Approximately 1/2 our cap in 5 players

Arkansasbear · Sat Jan 16, 2021 8:14 pm

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/ch ... 21-season/

Looks likes Mack, Fuller, Hicks, Jackson and Quinn take up about 80 + million next year.

HurricaneBear · Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:24 pm

Defense first. The Chicago way. Ugh

docc · Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:42 pm

Watson..?
..and who else can get a buck or two ?

BreadNCircuses · Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:47 pm

Has anyone looked to see how this compares league-wide? Not by position, but in terms of how "top heavy" various caps are? I haven't gone through every team, but I get the sense that it's not that unusual in the salary cap era for big chunks of your salary cap to be eaten up by a handful of your top tier players

malk · Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:05 pm

I don't love that it's all on defence but this is partially an artefact of Mack having the 3rd highest defensive contract in the league and Fuller being in the final year of a badly set out contract with nearly 40% coming in the final year (if you include the $3m in pro rata signing bonus allocated to 2022 and 2023.

Quinn being just a terrible deal aside (I mean, not only has he busted so far, why did we seemingly outbid ourselves in a non need position!), this tells me that backloaded deals aren't good and that the back end of market making deals like Mack's are pretty risky.

Now I don't mind this with Mack as we absolutely needed a difference maker at the time and it would have looked a little better if the overall cap hadn't taken a hit for 2021. Plus Pace knew that it was a period where we had a QB on a rookie deal so that's the time to use the cap elsewhere. You don't get more a slam dunk opportunity than Mack for that kind of deal.

crueltyabc · Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:43 pm

The more I look at the off-season for this team the more I think one of these top defensive guys needs to be traded

Z Bear · Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:26 pm

Fuller should be able to be extended fairly easily since he has a large base salary this year. Convert that to a roster bonus, add in a couple million more in base salary and extend him out for 3 more years at market value. That will drop his cap hit this year to around $8M and free up some room, but Fuller will pocket more than he would of.

Quinn and Mack are un-tradeable, the dead cap hits from their contracts will be too much to take on this year. Roquan is really the only player you can get a high round draft pick, but no way would I trade him. The only player you can truly trade would be Hicks, but I doubt would be able to get anything more than a 4th for him. I would rather keep him.

Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:45 pm

You can add a year to Fuller's deal and cut Hicks/Skrine/Graham/one of the OT's and find some money.

cblaz11 · Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:53 pm

A. Many of us loved the Quinn deal...none of us could have predicted this

B. I think we’re still a year away from breaking up this defense...

C. I do think it’s in our best interest to trade ARob...I’m starting to fall in love with Mac Jones and moving Arob maybe helps our chances of getting him

IMO, Pace thinks this entire roster will look significantly better with a franchise QB and I think I agree. When I look at our roster compared to the final 4 teams, outside of QB we compare really well.

The Cooler King · Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:53 pm

Z Bear wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:26 pm Fuller should be able to be extended fairly easily since he has a large base salary this year. Convert that to a roster bonus, add in a couple million more in base salary and extend him out for 3 more years at market value. That will drop his cap hit this year to around $8M and free up some room, but Fuller will pocket more than he would of.

Quinn and Mack are un-tradeable, the dead cap hits from their contracts will be too much to take on this year. Roquan is really the only player you can get a high round draft pick, but no way would I trade him. The only player you can truly trade would be Hicks, but I doubt would be able to get anything more than a 4th for him. I would rather keep him.

Quinn and Mack are definitely tradeable. Most of their money is tied up in big base guarantees which the trading team would pick up, not the Bears. Yea there's some dead cap to eat, but both would net overall cap savings in a trade.

I'd trade Hicks for a 4th. Father time is catching up with him, IMO. Love the dude, but sometimes it's better to move on possibly a year too soon that a year too late. Based on needs everywhere and a tight cap, I'd take the cap room and pick to put towards other roster spots.

Fuller is the other big name you could trade, but he's also an extension candidate. Really could see going either way for him.

HurricaneBear · Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:57 am

I'd like to see Fuller extended. Out of the big contract D players I feel like he played the best and has the best long term upside remaining. Hicks is on his last leg and should be a guy we are trying to escape from. He's taken more and more plays off as the years have gone on and has committed some really dumb penalties especially this past season. At his age it's only downhill and it's better to move on too soon than too late

Z Bear · Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:17 am

This is the last year on Hicks' deal, odds are someone would pay him enough in the open market for a comp pick next offseason. If you do not trade him prior to this draft you let him play out his contract.

Atkins&Rebel · Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:57 am

Leno, Skrine and Graham could all be designated 6/1 cut or trade bait and save us ~20-21 mil in cap space.
Won't get any draft pick compensation until 2022 though, but that might be a blessing in disguise if Pace is sent packing after this year.

Z Bear · Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:26 am

You don't get any comp picks for cut players, just expired contracts.

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:01 pm

The Bears are in a tough spot...

IE · Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:10 pm

One team's cap casualty is another team's opportunity.

I swear I'm starting to default to "if a guy is very expensive he had better be a regular probowl candidate or figure out a way to get rid of him & some other young guy will pay harder (and maybe better)" No more loyalty here. I actually started this last offseason by suggesting Hicks could be expendable in a move for an LT. What have you done for me lately.

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:27 pm

IE wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:10 pm One team's cap casualty is another team's opportunity.

I swear I'm starting to default to "if a guy is very expensive he had better be a regular probowl candidate or figure out a way to get rid of him & some other young guy will pay harder (and maybe better)" No more loyalty here. I actually started this last offseason by suggesting Hicks could be expendable in a move for an LT. What have you done for me lately.

I'm very much finding myself in the same boat.

Z Bear · Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:32 pm

It is what the Patriots and Steelers have been doing for years. Offer up slightly below market contracts and letting players walk who want more. The key is actually using all your draft picks correctly.

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:55 pm

Z Bear wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:32 pm It is what the Patriots and Steelers have been doing for years. Offer up slightly below market contracts and letting players walk who want more. The key is actually using all your draft picks correctly.

Having hall of fame QBs does make it a bit easier to operate that way though...

Z Bear · Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:26 pm

The Steelers have been doing it forever, prior to Ben arriving. That is how Kevin Greene made it to the Panthers.

BreadNCircuses · Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:26 pm

I just saw this which is an interesting way of looking at this. Obviously, teams with more guys on rookie deals look better, but if you just look at the Elite and HIgh bands, that doesn't look too out of line with the rest of the league.
E.g. we have 45.1% of the cap allocated to 6 contracts in the Elite and High bands, the packers have 54.9% of their cap allocated to 7 contracts in the same bands, the Vikings actually look worse, with 43.8% of the cap allocated to just 5 contracts in those 2 bands.
https://overthecap.com/texture/

The Cooler King · Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:30 pm

Z Bear wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:17 am This is the last year on Hicks' deal, odds are someone would pay him enough in the open market for a comp pick next offseason. If you do not trade him prior to this draft you let him play out his contract.

That's a comp pick in 2023. And that's not guarantee either. He could fall apart. I'd take the cap savings, honestly. But I think you could get a pick for him and that's my definite preference.

Arkansasbear · Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:00 pm

The Cooler King wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:30 pm
Z Bear wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:17 am This is the last year on Hicks' deal, odds are someone would pay him enough in the open market for a comp pick next offseason. If you do not trade him prior to this draft you let him play out his contract.
That's a comp pick in 2023. And that's not guarantee either. He could fall apart. I'd take the cap savings, honestly. But I think you could get a pick for him and that's my definite preference.

I think the best plan if you know you are likely letting a guy walk at the end of the season, try to trade him on the final year of his contract. Even if it's a 4th or 5ht round pick, that likely better than the comp pick you MIGHT get. Bird in hand vs bird in the bush.