”

It’s not just that Wright is getting a little bit of money, the Bears are clearly showing their commitment to the tackle they drafted 10th overall back in the 2023 NFL Draft.

This comes after this was brought up as a possibility back on July 28th, as Zack Pearson on X quoted Ryan Poles, “There's a window to get a deal done. At some point, we have to go play football. So we will figure that out. Darnell is a guy we want here for the long term.”

With that in mind, it’s still always a bit of a surprise to see a player set records, but given the past context, it’s not as if this extension is a complete shock either. 

Was this the Right Move by the Chicago Bears?

The question that Bears fans are going to be asking is if this is the right move for the team. No one is pushing back about Wright being a good tackle, but does he deserve this money?

Keep in mind that NFL contracts should continue to go up, so in a few years it’s tough to expect Wright to keep these records. Wright is coming off a year where he made the All-Pro second team, which puts him in the company of the best tackles in the NFL.

The other tackle on the All-Pro second team is Dion Dawkins, who is playing on a three-year, $60.06 million deal per Spotrac, but keep in mind that he’s 31 years old. 

Trent Williams, Garett Bolles, Penei Sewell and Tristan Wirfs were the tackles on the All-Pro first team last year. With Williams and Bolles, both are at least 33 years old.  

As for Sewell, he’s on a $112 million deal over four years at 26 years old, and Tristan Wirfs is on a five-year deal worth $140.6 million.

When comparing Wright to those two players in particular, this doesn’t seem like a perfect signing. Most fans would rather have Sewell or Wirfs over Wright, and they’re on less expensive deals.

At the same time, the key point is that Wright is extremely young at 24 years old right now and the Bears want to make him their franchise tackle. Given what we saw out of Wright last year, it’s not a wild overpay, and the move still makes sense, but it’s certainly a bit much given the contracts other top tackles are on right now.