Chicago Bears bring TE Miller back

The best season of tight end Zach Miller's career got even better Monday, when the unrestricted free agent re-signed with the Chicago Bears for two more years and $6 million. He can earn an additional $2 million in incentives.

The 6-foot-5, 240-pound six-year veteran posted career bests last season of 34 receptions, 439 yards, a team-high 5 touchdown catches and a 12.9-yard average per catch.

His 87-yard TD catch against the Rams in Week 9 also was a personal best, the second-longest reception ever by a Bears tight end and tied for the seventh-longest overall catch in franchise history.

The Bears could have an even bigger role in mind for Miller this season given their tenuous relationship with starting tight end Martellus Bennett, whom they're trying to trade.

Miller started 14 games last season, nine more than his previous career total. The Bears frequently started two tight ends and later in the season shifted more of the pass-catching responsibilities to him, especially after Bennett missed five of the last six games with a rib injury.

Miller had a similar injury but didn't miss any games.

Last month at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, the Bears seemed to prioritize bringing Miller back, but they weren't prepared to set the market for the 31-year-old.

“These guys have to hit the open market to set their value,” Bears general manager Ryan Pace said earlier. “We like Zach, he's a guy we'd want back, and we're negotiating with him.”

The payoff was a long time coming for Miller, who went more than three years without playing in an NFL game because of a series of injuries.

After being drafted by the Jaguars in the sixth round in 2009 out of Nebraska-Omaha, where he played quarterback all four years, Miller played 29 games in two seasons, catching 41 passes for 428 yards and 3 touchdowns in Jacksonville.

But he missed the last 10 games in 2011 with a shoulder injury and then landed on injured reserve again for the entire season with a calf injury. The Jaguars cut him midway through that 2012 season.

He was out of the league in 2013 after being cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the preseason.

The Bears brought Miller to training camp in 2014, and he had 2 touchdown catches in the preseason opener before spending yet another entire season on I.R. with a foot injury.

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