The Chicago Bears and right tackle Darnell Wright are working toward a second contract, and both the timing and the money have come into focus with training camp days away.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported this week that the Bears expect to finalize an extension for Wright before veterans report on July 28, telling ESPN’s “Waddle and Silvy” that a deal “will get done quickly.” The two sides are not yet aligned on the number. Wright’s camp has proposed a four-year deal worth roughly $132 million, while Chicago’s offer sits closer to $33 million per year with $84 million fully guaranteed at signing and $92 million in total guarantees, according to figures reported this week.
The gap is real but not the kind that usually derails a deal. It is a negotiation over guarantee structure more than average salary, and those tend to close once both sides accept where the market has moved.
Wright’s leverage comes from the same league that has to block for or against him. In ESPN’s annual survey of coaches, executives and scouts, Wright was voted the top right tackle in football and the sixth-best offensive tackle overall. That ranking matters because the tackle market is climbing in real time — Arizona’s Paris Johnson Jr. is reportedly pushing toward $40 million a year, and a deal at that level would immediately raise the floor for every tackle negotiating behind him, Wright included. Every week the Bears wait, the comparable numbers get larger.
For a franchise built around a young quarterback, keeping Wright is less about one lineman than about the plan. Caleb Williams took real strides in his second season, and the surest way to protect that progress is to keep the same edge of the offensive line intact rather than shopping for a replacement in a thin veteran market. Continuity up front is the least glamorous part of quarterback development and often the most decisive.
If Cronin’s timeline holds, the Bears will have their right tackle signed before the first practice, and the only remaining question will be how close the final figure lands to Wright’s ask.
