Bears Sign Sutton, All Draft Choices Under Contract
Dec 30, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils defensive tackle Will Sutton (90) works against Texas Tech Red Raiders offensive lineman Jared Kaster (75) during the first half in the Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
While most teams are resting on their laurels, celebrating their drafts, Chicago Bears lead contract negotiator Cliff Stein has been busy getting his draft picks signed and under contract. Less than a week after the first name was announced at Radio City Music Hall, the Bears have all their draft picks in the fold, as third round DT Will Sutton signed his rookie contract on Thursday morning.
I was a little surprised it took this long to get Sutton inked, especially when the second and fourth round picks on either side of his were selected. Usually the first round pick is the last to sign, but Fuller reached agreement on Wednesday afternoon.
Sutton is an interesting piece for the Bears’ interior defense. He’s a two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. As a Junior, he was pretty dominant, racking up 64 tackles with 23.5 of them for loss and 13 sacks. Sutton was asked to beef up between junior and senior year and took a step back in 2013 while surging from 285 to 320-ish. Sutton is back down around 290 and the hope is he can return to dominant form of his junior season.
The Bears are the first team to have all of their draft picks signed. Rookie mini-camp is schedule to start Friday – Sunday this weekend. Mike Flannery has a nice writeups on some of the invitees to Bears rookie mini-camp here and here. Stay tuned for all the updates from mini-camp all weekend long.