On Sunday, it was announced that the Chicago Bears extended cornerback Kyler Gordon, signing him to a three-year deal worth $40 million. Gordon's extension comes as no surprise, given that general manager Ryan Poles made it clear that their intention was to keep him in Chicago. That said, the reason the deal took time to get done was Chicago likely wanted to make Gordon the highest-paid nickel cornerback in the NFL.
However, they were unable to do that until the Houston Texans extended Jalen Pitre. Houston gave Pitre a three-year $39 million extension last Friday. With that benchmark set, Chicago was finally able to lock Gordon down on the extension.
Following Gordon's extension, a few other Bears are waiting on extensions, including Joe Thuney and T.J. Edwards. There are arguments for each player to receive the extension before the other. That said, extending Edwards would continue the precedent of paying their own.
So the Bears rewarded Kyler Gordon. Smart move. Here's why T.J. Edwards should be next (and, yes, they have the cap space)
— Scott Bair (@ScottBairNFL) April 14, 2025
Story: ⬇️https://t.co/2jxiraO6Pr
T.J. Edwards Must Be the Next Bear to Receive a Contract Extension
Although Edwards played the first three seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, he is a Chicago kid. The 29-year-old grew up in Lake Villa, IL, and attended Lake Villa High School.
Since joining the Bears in 2023, Edwards has done nothing but be a consistent playmaker. In two seasons, he has recorded 284 tackles, 20 tackles for loss, 10 pass deflections, 6.5 sacks, four interceptions, and two forced fumbles.
Furthermore, Edwards recorded grades of 74.5 in pass rush, 76.5 in run defense, and 75.4 in pass coverage in 0223, according to PFF. While his grades went down in 2024, the defense fell off a cliff in the second half of the season, so it wasn't just him who struggled.
Nonetheless, there is one major drawback to extending Edwards. If Chicago decided to give him a three-year contract extension, that would take him into his age-32 season. There is a high likelihood that regression could hit Edwards hard in the middle to end of that contract.
Even so, extending Edwards would give the locker room a morale boost and continue to show that players get rewarded for playing well. It will be interesting to see if the Bears decide to move on from such a beloved player inside and outside the locker room, but here's hoping they don't.