GM Ryan Poles knew what he was doing when he dismantled the Chicago Bears‘ roster in the spring. The goal was obvious. He wanted to unload every bloated contract possible, trading or cutting older veterans in hopes of getting younger. People didn’t want to use the word rebuild, but that is clearly what it was. Poles further cemented that plan when he traded Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith at the end of October. The Bears were left with tons of dead money to shoulder, but it came with one huge benefit. It would free up loads of salary cap space going into 2023.
Pole has said he doesn’t want to build the Bears through free agency. They’ve already tried that multiple times over the years, and it never works. He has to construct this team through the draft. That said, it’s a foregone conclusion he’ll do some spending on the veteran market next March. Part of it will be because he has to. This team has way too many holes on the roster for one draft class to fix. Another part is the sheer amount of money he’ll have available. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, there is a strong likelihood the 2023 salary cap will go far above $220 million.
That would be a league record.
The NFL’s salary cap could hit a record high of more than $220 million per club in 2023.
But unknowns regarding revenue from new TV deals and the payouts of player benefits deferred during the COVID-19 pandemic leave the final cap number clouded a little more than three months from the start of the league year and free agency next March, per sources…
…One source familiar with the process predicted the normal calculation of projected revenues would pin the 2023 cap number at “well above 220 (million).” But the NFL has not yet made its cap projection, sources say, and both the league and union have decisions to make that will impact the final math.
The Chicago Bears should be able to land any free agent they want.
Money won’t be an object for them. Spotrac currently projects the cap to land somewhere around $224 million. If that proves accurate, the Bears will end up with $115 million in space. That is $49 million more than the team that is second on the list. If there are one or two players out there Poles truly covet, he’ll be able to throw huge contracts at them. Or he could take a more measured approach, spreading the money out to several positions in hopes of shoring up the depth and maybe landing a couple of solid starters. Then he could focus on drafting the best players available in April.
There is also the question of extensions. The Chicago Bears have multiple players entering the final years of their rookie contracts. Jaylon Johnson, Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, and Chase Claypool are the big ones. Poles must decide if he will use some of that money to lock up any of them. Right now, it appears Kmet is doing the most to earn that new deal. Mooney was on track for that as well before an untimely ankle injury. Johnson and Claypool are in wait-and-see mode. Plenty of things to juggle as the regular season draws to a close.
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