Chicago Bears sign WR Squirrel White

Squirrel White's three-year, $3.1M deal with the Chicago Bears earns a fair Contract Value Index (CVI) grade — neither a steal nor an overpay, but a roster-construction move that reflects the economic reality of signing a receiver at the bottom of the depth chart. At roughly $1M AAV, this is a minimum-tier commitment, the kind of contract a front office can absorb without meaningful cap consequence and move on from just as easily. White profiles as a replacement-level receiver at this salary level, the type of signing teams make to compete for a practice squad or depth roster spot rather than to fill a meaningful offensive role. What makes the CVI grade hold steady rather than improve is the retirement news that emerged just weeks into his NFL career — White's premature exit from the game renders this a transaction that produced essentially zero return on even a modest investment. The Bears are an 11-6 club holding the No. 2 seed in the NFC, and while a low-dollar signing like this carries no real cap risk, the optics of a failed roster addition during a competitive window are a small but real blemish on the front office ledger. The absence of any guaranteed money detail in the data suggests the Bears protected themselves structurally, which is the one element of responsible contract architecture here. At the end of the day, this is a footnote transaction — a low-cost flier that didn't pan out, and the CVI reflects exactly that: fine in theory, void in practice.