The Chicago Bears had a busy evening on Sunday, and they made a big splash as they signed offensive lineman Josh Sitton to a three-year contract, the team announced.
Sitton, who was released by the Green Bay Packers as they trimmed their roster to 53 players, has reached the Pro Bowl on three occasions in his career, but was shown the door in Wisconsin after he refused to take a pay cut.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Sitton’s contract will pay him just over $7 million per season, with $10 million of the deal guaranteed.
The 30-year old Sitton has played in every game for the past four seasons with the Packers and has only missed two games total in the last seven seasons. He reached the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2012 and has made it back in each of the past two years for the Packers, and he was named second-team All-NFL by the Associated Press and Pro Football Focus in 2015.
With the signing, the Bears will likely start rookie Cody Whitehair at center in their Week 1 showdown against the Houston Texans, moving Sitton out to left guard and putting Kyle Long at right guard (assuming he is fully healed up from the shoulder injury that kept him out of the team’s preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns).
