NEWSLETTER
With rosters cut-down day coming Saturday, now seems like a good time to know what the Chicago Bears’ salary cap situation looks like at the moment:
Per the NFL's internal report, the teams with the most cap space this AM, 5 days away from the cutdown.
1) Colts $56.6M
2) Texans $37.0M
3) Browns $34.6M
4) Cowboys $26.1M
5) Titans $26.0M
6) 49ers $25.5M
7) Bills $23.3M
8) Dolphins $22.1M
9) Bears $22.1M
10) Redskins $21.7M— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) August 27, 2019
The Bears have $22.1 million in cap space heading into the 2019 season, which is the ninth most in football.
This might come as unexpected news to some, but GM Ryan Pace has been masterful in adding cap space throughout the offseason. Chicago had somewhere between $11.6 million and $14.6 million in cap space when the NFL’s 2019 calendar year opened up, but has since opened up more space — despite numerous free agent signings — because Khalil Mack and Charles Leno Jr. agreed to re-structure their deals. The team also picked up a cool $1 million in cap space because of how they went about cutting Cody Parkey, and even got some wiggle room thanks to Mike Glennon.
How the Bears will go about putting this cap flexibility to good use is still to be determined, but know that the team has options. Exploring contract extensions for starters such as left guard Cody Whitehair or linebacker Danny Trevathan is an obvious starting point, but expect the team to maintain flexibility until after cut-down day passes in case it needs to address possible areas of need. Having cap space at this time of the year leaves Pace and the front office in a position to pounce on a player who could address a need, much like when Josh Sitton was cut by the Packers before the start of the 2016 season. Once that passes, we could see the Bears reward some internal extensions (as they did with Eddie Goldman last year and Akiem Hicks the year prior).
And yes, the Bears could ultimately use their available cap space on a veteran place-kicker who becomes available and might command a contract that pays in the millions rather than league minimum.
In any case, the Bears are in a good place right now from a salary cap point of view. Just don’t expect then to blow their financial load before the start of the season. Because after this one ends, the team has already hinted at being prepared to approach safety Eddie Jackson with a long-term deal. And on the other side of the ball, Mitch Trubisky could be well-positioned to be the next quarterback to get a major payday (and those contracts aren’t getting any cheaper). So while cap space is good for now, keeping some flexibility as time moves forward would be a good thing.
