Former Eagles tight end Trey Burton is expected to sign with the Bears, a source tells Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). Burton will land a four-year, $32MM deal, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
This four-year agreement looks closer to a two-year deal, however. Albert Breer of SI.com reports (on Twitter) Burton’s contract contains $18MM fully guaranteed in the first two years. After that, nothing is guaranteed, making the 2020 and ’21 seasons look like option years for the Bears.
Burton will receive a $7.5MM signing bonus and a $1MM roster bonus due early next week, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. His initial two base salaries are $2.8MM and $6.7MM, with the 2020 season also coming with a $6.7MM base. If he’s still on the roster in 2021, Burton will earn a $6MM base. Although Burton doesn’t have any fully guaranteed money due after 2019, there is a $4MM injury guarantee for part of his 2020 money, per Florio.
Burton provides new head coach Matt Nagy with a serious weapon in the offense. Between Burton and new free agent addition Allen Robinson, quarterback Mitch Trubisky couldn’t ask for much more. Lat season, Trubisky was forced to throw to one of the least-inspiring group of pass-catchers in the NFL, but he’ll now have a few legitimate targets.
Burton, of course, has been a backup for the majority of his career, as he’s played second fiddle to Zach Ertz in Philadelphia. Over the past two years, Burton has averaged 30 receptions, 288 yards, and three touchdowns per season, but he’s been extremely efficient. Football Outsiders ranked Burton third in DVOA among tight ends a season ago, meaning he provided value on a per-play basis.
Despite his relative lack of experience, Burton will now become the fifth-highest-paid tight end in the league on an annual basis. His $8MM/year salary will place behind only Travis Kelce, Jordan Reed, Rob Gronkowski, and Ertz. While Burton’s guarantees haven’t yet been made public, each of those tight ends received between $10-15MM in fully guaranteed cash.
Burton, whom PFR ranked as the best tight end on the market and the No. 19 overall free agent, drew plenty of interest before landing in Chicago, as both the 49ers and Lions expressed interest.
[RELATED: Bears Depth Chart]
Daaaaaaaaa Bears
4 years 32 mil.
Whoa! Out of left field, Robinson and burton in one day! Nice job Bears!
Good pick up. Probably release Sims I’d imagine. The Bears are doing good so far at getting some guy for Trubisky to throw to. Wonder if they add another WR in free agency or trade or if they draft one. They for sure need more. They had nobody lSt year it was sad
Pace is doing a great job this offseason. Keep it going now
damn
I’m not saying it’s a bad move but making him the 5th highest paid TE seems like an overpay. I know the Bears have the money but it’s still reasonable to question whether they spent too much.
Depends on what the guaranteed money looks like. If its front loaded, they can get out of the deal quickly if needed. But otherwise, you’re buying on the potential here.
True, I just wonder how much of his value on the Eagles came from playing in two TE sets with Ertz and having Wentz throwingg him the ball. It will be interesting how the contract breaks down and how much Jimmy Graham gets.
he filled in nicely when Ertz was hurt. Huge loss for the Eagles, huge gain for the Bears. he’ll be very good
I just remember everyone being very high on the Sims overpay too. If the money is even remotely similar I’d probably rather have Graham.
Very nice day for Pace. Now if they can bolster the OL, grab a solid LB and CB, they’ll be in business.
Love this – I think if the Bears can maybe land Kirk from Texas A&M in the 2nd as a slot receiver, they’ll be in good shape … sounds like they will go defense in the first
Bears out here throwing money around. It’s funny because combo of Burton and Robinson are good but is it any better than Alshon Jeffrey and a healthy Martellus Bennett? Or what about paying Fuller about $5 million more? Or the waist of millions on Glennon? Unless Trubisky has a turnaround like Jared Goff they’ll be stuck in this cycle
I agree they should’ve maybe paid Alshon, but I would much rather have burton than Bennett..Bennett is never healthy, and he cries about anything always
wow. Bears are killing the 49ers in free agency.
He knows the guy who took this photo! He wants to give him a big hug!
4 years and $32M?!?! For a career backup TE? This deal makes him higher paid than the guy he was backing up…. makesanosense. I like the acquiring of Burton, but for $8M AAV? Ridiculous. Robinson getting as much as he got was ridiculous to me too. A WR coming of an ACL injury isn’t exactly encouraging….. yet Pace threw $14M AAV at him for 3 years….. this is the same team that “couldn’t” re-sign Alshon Jeffery….. who instead signed a 1 year pact with the Eagles for what was it…. 1 year and $9-10M…. yeah. Now Jeffery signed an extension with the Eagles at 4 years and $52M….. or in other words, $13M AAV. Pace is an idiot. Not getting the praise he is receiving in this thread. His top priority should’ve been getting Watkins at WR…. not Robinson. Watkins signed for a whopping $6M more than Robinson on the same year total of a deal with KC. Unlike Robinson, Watkins actually played in 2017.
I’m sorry, but it just seems to me that Pace is a tight fisted fool when it comes to players who are worth the investment…….. but then busts his load over players who are hardly worth the investment….. at least the investment Pace puts down…… like $8M AAV for a BACKUP TE!!! I think ESPN reported there are only 2 TEs right now getting paid more than Burton, Kelce and Jordan Reed. Yeah, talk about discrepancy in talent level.
I give this move a C-….. and only that high because I like the addition of Burton…. just not for top tier money.
For Robinson I give that deal an F. How can you rationalize a 3 year deal at $14M AAV for a guy who had a blown up ACL all year last year, but were too tight fisted to pay Jeffery just last year…. a better, more proven WR than Robinson. Insane.
Pace is figuratively burning through the massive amount of cap space they had by signing questionable players. Also, I was hoping this offseason would’ve been spent on buying a formidable offensive line. Whitehair and the now oft injured Long are the only viable OLmen they have on this team. The additions of Robinson and Burton (and Gabriel) mean absolutely nothing if Trubisky is on his back the entire game getting sacked. It would’ve been nice to see them sign Andrew Norwell at G instead of bust their load all over Burton….. another reason the Burton deal is so aggravating is, with that kind of money at TE he has to be the starter. With that being the case Pace is pretty much admitting his drafting last year was complete sh** in taking Shaheen in the 2nd round. Stupid. Norwell, 26 years old, signed a 5 year 66.5M deal with the Jags who guaranteed $30M of it. Well worth the money for a lineman in his 20s who is a first team all pro player. SUPERB replacement for Sitton. An interior consisting of Long, Whitehair at center, and Norwell would just be nasty. And the bears would still have ample money to go out and sign a tackle or two. Chris Hubbad and Cameron Fleming would be excellent additions, two more dudes at the age of 16 or younger. That, IMO, would give the Bears one hell of a formidable offensive line. THEN you can go out and sign a WR, TE, and maybe a CB. That would address pretty much most of their needs…. all in free agency. Then you just supplement those additions with a solid draft…. something I can’t recall the Bears ever doing – having a solid draft top to bottom – but one can hope/dream.
Had the Bears done all that…. I’d trade UP…. yet again, in order to draft Bradley Chubb, DE. Pair him with Hicks on the line…. damn.
That gives you a DL of Hicks, Goldman, and Chubb…. hell….. yeah. Then I’d spend the rest of the draft picking LBs, haha…. maybe toss in a WR or a DB.