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Today's team: The Chicago Mini-Ditkas
Sometime, a team that you'd never suspect should even have a problem ends up in cap Hell. Case in point, da Bears. I mean... how does a marginally talented team with no real expectations manage to spend all that money. Hell, they only have 35 guys on their roster and no real QB.
There are a couple of lessons to be learned here... take a look at the second column after the player names, this column is pro-rated bonus money. (Basically, this means the team gave these guys a lot of up-front bonus money to get them to sign.) Also, look at column 7 after the names. This column is guaranteed money. So Khalil Mack got 9.4 up front, and another 16.7 guaranteed.
As you scan down these two columns, you can see that the Bears have made a bad habit of giving their players too much money up-front, and guaranteeing too much of their player's salaries... and this makes these players a bitch to cut.
The Bears currently only have 35 guys signed, and if they sign the 16 more they MUST have (even at minimum salaries), they'll still be 10 million over the cap... and some draftees make more than minimum, so it is even worse than it appears.
Now, go to the last column... this is where it shows how much you'd save against the cap by cutting the player. Again, look at Mr. Mack... if the Bears were to cut him, it would make their situation EVEN WORSE by 11.5 million dollars, so you can only cut some of the high paid players. As you can see, there are only a couple of players that might be able to be cut... for instance, if they cut Akiem Hicks AND Kyle Fuller... they would gain about 21 million dollars (approximately what they'll realistically need to field a team next year.) But that'll leave over 10 million in dead cap. Again, a lousy answer...
Or... they could covert EVEN MORE of their player's salaries to bonus money and spread the cap pain into 2022 when the cap should rise by 40 or 50 million dollars... They'll probably do this, tho... ultimately, it will restrict their future ability to attract and keep Free Agents when every other team has massive cap space.
This is just one of the worst GM performances in the NFL. Over and over, they have made ridiculous commitments to free agents and malcontents, and now they have no QB and no future... Smart GMs are hovering around the Bears... trying to make a deal.
Don't be the Bears.
Sometime, a team that you'd never suspect should even have a problem ends up in cap Hell. Case in point, da Bears. I mean... how does a marginally talented team with no real expectations manage to spend all that money. Hell, they only have 35 guys on their roster and no real QB.
There are a couple of lessons to be learned here... take a look at the second column after the player names, this column is pro-rated bonus money. (Basically, this means the team gave these guys a lot of up-front bonus money to get them to sign.) Also, look at column 7 after the names. This column is guaranteed money. So Khalil Mack got 9.4 up front, and another 16.7 guaranteed.
As you scan down these two columns, you can see that the Bears have made a bad habit of giving their players too much money up-front, and guaranteeing too much of their player's salaries... and this makes these players a bitch to cut.
The Bears currently only have 35 guys signed, and if they sign the 16 more they MUST have (even at minimum salaries), they'll still be 10 million over the cap... and some draftees make more than minimum, so it is even worse than it appears.
Now, go to the last column... this is where it shows how much you'd save against the cap by cutting the player. Again, look at Mr. Mack... if the Bears were to cut him, it would make their situation EVEN WORSE by 11.5 million dollars, so you can only cut some of the high paid players. As you can see, there are only a couple of players that might be able to be cut... for instance, if they cut Akiem Hicks AND Kyle Fuller... they would gain about 21 million dollars (approximately what they'll realistically need to field a team next year.) But that'll leave over 10 million in dead cap. Again, a lousy answer...
Or... they could covert EVEN MORE of their player's salaries to bonus money and spread the cap pain into 2022 when the cap should rise by 40 or 50 million dollars... They'll probably do this, tho... ultimately, it will restrict their future ability to attract and keep Free Agents when every other team has massive cap space.
This is just one of the worst GM performances in the NFL. Over and over, they have made ridiculous commitments to free agents and malcontents, and now they have no QB and no future... Smart GMs are hovering around the Bears... trying to make a deal.
Don't be the Bears.
