The Chicago Bears have decided to run it back with largely the same roster for 2021. Sure there are some areas that have seen some changes. Specifically on offense with new faces at wide receiver and quarterback. Yet the core of this team remains unchanged. Some wonder if that was the best course of action. Once the arrival of Justin Fields came to pass, a lot of people felt the team should have kickstarted a roster reboot in hopes of gathering resources to build around their young quarterback.
While there is plenty of logic in that idea, the Bears didn’t do it. Not necessarily because they did or didn’t want to. More because they couldn’t. Salary cap expert and overthecap.com founder Jason Fitzgerald told Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune that this purge is likely coming in 2022.
“This was probably the last year it was going to run with a lot of these same guys and really where the Bears are kind of under the gun with the salary cap,. They can kind of do a bit of a reset next year, start to remake the roster and I would imagine get their salary cap in order unless they go down the Atlanta Falcons’ path where they just double and triple down on every single player and you bring everybody back and you screw yourself up.”
When looking at how next offseason is shaping up? It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if the Bears ended up embracing a full-fledged youth movement.
Key free agents unlikely to return:
- Jason Peters
- Andy Dalton
- Jimmy Graham
- Tashaun Gipson
- Christian Jones
- Alec Ogletree
- Akiem Hicks
Likely cuts:
- Robert Quinn
- Nick Foles
- Danny Trevathan
Many of these aren’t huge surprises. Peters, Dalton, and Graham are clear placeholders for younger guys behind them. Jones and Ogletree are depth pieces that may no longer be needed thanks to the rise of Caleb Johnson. The tough one will be Hicks. He is still such a big part of the Chicago Bears defense but may not have the same juice he did a couple of years ago. He wants to stay but that will depend on the kind of money he’s looking for.
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As for the cuts? Quinn is almost certainly gone regardless of the year he has. His contract is not worth dealing with his constant health issues and they will only continue as he gets older. Trevathan is having the same problems, already missing time with a knee ailment. Foles’ contract is too expensive for a backup QB. The Bears will be able to go cheap there with Fields taking over as the starter.
Chicago Bears can set their salary cap up for big things in 2023
Make no mistake. The Bears will have to eat a lot of dead money with this approach. Presuming they release all three of those players, the Bears would be looking at $55 million in cap space. That may sound like a lot, but it really isn’t. Not when they have so many free agents to juggle and only five draft picks. Most of that money will be used to reshape the roster. It won’t be until 2023 that things take shape.
Chicago will be back in the 1st round of the draft and expectations are the salary cap will take a huge jump due to the incoming money from the new TV deals. By that point, a large chunk of the dead money the Bears will have carried will come off the books. It will be a prime opportunity for GM Ryan Pace (or whoever replaces him) to make a serious run at building around Fields.