Darnell Wright’s Record Deal Raises the Bar for the Rest of Chicago’s Offensive Line

The Chicago Bears made Darnell Wright a very rich man this week, and now everybody else on that offensive line has to answer for it.

Chicago and its right tackle agreed Tuesday to a four-year, $116 million extension that includes $93 million guaranteed, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, who reported the news along with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. It’s the largest guarantee ever handed to an offensive lineman and makes Wright the highest-paid right tackle in football at $29 million per year. Bears general manager Ryan Poles made it official in a statement, saying Wright has “consistently elevated his play and the performance of his teammates” since he arrived.

That’s a franchise-altering commitment to a 24-year-old who doesn’t turn 25 until next Monday. It’s also a message, whether the Bears intended it that way or not, to every other name competing for a job up front at Halas Hall this month.

Wright’s payday changes the conversation at left tackle

Right tackle just became the safest job in Chicago. Left tackle remains one of the most unsettled.

Braxton Jones enters his fifth training camp as the incumbent, and by most accounts the frontrunner, but he’s doing it on a one-year deal worth a fraction of what Wright just signed. Jones started Chicago’s season opener in each of the past four years, only to lose the job in-season twice — once during a Week 4 benching in 2025, once to a broken fibula the year before that. He’s healthy now, and he sounds like it. “This was the first one since, I think my second or rookie year, where truly getting that full offseason, not dealing with anything after,” Jones said, crediting work with five-time Pro Bowler Terron Armstead for rebuilding his trust in his own body, according to Yahoo Sports.

Confidence aside, the Bears aren’t handing him anything. Jedrick Wills Jr. took first-team reps over Jones as recently as this past weekend, according to ESPN’s camp tracker, and Kiran Amegadjie has been mixed in with the top group too. Head coach Ben Johnson has framed the competition around a simple question: “Who is the most consistent player that we feel like is going to help us on a weekly basis?” he said, per ESPN.

Theo Benedet, who filled in at left tackle during last year’s race, has reportedly worked almost exclusively at right tackle so far this camp — a detail that suggests the Bears may be deepening their depth behind Wright rather than auditioning Benedet for the left side, according to Bleacher Nation.

Center is settling — but not without a rookie pushing from behind

One spot up the line looks closer to resolved. Garrett Bradbury, who signed a one-year, $4.7 million deal after stops with Minnesota and New England, has taken the majority of first-team center reps and drawn some of Johnson’s most pointed praise of camp.

“He’s extremely impressive,” Johnson said. “He’s super smart. He’s played high-level football in a couple of places now and he’s brought that here. I think what stands out the most is he’s got an elite level of communication. He is loud, he is decisive. He does a great job with seeing the defense. We’re cooking right now with him out there.” — ChicagoBears.com

Bradbury started all 105 games he played across seven seasons in Minnesota and New England, but his time with the Vikings carried a familiar critique: elite mobility and communication, paired with recurring trouble anchoring against the strongest interior pass rushers he faced. That question doesn’t disappear just because he’s traded purple for navy.

Rookie Logan Jones, a similarly sized 6-foot-3, 300-pound fifth-round pick, is the one auditioning to unseat him. Bradbury’s rejoining All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney, his former North Carolina State teammate and road roommate, which Johnson pointed to as part of the fast chemistry. “You can tell that he and Joe have played together,” Johnson said.

Why the timing matters for Year 2 under Johnson

None of this happens in a vacuum. Johnson enters his second Chicago training camp with real credibility after a first season that turned Caleb Williams from a shaky rookie into one of the league’s more explosive young quarterbacks and got the Bears back into the playoffs. That success bought Johnson leverage — and he’s using it to set a standard rather than hand out job security.

Skill-position starters like Williams, D’Andre Swift, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden and the tight end duo of Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet are all expected back in their roles, but nothing is guaranteed by reputation alone under this coaching staff. The offensive line battles are simply the clearest, earliest test of that philosophy this summer — a $116 million extension on one side of the formation, and three players clawing for reps on the other.

The Bears open the preseason Aug. 15 against Cleveland, and Johnson has stayed noncommittal on how much his starters will play. Those three exhibition games, plus a pair of joint practices, are likely to be the real proving ground before Chicago sets its Week 1 offensive line against Minnesota.