Thread: Bears 'up against cap' after Tuesday's spree

Bushrod counts a little more than $3 million against the cap for 2013, while Bennett will carry a cap hit of $1.94 million.

I don't get it. He says the Bears saved a 'modest' $5+ million in cap space by cutting Davis, Spaeth and Big Toe???? Well it only cost us a little less to sign these guys according to this article. So the way I see it, the Bears have exactly the same amount of money as they did before we signed them. This was another meticulous strike by the Emery!

Emery: Cap constraints will limit spending


The Chicago Bears are “up against the cap,” in the words of general manager Phil Emery, in terms of the salary flexibility needed to sign draft picks and manage their way through a season with injuries.

But that doesn’t mean the Bears have exhausted all of their resources toward building the roster in 2013. It just means they are going to be deliberate and weigh all factors when moving forward, knowing that a decision today could have ramifications in 2014 and 2015.

The Bears have significant holes on defense with no one under contract to play middle linebacker, strong-side linebacker and nickel cornerback. There is no depth behind the starters at defensive tackle and they are in need of another defensive end. The offensive line also is in flux with a tackle and guard on the need list. All are positions that could be filled, in part, through the draft next month.

But the Bears will need to continue signing players in free agency, be it their own free agents or players from the outside. Just don’t have big expectations after Emery signed left tackle Jermon Bushrod and tight end Martellus Bennett at the outset of free agency. A big surprise move isn’t coming.

“It doesn’t shut us down,” Emery said. “It just means that every signing is going to be scrutinized in terms of current cap implications and future. There aren’t a lot of dollars, there is not a lot of room to wiggle. When we talk to free agents and when we talk contract negotiations with free agents and the implications of those, definitely that is always in the forefront for us.

“So, in terms of flexibility, are we going to be able to go out and sign a starting right tackle at starting right tackle money? No. Are we going to be able to go out and sign in the UFA market a starting guard? No.”

That’s probably bad news for right guard Lance Louis if he’s seeking a big pay day from the Bears. Ditto defensive lineman Israel Idonije, strong-side linebacker Nick Roach, nickel cornerback Kelvin Hayden and right tackle Jonathan Scott -- not to mention middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. But it’s possible some of these players will return to the Bears after exploring the market. Maybe some of them find there’s not much better than the minimum available elsewhere. It’s too early to tell.

The soft cap in the NFL will allow the Bears to carve out more cap room if Emery feels the club absolutely has to have flexibility. Contracts for players such as defensive end Julius Peppers, running back Matt Forte and linebacker Lance Briggs can be reworked. They wouldn’t take a pay cut. Money would just be moved around with base salaries converted into bonus money, allowing the team to spread the cap hit out over future seasons. That takes today’s issue, though, and makes it an issue for 2014 and 2015, depending on what type of restructure is done. Emery wants to do as little borrowing from the future as needed.

“We don’t want to create those kinds of problems, so if we’re going to be in a position where we sign a player that there is a lot of discussion about ... how does this balance out?” Emery said. “Who has to be released and what kind of future impact does it have on the cap overall?

“We are up against the cap. So, we are going to have to be very slow and methodical and make sure that every decision that we make is going to be in the best interest of our team moving forward in terms of putting the best players on the field to win. I would anticipate we are going to have a spread of signings and it will be in small bits more than batches.”

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Brad Biggs tweeted this link a little while ago

Originally Posted by MPBears68

Yeah, there's a point where the extension/restructure game gets dangerous. Teams like Wash and Dallas and Philly have overdone it and found themselves in cap hell. We aren't near that point by any means.

We are $5.6m under right now. Thats pretty much precisely what it will take to sign draftees and maintain a $2m emergency reserve. IOW, unless theres some more (unforeseen) cuts coming, we MUST rework a contract or two even to sign our own FAs much less some 2nd/3rd tier outside ones. Its gonna happen whether Emery likes it or not. There's no choice.

I wouldn't touch Peppers contract. He's already re-structured once which is why his cap hit is so high this year and next. Leave that one alone and eat the hit this year. But you could easily free up $8-10m by converting Forte's roster bonus into a signing bonus and extending Tillman 2 years. I don't consider those high risk or "robbing Peter to pay Paul" deals. Neither of them are in any danger of being cut/released in the next few years barring major injury. And we will have sunstantially more cap wiggle room in '15 than we do in '13 from everything I have read.

This is where Cliff Stein comes in. He is one of the best "Cap Specialists" in the league and I'm sure he is working overtime to make the best of the current situation. Teams like Dallas (insert Jones joke here) and Washington (insert Snyder joke here) and even Philly do not have him but WE DO !

I just posted the details of Bennett's and Bushrod's deal and combined their first year cap costs are $4.955 mil. That's roughly the same amount we gained through the release of Davis, Spaeth, and Toe.

So from the looks of it we're on a cash and carry basis but since we released players to gain what was spent on Bushrod and Bennett we should still have some cap space left to work with beyond that which is may be earmarked for rookies.

The figures the have been written vary but if we stared out with around $7 mil under the cap we should still be somewhere in that neighborhood. Take away half that for rookie signings and with no other contract restructures we have around $3.0-$3.5 mil left to work with.

That's far less than needed to get even our own guys re-signed so either they restructure some deals or there'll be a few more players released. The trouble is I don't see who they could let go that would gain them much.

Originally Posted by JJ-30

What I am finding interesting is the fact that we haven't heard a word about Emery trying to rework any deals with our own players. Many of you have talked about restructuring different plays deals to give us some CAP room. I don't know if its just that we haven't started any talks or the Bears aren't interested in restucturing any deals or the worst case the players are interested in what the Bears have offered. Right now its going to be very hard for the Bears to sign any of ther FA players unless they find the CAP room needed.

That's exactly what I've been pondering. I keep thinking "why not, what are you waiting for"?

From a pure it makes no sense not to standpoint there's Tillman who should get an extension that could easily cut his cap cost in half and with it a savings of around $4 mil. He's shown no signs of slowing down at all and no reason why he shouldn't be extended before his current deal expires.

Then there's Jennings whose cap cost increased significantly by virtue of the salary increase he gets based on his play last years. An extension should be able to shave $2-$3 mil from his cap cost as well and based on his play I can't see any reason not to extend him either. Even if we were to draft a bigger CB he'd still make a great NB.

So if we're $6-$7 mil under the cap now these moves would about double that and cover about what it will take to do one year deals with Izzy and Urlacher and still leave enough for Louis and rookie deals. But the elephant in the room is still Pep's deal. Maybe they've been kicking it around among themselves and maybe they've even discussed it with him but Emery has also said they're proceeding very cautiously and justifying every dollar both present and future.

I know a lot of guys feel we should redo his deal but I see an opportunity to to it in a way that after the 2014 season we could release him and gain a significant amount of cap space back. The only question they should be concerned with is whether or not Pep can continue to produce at his current level for another two years. If it was me I would do it but then again they're not me.