A year later than they originally had hoped, the Bears landed one of their primary off-season targets Tuesday when they acquired strong safety Adam Archuleta from the Redskins for a sixth-round pick in next month’s NFL draft.
The deal, expected to be finalized Wednesday if Archuleta passes his physical, became possible after he agreed to a restructured contract that will pay him $8.1 million over the next three years, including a $5 million bonus the Bears will pay. It was due Wednesday, and the Redskins already had delayed paying it once in hopes of dealing him.
The signing removes a position from the Bears’ critical-need list and fortifies a key area of the defense. Archuleta is expected to be the starting strong safety alongside Danieal Manning, and his addition could signal the end of Mike Brown’s seven-year career in Chicago.
Archuleta is a couple of months older than Brown but has no history of injury.
The Bears have been expected to approach Brown for a restructuring of his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $2.49 million each of the next two seasons. If he and the Bears can reach an agreement, the safety position could be a strength with Archuleta, Brown and Chris Harris, along with Manning, the Bears’ first pick in last year’s draft.
The Bears aggressively pursued Archuleta last March when he became an unrestricted free agent after five seasons with the Rams, where he had been a favorite of coach Lovie Smith, then the team’s defensive coordinator.
Grossman reflects on season
Quarterback Rex Grossman was in Baltimore this week to receive the Bears’ Ed Block Courage award, an honor voted on by the players on each team in tribute to a player overcoming adversity. That’s a subject familiar to Grossman in 2006.
“In some games, I was bad,” Grossman told the Baltimore Sun. “I had 13 or 14 games I’m extremely proud of and five or six that were really bad. The swings of criticism were much bigger than swings in my play.”
