4 Chicago Bears who could earn an extension this offseason

The Chicago Bears could look to extend Darnell Mooney

Darnell Mooney was a fifth-round draft pick in 2020. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract and looking to be paid. The expectations for Mooney were high this season and he struggled to live up to them. He started the season off very slowly, only having four catches over the first three weeks of the season. Those four catches came on 11 targets, although not every one of those targets were on point by Justin Fields.

Mooney’s net yards over the first two weeks were only four. However, he started to come to life in Week 4 when he caught four of five passes for 94 yards. Before his season came to a close due to an ankle injury that required surgery, Mooney was averaging 51 yards per game over a nine-game span. Honestly, that’s not great for a WR1, but it wouldn’t be awful for a WR2. At that pace, Mooney would have gained 872 yards on the season.

In 2021, Mooney finished with 1,055 yards on 81 catches. He came down with four touchdowns. This year, Mooney only snagged two touchdowns, but also made a few amazing and acrobatic catches. I’m not concerned about Mooney’s performance dropping off this year compared to last, his work ethic should be enough to warrant signing him prior to the 2023 season coming to a close.