Latest NFL news shows why the Bears need to act with a sense of urgency to lock in two franchise players
The NFL market landscape continues to drastically change each and every week it seems, which makes life difficult for NFL general managers, cap experts, and players' agents all around the league.The latest position to blow up the market over the last few months has been the wide receiver position following extensions for the likes of […]
The NFL market landscape continues to drastically change each and every week it seems, which makes life difficult for NFL general managers, cap experts, and players' agents all around the league.
The latest position to blow up the market over the last few months has been the wide receiver position following extensions for the likes of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and most recently Jaylen Waddle.
The Waddle and Smith extensions, with both players now becoming Top-10 paid wide receivers in terms of per year value, has thrown the market completely upside down. Both players are in theory WR2 on their respective teams but are now paid like top wide receivers in the league now. Where does that leave WR1s on other teams?
That's a question the Chicago Bears and general manager Ryan Poles will soon have to answer while the market continues to skyrocket with players like Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Brandon Aiyuk, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins who are all set to land new extensions of their own perhaps in the coming months.
On the Bears' side of things, everything becomes murky when the front office starts planning out new deals for DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, the team's top two veteran wide receivers. Currently, the Bears are now one of five teams paying $20+ million per year to TWO wide receivers, and there's an argument each player deserves more.
Both players have proven to be among the top wide receivers in the league but following the latest deals, Moore is now the 16th highest paid wide receiver and Allen is the 18th highest paid wide receiver in per year average. At the moment, that's not bad value for two players who ranked 6th and 11th in receiving yards respectively during the 2023 season.
For the time being, this looks incredible for Poles, who has managed to land insane value for both star wide receivers, but that won't last for long. Allen, for example, only has one year remaining on his current contract and will be set to be a free agent following the 2024 season if he doesn't land an extension in Chicago.
Poles has already stated that the plan with Allen's deal is to wait until the upcoming season starts before ironing out any potential new contract.
As for Moore, he has two years remaining on his deal before it expires, the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Nothing has been mentioned as of yet about a new extension but that will happen more likely than not at some point in the next two years.
However, with the direction the current market is headed, acting sooner than later could be in the Bears' best interest. If not, the price will only continue to rise for both players, making it harder to handle their upcoming contracts in the long run. Speaking of the long run, this long-term outlook with Moore and Allen could be seen as not big of a priority considering the team just drafted Rome Odunze in the 2024 NFL Draft.
We'll soon see how the Bears handle the process of working out new deals with potentially both star wide receivers in the near future and if the rising market will have any implications on the team's plan at the position.
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