Bringing Back Tommie

Well in an off-season in which contract extensions have been all the rage for the Bears, Tommie Harris has joined Alex Brown, Robbie Gould, and others in inking for more years in Chicago.

Harris signs 4yr/$40mil extension

The contract is the richest in Bears history, the highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL, and includes $18 million in guarantees. Harris was one of 3 players the Bears had strongly targeted for an extension this off-season (along with Hester and Gould), and this signing should allow Jerry Angelo to focus on Urlacher, who’s been attending voluntary OTA, and Hester who might be the default #1 WR whether he is ready or not. There undoubtedly will be some criticism out there given that Harris has struggled heavily with injuries over the last two years. The Bears will also lose some leverage in the Urlacher negotiations given the money they just committed to a player with recent injury issues. However, I strongly believe that Harris is the second most important player to this defense after Urlacher and might even be harder to replace. So I tip my cap to Angelo for getting this done… now if he could only find a QB…