Chicago Bears, Charles Leno reportedly close on long-term contract
The Chicago Bears are reportedly close to signing left tackle Charles Leno to a long-term contract extension. Is this is a good move?
According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, the Chicago Bears and left tackle Charles Leno are close on a long-term contract extension. Garafolo reports the details of the contract as four-years, $38 million with $21.5 million guaranteed. This is certainly an interesting development.
Bears and LT Charles Leno Jr closing in on 4-year, $38m extension with $21.5m in guarantees source says. Former 7th-rounder gets paid.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 23, 2017
Leno was a seventh round pick by the Bears back in 2014. He entered the NFL as a raw offensive tackle prospect who showed some nice upside as pass protector. Leno moves well for an offensive lineman and it is easy to see why he could grow into a strong blind side protector.
He took over as the Bears’ primary left tackle down the stretch in 2015 and had mixed results. Leno still flashed that upside, but his pass protection was extremely inconsistent and his run blocking was downright ugly.
However, the Bears stuck with Leno and he started 16 games with the team last season. Given a full opportunity throughout the season, Leno improved in 2016, especially as a pass protector. Based on last year, I would call Leno an adequate pass blocker with still some upside to be good, but probably never elite. His lack of toughness in the run game is still an issue.
The 2017 season appeared to be a major make or break year for Leno. He is not a terrible left tackle like some seem to think, but he far from an elite-level player at the position. However, the Bears have clearly seen enough and wanted to lock him up before the season starts. That tells me that they expect big things out of Leno this season and he likely would have increased his value over 2017.
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All in all, this is not big money for an NFL left tackle. However, Leno is not an elite NFL left tackle. I think this deal makes a lot of sense. At worst, the Bears could move Leno over to right tackle where his pass protection skills would shine even more. However, I believe that the Bears made this deal with the idea of Leno being their long-term left tackle of the future. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.