Bears extend Cutler’s contract
Posted by Jeff Joniak in Jeff Joniak on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 | no responses
Pay day came early for Jay Cutler.
With room under this year’s salary cap and satisfaction in their new quarterback, the Bears extended Cutler’s original contract by two years and nearly $30 million.
$20 million of the extension will be guaranteed. He is now signed thru 2013 and will earn just over $50 million between now and then when you include what is left from his Denver contract.
A new deal for Cutler was assumed after the trade with Denver. It was just a matter of when.
Compared to the deals recently given to Eli Manning of the New York Giants and Phillip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers, the Bears did well to make the deal work.
Manning signed a six-year, $97.5 million deal including $35 million in guarantees. Rivers agreed to a six-year, $92 million deal including $40 million guaranteed.
The difference here is Cutler will only be 31 when this deal expires and assuming he peforms at a high level will be poised to strike another deal…probably long before he becomes a free agent in 2014.
It works out for the Bears and Cutler, a life long fan of the team he now plays for.
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