Last night the Chicago Bears secured a key piece to their defense when they reached an agreement with linebacker Danny Trevathan on a three-year contract extension. It was a necessary move with Nick Kwiatkoski also set to hit the open market. With the 26-year old garnering lots of interest, it was likely the Bears felt they wouldn’t be able to meet his price. So they moved quickly to secure Trevathan who, while older, still showed plenty of gas in the tank before his unfortunate elbow injury last season.
Now details of that contract have come out. According to Ian Rapoport, the Bears agreed to pay a base salary of $21.75 million and $14 million in guarantees. The contract has a maximum value of $24 million. This essentially means the Bears will pay him $8 million per year at most. One can imagine the salary cap structure will be a big factor, most likely being lower in 2020 so as to help the team conduct their free agency business.
Somewhere in the $5-6 million range would be likely given the length of the deal.
Danny Trevathan is worth the money
Look people tend to get a little overprotective whenever teams hand decent contracts to slightly older players. That said, it’s not like Trevathan was on a downtrend last year. He was on pace for over 130 tackles in 2019 before a freak injury to a non-critical body part ended his year. Stuff happens. He’s still fast, smart, and athletic. Most importantly the Bears were able to retain a huge part of their leadership core on defense.
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Essentially he signed almost the same exact deal Demario Davis did for the New Orleans Saints back in 2018. Davis was 29 that year. Last season he had 111 tackles, four sacks, and an interception while being named an All-Pro. Safe to say the Saints don’t regret making that deal in the slightest. Presuming Trevathan is able to stay healthy, he should be just as effective as he’s been the past few years.
