Larry Mayer
When the Bears acquired Joe Thuney in a business with the chiefs in mid-March, the Quadruple All Pro Guard arrived with a year remaining on his contract.
Shortly after starting to work with his new teammates and coaches, Thuney knew he wanted to stay with the Bears beyond the 2025 season and quickly signed a two-year extension this week.
“While the days took place in weeks, you realize that it is a special place, a special building, a special story here and the people of the building make it even more special,” said Thuney. “Very early on, I could just say that it is something that I want to be part, something that, I think, would be really cool in the future.”
Thuney was particularly impressed by the concern for detail, concentration and passion he felt by players, coaches, management and staff members.
“It was great,” he said. “It seems that everyone shoots in the same direction. Everyone is really determined to continue working and improve. I could not be happier and [I’m] Really, really excited to be here. “”
Thunee brings a championship pedigree to the Bears. During his first nine seasons of the NFL with the Patriots (2016-2020) and the Chiefs (2021-24), he won four Super Bowls, two with each team. Individually, Thuney has been appointed first All Pro team each of the last two seasons and has voted in Pro Bowl each of the last three years.
Selected by the patriots in the third round of the 2016 draft of the North Carolina State, Thuney became the first NFL player to start in the Super Bowl in each of her first three seasons of the League. Remarkably, it has once again started three consecutive super bowls in the past three years with the chiefs.
The Bears exchanged for the filling of Thunewho to the left part of Guardas with a complete overhaul of their interior offensive line. The managing director Ryan Pomes also acquired the right guard Jonah Jackson des Rams and the center signed Drew Dalman in the free agency. The three players are under contract for several seasons.
“Drew and Jonah are great guys,” said Thuney. “They work tirelessly. Weight room, film room, each part of the game. You can say how passionate they are for the game. It’s cool that the guys are here for a few years and you know, so it was great to work with them.”
The Bears count on Thune to ensure the leadership of the veterans, and it is more than willing to supervise young teammates.
“I always want to be available for guys from room O,” he said, “whether it is games or situations or a time of the year, everything that is really to talk about things I saw, things that I have experienced, so try simply to get a routine with guys and work, whether after practice or after meetings or anything.
Two of the young Thony offensive line players are working are Trapiloandkiran Amegadjie tackles. The Bears selected Trapilo in the second round of this year of Boston College this year.
“He’s a really nice guy, good guy,” said Thuney. “Works very hard, gets into his game book. It’s a big jump that goes from university to pros and he works very hard, keeping his head down, listening, taking just like a sponge.”
Amegadjie appeared in six games with a departure as a recruit of the Bears last year after being chosen in the third round of the 2024 draft in Yale.
“He’s another really fierce, really intelligent worker,” said Thuney. “It’s fun to speak from front to back, play next to him and see how we see the game and talk about different looks, it was really cool.”
