Darnell Wright has upped the contract ante for the Bears after breakout season

Heading into the 2025 season, the only holdover from the Chicago Bears' offensive line who was guaranteed a starting job was Darnell Wright. Talk of moving him to left tackle never really gained traction, and everybody involved was hoping he'd round into form in his third season.

Despite playing a big chunk of the 2025 season with a torn UCL in his right elbow, Wright earned a Second-Team All-Pro nod. The praise for the growth he showed has been widespread, including from no less an authority than Bears general manager Ryan Poles.

Depending on the source, responsibility for who allowed pressure on the quarterback varies, but any way you slice it, Wright was top-notch last season. Pro Football Focus had him with the fourth-best pressure rate allowed (3.4 percent) among qualified offensive tackles, while another source (h/t to Daniel Rotman) had him with a 2.98 pressure rate allowed (tied for second-best among right tackles).

Combined that with Wright's prowess as a run blocker, with the 11th-best PFF grade in that facet among offensive tackles last season (82.9), and you get one of the best right tackles in the NFL. And he won't turn 25 until August.

Wright is now moving toward his fourth NFL season. That also means the Bears have a decision to make about his fifth-year contract option by May 1, since he was a first-round pick in 2023.

Wright's fifth-year option will surely be picked up, with a projected value of a $20.5 million according to Over The Cap. Picking up that option is often just a placeholder for a long-term deal, so a contract extension for Wright is probably somewhere on the Bears' offseason agenda.

Darnell Wright is lined up to get paid very handsomely (and soon)

The general tenet when it comes to signing players to long-term deals is: if you're going to do it, do it sooner rather than later. The price only goes up the longer a team waits, as other teams take care of their business with similar players and the market at said position rises.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson came from the Detroit Lions, who have been the poster child for wasting little time in getting long-term deals done with players seen as part of the foundation. Wright is certainly a foundational player for the Bears.

During a recent appearance on 104.3 The Score, Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic was asked what it might look like if the Bears were to enter into contract extension talks with Wright's agent this offseason.

"It's interesting..."Fishbain said. "I talked to a couple agents who do not represent Wright, (I) just kinda floated it to them, 'if you were his representation, what are you asking for'?

"One of them said, 'I'd reset the market.' He was Second-Team All-Pro. You look at his age, you look at the accomplishments. Remember, he did that last year, most of it, with a brace on his arm. You could say, we'll go ahead..we'll top Penei Sewell, which right now is the top right tackle contract."

Fishbain noted how Wright would only briefly reset the right tackle market before the next guy usurps him. He also cited how the Bears have the fifth-year option to buy the two sides time to reach a long-term deal, with the option to use the franchise tag on him after that.

Then, Fishbain offers some numbers when it comes to Wright's potential contract extension.

"You're looking at adding a third or fourth year, you'd be talking 100 million dollars, you're looking in that 20-25 million dollar a year range. But the way he played last year, I think the Bears would feel good about that."

The Bears should happily reward Wright, Poles' first draft pick as general manager, for what he did last season and what he projects to become in the future.

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When big numbers are in play, negotiations automatically get complicated. So it might be a little while before something gets done to keep Wright a Bear for years to come. But it will get done.