After being released by the Packers yesterday, free agent guard Josh Sitton will stay in the NFC North, as he’s agreed to a three-year contract with the Bears, according to Alex Marvez of FOX Sports (Twitter link). The deal is worth $21.75MM and contains $10MM in guarantees, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
[RELATED: Bears Sign Kyle Long To Extension]
Sitton, 30, is a three-time Pro Bowler who has long been considered one of the best — if not the best — guards in the NFL, so the Packers’ willingness to move on from him certainly came as a surprise. In eight seasons in Green Bay, Sitton appeared in 121 games, starting 112, while delivering dominant results on the interior of the offensive line.
Last year, Sitton graded out as the sixth-best guard in the NFL, according to the advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus. He received a strong 91.1 pass blocking grade (tied for fourth-best in the NFL) with a still respectable 81.2 mark against the run.
While the Saints were also reported to have interest in meeting with Sitton, he’ll instead head to the Chicago, where his presence along the interior offensive line will be a boon. While the Bears boast the recently-extended Kyle Long at right guard, left guard and center had been wide open following the release of Matt Slauson, the retirements of Nate Chandler and Manny Ramirez, and the injury to Hroniss Grasu.
Sitton will start on the left side, tweets Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, while rookie Cody Whitehair and veteran Ted Larsen compete for time at center.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
So if GB kept sitton and he left in FA, GB would have picked up a compensation pick, right??
In 2018, yes, assuming he stayed healthy and landed a nice contract next spring (and that the Packers didn’t sign a bunch of free agents themselves, which I don’t think we have to worry about).
Nice Ted Thompson is a F’n moron
Josh Sitton must be a little upset with the packers since he went to our rivals
There has to be more to this. Why would you release a player of his caliber and get nothing for him or at least have him play out the season?
I kept saying they need to fix their O Line to give Cutler more time to throw and not get hit as much. Still think they can get a little better but it’s a start. They need help on defense also. I’d like to see them get better. Not a fan of them but I hate that everyone blames them suckin on Cutler when their O Line sucks and their defense is horrible so their always playing from behind.
I agree everyone blames the Bears losing on cutler but the team was put together poorly he is a major upgrade to their line but I still think they should not have released slauson but instead move him to a tackle position or use him for a trade
Cutler is not good. That’s why they blame him
No, he is pretty good. He is not loved by the media because he can be prickly in talking with them. So the media knocks him and people like you just don’t have any independent thoughts of your own. You just accept what the media tells you. I’m guessing you like Donald Trump too and believe everything he says. Cutler is not great but he is setvicable with good running game and strong Defense. Similar to how Peyton Manning was carried by the Broncos run game and D all of last year.