Bear Digest

Embarrassingly low Teven Jenkins contract reveals cost of injuries

Former Bears guard missed so many starts and left so many games that it eventually led to a free agent deal in Cleveland lower than many backups receive.

Gene Chamberlain

Teven Jenkins' many Bears injuries eventually added up to quite a lot of money lost after he signed with Cleveland.
Teven Jenkins' many Bears injuries eventually added up to quite a lot of money lost after he signed with Cleveland. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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Availability is the best ability has been trumpeted at Halas Hall since the Lovie Smith era if not before, and within the league as a whole for decades.

What's it actually worth?

Bears coaches always appreciated the skill level and talent of former guard Teven Jenkins but couldn't rely on him because of his poor record for availability.

Now it's apparent how much Jenkins' frequent injuries and departures from games meant..

The Browns last week signed Jenkins after the Bears replaced him by trading for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney. Jenkins' contract terms posted by Spotrac.com say his absences added up in a big way.

He received only a $3.05 million contract for one year, $2.67 million of it guaranteed. The cap hit for the Browns is only $1.79 million.

Jenkins had been graded the 29th best free agent available by Pro Football Focus and his contract for free agency was projected by PFF to be $13.5 million a year.

This is downright criminal to land a player who two years ago was graded the No. 3 guard in the NFL by PFF, and was still graded 18th in the league last year.

At that rate, it's almost worth wondering if the Bears would have been better off offering him $4 million to retain as a backup guard but the league doesn't work that way. A chance to start and begin all over again somewhere else is better for all parties after Jenkins' record of injuries.

He missed 23 games and 30 possible starts in four seasons. At least last year, worse than the missed games were the games he failed to finish. He had five games when he came out.

The entire Jenkins stay in Chicago turned out bad from the start, when he needed back surgery after he was unable to practice in his first training camp.

Now the fresh start can only be seen as beneficial but it comes at such a cost. At $3.05 million, he's making less than Bears backup lineman Ryan Bates by almost $1 million.

A tough fate for one of the more well-liked Bears players to come through Halas Hall.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.