Ryan Poles and the Bears have been building this roster since 2022. Over the last few years, Poles have extended a select few players. At the same time, he acquired others to fit the culture they have been trying to build. This is all fine, but the alignment of those players’ contracts has revealed the organization’s recipe for success.
Bears’ Recent Contract Details Reveal Interesting Pattern
Recent Acquisitions
The Bears went after a solid number of free agents and trade targets this offseason. To name a few, Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Grady Jarrett, and Dayo Odeyingbo. They were all acquired during the 2025 offseason.
Dalman, Jarrett, and Odeyingbo were all signed in free agency, while Thuney and Jackson were acquired via trade. The three free agent signings received three-year deals. Thuney and Jackson were traded for and received contract extensions.
Thuney was currently on the last year of his deal and was extended for another two years. Jackson had two left and got extended for one more.
All five of these players are currently on the payroll through the 2027 season.
Contract Extensions
Since Poles took over as general manager, he has been somewhat selective about the players he has given contract extensions to. Players like Montez Sweat, Jaylon Johnson, T.J. Edwards, Cole Kmet, and Cairo Santos all received extensions from Poles in the last year and a half.
The common theme among these five players? Every one of them has their contract extended through the end of the 2027 season.
What Does This Matter?
Obviously, this could all be one big coincidence, but it’s actually more calculated than that. Poles aligned all of these contracts to end after the 2027 season for one reason and one reason only.
Williams was drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The benefit of drafting any player in the first round of any draft is that teams are allowed to place a fifth-year option after the standard four-year rookie contract on that player. That option is not a set price, but is determined by a combination of factors such as Pro Bowl selections and performance that will impact that number.
Williams’ standard four-year deal ends after 2027. Poles knows this, so he wants to prepare to pay Williams one of, if not both, the fifth-year option and a contract extension after his rookie deal is up.
All of the 10 previously mentioned players that have contracts ending after the 2027 season will be due for extensions right as Williams needs to be paid.
For example, the first overall pick in the 2020 draft was Joe Burrow. His option was roughly $29.5 million. That means his cap increased by roughly $10 million from the last year of his rookie deal (2023) to the year of his option (2024).
Burrow then went on to sign a five-year, $275 million contract. This gave the Bengals much less money to build a competent roster around him.
The Bears are aiming to afford both Williams and a sustainable supporting cast while Williams is getting paid much more than what he currently makes on a rookie deal.
Unfortunately for them, there will be some guys who won’t be retained by hitting free agency or get traded. This is all assuming that Williams plays well enough to earn that second contract.
Poles is lining up these deals to see who will and will not make the cut for the next phase of the Chicago Bears’ future plans. Players like Jaylon Johnson and Drew Dalman will likely make that cut as their age and production should be within Poles’ parameters.
However, a player like Joe Thuney might not stay beyond 2027 due to his age and potential regression.
None of this is guaranteed, but given the data, this feels like a very solid guess as to what Poles and the Bears are planning.
Would This Work?
The Kansas City Chiefs have been doing this for a few years now. They keep a few major contributors, but mainly rely on their ability to put together strong draft classes to get productive players for cheap.
They’ve also had to part ways with stars like Tyreek Hill and L’Jarius Sneed to retain cornerstone pieces such as Creed Humphrey and Chris Jones.
If all goes according to plan, Poles will have some tough decisions to make, like Kansas City did. However, their decisions seem to be paying off. They have made five Super Bowls since 2019 and won three of them.
Most of that is thanks to the spectacular play by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the brilliant coaching by head coach Andy Reid.
The Bears are hoping to create their own success using this formula. Caleb Williams’ talent is there. And, they hired the most desired candidate on the market to fill their head coaching position in Ben Johnson. The rest will hopefully fall into place over the next few years as they see results on the field from the two of them and the other contributors.
Main Image: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
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