Bears' Whitehair on extension: 'It just means the world to me'

Cody Whitehair couldn't believe the seemingly endless chain of congratulatory text messages on his phone within a few hours of his new, five-year, $52.5 million contract extension including $27.5 million guaranteed being announced Sunday.

It's likely, though, that many of those texters will have to wait to hear back from the Bears Pro Bowl alternate center-turned-left guard. After all, it's Week 1 now and there's precious time remaining before Thursday night, when the regular season kicks off.

"It's important it got done now so we can just focus on this week and beating Green Bay," Whitehair said of the extension's timing, the fourth one GM Ryan Pace has completed early for a core player on the eve of Week 1 in as many years.

Don't misconstrue, Whitehair couldn't have sounded more appreciative of the Bears' loyalty and confidence in getting the deal done a year early, explaining, "It just means the world to me to stay here for another five years."

He's simply a blue-collar football player through and through, meaning his hardest work is only now beginning.

Indeed, any general manager worth their salt generally abides by the same philosophy in signing the players they deem are worth theirs, too: Pay them not for what they've done but what they'll do next. It's a philosophy that's borne outstanding fruit for Pace of late with Charles Leno, Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman each rewarding their boss' faith by having their best seasons on the heels of their biggest paydays.

Whitehair's case is unique - he'll line up Thursday as a full-time left guard for the first time in the NFL - but Pace and head coach Matt Nagy have overwhelming evidence that, position switch or not, a player who started 65 consecutive games at center to begin his career, including making every snap for the offense last season en route to his first Pro Bowl recognition, will follow in the footsteps of his three aforementioned teammates.

"The obvious is just how hard of a worker he is," said Matt Nagy of the versatile Kansas State product selected 56th overall in the 2016 draft. "He does everything you ask for. He's literally everything you ask for in a player. Coming to work every day, working hard in practice, doing the correct assignments. So you appreciate that. Then you see growth, and you see development within that position. Then you see somebody who's willing to accept a role change in a position, and a position change, and not blink doing it. We love all that. And so, good things happen to good people, and he's a good person."

Mitch Trubisky, after echoing Nagy's sentiments Sunday - something the quarterback has done increasingly this summer - joked, "I feel like I just got paid a little bit too."

But maybe he wasn't joking. With Whitehair joining Leno, Bobby Massie and James Daniels as O-line starters now under contract for at least three more seasons, the young quarterback's chances of earning his own second payday - perhaps as early as next offseason when he's first eligible - only improve.

"(The team has) got to take care of my guys up front, and they certainly are. They're a special group, and Cody is a part of that. It's a very special group, and I'm very thankful to have teammates like that and guys to play with like Cody." said Trubisky, whose T-shirt Thursday night before the preseason finale featuring the faces of his starting front five might now remain in his rotation for a while.

In addition to Whitehair's work ethic and durability, his versatility is among his best qualities, something TE Bradley Sowell - who tackled his own position change from swing tackle this offseason - can relate to. Sowell is an eight-year veteran and three years Whitehair's senior, but he told PFW he looks up to him in many ways.

"He cares about this place more than anybody. I guarantee him getting this contract won't change him one bit; it'll probably only make him work harder," Sowell said. "He's younger than me, but you can always look up to stuff that he does. He's really an old-school kind of guy. I don't know that they make many guys like that anymore."

Think old-school guys have time to return text messages during Packers week?

• Arthur Arkush is the managing editor for Pro Football Weekly. For more on the NFL, visit profootballweekly.com and follow Arthur on Twitter @arthurarkush or @PFWeekly.