I reckon some folks will react to this news with immediate lulz given how wildly unproductive Adam Shaheen was with the Bears, but I gotta tell you, I have the exact opposite reaction.
I see this news and I think about an organization that spent a second round pick on a raw, physical tight end, brought in a head coach to deploy a tight-end-heavy system, and then made it work so badly that they had to dump the guy for a conditional pick. Then the guy went to another organization, who immediately made it work well enough that they wanted to make sure they could KEEP him for another couple years.
This is embarrassing for the Bears, in my opinion:
Dolphins are signing TE Adam Shaheen to a two-year contract extension with a max value of $7.85 that includes $3.2 million fully guaranteed, per source. His deal was scheduled to expire after this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 28, 2020
Shaheen, 26, has emerged as part of the regular tight end rotation in Miami, catching touchdown passes in his last two games, and is on the field for about 40% of the team’s snaps.
Anyway. Good for him. Good for the Dolphins. And at least this should lock up that the Bears will see the draft pick they received for Shaheen bumped up from a 7th rounder to a 6th rounder.
At present, the Bears have their own first, second, third, fifth, and sixth rounders next year, as well as this conditional pick from the Dolphins. They traded their 2021 fourth rounder during 2020 draft to grab DE Trevis Gibson in the fifth, and traded their 2021 seventh rounder as part of the Eddy Pineiro deal. The Bears also project to pick up at least two additional compensatory picks in the 6th round after all that free agent math is accounted for.
So at the end of the day, with this news of extension, the Bears should wind up with a first, a second, a third, a fifth, and at least four sixth rounders in 2021. Given the way Ryan Pace likes to move around aggressively in the draft, having that later round capital ain’t bad.