NEWSLETTER
This is where the fun begins:
Source: the Bears have created $11M of cap space by converting $13M of Khalil Mack's base salary & roster bonus into a signing bonus. Chicago positioning itself to make moves if desired…
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 12, 2019
A source informs ESPN’s Field Yates that the Bears have created $11 million in cap space by turning $13 million worth of Khalil Mack’s base salary and roster bonus into a signing bonus. It’s a bit of cap maneuvering that could have serious implications immediately as the Bears are now better positioned to take advantage of this competitive window – which really opened up when the team traded for Mack last summer. Ironic.
After factoring in the deals for tight end Ben Braunecker, running back Mike Davis, and cornerback Buster Skrine, OverTheCap.com’s Brad Spielberger estimates the Bears went to bed on Monday night with somewhere between $13.86 and $14.36 million in cap space. But by tapping into the Mack slush fund and carving out $11 million in cap space, Chicago now has roughly $24.86 million to $25.36 million in available cap spending space. That’s a significant chunk of change for a team that has already filled a pair of needs by adding Davis as running back depth and Skrine as a slot corner replacement for Bryce Callahan.
How the Bears use this new-found cash is still to be determined. Running back Le’Veon Bell is obviously going to be the first name that comes to mind, but Tevin Coleman and Mark Ingram are still out there on the market. The team could shift that cash to go elsewhere on the defense, with the safety position still being one that needs to be filled. And let’s not forget that this could also free up space for a Cody Whitehair extension.
Something is cooking up at Halas Hall and I can’t wait to see what it is. Because now that the Bears have moved some cash around, they are in a position where they can make a much bigger free agency strike than what would have been expected when the team entered the “legal tampering” period of free agency with around $19 million in available cap space and plenty of needs.
Stay tuned …
