The Bears are “all-in” on preparing for Packers Week — even those whose minds could easily be elsewhere. For example … Cody Whitehair.
Chris Emma of 670 The Score caught up with the Bears left guard, who isn’t letting rumors surrounding a possible contract extension serve as a distraction: “It’ll happen,” Whitehair said. “I’m not too worried about it. I’m just focused on ball.”
Whitehair has enough on his plate as it is. Because in addition to preparing for the season opener against Green Bay in eight days, Whitehair also happens to be in the final stages of a summer in which he moved from center to left guard. Whitehair was a top-10 center when given the opportunity to focus on the position, but is set to move back to his natural spot at left guard. But still … it feels as if an extension is looming,
Chatter surrounding a Whitehair extension has been going on since April, and the cost of doing business should make the Kansas State product one of the highest-paid guards in football. And the rumors have only since grown in the wake of the news that Charles Leno Jr. re-structured his contract to create more cap space, doing so with a wink-and-nod in Whitehair’s general direction.
The Bears have more than $22 million in available cap space, which leaves ample room to operate and fit in a Whitehair extension (and possibly fill some other needs).
If you’re willing to read between the lines, there is a quiet confidence in Whitehair’s words that an extension will get done. And if history is any indication of what the future holds, Whitehair is right to feel this way. We have seen the Bears announce extensions for Eddie Goldman, Akiem Hicks, and Charles Leno Jr. around this time of year. So it’s possible (heck, even likely) that the Bears are waiting for the dust to settle after cut-down weekend to put the final touches on an offer that will get signed. Whitehair has waited it out to this point, so what’s another few days?