With Sutton signing, Bears draft class complete
Defensive tackle Will Sutton, the Bears' third-round draft choice, agreed to terms on a four-year deal Thursday morning, and the team now has all eight of its picks under contract, one day before the start of this weekend's three-day rookie minicamp.
The 6-foot-1, 303-pound Sutton was the 82nd overall selection last weekend. Sutton was the Pac-12 defensive player of the year in his final two seasons at Arizona, where he started 40 games. Sutton started all 14 games for the Wildcats last season and had 13 ½ tackles for loss and 4 sacks. He was even better as a junior in 2012, when he had 23 ½ tackles for loss and 13 sacks.
After playing his junior season at 285 pounds, Sutton was advised to gain weight to make himself a better player and more desirable by NFL teams. He bulked up to about 320 pounds but was less effective. He says he is now around 290, and Bears general manager Phil Emery says the team wants him to come to camp in the 285-295-pound range.
“There's a lot of pressure on young people,” Emery said after drafting Sutton. “He wants to achieve. He's told by a lot of people, people that he trusted, that he needed to gain weight and get bigger (to get to the NFL).
“Maybe he needed to gain a little bit, but not quite that much. I think once he did, it was hard for him to get it back down. But you're still talking about someone that was the (Pac-12) player of the year on defense.”
Sutton is expected to be a major contributor this season in a defensive tackle rotation that includes veterans Jeremiah Ratliff, Stephen Paea and Nate Collins, along with fellow rookie Ego Ferguson, the Bears' second-round draft pick, who agreed to terms on Tuesday.