NEWSLETTER
UPDATE: It looks like Bobby Massie is going to get a healthy chunk of change:
This extension is worth more than $8M per year, sources say. A nice payday, while the #Bears keep a key part of their O-line. https://t.co/4tjWRe5bf9
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 26, 2019
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reports Massie’s new deal will be worth more than $8 million per year. While details regarding the deal’s total value and guarantees have yet to be released, a deal worth $8 million annual would be tied for the fourth highest per-year for a right tackle with Washington’s Morgan Moses. Overall, there are 21 other tackles who make more than $8 million per year, including right tackles Lane Johnson ($11.24M), Ricky Wagner ($9.5M), and Rob Havenstein ($8.125M). We’ll see what the guarantees look like before drawing major conclusions about the deal.
The rest of the original post is as follows:
Everyone on the starting line of Mitch Trubisky’s protection detail is officially under contract for the 2019 season.
🔐 down for 4 more years! pic.twitter.com/z92mQ1Fyod
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 26, 2019
The Chicago Bears announced they have signed right tackle Bobby Massie to a four-year contract extension, which knocks off one of their projected offseason needs from their board. Massie was set to be a free agent when the new league year opened on March 13, but the Bears have wasted little time in retaining him before that bridge was crossed. Back in December, Massie expressed a desire to return to the Bears in 2019. And while details of the contract have yet to be disclosed, at least he knows his wish has been granted.
Massie, 29, just played what might have been his best season as a member of the Bears in what quite possibly could have been a career-best season.
The Bears’ patience with Massie has paid off after his play came under constant criticism during the Bears’ leanest years in 2016 and 2017, and a tip of the cap should go to Offensive Line Coach Harry Hiestand for getting things in gear for the grizzly as heck lineman.
Massie started all 16 games and earned a career-best 71.5 grade from Pro Football Focus, which placed him 29th among the 80 offensive tackles who qualified for the site’s grading scale. And while PFF grades can leave plenty to be desired at times, the site’s assessment of Massie feels accurate. Massie is an above average, starting caliber right tackle who does a lot of things well, but isn’t spectacular in one are. Steady, reliable, and productive are three things you want from an offensive lineman … and they happen to be the three words that best describe Massie’s play in Chicago.
The Bears signed Massie in 2016 after his rookie contract with the Cardinals expired. Since arriving in Chicago, Massie has missed two games and missed just 177 of the 3,073 total offensive snaps the Bears have played since the start of the 2016 season. Or in other words, Massie has been in on 94.2 percent of the snaps after missing just two games in three seasons.
Here’s hoping those steady, reliable, and productive are words that will best describe Massie in the next four years to come.
