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By Brad Biggs
The numbers are in on the contract the Bears gave running back Harvey Unga, a four-year deal with a base value of a little more than $1.846 million.
Unga received a signing bonus of just less than $56,300, according to a league source. The Bears, who announced the signing Wednesday, chose Unga in the seventh round of the supplemental draft. The team was assigned the 12th pick, meaning Unga was officially pick 7-12a of the draft.
The Washington Redskins chose wide receiver Terrence Austin with the 12th pick in the seventh round of the April draft. The signing bonus the Bears gave Unga is more in line with what has been paid to picks closer to the middle of the round.
Unga's contract includes an escalator for 2013 that raises the base pay for that season from $575,000 to $1.308 million or the low tender for restricted free agents. He needs to hit a playing-time minimum in order to trigger the bump in pay. That makes the max value of Unga's deal $2.58 million.
The Bears figure to have Unga compete for a role as the third running back, but he also could be introduced to the fullback position. BYU's all-time leading rusher wasn't called on to run block in school, so that would mean a transition. He's also expected to be given a crash course on special teams, something all reserve players are required to do.
But because the Bears used a supplemental pick on Unga, something that cost them their seventh-round pick in the April 2011 draft, he is probably expected to make the 53-man roster.
Waiving Unga for the purpose of sliding him to the practice squad would expose him to the other 31 teams. Scouts consistently said he would have a mid-round grade in the regular April draft, so the Bears will likely want to protect their investment, one they believe was a value selection.
More...
The numbers are in on the contract the Bears gave running back Harvey Unga, a four-year deal with a base value of a little more than $1.846 million.
Unga received a signing bonus of just less than $56,300, according to a league source. The Bears, who announced the signing Wednesday, chose Unga in the seventh round of the supplemental draft. The team was assigned the 12th pick, meaning Unga was officially pick 7-12a of the draft.
The Washington Redskins chose wide receiver Terrence Austin with the 12th pick in the seventh round of the April draft. The signing bonus the Bears gave Unga is more in line with what has been paid to picks closer to the middle of the round.
Unga's contract includes an escalator for 2013 that raises the base pay for that season from $575,000 to $1.308 million or the low tender for restricted free agents. He needs to hit a playing-time minimum in order to trigger the bump in pay. That makes the max value of Unga's deal $2.58 million.
The Bears figure to have Unga compete for a role as the third running back, but he also could be introduced to the fullback position. BYU's all-time leading rusher wasn't called on to run block in school, so that would mean a transition. He's also expected to be given a crash course on special teams, something all reserve players are required to do.
But because the Bears used a supplemental pick on Unga, something that cost them their seventh-round pick in the April 2011 draft, he is probably expected to make the 53-man roster.
Waiving Unga for the purpose of sliding him to the practice squad would expose him to the other 31 teams. Scouts consistently said he would have a mid-round grade in the regular April draft, so the Bears will likely want to protect their investment, one they believe was a value selection.
More...
