Chicago Bears: 5 Offseason moves that must be made to improve in 2021
Chicago Bears offseason move No. 2: Free up salary cap space
Many people doubt that the Chicago Bears could make major moves because of their salary cap space available for 2021. According to Overthecap.com, Chicago is about $7.6 million in the red. That doesn’t sound good but there are moves that can be made to improve things.
The team will have $7.6 million in unused money from 2020 that they can move over to 2021. That puts them about even to start. The team can then make some cuts to free up more space. I already mentioned that Leno and Massie cuts would save the team $17 million. There are other cuts as well.
The Bears can cut tight end Jimmy Graham. With eight touchdown catches, he finished fourth among tight ends. He went through a long dry spell in which he wasn’t used much, and there were a few times when he was targeted in the end zone but the quarterback wasn’t able to get him the ball. If he had just two more receptions, he would have finished at the top.
Despite his good season, it could be time for the team to part ways with Graham. He is nearing the end of the line and the Bears have Cole Kmet. Kmet was a rookie in 2020 and came on strong late in the season. If Chicago feels he’s ready to take over, then they’ll cut Graham loose. If they do that, they save another $7 million.
Buster Skrine struggled this season before he went down with a concussion and missed the final four games of the regular season and missed the playoff game. He likely doesn’t return and that saves the Bears $2.8 million.
Then there are the contract restructures. If the Bears restructure the contracts of Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller, Robert Quinn, Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair, there is a total of up to $38.5 million in additional cap space.
Now it would be difficult to think that a team would restructure all of those contracts but there is a barrel of money there to tap. Also, with Pace in “win-now” mode, he may take as much of that, and look for more, if possible. That may not be a great recipe for success in the future, but that’s what you get when ownership puts the general manager in that position.
It’ll be interesting to see how much cap space magic Pace and Phillips have. If they work it right, they’ll have plenty to make an impact for 2021.