Charles Tillman Extended

[Vintage]

The Bears cleared a major hurdle for the future of their defense Tuesday by agreeing with cornerback Charles Tillman on a six-year extension that will keep him in Chicago until 2013.

Tillman

The deal will pay about $38 million in new money with $18.5 million in guarantees.

"They compromised. We compromised," Tillman said. "They were willing to listen. We were willing to listen. That's how it got done."

Combined with the recent signing of cornerback Nathan Vasher for $28 million for five years, the Bears have resolved the two major questions in their secondary. Tillman and Vasher were scheduled to become free agents after the season. Keeping them was of one of the main priorities of general manager Jerry Angelo.

"I'm glad for Nate, proud of Nate for getting his deal done and glad mine has gotten done," Tillman said. "I think Nate and myself work well together."

The team announced the signing Tuesday afternoon.

The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Tillman, who matches up well with tall wide receivers, is close with quarterback Rex Grossman and one of the most popular players on the team. He made a name for himself as a rookie in 2003 when he covered Randy Moss of the Vikings well in two games.

The former third-round choice has played 53 games for the Bears and has 14 interceptions, 10 of which came over the past two seasons.

With Tillman and Vasher re-signed, the Bears can concentrate on wide receiver Bernard Berrian. After taking over the starting job last season, Berrian is set to become a free agent following the 2007-08 season.

Left unsigned for the Bears is franchise linebacker Lance Briggs. Briggs was likely going to hold out of training camp, but late Tuesday night the Chicago Tribune reported that the two sides might be close to a deal.

Tillman said during a conference call that he spoke recently with Briggs.

"I'm sure Lance had a lot to do with us being a top defense," Tillman said, adding he didn't talk football specifics with Briggs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2947774


I posted this because of the Newman implications. 18.5M guaranteed for Tillman.

Newman is poised to make 20's in guaranteed money, no?

 

[DallasEast]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2947774


I posted this because of the Newman implications. 18.5M guaranteed for Tillman.

Newman is poised to make 20's in guaranteed money, no?

Good post. With Tillman and Vasher as contract gauges, I would say that Newman has a good possibility of hitting the 30's in guaranteed money at the very least. The Bears are normally not big money spenders, but Jerry Jones certainly is.

 

[DCBoysfan]

Newman should be in the area of $20-25 Million range...

 

[Alexander]

TILLMAN DEAL NOT QUITE AS BIG AS ADVERTISED by Michael David Smith
Yesterday it was widely reported that the Bears had signed cornerback Charles Tillman to a six-year, $41.5 million deal, with $18.5 million guaranteed.
But we're hearing that Tillman's contract isn't quite the bonanza it's been advertised as.
In reality, the Tillman deal is a five-year, $29 million extension. The extra money that's been reported comes from a phony final year with a base salary in the $8 million to $9 million range. It's extremely unlikely that he'll really get that much cash that year, at age 32. The contract also took $3 million of his 2007 base salary and converted it to a bonus, but that $3 million has been reported as new money.
So while the Bears have a lot of cash tied up in cornerbacks Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Ricky Manning, it's not quite as big an investment at that position as first thought. ​