Bears sign Riley Reiff, OT, to 1yr deal ($10M)

[adam]

There we go! Schofield and Rieff were both on the offseason radar. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

This is a legit add.  Lots a money but worth it. 

 

[adam]

5 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

This is a legit add.  Lots a money but worth it. 

 

Patrick, Whitehair, Reiff, Schofield + Borom/Jenkins/Jones with Mustipher as a backup C/G is a very solid line. Now let the best young player win the other OT spot and you have a very solid line and an upgrade at basically 3 spots from last year, with upgraded 2nd string depth. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Don’t suppose you remember what the Bears paid for Jason Peters last year? Similar?  

[Stinger226]

I think Peters made around 5 mil. I suspect that Reiff deal is based on game starts. He game up 4 sacks and one penalty last yr. Patrick 2 sacks and 2 penalties. Schofield- 2 sacks 3 penalties. That sounds like a better Oline all ready.

[Pixote]

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Don’t suppose you remember what the Bears paid for Jason Peters last year? Similar?  

I did a Google search and found this:

Quote

According to the Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs, Peters signed a one-year deal worth $1.075 million, including a $250,000 signing bonus. The base salary is $1.075 million with a maximum of $425,000 in per-game bonuses, which brings the deal to a max value $1.75 million. Aug 17, 2021

 

[Stinger226]

2 hours ago, Pixote said:

I did a Google search and found this:

 

wow

[adam]

Peters was 39 and was literally retired on a boat when they made the call.  No one was calling him. 

Reiff was still one of the top OTs left on the market.

24 OTs make 12M or more per year. He would have to hit all his incentives to hit that mark as well. The 10M-12M range is the gap between the top 25 and next 25 OTs. So he comes in on the low end for a starting OT.

Armstead, 31, signed for $15M a year, Noteboom (who only played 16% of the snaps) signed for $13.3M, and the next guy, Okorafor (PIT) signed for $9.75M. So Reiff comes in lower than Armstead and Noteboom, but higher than Okorafor. That is about where he should be. 

[Bill]

While I hope both are a good signing.  I also think it shows how much faith they have in the players they drafter last year and this year going forward.  Does Jenkins even make the team?

[adam]

9 minutes ago, Bill said:

While I hope both are a good signing.  I also think it shows how much faith they have in the players they drafter last year and this year going forward.  Does Jenkins even make the team?

Both Borom and Jenkins are not Poles "guys" so he is not tied to them in any way. The new regime doesn't have to feel pressured to start either of them just because. Pace was notorious for hanging onto guys just because of their draft status. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

5 hours ago, adam said:

Peters was 39 and was literally retired on a boat when they made the call.  No one was calling him. 

Reiff was still one of the top OTs left on the market.

When I originally asked the question I actually didn’t know what type of deal Peters got last year (thanks Pix).  I’m frankly surprised that he only got a ~$1 million deal versus the ~$12 million deal Reiff got.  Sure I get the age difference but if Brady’s proven nothing else, age is just a number.  And for all intents and purposes Peters did well last year.  In fact he rated out well last year despite his age, minimal time with the team and being “retired” when he got called up. I’d dare say he was the best lineman on the team (understanding that’s a relatively low bar).  
 

I’d be curious to see how he and Reiff ranked head to head last year.  That would be more telling than anything. I’m guessing Reiff did better given his team made the Super Bowl with a second year QB.  

[adam]

2 minutes ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

When I originally asked the question I actually didn’t know what type of deal Peters got last year (thanks Pix).  I’m frankly surprised that he only got a ~$1 million deal versus the ~$12 million deal Reiff got.  Sure I get the age difference but if Brady’s proven nothing else, age is just a number.  And for all intents and purposes Peters did well last year.  In fact he rated out well last year despite his age, minimal time with the team and being “retired” when he got called up. I’d dare say he was the best lineman on the team (understanding that’s a relatively low bar).  
 

I’d be curious to see how he and Reiff ranked head to head last year.  That would be more telling than anything. I’m guessing Reiff did better given his team made the Super Bowl with a second year QB.  

$2M is tied to making the playoffs and $2.5M tied to playing time. So we know he is not making the $2M and may not make all of the $2.5M, so the range is more like $8-10.5M.

Peters was cheap last year, should have made $5-6M.

Reiff was better, he only had 1 penalty and allowed 4 sacks in 711 snaps. 

Peters had 3 penalties and 6 sacks in 853 snaps. 

[AZ54]

Now the big question that gets answered in a day or two is what side is Reiff playing on?  Most of his history is at LT but he's played a year or two at RT.  Whichever side he goes to, we know he's getting paid starter's money.   Now with all this depth LT, RT, and RG are even more of a tossup.  Let's see who brought their A-game.   

Poles had to be reaching out to these players over the last few weeks and it was kept quiet.  He likely waited until their price met his and if true, that's some stone-cold negotiating skills.    If I were a player I'd be waiting for my price on a deal or else wait on best offers before camp starts.    

If I'm wrong and Poles just waited and then contacted them this week well that still takes some brass to just sit and wait and see who's available the week of camp.  I'm not sure it's the wisest route.  

[BearFan PHX]

3 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Now the big question that gets answered in a day or two is what side is Reiff playing on?  Most of his history is at LT but he's played a year or two at RT.  Whichever side he goes to, we know he's getting paid starter's money.   Now with all this depth LT, RT, and RG are even more of a tossup.  Let's see who brought their A-game.   

Poles had to be reaching out to these players over the last few weeks and it was kept quiet.  He likely waited until their price met his and if true, that's some stone-cold negotiating skills.    If I were a player I'd be waiting for my price on a deal or else wait on best offers before camp starts.    

If I'm wrong and Poles just waited and then contacted them this week well that still takes some brass to just sit and wait and see who's available the week of camp.  I'm not sure it's the wisest route.  

Youre right it's ballsy. But at the same time, Poles has a list, and while multiple people remain available on that list, you can afford to wait. For all we know he wanted Fisher and he was never able to get that deal done, and had Reiff as an insurance policy. Or maybe he had Reiff targeted all along, and as long as Fisher was still around, he felt he could afford to play chicken with Fisher as insurance.

Whatever it was, he didnt crumble early, and played out his thread. Good for him! and us!

[Stinger226]

12 hours ago, adam said:

Both Borom and Jenkins are not Poles "guys" so he is not tied to them in any way. The new regime doesn't have to feel pressured to start either of them just because. Pace was notorious for hanging onto guys just because of their draft status. 

I think it is just giving them options if the young guys are not ready to start. Borom and Jenkins are big question marks, it takes time to develop OLinemen, rarely do they jump right in and play well. I think if the young guys are ready, they will start. Reiff contract has an escalation clause that if he plays more than 10% of the snaps he gets 4.5 mil more . That tells me Poles thinks the young guys still might start. He has several escalation clauses tied to the success of the team. His base is 3 mil. 

3 mil is all his cap hit is, the escalations will only be applied if he meets them. 

 

[Stinger226]

7 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Now the big question that gets answered in a day or two is what side is Reiff playing on?  Most of his history is at LT but he's played a year or two at RT.  Whichever side he goes to, we know he's getting paid starter's money.   Now with all this depth LT, RT, and RG are even more of a tossup.  Let's see who brought their A-game.   

Poles had to be reaching out to these players over the last few weeks and it was kept quiet.  He likely waited until their price met his and if true, that's some stone-cold negotiating skills.    If I were a player I'd be waiting for my price on a deal or else wait on best offers before camp starts.    

If I'm wrong and Poles just waited and then contacted them this week well that still takes some brass to just sit and wait and see who's available the week of camp.  I'm not sure it's the wisest route.  

I think after the 2nd phase of Free Agency, there was no rush to sign someone. It gave them a chance to evaluate the young guys to see what they have. Very few O linemen signed over the dead period before camp, several choices were still there. I am sure they talked to several vets and choose what they thought was their best choice. His base is only 3 mil , no money guaranteed. All the rest of the money is based on playing time and success of team. Probably will end up being 7.5 mil. I went by the info given on Over The Cap website. 

[AZ54]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I think after the 2nd phase of Free Agency, there was no rush to sign someone. It gave them a chance to evaluate the young guys to see what they have. Very few O linemen signed over the dead period before camp, several choices were still there. I am sure they talked to several vets and choose what they thought was their best choice. His base is only 3 mil , no money guaranteed. All the rest of the money is based on playing time and success of team. Probably will end up being 7.5 mil. I went by the info given on Over The Cap website. 

At least the floor of the Oline has improved and for reasonable cap hit and no future cap impact to worry about.   

[adam]

50 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

At least the floor of the Oline has improved and for reasonable cap hit and no future cap impact to worry about.   

Oh yeah, thats the thing. We now have Mustipher as a backup, which is perfect for him. Same goes for one of Borom/Jenkins/Jones. Two of those guys are now backups. So our 2nd string includes Mustipher, and let's say Borom and Jones. That is actually a decent set of rotational guys on the line. Other teams don't have that type of depth. 

[adam]

A nice little nugget here:

Both for $4M cap hit? Sounds good to me. 

[Stinger226]

I think there will end up being one surprise on the OL. Hopefully its not Jenkins sitting because I think he has the most potential of the group.

[Connorbear]

23 hours ago, AZ54 said:

At least the floor of the Oline has improved and for reasonable cap hit and no future cap impact to worry about.   

This 100%. 

Peace