NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears’ salary cap situation turned a mild-mannered group chat I’m in into something of a flame war. It led me to dive into where the team was sitting on the Friday before free agency opened up … which brings me to good news for Bears fans holding out hope that their team has money to spend this offseason.
Spotrac.com has the Bears with $15,633,601 in available salary cap space, which is the ninth lowest number on the grid, but closer to league average than what it had been at the outset of the offseason. Meanwhile, the folks running the numbers at OverTheCap.com paint an even more optimistic picture, with the site’s calculations putting the Bears closer to $18,146,141 in space. It’s still the 10th fewest in terms in available salary cap dollars, but it’s also a difference of $2,512,540 compared to Spotrac.com. So what gives? Admittedly, $2.5 million might seem like spare change in a league year where the cap number is $188.2 million, but every dollar matters when you’re a team trying to get the most out of a window of contention that was created in 2018.
So if you’re looking for where the Bears will squeeze out an extra $2.5 million, The Athletic’s Dan Durkin has an answer:
The #Bears also get a $2.5M credit per the offset language on Mike Glennon’s contract this offseason. https://t.co/04Nd3MDRH1
— dan durkin (@djdurkin) March 5, 2019
Durkin makes note that the Bears will get a $2.5 million credit because of the contract Mike Glennon signed with the Arizona Cardinals. If you’ll recall, Glennon’s deal with the Bears included offset language that let the Bears off the hook for some cash from the deal they signed with the quarterback two years ago. I’m not sure if this development counts as a fortunate bounce or if it represents a hint of Glennon’s contract finally paying off for Chicago. And isn’t that all we ever wanted?
No matter which side it falls on, the Bears will gladly accept an extra $2.5 million to work with this offseason.
