{"id":723271,"date":"2026-02-02T07:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T07:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/723271\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T07:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T07:26:21","slug":"tom-brady-sends-50m-message-to-bears-star-after-earning-second-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/723271\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Brady Sends $50M Message to Bears Star After Earning Second Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Chicago Bears<\/a> are deep in offseason planning, one of their unheralded players just received a massive financial endorsement from the most decorated quarterback in NFL history, Tom Brady<\/a>. After their loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round of the playoffs, the franchise is already shifting its focus toward what comes next. Still, amid all that planning, one Bears standout received a massive nod of respect from the legendary quarterback.<\/p>\n

Brady made the announcement on FOX Sports: NFL\u2019s official Instagram page while rolling out his annual LFG awards. He introduced a brand-new honor for 2025 called the Best Value Player award. With little suspense, Brady gave the award to the Bears\u2019 defensive back Nahshon Wright. Because of that, Brady did more than just hand out praise. He made a bold financial prediction that turned heads across the league.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCongratulations, you\u2019ve earned yourself quite a contract in the future,\u201d Brady said. \u201cAnd shout out [to] Nahshon Wright\u2019s agent. You\u2019re going to do pretty well too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in April, Nahshon Wright signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Bears just a day after being released by the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, the former third-round pick was a depth player in Chicago\u2019s secondary, with special teams work expected to be his main contribution. However, everything changed quickly due to two significant injuries to the Bears\u2019 starting cornerbacks. Wright was pushed into action much earlier than planned. As a result, he delivered the best football of his career.<\/p>\n

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Now, the numbers back up Brady\u2019s prediction. According to Spotrac, projections suggest Wright could earn a contract worth close to $50 million. Spread across three seasons, that figure comes in just under $17 million per year, which is a stunning leap from a prove-it deal signed only months ago.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Bears face a complicated offseason, as key defensive players like Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, and Andrew Billings will become free agents. On top of that, Over The Cap projects Chicago to be nearly $10 million over the salary cap in 2026, even after the league\u2019s increase.<\/p>\n

Still, keeping Wright makes sense, as he already knows Dennis Allen\u2019s system, and that familiarity carries real value. Despite the cap concerns, the Bears should make a push to retain him. If Wright is open to a team-friendly deal, maintaining defensive continuity could be the smartest move Ryan Poles makes.<\/p>\n

Nahshon Wright has stats and honors to back up Tom Brady\u2019s claim<\/p>\n

In his first season in Chicago, Nahshon Wright turned opportunity into a statement year. In 17 games, the 6-foot-4, 199-pound cornerback filled the stat sheet, recording five interceptions, 11 passes defended, three fumble recoveries, and 80 total tackles. More importantly, he led the entire league in takeaways and earned his first Pro Bowl nod, a jump that quickly changed how the league viewed his value.<\/p>\n

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Because of that production, Wright picked up his second major honor directly from Tom Brady as part of the LFG awards. Separate from the MVP, the Best Value Player award highlights impact relative to cost, and Brady wasted no time pointing to the Bears\u2019 corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cNashawn Wright, corner, Bears, he had a tremendous season,\u201d Brady said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an absolute turnover machine,\u201d Brady continued. \u201cThe Bears, they didn\u2019t do a great job between the 20s, the ball was moved a lot, but when it came down to turning the ball over, they were better than every team in the league, and he was a huge reason why. Intercepting passes, strip sacks, fumbles, fumble recoveries, what he did on a vet minimum contract, right, something like 1.1, I don\u2019t know, all those little details you guys can go research yourself, but what I saw with my eye test, he is the value player of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

So now, the Bears face a clear decision. Wright has already shown what happens when he gets real responsibility, and at 27 years old, he fits both the present and the future. Even as cap pressure looms, letting a proven corner walk would send the wrong message. For Ryan Poles, stability on defense may start with keeping the value Brady just confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Chicago Bears are deep in offseason planning, one of their unheralded players just received a massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":723272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[12836,374,692,391,2493,7,4423,4861,262,58,259,10378,6,3394,1369,111],"class_list":{"0":"post-723271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-andrew-billings","9":"tag-bears","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chicagobears","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-jaquan-brisker","15":"tag-kevin-byard","16":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","17":"tag-los-angeles-rams","18":"tag-minnesota-vikings","19":"tag-nahshon-wright","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-the-bears","22":"tag-tom-brady","23":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115999852745915911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=723271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/723272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=723271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=723271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=723271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}