Chicago Bears: 3 Cap casualty candidates for 2021 offseason
With the NFL’s announcement of a lower salary cap in 2021 than in 2020, the Chicago Bears find themselves over the limit. As a result, some players may have seen their last snaps in Chicago.
The Chicago Bears‘ offseason is off and running now. After months of speculation about what moves they’ll make, those moves are starting to happen. The team signed a few players last week as well as cut others ahead of the official start of 2021 NFL free agency.
One move the NFL made that gives the team a better idea of what to do just happened. The league announced that the new salary cap for 2021 will be $182.5 million. That is a big drop from the limit of $198.2 million for 2020. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic was the culprit for the lower number. Without having many fans at the stadiums, the league lost a lot of revenue.
With the lower limit now known, the Bears can now move to make the changes required to create more space. With about $7.6 million available money that the team can carry over from 2020, the team’s adjusted salary cap space is just over $190 million. Even so, they find themselves over $17.6 million over the cap. Despite cutting Buster Skrine and Bobby Massie, the Bears placed the franchise tag on Allen Robinson, meaning he’ll make almost $18 million in 2020.
This means the Bears may have more cuts to make. Yes, they’ll restructure some contracts, but that only goes so far. There will be many salary cap casualties around the league and it’s the same for the Bears.
Some of these cuts may be surprising. There may be some big contracts that need to be eliminated so Chicago can make the necessary steps to improve the roster. They’ve been linked to just about every quarterback available and not available, but if they want to acquire, say, Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson and the huge contracts that come with them they need to create some space. There are some tough decisions that general manager Ryan Pace needs to make.
Here are three candidates who could be salary cap casualties in the 2021 offseason.
3. Charles Leno, Offensive Tackle
As mentioned earlier, the Chicago Bears already parted ways with right tackle Bobby Massie. That saves them about $5 million, but if they designate it a June 1st cut they save $8 million.
The team can save even more money by cutting the tackle on the opposite side — Charles Leno. If they cut him outright they save $6.2 million. If they designate it a June 1 cut, they save $9 million.
The move to let go of Massie was a bit of a surprise. When he was playing he performed well in the past three seasons. The problem is keeping him on the field. After missing only two games in his first three seasons in Chicago, he missed 14 in the past two. The team appears to have learned from the Kyle Long situation to not put their fortunes on a player who is likely in a decline healthwise.
On the other hand, Leno has been relatively healthy. The problem with him is that he’s been a penalty machine and basically a turnstile for pass rushers. The left tackle is critical in protecting the quarterback’s blindside, so having one struggle is difficult to continually deal with. If the Bears want one of the elite quarterbacks, they need to make sure that his blindside is protected well.
Pace and head coach Matt Nagy are already on the hot seat so they are in desperation mode. They need to do what they have to do to solidify the line. That way, the quarterback can thrive. Also, it greatly helps running back David Montgomery.
I felt that Leno was a cut candidate before Massie and still view him that way.