The Bears’ offensive line woes figured to put them behind the 8-ball when it came to negotiating with free agents who would represent an upgrade from their current situation.
Instead, Chicago got a whale of a deal to take a roll of the dice on an accomplished player:
According to an NFL source, new #Bears left tackle Jason Peters received a $250,000 signing bonus. He has a $1.075 million base salary and the deal includes a maximum of $425,000 in per-game roster bonuses. So, max value for the deal is $1.75 million.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) August 17, 2021
This is a steal.
Maybe Jason Peters really loves the game. Perhaps he has good experiences with position coach Juan Castillo, who had him in Philadelphia. It’s possible that Peters saw Justin Fields on Saturday and thought to himself: I’m in, you crazy sonofagun. Whatever played into Peters signing with the Bears, I’ll take it. And so will the Bears, who saw another offensive lineman leave practice early with an injury.
In short, if Jason Peters can produce a competent season at left tackle for less than $2 million, it’ll be the deal of the year. Because if Peters has something in the tank, this deal would essentially pay for itself.
And one last perk of this signing, per PFF’s Brad Spielberger: It leaves the Bears with about $5 million in available salary cap space. Just in case some other work around the edges needs to be done.