Having deemed the contract demands of starting strong safety Lance Schulters exorbitant, the San Francisco 49ers on Tuesday made the long anticipated move to replace him, ESPN.com learning the club has reached a contract agreement with Chicago Bears starter Tony Parrish.

	Parrish

In essence, it is a swap of comparable players, and a young and improving San Francisco defense should not regress at all with Parrish joining holdover free safety Zack Bronson in the interior of the secondary. A starter during his entire Chicago tenure of four years, Parrish is a solid tackler with good range.

The former University of Washington star will sign a five-year contract worth $12.025 million, and the deal includes a $3 million signing bonus. Contract discussions between the 49ers and agent Joel Segal accelerated on Monday night and concluded Tuesday morning. The contract is worth $7 million in its first three years and includes roster protections.

A solid deal in a sluggish market, the deal likely is similar to the offer San Francisco had made in an attempt to retain Schulters. There is now a strong likelihood that Schulters will sign with the Tennessee Titans, with whom agent Brian Levy has been negotiating for two weeks.

Even before the free agent period even commenced, San Francisco officials acknowledged they would be happy to retain three of the team's four unrestricted veterans and, as events transpired on Tuesday, that was the case. The 49ers were able to keep center Jeremy Newberry, fullback Fred Beasley and tailback Garrison Hearst, all key players.

Team officials had allowed in recent days it would be difficult to retain Schulters as well.

Parrish, 26, met twice with San Francisco officials and coaches in the past two weeks and it was obvious he was the team's top target to replace Schulters if the incumbent departed. He gives the Niners the same kind of live body and savvy veteran Schulters provided.

A second-round choice of the Bears in the 1998 draft, Parrish was an immediate starter from the first day of training camp. The durable veteran started all 64 games in Chicago and finished his tour there with 329 tackles, eight interceptions, 27 passes defensed and four sacks.

With several other agents to re-sign, and young Mike Green ready to step into the starting lineup in their estimation, Chicago officials decided early in free agency to not attempt to keep Parrish.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.