The Chicago Bears added valuable depth to the offensive line with the signing of nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, which comes on the heels of concerns surrounding second-round rookie Teven Jenkins, who has yet to practice during training camp with a back injury.
While Peters, 39, is entering his 18th season, he’s been a solid left tackle when he’s been able to stay healthy. And the Bears are banking on him still having some left in the tank with Jenkins’ status up-in-the-air.
Now, we have details of Peter’s contract with the Bears, which ended up being a great deal for Chicago.
According to the Chicago Tribune‘s Brad Biggs, Peters signed a one-year deal worth $1.075 million, including a $250,000 signing bonus. The base salary is $1.075 million with a maximum of $425,000 in per-game bonuses, which brings the deal to a max value $1.75 million.
Peters reunites with Bears head coach Matt Nagy and offensive line coach Juan Castillo, who were both with Peters during his first couple of seasons in Philadelphia.
“It’s about familiarity with a guy that’s played in this league for a long time and he’s very good,” Nagy said. “We understand that he’s older. We get that. There’s a history with Juan; Juan worked with him several years ago in Philadelphia, and I knew him when I was there.”
While Nagy said the Peters signing doesn’t have to do with Jenkins, make no mistake, Peters is being brought to Chicago to serve as the starting left tackle.
“[Peters] is coming in here to compete to be the left tackle,” Nagy said. “It’s open, man. It’s competition. I think he’s going to be competing and understanding it, and that’s the beauty is you come on in here and he understands our situation, we understand his situation, let’s go.”
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