Cash, Stash, or Slash: Darnell Wright’s potential contract extension

A lot of Bears fans are curious about Darnell Wright and other Chicago Bears players in terms of their future with the team and what type of contract extension they could receive.

We are going to do a series over the next week or so: Cash, Stash, or Slash. It’s going to look at a handful of Chicago Bears and whether they should receive an extension (Cash), whether the Bears should “wait and see” (Stash), or whether the Bears should go in a new direction (Slash). Also, an important note: this isn’t if the Bears should make a decision on these players right now (although some may think that’s the case), but it’s if these players should receive an extension in the next 13 months, before the start of the 2027 NFL season.

It makes sense to start with Darnell Wright, who was discussed by Ryan Poles at his opening press conference at training camp. Poles mentioned Wright was a guy that the Bears wanted to keep around and be a part of this team for many years. Let’s start with the verdict on this one as it’s obvious and then go into the details.

Darnell Wright: Cash

Of course, Darnell Wright should receive an extension, and he should receive one in the next 40 days. The question with Wright isn’t a question of if; it’s a question of how much, so let’s take a look at that and try to figure out what type of offer Wright should receive.

When Poles talked about Wright’s extension to the media, he talked about how it takes two to negotiate, which makes you think that right now, Wright’s camp and the Bears are fairly far off on numbers, and they aren’t actively talking about finding common ground.

I hear a lot of Bears fans talk about how this is a negotiation and if both sides aren’t disappointed after a negotiation, then it wasn’t done well.

This isn’t Wall Street; this is the NFL. That’s not how negotiations work. Players want salaries that show the team respects them and that they get the respect they’ve earned across the league. Yes, players will sign team-friendly deals, and I am certainly not saying the Bears should overpay all their players, but they should absolutely give them a fair-market offer. Low-balling players is how you get a reputation around the league, and that’s not how you convince future free agents to sign here.

Now, I am not saying that Poles has low-balled Wright; I have no inside information as to how those negotiations have gone, or if they have gone at all. It also should be noted that Poles has done a good job getting pretty team-friendly deals with a lot of the players he has signed, so let’s look at what’s fair for Wright.

Wright has been on the team for three seasons and has shown steady improvement in each of his seasons. He is still being penalized too frequently, but beyond that, he has shown dynamic skills in both the run and pass games. He’s a pure mountain of strength but has quick enough feet to keep most edges at bay in the pass rush as well.

Wright’s skills earned him 2nd-team All-Pro this past season at the right tackle position. No shame in being second in the league when Penei Sewell earned first-team honors, arguably the best offensive lineman at any position in the entire NFL.

Sewell is moving to left tackle this season, which, theoretically, makes Wright the best RT in the NFL. If he has another season like he did last year, he will certainly make that claim five months from now.

So where should the Bears be considering Wright’s deal? Let’s look at recent RT deals, and we should look no further than Sewell.

Sewell received his contract extension from the Lions before the 2024 season. It was a 4-year deal worth $112 million with an average value of $ 28 million per season. At the time of the extension, Sewell was a more decorated player with two Pro Bowls and one first-team All-Pro.

The cap has risen 18% in the last two seasons, so if Sewell’s contract was signed today with the same percentage of cap designated to him, his AAV would be $33 million per season. I think if we look at the other highest-paid RTs, other than Sewell, we find those contracts settling in around $24 or $25 million a year. Wright is clearly better than those other right tackles (other than Lane Johnson, but he’s 36 years old and winding down his career in the next year or two.

I’m sure Wright’s team wants him to be paid at the top of the market. If we use the Sewell deal to convert his contract to $33 million in 2026 dollars, I think Wright making about $30 million is quite fair, putting him at 4 years and $120 million.

If the Bears can negotiate a more team-friendly deal with the argument that Sewell is at $28 million and, despite the rising cap, we can’t pay you more than Sewell, you still, to be fair to Wright, need to make sure he clears the other RTs in the league. In this case, you would be looking at $26 to $27 million per season.

The fair offer for Wright is a 4-year deal with the total contract being valued somewhere between $104 and $120 million. Sewell got $43 million fully guaranteed and about $85 million in total guarantees. I think that’s also the framework for Wright’s deal. Wright is looking at a contract with $40 to $50 million fully guaranteed and somewhere between $80 and $90 million in total guarantees.

The Bears are going to be giving out two major 9-figure contracts in the next 12 months that are going to be upwards of $350 to $400 million. That’s some big spending for George McCaskey; hopefully he doesn’t blink.

I’d be stunned if Wright can’t get an extension with the Bears before the season begins, and I think when it happens, you’ll see the numbers fall in the ranges listed above.

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