2014 Chicago Bears Offseason Thread

[rawaction]

dumb question but do the Bears have to cut Peppers (or anyone else) before they sign someone to take them over the cap? There's no penalty on Peppers' contract in particular to force us to cut him by a certain date, correct?

 

I believe you wouldn't have to cut Julius until June 1st, but I may be wrong.

 

No they'd have to cut him to sign anyone with a big contract. They can designate him as a June 1 cut (and save 14mil) but he dOes have to be cut before they can do anything major.

[RynoRules]

The whole cap thing is dumb. Isn't all projection? And isn't Pitt already $1 mill-plus over the cap? Based on what you wrote, aren't they therefore as of today unable to sign any FA's and/or their own draft picks?

[RynoRules]

Ok, from cbssports.com:

 

The Steelers and Cowboys are officially under the cap

Every team in the NFL has until 4 p.m. ET on March 11 to be in compliance with the league's salary cap. This year, that means getting your cap to under $133 million and both the Steelers and Cowboys did that on Friday.

 

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers restructured the contract of wide receiver Antonio Brown. The restructuring will free up $4 million in cap space and put the Steelers under the $133 million threshold, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

 

It's been a busy week for the Steelers, who gave contract extensions to tight end Heath Miller and safety Troy Polamalu on Wednesday, then followed that up by cutting linebacker Larry Foote, cornerback Curtis Brown and tackle Levi Brown on Thursday.

 

In Dallas, the Cowboys got under the cap by releasing center Phil Costa, a move that will save the team $1.5 million. It's been a rough four months for Costa. In November, fiancee Brooke Hogan called off their engagement. Now he's out of a job and doesn't get to be Hulk Hogan's son-in-law. That's bad news no matter how you spin it.

 

So now they are under the cap...SFW? Barring more cuts or restructures they still don't have enough to sign any FA's or their own draft picks....yet somehow they will get around it. I realize I'm not being rational here, just feels like the NFL salary cap makes less sense than it should.

[Splendid Splinter]

dumb question but do the Bears have to cut Peppers (or anyone else) before they sign someone to take them over the cap? There's no penalty on Peppers' contract in particular to force us to cut him by a certain date, correct?

 

I believe you wouldn't have to cut Julius until June 1st, but I may be wrong.

 

No they'd have to cut him to sign anyone with a big contract. They can designate him as a June 1 cut (and save 14mil) but he dOes have to be cut before they can do anything major.

 

While that's correct, but his cap hit stays until June 1st so you can't designate him as a June 1 cut AND sign a big name FA.

 

http://overthecap.com/explaining-the-june-1st-designation/

[rawaction]

dumb question but do the Bears have to cut Peppers (or anyone else) before they sign someone to take them over the cap? There's no penalty on Peppers' contract in particular to force us to cut him by a certain date, correct?

 

I believe you wouldn't have to cut Julius until June 1st, but I may be wrong.

 

No they'd have to cut him to sign anyone with a big contract. They can designate him as a June 1 cut (and save 14mil) but he dOes have to be cut before they can do anything major.

 

While that's correct, but his cap hit stays until June 1st so you can't designate him as a June 1 cut AND sign a big name FA.

 

http://overthecap.com/explaining-the-june-1st-designation/

 

There are ways around it. I believe you can agree with a big name FA on a deal and not sign it until June 1 (unlikely). Plus, you can really eat up every dollar of the cap space because you can wait to sign draft picks after June 1. Plus, you can structure the contract like the Bears did with Bushrod and Bennett last year. Both will get 6-9 mil annually, but both had cap hits around 3 Mil last year because of signing bonuses and low base salaries.

 

The difference between making Peppers a June 1 cut and a regular cut is only 4Mil anyway. Either 10M or 14M saved.

[Splendid Splinter]

dumb question but do the Bears have to cut Peppers (or anyone else) before they sign someone to take them over the cap? There's no penalty on Peppers' contract in particular to force us to cut him by a certain date, correct?

 

I believe you wouldn't have to cut Julius until June 1st, but I may be wrong.

 

No they'd have to cut him to sign anyone with a big contract. They can designate him as a June 1 cut (and save 14mil) but he dOes have to be cut before they can do anything major.

 

While that's correct, but his cap hit stays until June 1st so you can't designate him as a June 1 cut AND sign a big name FA.

 

http://overthecap.com/explaining-the-june-1st-designation/

 

There are ways around it. I believe you can agree with a big name FA on a deal and not sign it until June 1 (unlikely). Plus, you can really eat up every dollar of the cap space because you can wait to sign draft picks after June 1. Plus, you can structure the contract like the Bears did with Bushrod and Bennett last year. Both will get 6-9 mil annually, but both had cap hits around 3 Mil last year because of signing bonuses and low base salaries.

 

The difference between making Peppers a June 1 cut and a regular cut is only 4Mil anyway. Either 10M or 14M saved.

 

 

Oh I know. I just didn't want to confuse other posters here into thinking that if you designate him as a June 1st that Bears free up 14 mil right away as I've seen it from other sites.

[UMFan83]

I know this isn't a realistic option based on the limited cap space and the glaring needs on the other side of the ball, but how awesome would Sproles on the Bears be?

[Guest]

Cromartie got cut today.

[davell]

The Bears will convert money from Cutler, Slauson, TJ, Gould, etc into signing bonuses to come up with cap room immediately. Keep in mind that Bushrod and Bennett combined took up less than 6 mill in cap space for year 1.

 

If they want to add a top notch DE and a top notch S, they can. It seems like they want the elite DE and a decent S though, not a Byrd or Ward type.

 

No idea when or if Peppers gets cut, but if he's cut tomorrow, that money isn't available immediately if he's used as a June 1st cut. Bush and Bennett getting cut would literally open up enough space to sign Michael Bennett, without even moving into Cutler or anyone else's deal.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Chicago Bears ‏@ChicagoBears 5m

 

LM: #Bears have agreed to terms with DT Nate Collins and QB Jordan Palmer on 1-year contracts.

[rawaction]

I think ideally you don't restructure Cutler. Id rather cut Peppers now and be able to have a very reasonably priced Cutler with no guaranteed money after 3 years.

[dcvalpo]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/03/09/report-bears-expect-to-sign-michael-bennett/

 

Bears closing in on Michael Bennett?

[davell]

It'd be awesome to get Bennett. If they could somehow land Byrd or Ward to go with him......

[Butterscup1679666578]

i'm not getting my hopes up on bennett because i'm a pessimist, but they won't do both a stud DE and a stud DB. it'll be a stud DE and filler or a stud DB and filler.

[davell]

i'm not getting my hopes up on bennett because i'm a pessimist, but they won't do both a stud DE and a stud DB. it'll be a stud DE and filler or a stud DB and filler.

I'll be fine if they do that, but I'll dream until I know it's not happening. Seems like Mitchell, Mundy, and Ihedigbo are the targets at S.

[Guest]

i'm not getting my hopes up on bennett because i'm a pessimist, but they won't do both a stud DE and a stud DB. it'll be a stud DE and filler or a stud DB and filler.

 

That report sounds pretty strongly worded to me.

 

 

Two team officials told Briggs that the team expects to sign Bennett once the free agency period opens on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET.

[Guest]

i'm not getting my hopes up on bennett because i'm a pessimist, but they won't do both a stud DE and a stud DB. it'll be a stud DE and filler or a stud DB and filler.

 

I know this wasn't the point of your post but I wouldn't go so far as to call Bennett a stud.

 

Definitely agree with you that I can't see them getting one of the best free agents at both DE and S this offseason.

[ctcf]

So assuming the Bears get Bennett, how would you folks feel about it?

[RynoRules]

I'd be thrilled, with the caveat that if they don't fix their issues at DT he's going to see a [expletive] ton of double teams that he didn't see in Seattle.

 

Wait, on second thought, are we sure we want him? GIS for "Michael Bennett":

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Michael_Bennett.jpg

 

That doesn't look a thing like Martellus. Must be half-brothers.

[rawaction]

Michael Bennett is very good. Not elite, but probably a better pass rusher than Peppers at this point. Still need something along side him at DT and the opposite DE, if they cut Peppers.

 

I'd be fine with a safety like Mitchell. Ihedibo is OK. Mundy was pretty bad as a Steeler. Don't want him. Wonder what they're going to do at CB. I'd like to sign someone and draft someone. But if you don't at least sign someone capable of starting, they're probably going into the draft hoping for Gilbert or Dennard in the 1st, which is fine...but it pushes more DL help down the line.

[jersey cubs fan]

NFLN just had a bro to bro segment that consisted mostly of Martellus goofing around and Michael pretending he didn't know where he was going to sign.

 

If they have a legit second end, I want to see what would happen if they kept Peppers.

[Old Style]

I'll be thrilled if we add Michael Bennett. We still need to address DT though, too.

[rawaction]

NFLN just had a bro to bro segment that consisted mostly of Martellus goofing around and Michael pretending he didn't know where he was going to sign.

 

If they have a legit second end, I want to see what would happen if they kept Peppers.

 

Yeah, that would be ideal. But I don't see Peppers taking a pay cut, and the Bears can't take the $18Mil cap hit nor can they afford to extend him to push the problem out more.

 

But those 2 would be 2 of the top 5 run defending DEs in the league that aren't the jumbo sized guys like Red Bryant.

[Banedon]

But I don't see Peppers taking a pay cut, and the Bears can't take the $18Mil cap hit nor can they afford to extend him to push the problem out more.

 

Hmm...why not? If they cut him, he's not gonna sign somewhere for the same money anyway. Do you think he's just ready to go somewhere else?

[jersey cubs fan]

But I don't see Peppers taking a pay cut, and the Bears can't take the $18Mil cap hit nor can they afford to extend him to push the problem out more.

 

Hmm...why not? If they cut him, he's not gonna sign somewhere for the same money anyway. Do you think he's just ready to go somewhere else?

 

Tampa's nice this time of year.