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Before he ever played a snap in orange and blue, the Bears are signing new defensive end Montez Sweat to a massive contract extension.
The Bears and Sweat have agreed to a four-year, $98 million contract extension, according to multiple reports. This comes just days after the Bears sent a 2024 second-round draft pick to Washington in exchange for Sweat at Tuesday’s trade deadline.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles views Sweat as the all-around player who will raise the level of the entire defense. Sweat has 6.5 sacks already this season, more than all the Bears’ defensive linemen combined. Poles hinted earlier this week that a new contract was already in the works.
The Bears wouldn’t have traded for Sweat if they didn’t believe that they could sign him to a long-term deal. His current contract ends after this season. The four-year extension will keep the 27-year-old under contract through 2027.
The contract is worth a guaranteed $72 million, according to ESPN. It’s also front-loaded, so Sweat will have received $56 million by the end of the 2025 season.
Poles is betting that Sweat will be the premier pass rusher whom the Bears have been missing. The draft pick he sent to Washington will probably wind up being a top-40 pick in next year’s draft, and the contract is a huge commitment. But Poles didn’t believe that Sweat would hit free agency next spring, even though his contract was nearing an end. The Commanders had other bidders for Sweat’s services.
The Bears have had the worst pass rush in the NFL over the past season and a half. They ranked last in sacks in 2022 and rank last again through the first eight weeks of this season.
“Sometimes you just need someone that can come in and create some disruption where you have to slide the line a certain way, you have to double-team certain people and that starts, again, we talk about multipliers, that will open up certain situations for other guys,” Poles said this week.
Poles noted that he spent time looking at the free agent defensive ends who might be available in March and at the talent available in next year’s draft, but he ultimately decided that he wanted to make a move now.
Sweat was a 2019 first-round pick of the Commanders. Over 67 games, he has 35.5 sacks, 9 forced fumbles and 47 tackles for loss.
He becomes the second Bears defensive lineman to sign an extension after defensive tackle Andrew Billings signed a new two-year contract earlier this week.
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