Looking at the cap...

[scs787]

ASHKUM brought this.....

 

I take it with a grain of salt, but John Clayton says the Bears have 2 million left in cap space. That was saying we started with 34. I'm guessing we should be closer to 12-15, and room to improve by cutting Bush and E. Bennett.

 

....up yesterday, and I believe the response deserves it's own thread...

 

 

After crunching numbers, Clayton is basically right. Once you add in the 4.8M needed for the draft, the Bears have 3.5M left.

 

 

There's so much they can do as far as cuts and restructuring go though.

 

Cutting Peppers ups that number to ~13.3

 

Cutting Bennett ups it to ~15.7

 

Cutting Bush ups it to 17.5

 

Cutting Podlesh ups it to 18.5

 

Then I think they'll extend BMarsh and they'll save at least 3M there bringing the total to ~21.5

 

If things play out they wa I said, 21.5 for free agents(remember I took draft money out), should be enough to add a few guys to the D to go along with a few guys in the draft.

[scs787]

Also not convinced that 22.5 is the final cap number for Jay.

[scs787]

And lastly, one last tweet before ya'll respond....

 

dan durkin ‏@djdurkin 4 Jan

 

one area #bears fans should never worry about is cap management. cliff stein has proven to be one of, if not the best in the nfl.

 

 

Bingo Bango Bongo....In Cliff I trust.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

Also not convinced that 22.5 is the final cap number for Jay.

 

Nice work! I hope Clayton was off on his numbers too, but didn't consider all 5 signings either. I can see Marshall getting a 2-3 year extension, that is more friendly than the 9 million hit now. Give him more years guaranteed since this is the final year on his contract.

 

[scs787]

Nice work! I hope Clayton was off on his numbers too, but didn't consider all 5 signings either. I can see Marshall getting a 2-3 year extension, that is more friendly than the 9 million hit now. Give him more years guaranteed since this is the final year on his contract.

 

When I responded yesterday I didn't consider that he took out money needed for the draft....But ya, a Marshall extension is a must right now. Should ave the Bears AT LEAST 3M.

[Chitownhustla]

When I responded yesterday I didn't consider that he took out money needed for the draft....But ya, a Marshall extension is a must right now. Should ave the Bears AT LEAST 3M.

 

 

The more and more I look at this, Im really confused. Why structure Cutlers deal in this manner???? Why no signing bonus? There has to be some reason for it, maybe its long term and not short term. Im all for signing Cutler, I think it had to be done

 

 

I did watch NFL live on espn, pretty much all the guys said they agreed with the Bears keeping him.

 

 

 

[scs787]

The more and more I look at this, Im really confused. Why structure Cutlers deal in this manner???? Why no signing bonus? There has to be some reason for it, maybe its long term and not short term. Im all for signing Cutler, I think it had to be done

 

 

I did watch NFL live on espn, pretty much all the guys said they agreed with the Bears keeping him.

 

 

I think it's just the fact that the Bears had so much cap room this offseason that they're front loading it.

 

 

Really have no clue as to why there was no signing bonus though....And I'm not completely sold yet that the numbers we see now are going to be the actual numbers.

 

The first year of Flaccos deal only had a 6M cap hit and their deals are nearly identical.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

The more and more I look at this, Im really confused. Why structure Cutlers deal in this manner???? Why no signing bonus? There has to be some reason for it, maybe its long term and not short term. Im all for signing Cutler, I think it had to be done

 

 

I did watch NFL live on espn, pretty much all the guys said they agreed with the Bears keeping him.

 

They obviously have a long term plan worked into this. There's not enough cap right now to field a 53 man roster. I think we will see more moves made. Peppers contract comes to mind and then Marshall. Marshall I bet already has a deal done. He was the only leak on Cutler, hence his deal probably required knowing Jay was retained. Should be interesting in the coming months.

[Mongo3451]

I think

 

Really have no clue as to why there was no signing bonus though....And I'm not completely sold yet that the numbers we see now are going to be the actual numbers.

Think of this... If Cutler is getting X, then Y is all that's left. Since everyone knows what Y is, it's easier to accept a lower contract or move on. As bad as our defense was, they will not be in demand. Check mate! After that our Casio looks great for future seasons. I'm good with it...

 

[Bears4Ever_34]

That number doesn't sound right. We have like 30 people that were free agents this year and we only re-signed 3 of them. I realize Jay's cap number is big, but we should have more than 2 million left to spend. In that mock offseason somebody drew up on page two, it noted we had about 46 million before the Cutler, Jennings, and Slauson signings.

['TD']

The Bears are going to need a starting Center, 2 starting DE's, 1 or 2 starting DT's, a starting CB, 2 starting safeties, and a starting Punter. That's a lot before start adding in depth and filling out the roster.

['TD']

That number doesn't sound right. We have like 30 people that were free agents this year and we only re-signed 3 of them. I realize Jay's cap number is big, but we should have more than 2 million left to spend. In that mock offseason somebody drew up on page two, it noted we had about 46 million before the Cutler, Jennings, and Slauson signings.

 

22.5 for cutler, 3.5 for gould, 7.5 for jennings = 33.5 million. I'd have to imagine Slauson got atleast 3 million if not more, and Fiametta probably is in around a million. That would put it up to 37.5. If you sit out 5 million for the draft you are up to 42.5 million. Take that away from 46 and you are around 3.5 million. 2 million sounds about right going by that even.

[Bears4Ever_34]

22.5 for cutler, 3.5 for gould, 7.5 for jennings = 33.5 million. I'd have to imagine Slauson got atleast 3 million if not more, and Fiametta probably is in around a million. That would put it up to 37.5. If you sit out 5 million for the draft you are up to 42.5 million. Take that away from 46 and you are around 3.5 million. 2 million sounds about right going by that even.

Yeah, you might be right. I forgot about Robbie's deal. Hopefully Slauson's number is only at a 2 or lower for this year. Surely Clayton was also not counting the 5 million or whatever that would be needed for the draft. I guess that's where my confusion comes from.

[scs787]

That number doesn't sound right. We have like 30 people that were free agents this year and we only re-signed 3 of them. I realize Jay's cap number is big, but we should have more than 2 million left to spend. In that mock offseason somebody drew up on page two, it noted we had about 46 million before the Cutler, Jennings, and Slauson signings.

 

 

I was looking at a cbs link that said the Bears had 41M, hopefully its the guy who did the mock offseason that was right cause that brings up the available cap space to ~26M.

 

 

I really think they could add a "top tier" guy like Michael Bennett and a "mid tier" guy James Ihedigibo in FA. Then bring back Ratliff and Collins on the cheap, draft another DT, CB, and safety then do what Phil did last year with all the 1 year contracts that didn't count against the cap and boom the D is better

 

[Boston Boxer]

The Bears are going to need a starting Center, 2 starting DE's, 1 or 2 starting DT's, a starting CB, 2 starting safeties, and a starting Punter. That's a lot before start adding in depth and filling out the roster.

 

not going to make that up in one season. The draft is deep with Oline and DLine so i would start there with a Center and DLine. Punter will take care of itself.

['TD']

not going to make that up in one season. The draft is deep with Oline and DLine so i would start there with a Center and DLine. Punter will take care of itself.

Indeed, it's a lot to make up in one offseason. I wasn't talking about team needs, just what is not signed for the roster and what they will have to spend on this year.

 

I wonder if Emery didn't realize that it wasn't fixable this year also. Jennings's number goes from 7.5 million this coming year down to 4.5 2015. Cutler's deal goes from 22.5 million down to 15.5 million in 2015. That's 10 million extra in addition to the 10 million they will save in 2015 in Peppers's dead money that will be on the cap this year if he is cut. That's 20 million extra the team will have next year that won't be available this year.

 

It looks like they maybe saying we can't fix the D this years. We will do what we can this year really cheap, then next year we'll be able to come out with a bang and not be cap strapped in the future.

[madlithuanian]

That I agree with 100%

 

And lastly, one last tweet before ya'll respond....

 

dan durkin ‏@djdurkin 4 Jan

 

one area #bears fans should never worry about is cap management. cliff stein has proven to be one of, if not the best in the nfl.

 

 

Bingo Bango Bongo....In Cliff I trust.

 

[scs787]

not going to make that up in one season. The draft is deep with Oline and DLine so i would start there with a Center and DLine. Punter will take care of itself.

 

TD listed 7 guys. Last year they added 7 new starters (Bushrod, Slaus, Long, Mills, Bennett, Williams, Anderson) so it's not impossible. Just gotta make some key cheap signings like Slaus/Williams/Anderson....

 

I'm really hoping for a 3-4 switch. In which case you bring back Ratliff with the thought that if you can't get a NT in the draft you just stick with him. I firmly believe he won't be more than 2M. He's coming off an injury plagued year where he only played what 4 games?? I'd be surprise if he got more than 2.5 and shocked if he gets 4+. Try to add another biggy in the mid rounds to spell Ratliff, or push Ratliff outside.

 

Bring back Wootton for cheap to play 3-4 DE. Since he had a down year he's not gonna cost too much, again I expect ~2M. Bring back Melton on somewhat of a prove it deal to play opposite Wootton. I'm guessing 5M tops

 

That's about 9M on the starting DL

 

Bring back Williams, who has experience in a 3-4 on another cheap 1.5 deal. Draft another ILB high to compete with both Williams and Bostic. Go with the 2 winners of the competition in the middle with Briggs and SMC on the end.

 

Jennings is a lock of course, but they need to draft another starting CB early in the draft.

 

If my calculations are correct, and the Bears make all the cuts I suggested, that's around 10.5M of 21-26M in cap room and they already have everything but their starting safties.....I really think Byrd and Ward get resigned or franchised so a guy like Ihedigibo might be the best option at like 3-5M....Then you draft another S and boom, you've got a defense with money left to build depth.

 

Looking at....

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Wootton

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC

CB- Jennings-?-Frey-Hayden

S- Ihedigbo-?

 

....Before the draft

 

 

Ideal draft....(using the mock draft simulator)

 

1R- Jason Verrett CB- Capable speed to play man

2R- Ra'shede Hageman DE/DT- Seen some reports saying he's an ideal 3-4 DE, and another say he can be a 3-4 NT...Wherever he plays we could use em

3R- Calvin Pryor S- Plays nnext to Ihedigbo

4R- AJ Johnson ILB- Speedy, SEC tackling machine, not sure why he's being called a 4th rounder here.

5R- Bryan Stork C- Center to compete with Boggs who the Bears like

6R- Ryan Carrenthers NT- Another monster NT

6R- L'Damian Washington Wr- Just for funzies I'll draft the 6'4" guy with 4.3 speed

 

 

Defense then becomes

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Hageman with Wootton and Carrenthers providing depth

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC with Johnson providing depth/competition to Bostic/Williams. Greene/Costanzo also provide depth

CB-Jennings-Verrett-Frey-Hayden with another cheap no cap vet brought in as well

S- Ihedigbo-Pryor with Conte under contract you might as well keep him aboard.

 

Bam. It may not be a top 10 D but if everything goes right, and the O continues to grow or even just stand pat the Bears should be able to compete with that team.

 

 

 

[Stinger226]

TD listed 7 guys. Last year they added 7 new starters (Bushrod, Slaus, Long, Mills, Bennett, Williams, Anderson) so it's not impossible. Just gotta make some key cheap signings like Slaus/Williams/Anderson....

 

I'm really hoping for a 3-4 switch. In which case you bring back Ratliff with the thought that if you can't get a NT in the draft you just stick with him. I firmly believe he won't be more than 2M. He's coming off an injury plagued year where he only played what 4 games?? I'd be surprise if he got more than 2.5 and shocked if he gets 4+. Try to add another biggy in the mid rounds to spell Ratliff, or push Ratliff outside.

 

Bring back Wootton for cheap to play 3-4 DE. Since he had a down year he's not gonna cost too much, again I expect ~2M. Bring back Melton on somewhat of a prove it deal to play opposite Wootton. I'm guessing 5M tops

 

That's about 9M on the starting DL

 

Bring back Williams, who has experience in a 3-4 on another cheap 1.5 deal. Draft another ILB high to compete with both Williams and Bostic. Go with the 2 winners of the competition in the middle with Briggs and SMC on the end.

 

Jennings is a lock of course, but they need to draft another starting CB early in the draft.

 

If my calculations are correct, and the Bears make all the cuts I suggested, that's around 10.5M of 21-26M in cap room and they already have everything but their starting safties.....I really think Byrd and Ward get resigned or franchised so a guy like Ihedigibo might be the best option at like 3-5M....Then you draft another S and boom, you've got a defense with money left to build depth.

 

Looking at....

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Wootton

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC

CB- Jennings-?-Frey-Hayden

S- Ihedigbo-?

 

....Before the draft

 

 

Ideal draft....(using the mock draft simulator)

 

1R- Jason Verrett CB- Capable speed to play man

2R- Ra'shede Hageman DE/DT- Seen some reports saying he's an ideal 3-4 DE, and another say he can be a 3-4 NT...Wherever he plays we could use em

3R- Calvin Pryor S- Plays nnext to Ihedigbo

4R- AJ Johnson ILB- Speedy, SEC tackling machine, not sure why he's being called a 4th rounder here.

5R- Bryan Stork C- Center to compete with Boggs who the Bears like

6R- Ryan Carrenthers NT- Another monster NT

6R- L'Damian Washington Wr- Just for funzies I'll draft the 6'4" guy with 4.3 speed

 

 

Defense then becomes

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Hageman with Wootton and Carrenthers providing depth

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC with Johnson providing depth/competition to Bostic/Williams. Greene/Costanzo also provide depth

CB-Jennings-Verrett-Frey-Hayden with another cheap no cap vet brought in as well

S- Ihedigbo-Pryor with Conte under contract you might as well keep him aboard.

 

Bam. It may not be a top 10 D but if everything goes right, and the O continues to grow or even just stand pat the Bears should be able to compete with that team.

Were looking at this from the outside, and I think they have a plan. Its not our plan. They will be creative and as SCS stated, a top and medium paid starters to defense and hopefully grab 3 starters in the draft. If we get rid of Briggs, it will only count 1 mil. against the cap and save us 4.5. We cant be as GOD AWFUL as we were this year. We need to let them do it and see what happens. They will fill the roster with the Andersons, Williams type 1 mil players like this year.

[Stinger226]

And lastly, one last tweet before ya'll respond....

 

dan durkin ‏@djdurkin 4 Jan

 

one area #bears fans should never worry about is cap management. cliff stein has proven to be one of, if not the best in the nfl.

 

 

Bingo Bango Bongo....In Cliff I trust.

Dan Durkin was on the score this morning and made some interesting points.

 

Cutler will be a 22.5 cap hit

If we cut Peppers we we will save 14.1 against the cap

We are up against the cap, so Clayton is probably right on.

We have dead money carry over from the last 2 years. He mentioned Carmi, and dont remember the other two, so none of us were looking at that.

Cutlers contract is full bore the first 3 years and then after that, he costs us nothing, the only QB contract that doesnt have later years costing the team cap money.

He stated players we can cut and save money;

Weems

Bennett

Peppers

Bush

 

He stated we probably wont have enough money to bring in a top tier defensive player, and we will only be signing our own FAs if they come back at our price.

So if he is right we will be making one medium cost player to add to the defense.,resign some of our own, draft hopefully 3 starters on defense, and a whole bunch of 1 mil players like we did this year.

 

So we are only deaming if we think we have wholesale changes on defense. I think we can hope for the best of having 4 new starts and a bunch of the same. Our younger players have to better.

 

DE new guy, Bass,SCM,and some of maybe own back.

DT drafted player, Paea, and maybe some of our own back, 1 mil signees.

LB, Bostic,Greene, Briggs,SCM and maybe a cheap FA.

CB-Frey,Jennings, some of our own and a couple of draft picks

S-Conti,draft pick, FA, some cheap FA signings.

 

The most important thing we need to do is add a defensive team leader, and playmaker. DE,DT,S,CB, I think we take the best player available in that, it has to be a playmaker.

 

[scs787]

According to Overthecap.com, which seems like a pretty good site, the Bears are at 104.8, but they don't have Jennings 7.5 or whatever Slaus got, then add in the ~5M for the draft, the Bears are at least at 117.3M before any cuts/restructuring/extensions. The Cap next year is 126.3.

 

 

Stinger, you MAY be right, but like I posted in the other thread, they could do some deals like what they did with Bushrod and Bennett where they counted less than 5M against the cap.

[AZ54]

TD listed 7 guys. Last year they added 7 new starters (Bushrod, Slaus, Long, Mills, Bennett, Williams, Anderson) so it's not impossible. Just gotta make some key cheap signings like Slaus/Williams/Anderson....

 

I'm really hoping for a 3-4 switch. In which case you bring back Ratliff with the thought that if you can't get a NT in the draft you just stick with him. I firmly believe he won't be more than 2M. He's coming off an injury plagued year where he only played what 4 games?? I'd be surprise if he got more than 2.5 and shocked if he gets 4+. Try to add another biggy in the mid rounds to spell Ratliff, or push Ratliff outside.

 

Bring back Wootton for cheap to play 3-4 DE. Since he had a down year he's not gonna cost too much, again I expect ~2M. Bring back Melton on somewhat of a prove it deal to play opposite Wootton. I'm guessing 5M tops

 

That's about 9M on the starting DL

 

Bring back Williams, who has experience in a 3-4 on another cheap 1.5 deal. Draft another ILB high to compete with both Williams and Bostic. Go with the 2 winners of the competition in the middle with Briggs and SMC on the end.

 

Jennings is a lock of course, but they need to draft another starting CB early in the draft.

 

If my calculations are correct, and the Bears make all the cuts I suggested, that's around 10.5M of 21-26M in cap room and they already have everything but their starting safties.....I really think Byrd and Ward get resigned or franchised so a guy like Ihedigibo might be the best option at like 3-5M....Then you draft another S and boom, you've got a defense with money left to build depth.

 

Looking at....

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Wootton

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC

CB- Jennings-?-Frey-Hayden

S- Ihedigbo-?

 

....Before the draft

 

 

Ideal draft....(using the mock draft simulator)

 

1R- Jason Verrett CB- Capable speed to play man

2R- Ra'shede Hageman DE/DT- Seen some reports saying he's an ideal 3-4 DE, and another say he can be a 3-4 NT...Wherever he plays we could use em

3R- Calvin Pryor S- Plays nnext to Ihedigbo

4R- AJ Johnson ILB- Speedy, SEC tackling machine, not sure why he's being called a 4th rounder here.

5R- Bryan Stork C- Center to compete with Boggs who the Bears like

6R- Ryan Carrenthers NT- Another monster NT

6R- L'Damian Washington Wr- Just for funzies I'll draft the 6'4" guy with 4.3 speed

 

 

Defense then becomes

 

DL- Melton-Ratliff-Hageman with Wootton and Carrenthers providing depth

LB- Briggs-Bostic-Williams-SMC with Johnson providing depth/competition to Bostic/Williams. Greene/Costanzo also provide depth

CB-Jennings-Verrett-Frey-Hayden with another cheap no cap vet brought in as well

S- Ihedigbo-Pryor with Conte under contract you might as well keep him aboard.

 

Bam. It may not be a top 10 D but if everything goes right, and the O continues to grow or even just stand pat the Bears should be able to compete with that team.

 

 

Gotta add Bass as OLB and Washington as OLB as well. Green may be a better fit as ILB.

[scs787]

Gotta add Bass as OLB and Washington as OLB as well. Green may be a better fit as ILB.

 

 

This is true, should have solid depth at the LB position should they wanna move to a 3-4.

 

 

[AZ54]

Looks like the Bears did the same thing with Jenning's contract as they did with Cutler's. Jennings is signed for four years but if he's not performing well enough to be worth the $5mil/yr in years 3 or 4 we can cut him with no cap hit. I'm guessing they did the same with Slauson but can't find any details on what Slauson got paid. If we're sitting with just $2mil in cap space then there are definitely some cuts headed our way. Peppers seems like a must now along with Michael Bush, Podlesh, and Weems. Earl Bennett may join them too if they feel Wilson is ready to step up.

 

This is likely to bring about a lot of emotions but if we are serious about switching to a 3-4 I can see a 33yr old Briggs getting cut unless Lovie would want to trade for him down in Tampa. We won't get much in exchange, likely a late round pick, but the cap space will allow us to pursue the players that fit the new scheme and who can help bring along the younger players in terms of learning assignments. If Bostic and SMC are the future at OLB then they might as well get experience there from game 1. DJ Williams can be re-signed, perhaps even cheaper than last season, to help fill the leadership void. I'm prepared for anything to happen.

[Bears4Ever_34]

Good point. I could see us dealing Briggs if we made a switch to a 3-4 on defense. I don't think Tampa would work though since they already have Lavonte David, who's an All Pro.