Raiders agree to contract with former Bears LB Kwiatkoski
The Raiders’ first strike during free agency comes at a position of need with the expected arrival of former Bears linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski on a three-year contract.
The deal was first reported by NFL Media and confirmed independently by a team source. The negotiating period for free agency began Monday morning and players cannot be officially signed until the start of the league year on Wednesday.
The terms, according to NFL media, include $13.5 million in guarantees and $24 million overall plus incentives.
Kwiatkoski, 26, played in 16 games with the Bears last season with eight starts. He had 76 tackles, three sacks and one interception as an inside linebacker and was a fourth-round draft pick in 2016.
The Raiders won’t confirm deals until they become official. Kwiatkoski appeared to confirm his move by tweeting a photo of the Raiders new stadium in Las Vegas.
The Raiders are looking at an almost entirely new corps of linebackers this season, having released two-year starter Tahir Whitehead and with Will Compton and Nicholas Morrow as as free agents.
Kwiatkoski (pronounced ‘Quit-COW-ski’) played well as a starter in
2019 for the Bears as a replacement for the injured Danny Trevethan and was considered a bright spot in a frustrating season for Chicago.
In a recent story in The Athletic, an unnamed front office member thought there would be a market for Kwiatkoski.
“I think there will be a strong market for him,” the source said. “He’s a good player, and there aren’t a lot of good inside
linebackers available. He’s one of the best three on the market, after (Green Bay’s) Blake Martinez and (Cleveland’s) Joe Schobert. I think he’ll get paid.”
Locating linebackers in free agency has been a mixed bag for the Raiders in recent years with the additions of Whitehead, Derrick Johnson, Navorro Bowman, Bruce Irvin, Perry Riley Jr. and Malcolm Smith and Curtis Lofton.