The Bears don’t have to cross this bridge just yet, but they should see the deal the Rams gave Jared Goff as a warning shot because signing Mitch Trubisky to an extension figures to be ridiculously EXPENSIVE.
Spotrac.com has calculated Trubisky’s market value, pegging his average annual salary on an extension at $26.4 million. At that number, Trubisky would have the ninth highest AAV among quarterbacks. That’s a hefty number, as is the one I’m about to type out momentarily. Trubisky’s market value on a six-year deal would be $158,771,658. I’ll take a moment to allow ourselves to let it sink in that it is possible that Trubisky could get a contract north of $150 million, which Spotrac estimates would put him as the seventh-highest paid quarterback in the game. Wowzers! That’s a lot to take in.
These numbers might seem outrageous, but quarterback contracts have been steadily on the rise for quite some time. Sharp increases have been coming since Derek Carr had his brief run as the league’s highest-paid player in 2017. Since then, Matthew Stafford, Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson have each spent time as the NFL’s highest-paid quarterback in one form or another.
Now, it must be noted that some big-time things need to happen for Trubisky to even begin to demand the kind of deal Goff was given to stick around Los Angeles through 2024.
Before getting $110 million in guarantees, Goff, the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, put himself on the map. He has led his team to the postseason each of the last two seasons, made the Pro Bowl in each year, increased his passing yards from 3,804 to 4,688, bumped up his completion rate from 62.1 percent to 64.9 percent, cranked up his passing touchdowns from 28 to 32, posted two straight seasons with a passer rating north of 100, and for good measure, took his team to the Super Bowl. Those are big boy steps that led big, fat deal.
If Trubisky fan follow in those footsteps, he will have put himself in a place where he will be one of the next quarterbacks to land a new deal. And did we mention Trubisky and Goff have the same agent? Because that is noteworthy. Getting deals done for clients such as Goff and Carson Wentz (remember that big-money deal?) puts the Bears on notice. And if Trubisky makes a third-year leap similar to the one he made as a second-year quarterback, he will certainly see plenty of dollar signs in the future.