The Chicago Bears have agreed on a 4-year contract with free agent DE Jared Allen, the team announced on Wednesday morning.
Bears gave DE Jared Allen a four-year, $32M deal that voids down to three years of $24M, of which $15.5M is fully guaranteed.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 26, 2014
Allen began his career with the Chiefs in 2004 but was traded to the Vikings where he spent the last six seasons of his career.
GM Phil Emery said of the signing: "We are extremely happy for Jared, his wife Amy, our fans and the Chicago Bears that Jared has agreed to terms and will be joining the Bears family. This is another important step in our continued efforts to build our team towards a championship level."
"We're really excited about adding Jared to our football team," said coach Marc Trestman. "We know what his abilities bring to the table. Jared is certainly a very experienced player in the league. We believe he's going to come in hungry and excited to be part of our football team, and we believe he'll fit right in with the other new players that we've added and the guys that are already on the defensive side of the ball. I know that our defensive coaches are excited as well."
So the Bears lost one of the most accomplished pass-rushers this free agency period in Julius Peppers but replace him with a four-time All-Pro from the division. Not a bad move.
Allen visited multiple teams in free agency, including the Cowboys and Seahawks (twice). Many believed he was headed for the Seahawks but that's obviously not the case.