New Salary Cap Estimate

Here's the latest estimate on the Bears cap space now with the carryover of space from 2012.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times' Sean Jensen:

There will be an incremental increase in the salary cap to $121 million, and the Bears’ combined cap number of their top 41 players is about $14.5 million under that. That includes a carryover of space from last season.


According to a league source, the Bears are among the top 10 teams in terms of cap space.

Here is a breakdown of the Bears salary cap by position:Latest Salary Cap Breakdown for the Chicago Bears | Bleacher Report

This info is presented in a slide show format by position so we can copy any page from it and discuss that position and the players involved with that position separately from others. Keep in mind these are the players cap numbers. In many instances releasing or trading that player won't eliminate 100% of that cap cost where there are guarantees or unamortized signing bonuses included in that cap cost.

For instance releasing or trading Pep would still leave us with a cap hit of about $9.5 mil out of his total cap cost of $16.18 mil. So all we really reduce the cap cost by is $6.68 mil not $16.18 mil. So is Pep worth having for $6.68 mil more vs not having him and still having dead cap space of about $9.5 mil? Hell yes he is.

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Originally Posted by soulman

For instance releasing or trading Pep would still leave us with a cap hit of about $9.5 mil out of his total cap cost of $16.18 mil. So all we really reduce the cap cost by is $6.68 mil not $16.18 mil. So is Pep worth having for $6.68 mil more vs not having him and still having dead cap space of about $9.5 mil? Hell yes he is.

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I'd keep Peppers if we are going to be stuck with $9.5 million in dead cap space.

Soul, if Pep restructures his contract will that effect these numbers?

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

Soul, if Pep restructures his contract will that effect these numbers?

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Yes. Anytime a player restructures their contract, it will effect the numbers. The numbers are there to protect the player by penalizing the team, but if the player agrees to change his numbers, then it removes that penalty from the team

if anyone restructures it just burdens the cap down the road......

thanks for posting soul now how much of that needs to be alloted to rookies and how many FA do we have?

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Originally Posted by motownbear

if anyone restructures it just burdens the cap down the road......

thanks for posting soul now how much of that needs to be alloted to rookies and how many FA do we have?

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Here's the list of the Bears UFAs mo.

Eighteen Bears players are due to become unrestricted free agents: Kahlil Bell, Zack Bowman, Jason Campbell, Kelvin Hayden, Geno Hayes, Israel Idonije, Lance Louis, Olindo Mare, Josh McCown, Henry Melton, D.J. Moore, Troy Nolan, Amobi Okoye, Chilo Rachal, Nick Roach, Jonathan Scott, Chris Spencer and Brian Urlacher. Nate Collins is set to become a restricted free agent, while Armando Allen is due to become an exclusive rights free agent.



The rookie allotment is based on where you draft and on how many picks you have. Because of the new CBA rules for rookie contracts I'm sure that figure is less than before but how much I don't know. If I can find out an exact amount or a close estimate I'll post it but my guess would be around $4 mil.

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

Soul, if Pep restructures his contract will that effect these numbers?

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It could shorty but all it would do is increase the cap next year and the following because of his guarantees. But that may be OK since we're forecast to have a bigger excess next year.

His deal was for $84 mil over 6 years with half that guaranteed and to date he's rec'd $23.5 mil so he has another $18.5 mil in guarantees yet to be paid. I don't have the specifics but I'm guessing that a significant portion of his salary for at least 2013 and 2014 is already guaranteed.

If the Bears converted those amount into a signing bonus with a one year extension they could spread them out over the 2013-2016 season 1/4th each year. Exactly how much cap space that would save I can't really say to the dollar because I don't know the exact structure of his deal but it could decrease his cap number by $6 mil or more this year so it's probably worth it if we can get him to agree.

Thanks Soul. I knew it affected the cap the following year but didn't know the time spread and guaranteed.

:drinking61:

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

Thanks Soul. I knew it affected the cap the following year but didn't know the time spread and guaranteed.

:drinking61:

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Your welcome shorty. If the guy plays out his deal eventually it's all paid out and accounted for in the cap but when you take those hits is something that can be manipulated and controlled.

If we were to restructure Pep deal and extend him through 2016 it's unlikely he still be playing then but it may be better to have a smaller amount of dead cap space then that it's is to absorb a $16 mil cap hit for him this year.

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Originally Posted by soulman

It could shorty but all it would do is increase the cap next year and the following because of his guarantees. But that may be OK since we're forecast to have a bigger excess next year.

His deal was for $84 mil over 6 years with half that guaranteed and to date he's rec'd $23.5 mil so he has another $18.5 mil in guarantees yet to be paid. I don't have the specifics but I'm guessing that a significant portion of his salary for at least 2013 and 2014 is already guaranteed.

If the Bears converted those amount into a signing bonus with a one year extension they could spread them out over the 2013-2016 season 1/4th each year. Exactly how much cap space that would save I can't really say to the dollar because I don't know the exact structure of his deal but it could decrease his cap number by $6 mil or more this year so it's probably worth it if we can get him to agree.

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Soul, great stuff. If (Big If) Peppers restructures somehow and gives us an xtra 5-6 million than we can both resign Melton and go after a decent LT (Albert looking like the only headed to Free Agency at the moment). The other important cap hit may come from BU and what they determine his value to be. We shall see short with Free Agency just 4 weeks away!!!