Bears extend All-Pro guard Joe Thuney — such a deal?

For a 32-year-old at a career peak as one of the best guards in the NFL, Joe Thuney didn't even hint at being anxious about a contract extension when he was traded to the Bears in March. He had a year left on the five-year, $80 million contract he signed with the Chiefs in 2021, but at 32 a lot can happen in a year.

"I kind of let my agent handle all that," Thuney said. "I just focus on the game and football, just getting ready for the season."

The Bears and Thuney took care of business in reasonable fashion Tuesday, with reports of Thuney signing a two-year, $35 million contract extension through the 2027 season. It works for both sides. Thuney could have played out this season and tried for more as a free agent, but at 32 that's a risk for anybody. Credit to Thuney — not every player who has been a first-team All-Pro player for the previous two seasons (and second-team in 2022) would think like that.

It's a good deal for the Bears and general manager Ryan Poles, who gets an upgrade over talented left guard Teven Jenkins not only in performance, but in dependability. Jenkins started and finished just 20 of 68 games in his Bears career, playing less than half the possible offensive snaps (49.9%). Thuney has started 167 of 171 games in his nine-year NFL career, playing every game of the regular season eight times.

Bears left guard Joe Thuney was 10th in Offensive Player of the Year voting in the NFL last season.

That's on paper, anyway. Even the most dependable player is on a tightrope at 32 in the NFL, especially an offensive lineman with 167 games of wear-and-tear on him. While Thuney has missed only four games in nine seasons in the NFL, all four have come in the last three seasons — including the final two playoff games of the Chiefs' Super Bowl run in 2024 with a pectoral injury.

You never know what the future will bring. The Bears' best "comp" to the Thuney acquisition is guard Josh Sitton, who was surprisingly released by the Packers on cut-down day in 2016. Bears general manager Ryan Pace quickly signed Sitton, who not only was in the prime of his career at 30 as a second-team All-Pro the previous three seasons, but dependable — having played 124 of 126 games since becoming a starter in 2008

Sitton was still a good player — he made the Pro Bowl with the Bears in 2016. But his dependability waned. He missed three games in 2016 (and played just two snaps against the 49ers), then missed three more games in 2017 and parts of three others because of injuries. The Bears declined his option for the 2018 season and he played one more year in the NFL, with the Dolphins, before retiring at 32.

Acquiring Sitton was hardly a bust for the Bears, but it was fair to wonder — before and after the fact — what the Packers knew when they let him go in 2016.

The same goes for the Chiefs with Thuney. He was a clear salary cap casualty. The Chiefs were over the cap after applying a $23.4 million franchise tag to right guard Trey Smith. Trading Thuney saved them $16 million in cap space. But after offensive line issues led to their loss in the Super Bowl, the last thing the Chief needed was to lose a player of Thuney's quality.

So there are two ways to look at his trade to the Bears:

• Despite his stellar play the last several seasons, the Chiefs see either Thuney's performance level or dependability level (or both) likely to decline in the near future and made the prudent salary-cap-related move.

• The Chiefs realized they couldn't afford Thuney and GM Brett Veach did his former protege Ryan Poles a much-needed solid by giving the Bears the first — and best — shot at an All-Pro player still in his prime — kind of like Timberwolves vice president of operations Kevin McHale sending Kevin Garnett to former teammate Danny Ainge and the Celtics in 2007. (The The Chiefs' tree has suffered in recent years with Chris Ballard, Matt Nagy and Eric Bieniemy finding success elusive, and with Poles on the hot seat in Chicago — every little bit helps. I've had worse theories!)

In reality, neither of these scenarios could be accurate, or — as John Fox would say — it might be "a little of both." A Bears skeptic would think it's the former, but I would lean toward the latter. It's one thing for Mike Tomlin to send Chase Claypool to the Bears. But Brett Veach isn't likely to sell Poles a bum steer. Not knowingly, anyway.

Or it could be that Ryan Poles simply did what GMs do to turn their fortunes around and used familiarity to take advantage of opportunity. Jason Licht was 27-53 in his first five seasons as general manager of the Buccaneers before he hired his old buddy Bruce Arians, which led to him signing his old quarterback with the Patriots, Tom Brady, and now Licht is riding high (51-33, a Super Bowl and five consecutive playoff appearances) even after Arians and Brady have left. (Losing out on the Bears' GM job to Phil Emery in 2012 was the best thing that ever happened to Jason Licht, just like losing out on the Bears' coaching job to Marc Trestman was the best thing that ever happened to Bruce Arians. Hmmm ...)

All in all, the acquisition of Joe Thuney should end up being an upgrade for the Bears when it's all said and done — with the Josh Sitton scenario the floor and the Trent Williams scenario (four Pro Bowls, three first-team All-Pro honors with the 49ers after nine years with Washington) a pretty high ceiling.

The Chiefs have been a well-run organization even before drafting Patrick Mahomes, but even they can't escape the pitfalls of the NFL's salary cap. The Bears needed a combination of acumen and good fortune to wind up with Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and DJ Moore. The acquisition of Joe Thuney looks like it falls into the same category. Now, the real work begins.