Assessing Chicago Bears' 2018 Salary-Cap Situation
The Chicago Bears know how to walk the tightrope that is the NFL salary cap.
Tasked with one of the league's biggest rebuilds, what gained the most attention nationally a year ago was the contract general manager Ryan Pace and the front office doled out to Mike Glennon.
The quarterback inked a deal worth $45 million and only started a handful of games before getting replaced.
What gets lost in the ill-advised attention there, though, is the strong contracts Pace handed out on prove-it deals to guys such as Prince Amukamara while rebuilding key aspects of the roster like the secondary.
We would be talking about even more here as well, were the Bears an attractive destination considering they pursued top-tier secondary and offensive line players. The front office has also wrapped up smart extensions for guys such as Akiem Hicks and Charles Leno Jr.
In short, the Bears are in a good place when it comes to the salary cap. Here's what they're looking at this offseason, with all contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
Projected 2018 Cap Space: $33.1 Million
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On paper, the Bears should have droves of cap space once again, ranking among the top teams in the league.
They did this last year as well, sitting on nearly $20 million even after inking Glennon's contract as a means to provide some insurance or learning time for rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Chicago went on to sign droves of free agents for what was clearly a stop-gap year and will likely do so again with guys such as Mark Sanchez, Zach Miller, Kyle Fuller, Kendall Wright and others coming off the books to help from the $33.1 million.
This projected cap gives the Bears enough wiggle room after inking a draft class to go out and sign one of free agency's top players. They tried this with cornerback Stephon Gilmore and a few other big names last year, so it'll be interesting to see who it is this time.
Otherwise, this cap will go to retaining their own via new deals or extensions.
Biggest 2018 Positional Commitments
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Other than quarterback, the Bears have huge numbers invested in the offensive line and linebackers.
That makes sense—offensive line is quickly becoming a premium spot given how hard it is to find quality offensive tackles, and linebacker is one of the areas Pace first aggressively attacked.
The Bears have $33 million invested in the offensive trenches for 2018. Leno's extension at $37 million total plays a big part in that, as does the contract doled out to Josh Sitton to make sure the team signed him before last season. Bobby Massie is another big contract at $18 million after the Bears overpaid to make sure he came to town.
At linebacker, the damage is $29.7 million. Pernell McPhee at $38.7 million was a big signing a few years back, and both Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman in the middle were costly.
The Bears will likely look for wiggle room here soon knowing down the road they're going to want to extend a guy such as Leonard Floyd.
Free Agents Bears Might Want Back
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Amukamara leads the list of guys the Bears might want to bring back in 2018, which will eat into the mentioned projected cap space.
It makes for an interesting dynamic, though, because Amukamara's strong season has gone hand in hand with a solid effort from Fuller. The Bears had turned down his fifth year before this season, so now the front office might have a tough decision to make.
Elsewhere, the Bears will likely want to consider bringing back wideouts such as Wright or Dontrelle Inman. Both have been far from perfect but present nice depth options and shouldn't cost too much.
Obviously, the Bears will want to keep restricted free agents like Cameron Meredith and Bryce Callahan.
While none of these contracts figure to be huge besides the cornerbacks, it all adds up and eats into the projected cap, so the front office has some thinking to do in terms of what it wants the foundation of this roster to look like.
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Players Bears Might Want to Extend
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While we're at it, the Bears might throw cash right into extensions if they believe some of the guys on the current roster will make up the core for years.
As mentioned, the Bears did this with Leno and Hicks already this year, the former on more of an upside basis and the latter on his sheer top-of-league dominance.
The immediate extension outlook isn't as dramatic this time. But barring big draft or free-agent adds, the Bears might want to extend guys in the offensive trenches such as Sitton, Massie and Eric Kush.
Two of the bigger extension topics will center on defensive tackle Eddie Goldman and safety Adrian Amos. The former is worth it because he's dominant next to Hicks when healthy; the "when healthy" part is the big question. The latter has come on strong lately in a defined role and given how premium good safeties are, he could be worth locking up right away.
Like bringing back their own, extensions won't be gigantic, but they will eat into the cap.
Players Who Could Be Moved to Open Cap Space
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The nice thing about the way Pace and the front office have built the roster is the ability to move on from players in an effort to save cap space.
Look at Freeman—serving a 10-game ban and on injured reserve, the Bears will only sacrifice $500,000 if they cut him, per Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. It's the same story for McPhee and his $38.75 million contract after years of missing the mark in the expectations department.
With the way Trubisky has played and how Glennon fell on his face, the team could throw up their hands and boot the veteran as well, opting for a cheaper backup who can still come in and execute the offense. And if they don't like the way other additions such as Dion Sims or Quintin Demps have played, they could also be shown the door.
So it goes in the transitional year of a rebuild as the front office next moves to adding another upside-minded draft class and what could be higher-tier free agents at positions of need.
The Bears have the cap space and ability to free up more to make both happen.
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