adam

According to OTC, the $44M in effective cap includes Swift, Owens, Bates, and Johnson. It just doesn't include Byard and Everett so far. The max cap hits for Byard and Everett total $13.5M, but will more than likely be slightly lower. So the Bears have at least $30M left and probably closer to $33M left. They also can create some wiggle room if they want it, they can convert some of Sweat's, Edmunds', or Moore's salary to bonuses, which could free up to $15M without massive impacts on future cap space. Lastly, if they did trade Fields, that would save an additional $3M. So that is over $50M in effective cap space without doing too much. If we stick with the $33M, they should be able to get 3-4 starter level players. They need a Center, WR, Edge, and DT, so I can see them using most of the remaining space on those guys to replace Whitehair/Mooney/Ngakoue/Jones. If they need more space, then they can create it and use the rest on some lower level guys under $3M per year. Patrick, Green, Lewis, St. Brown, Taylor, and Cole would be the remaining "holes" that need to be filled and all of them were backups that should not require extensive cap space to fill. Some of the deals will be vet minimums that won't even hit the top 51 salaries of the cap. One last thing to consider. There about a 1M buffer right now, so the Bears can sign a guy with a $3M cap hit and it only makes the current cap go up $2M because that player is knocking a $1M player off the top-51 salary list for the cap. So every player here are on counts basically $1M less against the cap than the cap hit shows. So if the Bears sign 7 more players, they can technically spend $7M more than the projected cap space that is listed today.

If you replace "x" with "twitter" it should post the link

How the rest of the spots may get filled. I am hoping for at least a 25% accuracy with this lol: 1. G/C - Patrick (50.5/953) > Evan Brown 2. C/G - Whitehair (45.0/787) > Brian Allen 3. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Curtis Samuel 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Poona Ford 5. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> DJ Wonnum 6. DE - Green (50.6/385) > Shaw Lawson 7. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > Adam Trautman 8. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > Tyler Boyd 9. WR/PR - Taylor (51.8/121) > Braxton Berrios 10. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> Matt Eberflus's Goatee

1. FS - Jackson (58.6/646) > Byard (72.8/1187) 2. DB - Blackwell (28.5/21)> Owens (59.6/927) 3. RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > Swift (66.5/669) 4. TE - Tonyan (49.6/319)> Everett (65.6/570) 5. G - Feeney (44.8/90) > Bates (78.7/35) 1. G/C - Patrick (50.5/953) > Rookie 2. C/G - Whitehair (45.0/787) > FA/Rookie 3. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Rookie 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Rookie 5. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Rookie 6. DE - Green (50.6/385) > FA 7. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA 8. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > FA 9. WR - Taylor (51.8/121) > FA 10. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> FA Between G and C, the Bears need to make up 1740 snaps. Some will be made up by having Davis full time, but the other half will need to come from a full time Center. Next is WR2 at 764 snaps, then DT at 740, and Edge at 592. So interior lineman, WR, DT, and Edge need to come soon.

I was thinking more on the FA side. I am sure there are a few trade options, but with the expected salary that Higgins is demanding (more than Moore), I doubt they commit that much of the cap to WR.

Eddie Jackson won't count, either will Whitehair (if he signs anywhere). However, guys like Ngakoue, Patrick, Feeney, Green, and Foreman may have a shot if their AAV is over $3M. Guys like St. Brown, Cole, and Taylor may sign somewhere, but it will more than likely be a vet min deal which won't count.

Yep, only UFAs count, so Swift (3/24) and Everett (2/12) so far vs Mooney (3/39), Jones (3/30) Swift - 5th, Everett - 6th Mooney - 4th, Jones - 5th Even though the Bears have higher rounds, I believe they would cancel out. We would need the Bears to lose more than they gain. Here is a good breakdown on the cancellations. Denver is a good example in there, as they gained and lost 3, and all of them cancelled each other out. https://overthecap.com/compensatory-draft-picks-cancellation-chart

Played for Waldron and is familiar with the offense.

Yeah the Bears have to lose more free agents than they sign, and based on salary range. So Mooney signing helps the Bears, but then is negated by one of the Bears FAs who signs for a similar amount.

Here is my list for Day 2: Curtis Samuel, Josh Reynolds, Tyler Boyd - WR Braxton Berrios - WR/PR Gerald Everett, Adam Trautman - TE (signed Everett 2/12M) Evan Brown, Brian Allen - C DJ Reader, Poona Ford, Sheldon Rankins - DT Danielle Hunter, Chase Young, DJ Wonnum, Shaq Lawson - Edge

2 years, 12M Finally a real TE2. He is a perennial 50 catch, 450 yard receiver. Now 18M tied to the TE group. If you take Everett's production + Swift's in the receiving game, that is basically 100 receptions a year added to the roster, while replacing Foreman and Tonyan lol.

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Swift averages 50 receptions per year. The Bears have not had a pass catching RB this good since Forte.

So the first 3 acquisitions point to keeping Fields. Bates - 2 years left on contract Byard = 2 year deal Swift = 3 year deal with a 3rd year no guarantees Those all align to Fields 5th year option, and they would all come off the books when Fields is due big money.

This could be a huge psyop, and if it was, I would be impressed. or the league is not as high on Fields as most of the Bears fans are.

Potential spots for Fields if Cousins goes to ATL: NYG, DEN, LVR, TEN, or CLE.

With so many guys available, I am shocked Poles moved so fast on this one. 2 yrs for $15M seems a little high for me, that puts him in the top 15 in terms of Safety contracts AAV. It will be curious what guys like McKinney gets. I preferred McKinney.

New coaching regime in NE. I am sure there was not a big market for Jones, but that doesn't help Poles nonetheless.

Ryan Leaf went #2, so he wasn't anywhere near a consensus pick. People loved his size, and one thing he couldn't handle was the spotlight. Russell? Just like Leaf, people loved his size, but that's it. He had one good season in college and that only amounted to 3100 passing yards and 28-8 INTs. Also, with all the analytics nowadays, I think we will see less and less busts like that. Dudes may not turn out to be all-pros, but they won't be busts like that.

Here is a good fair eval from two QBs (Palmer and Allen) both who recently played in the league (Allen still does). They tend to believe that Williams has a few traits that are rare for QBs to have coming out of college. Basically they say QBs that can make time and space in the pocket while keeping their eyes downfield normally succeed in the NFL.

I added PFF Grade and snaps to the list. 1. C - Whitehair (45.0/787) > FA/Rookie 2. G - Patrick (50.5/953) > Rookie 3. G - Feeney (44.8/90) > Bates (78.7/35) 4. TE - Tonyan (49.6/319)> FA 5. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA 6. RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA 7. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > FA 8. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Rookie 9. WR - Taylor (51.8/121) > FA 1. FS - Jackson (58.6/646) > FA 2. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Rookie 3. DE - Green (50.6/385) > FA 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Rookie 5. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> FA 6. CB - Blackwell (28.5/21)> FA The top 5 snap leaders that need to be replaced: G - Patrick (50.5/953) C - Whitehair (45.0/787) WR - Mooney (55.2/764) FS - Jackson (58.6/646) DT - Jones (49.3/740) Check out their PFF grades, lol. There are only two players with very good PFF grades that would need to be replaced: TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA That's only 597 snaps. No other players lost was over a 60 grade.

If feels like a lot, but it's really not. Here is a list of players signed in the free agency window before the draft last year: 1. P.J. Walker, QB 2. Nate Davis, OG 3. D’Onta Foreman, RB 4. Travis Homer, RB 5. Robert Tonyan, TE 6. Andrew Billings, DT 7. DeMarcus Walker, DE 8. Rasheem Green, DE 9. Tremaine Edmunds, LB 10. T.J. Edwards, LB 11. Dylan Cole, LB So 8-10 seems fine when you consider several are on vet minimum or lower end deals.

It makes sense if the stadium is really going to get developed soon. Not a day to day operation with so many contractors they would have to interface with.

Here are the players lost from the 2023 roster that need to be replaced. It seems that they will have 5 picks to address these positions, so they will need 8-10 FAs. What is good to see, most of these guys were underachievers and are addition by subtraction (Whitehair, Patrick, Tonyan, Mooney, Jackson, Ngakoue, and Green) and replacing them with league average players would be an upgrade. The good thing is the Bears can add 3-4 blue chip players to replace these guys, that will feel like huge upgrades. 1. C - Whitehair (45.0/787) > FA/Rookie 2. G - Patrick (50.5/953) > Bates 3. G - Feeney (44.8/90) > Rookie 4. TE - Tonyan (49.6/319)> FA 5. TE - Lewis (77.1/330) > FA 6. RB - Foreman (74.0/267) > FA 7. WR - St. Brown (55.1/211) > FA 8. WR - Mooney (55.2/764) > Rookie 9. WR - Taylor (51.8/121) > FA 1. FS - Jackson (58.6/646) > FA 2. DE - Ngakoue (39.9/592)> Rookie 3. DE - Green (50.6/385) > FA 4. DT - Jones (49.3/740) > Rookie 5. LB - Cole (50.1/3)> FA 6. CB - Blackwell (28.5/21)> FA