A lot of people are curious about the Chicago Bears free agency plan might unfold this year. They don’t have a ton of money to spend but they have enough room to at least consider making one bold move if they wish to. GM Ryan Pace may have to get a little creative in order to create more space but the opportunity is there to be had.
Much of how that goes will depend on what happens in the next two months regarding their own free agents. After locking up Bobby Massie to a new four-year extension, the Bears now have 13 players remaining who have expiring contracts. Three of them were starters including cornerback Bryce Callahan, safety Adrian Amos, and punter Pat O’Donnell.
Keeping all three of them and the others on that long list will be a challenge in and of itself. That will make it difficult for Pace to clear up anywhere near enough room to make a splash signing of any kind. Then again, there is a reason to believe that the Bears GM is actually keen on not spending any significant money on the market at all.
Chicago Bears free agency fast could get them into compensatory pick game
One perk of the NFL that the Bears haven’t been part of for a long time is compensatory draft picks. For those who aren’t entirely clear on what these are, here is a brief explanation courtesy of OverTheCap.com.
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“As the NFL explains, compensatory picks are awarded to teams that lose more or better compensatory free agents than they acquire. The number of picks a team can receive equals the net loss of compensatory free agents, up to a maximum of four. Compensatory free agents are determined by a secret formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Not every free agent lost or signed is covered by the formula.
In order to qualify for the comp equation, a player must have been a true Unrestricted Free Agent whose contract had expired or was voided after the previous season (i.e., he cannot have been released by his old team); [generally speaking,] he must sign during the UFA signing period.”
Put simply because the Bears have routinely spent money in free agency over the years, they haven’t qualified for compensatory picks. That could change depending on what they do this year. If they were to say lose Callahan or Amos to free agency and one of those guys inked a nice contract elsewhere, the Bears could garner a pick in the 2020 draft if they chose not to spend much money this year.
Why is this important?
Remember that Pace has said he wants to build through the draft. He now has the team at a point where they don’t have to spend a ton of money in free agency to get better. Most of the key starting positions are filled. This means they can start drafting exclusively in order to build up depth and hopefully stockpile young talent for the future.
To do that, Pace needs picks. Thanks to prior trades he only has five in the 2019 draft. He’ll need more in order to keep up with roster demands in the future. Adding a compensatory pick in 2020 would give him eight total. That would be a nice step in the right direction while also allowing him to reserve cap space for his own players that will soon be seeking paydays.
The last time the Bears used compensatory pick was 2009. So it would end up being over a decade if this were to happen.
