Kyle Says I'm Gonna Retire A Chicago Bears.............

Bears sign Kyle Long to 4-year contract extension
Dan Wiederer Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune

Kyle Long will enter his fourth season with the Chicago Bears with an opportunity to join a select fraternity in franchise lore. Long has been to the Pro Bowl after each of his first three seasons. And if he can repeat that feat in 2016, he will become the sixth player in Bears history to make the Pro Bowl after his first four seasons.

The others on that list: Brian Urlacher, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers and Rick Casares.

Long’s talent and value has long been evident to the Bears. And now his long-term future with the organization is secure. The Bears officially announced a four-year contract extension for Long on Wednesday morning, a deal that will now extend through the 2021 season.

Long still had two seasons left on his rookie contract but will now proceed into the year with even greater security. An NFL Network report over the weekend indicated that the new extension would be in the range of $40 million overall with $30 million guaranteed.

Long, according to sources, is currently battling through a serious labrum issue in his left shoulder, an injury he’s attempting to play through as the Bears head for their season opener in Houston this weekend. Following Wednesday's practice, Long spoke with the media about his new deal and the week ahead. Here are the highlights from that session.

On his reaction to securing long-term stability in Chicago …

“I can rest easy tonight and for all the nights in my NFL career knowing I’ll be a Chicago Bear. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity and excited to continue to try to progress as a Bear and as a football player and a teammate.”

On why this was the right time to finalize a long-term deal …

“I think it’s important to understand how these things work and the longer you wait the uglier those things get. I’ve known since Day 1 that I wanted to be a Chicago Bear for life and get an opportunity to play for the best franchise in football in the best city in America. When the talk started about it, I said, ‘Look, I don’t want to be a part of the talks, but what I do want you guys to understand is that I want to be here forever and get it done.’ So that’s what they did.”

On reducing his financial risk going forward by agreeing to a deal now, well before his current contract would have expired …

“It’s always nice to have security. But the other side of things, being aware of how much I care about these guys is important for the guys upstairs. And to have that reciprocated and shown on paper is very important to me. So credit Ryan (Pace) and (contract negotiator) Joey Laine and those guys for getting this thing done. It was quick and I’m very happy about it.”

On his career journey to this point …

“The first thing I want to do is start off with some thank yous. I think that’s very important. My mom and dad, I want to thank them for always telling me to work as hard as I can in whatever I do and make sure that I’m having fun doing it. If I’m not having fun, then don’t do it. And that’s what I’ve found here in football. I found something that I can improve every day on, help those around me and have that 8-year-old mentality where you’re flying around at recess the whole time with your buddies. That’s what it’s about. I want to thank my brothers, Chris and Howie, for always being there for me through the ups and downs—there have been a lot of them—and just that undying love that brothers share. My high school coach, John Blake, and my junior college coach, coach Mark McElroy, who is somebody who took me under his wing when I was going through a lot of tough things.

“Coach Mac, if you read this, I appreciate it. You’ve impacted me in ways you’ll never know. And then obviously, Phil Emery and his staff for bringing me in here. I’ll never be able to repay Phil, but I’ll shoot him a text today to thank him as well as Ryan, John Fox, all the guys that I’ve played with, in my room especially: Matt Slauson, Roberto Garza, Jermon Bushrod, Jordan Mills, the list goes on and on. … I’m going to be here for a long time. I’m going to retire as a Chicago Bear. And that’s what I’m excited about.”

On what he’ll do to reward himself now that he has a little extra spending cash …

“The first thing I’m going to do is go play some football because that’s what I’ve been waiting to do the past few weeks. It’s been fun being out there at practice. It’s fun to get out there and hit some people. So we’ll see how this thing goes. It’s a long season. We’re really excited to get after it. This is one less thing that I have to worry about, not that I was really losing sleep over it. But I will say this: It’s nice to have it done and I can go play football now.”

On whether his current shoulder injury factored into his decision to sign a new extension …

“I don't think so. I think there's been talks of getting it done for a while, and I think it'll end up helping our team in the long run with the fact that we got it done at this point in time. But like I said, credit Joey and Ryan and my agent, they did a great job. They got it done and we can worry about Houston now.”

On what he sees as the biggest challenges in facing Houston’s J.J. Watt on Sunday …

“I think the thing that frustrates a lot of people about J.J. is he just doesn't quit. Obviously from a physical standpoint, there's not many guys who can do what he can do, if any. His length, his strength, his speed. But the thing that separates him is his will and he's a gritty guy, he's determined and he's going to terrorize you.”


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He was great for us from day 1. And its exactly his attitude toward fans and media that keep him that high in regard. Even when he had bad periods, media and fans touted him for pro-bowls and stuff like that. He gives back and that shows how smart he is.

I learned something else about that extension this AM.  It starts with the 2018 season and goes through 2021 so it's an add on to 2016-17 and doesn't replace them.  So it's really six more years total not four.

Yep.  This is year four of his rookie deal.  Next year is the 5th year option and then the four year extension kicks in.  So the deal was negotiated based on today's dollars but to will be paid in future dollars when the cap will have increased even more.  Smart move on Pace's part.

Cutler is also under contract through 2020 at what will be very reasonable cap hits.  It will be 2019 before his cap hit reaches $20 mil.  By comparison Drew Brees just received an extension of his contract that guarantees him $44.3 mil in 2016-2017 and an average salary and bonus of $24.25 mil per year vs the average of $16.5 mil Cutler is getting for 2016-2017 with only $16 mil guaranteed.