Bears sign 3rd round safety Major Wright

Bears chief contract negotiator Cliff Stein set a May 28 goal for signing all five of the team's draft picks, and he made it barely under the wire, when third-round pick Major Wright, the team's top pick this year, signed a four-year contract Friday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With Wright's signing, the Bears are the first NFL team to have all their draft picks signed for the fifth consecutive year and are the first team in league history to have all of their draft picks signed prior to the end of May.

Wright, a 5-foot-11, 206-pound safety out of Florida, was the 75th overall pick. He appeared in all 41 games in his three-year career with the Gators (2007-09) with 33 starts at free safety. Wright, who is expected to compete for playing time at a crowded position, collected 165 career tackles, 8 interceptions, 10 pass breakups, 4 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery.

While Chris Harris and Danieal Manning lined up with the starters at free and strong safety, respectively, during last weekend's minicamp, the Bears believe Harris can eventually compete for a starting job, possibly as soon as this season.

"Major Wright was one of the players we liked from the start," coach Lovie Smith said, referring to predraft evaluations. "We spent a lot of time with him. (Defensive backs coach) Jon Hoke went down and worked him out within the last week or so (leading up to the draft). At the combine, every time we had a chance to evaluate him as a player, we liked what we came back with.

Smith called Wright a "high-character guy" and said, "He's going to bring a lot of energy to our defense. He's a big hitter and has good skills as far as coverages are concerned. We're going to put him at free safety and see what he can do."