With less than two weeks left before the start of the regular season, the Chicago Bears have gained some much-needed breathing room salary cap-wise. In this particular instance, three different players volunteered to make this happen for a team that’s snug against said salary cap. A sum of money that should allow for basic business to be done throughout the rest of the year.
Per Field Yates of ESPN the Bears have restructured the contracts of Joe Thuney, Dayo Odeyingbo, and TJ Edwards. In total, these moves open approximately $17M in cap space effective immediately upon the signing of each respective deal.
I know what you’re thinking – this has to lead into something BIG… right? Well, not necessarily, but this financial shuffle is still noteworthy given the fact that the Bears are finally in compliance with the salary cap. Prior to these moves Spotrac.com had Chicago at $12M over the cap — aka in the red — which is an unideal situation to be in. Barring any additional updates, this should put the Bears at around $5M in space as of the writing of this article.
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It’s also interesting to note that Dayo Odeyingbo was one of the players who agreed to rework their previously existing contract. Even though he still has an out built into his deal for 2027, this would make any potential cut harder to handle as his salary cap hit increases. For what it’s worth, the Bears are seen as relatively healthy cap-wise heading into next year.
As of this very moment, the mass opening of cap space doesn’t indicate that a major trade addition is imminent. If the Bears do wind up swinging for such a move, they do have other options available in terms of extensions and/or more restructures. Notable extension candidates of which could include D’Andre Swift and Montez Sweat.
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