Source: Sweat, Bears finalizing 4-year, $98M deal

Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterNov 4, 2023, 01:03 PM ET
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CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears and Montez Sweat have agreed to a long-term extension before the edge rusher’s debut against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Sweat, 27, is signing a four-year extension worth $98 million, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Sweat’s new deal includes $72 million in guarantees (roughly $62 million guaranteed at signing), is front-loaded and he will earn about $56 million by the end of 2025, a source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano

Chicago on Tuesday sent a 2024 second-round pick to Washington for Sweat, who is playing on the final year of his rookie contract.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles said Wednesday that the team was working on an extension for Sweat and that he felt “really confident” a deal would get done.

Sweat is the second Bears player to receive an extension this week after Chicago gave defensive tackle Andrew Billings a two-year extension worth $8.5 million, with $6 million in guarantees.

Sweat is now the highest-paid player on the team’s roster and the NFL’s fifth-highest paid edge rusher at $24.5 million per year.

“We expect him to come here and help our entire team get better,” Poles said Wednesday. “We see him as a long, fast, explosive, relentless defensive end that can help us both in the run and in the pass game and really, I see him as a multiplier. He’s going to allow everyone to play better, our entire defensive front, our corners, our safeties.”

Since being drafted in the first round in 2019, Sweat is one of six players to notch at least five sacks in each of the past five seasons. This season, he has 6.5 sacks, 11 quarterback hits and 10 tackles for loss.

Of the Bears’ league-low 10 sacks, only five have come from their defensive ends, along with 13 quarterback hits and 11 tackles for loss combined.

Sweat will make his debut just five days after joining the Bears. Coach Matt Eberflus discussed the possibility of using the defensive end in a number of spots along the line.

“It opens up a lot of things,” Eberflus said. “You can do a lot of things with the caliber of player like he is. And we’ve had some in the past that were like that, that were the premier players like that. We certainly try to enhance it and put them on the matchups that we want, along the line. So that’s important to do.”

Working out a long-term extension for Sweat allows the Bears to preserve their 2024 franchise tag, which the team could use on cornerback Jaylon Johnson.

Johnson was granted permission to seek a trade ahead of the NFL’s Oct. 31 deadline after the cornerback and the Bears did not come to an agreement on an extension.

“We are still open to getting a contract done, and I’m going to follow Jaylon’s lead on how he wants to go about doing that,” Poles said.