Very special thanks to Brad Biggs for this very thorough breakdown of the Bears cap situation heading into the offseason.
Money to $pend
by Brad Biggs, Chicago Sun-Times
Moving into an offseason that is as critical as it is uncertain, one of the Bears' strengths is their health in terms of the salary cap.
Armed with more than $20 million in available cap room, it's liable to be more a question of cash in the budget than space under the cap when it comes to the organization doing as it wants. That's an enormous amount of room, and it can grow depending on how the roster is handled before the beginning of the league year in March.
General manager Jerry Angelo has been careful in seeing that the Bears don't pay for current success by borrowing too far into the future when it comes to the cap. Combine solid drafting on defense, identifying young talent for early contracts and shrewd cap management by contact negotiator Cliff Stein, and the books add up nicely for the Bears.
''We're fine,'' Angelo said. ''It's just the course that we want to go -- how we want to allocate our money -- really not knowing what the marketplace is going to be. We are entering into a new marketplace with the [cap headed to $116 million]. I think that's why you didn't see a lot of extensions throughout the league.
''We'll be very competitive in those areas. And there might be a situation where we do have the resources -- I'm talking about the money in hand -- but we just choose not to do it because we just don't feel that it's in our best interest. We have to place a value on a player in terms of what our marketplace is for him as well.''
Before we look ahead, here's an analysis of the team's top 15 cap figures for the season, which accounted for more than $65 million of their 2007 cap under the unadjusted $109 million limit. Note: These numbers are individual cap figures for '07, not what the player was paid.
1. LB Lance Briggs, $7,206,000: Franchise player earned a big payday for the first time in his career and wants more. The Bears will have to outpay the marketplace for his services. He already turned down a big-money offer and wants out of the shadow of Brian Urlacher.
2. LB Brian Urlacher, $5,850,510: Played like he was worth every penny in games down the stretch. If he can vie for defensive player of the year honors next season at 30, the defense easily will be back in the top 10.
3. C Olin Kreutz, $5,666,670: Six-time Pro Bowl center is the captain of a line in transition. Curiously, Angelo made reference to the center-quarterback exchange in his news conference Thursday, which seems irrelevant to team's current position.
4. DE Adewale Ogunleye, $5,563,055: Coming off his best season with the Bears, he was likely the most consistent player on defense and just about a bargain at this price relative to his production.
5. CB Charles Tillman, $5,432,386: New deal secured Tillman for the long term. He played well in a secondary that was otherwise nothing but musical chairs. A building block moving forward.
6. S Adam Archuleta, $5,098,600: The good news, if coach Lovie Smith wants to keep him, is that the Bears already have given him the bulk of his money. Second time in two years with two teams he really struggled.
7. LT John Tait, $5,000,000: Sure, he might wind up back on the right side, but ankle injuries made the season trying for Tait, who has been a good soldier. He's making what veterans command at left tackle.
8. RT Fred Miller, $4,704,560: A huge drop-off in performance makes Miller's future iffy. It's hard to imagine they would bring him back at anywhere near this price.
9. CB Ricky Manning Jr., $3,365,000: Fell out of favor with the coaching staff and remained at his nickel spot even when he was needed as a starter.
10. S Mike Brown, $3,156,666: Earned his salary based on years served, not performance, after another injury-ruined season. If he's back, look for the club to seek protection.
11. RB Cedric Benson, $3,133,680: Bears are unwilling at this point to admit missing with the No. 4 pick from 2005. This represents a fraction of the $13.8 million he has pocketed so far.
12. WR Muhsin Muhammad, $3,119,080: Combination of age, production and salary might put him in line for a restructuring.
13. CB Nathan Vasher, $2,868,726: Got a true sense of his value during the second game against the Vikings. Figure is likely to go up based on new contract.
14. DT Tommie Harris, $2,650,450: After the dust settles from free agency, it will be interesting to see how the Bears proceed with the three-time Pro Bowl performer who was dominating on a bad left leg at the end of the season.
15. QB Brian Griese, $2,500,000: It's a fair price for a backup with experience. Unfair has been the treatment he has been subjected to around here.
#2 Phil from SATX said . . .First!! We hoooo, nothing to say.. bummer
January 6, 2008
#3 Duff Diggler said . . .Couple of comments from that interesting article.
1) Since Arch Deluxe is essentially free next year, can he be an impact player on special teams? I think he made a few plays out there down the stretch. That, and as a backup at safety for insurance reasons, seems to be his only reason for taking a roster spot next year, because some kind of offseason resurrection of his apparently limited skills looks extremely unlikely.
2) Just making Fred Miller cheaper doesn't help your football team be better. He gone.
3) Sounds like a great callout by Angelo on Olin Kreutz. Like Biggs says, seems irrelevant since Kreutz ain't going anywhere, so it must be purely for motivation. He certainly needed it this year - I call his the most disappointing and underachieving performance on the team. (Arch doesn't count because we didn't know how good (bad) he would be).
4) Interesting call on Moose - if you could get him a lot cheaper, would you want him and in what capacity? This isn't the same as the Fred Miller decision, because Moose is pretty far from completely sucking like Miller. Could he be your #3? Really don't want to go in next year with the same receivers, unless DH gets a world better in an offseason.
5) So Biggs thinks BG has been unfairly dumped on. I'm not sure of that, I think the whole Chicago Bears fandom was ready to get behind him, and I think he failed, and he failed in ways that indicate that the same would be expected in the future. So now he's a known commodity, which is different than the David Garrards and the Todd Collins's of the world, who were unknown commodities. For my non-starting veteran backup, I'd actually prefer more of an unknown, because these guys are only for insurance and you just might get lucky, as TWO teams did this year. Grease we know and what we know we don't like. The fact that he's cheap doesn't help - let's take a cheap unknown commodity lifetime bench sitter instead.
January 6, 2008
#4 jeff said . . .Yeah, i'm kinda torn on the Moose issue myself. I really think Bradley could take those reings as a possesion (#2) receiver. Berrian 1, Hester slot, and i don't know if everyone agrees with me, but rideau and hass have talent. Their lack of experience (including hester) is this coaching staff's fault. If we can get berrian back for a decent enough price to be able to afford a little "Stick-um" to put in his locker, i'd be happy. We could let Moose go, free up even more cap room, and maybe get a couple free agents *cough Faneca* of our own. Lets just not let all this $ go to our head and turn into the Redskins....
January 6, 2008
#5 Al in WI said . . .phil, it's a great piece, isn't it? a perfect article to springboard a real conversation about making economic decisions this offseason. from what i've gathered reading everything i could, the bears are in a great economic situation. twenty million in cap space, blah blah blah. i'll say one thing: adam archuleta can not be on this roster in 2008.
January 6, 2008
#6 Phil from SATX said . . .Jeff, thanks for catching and posting this article. This is going to drastically alter my own view of what the Bears should be doing. In other articles this season it was mentioned the Bears only had about 2 mill under the cap for 2007, so I thought there were limited resources to re-sign guys and make moves.
Reading this I now feel there is no excuse Briggs, BA, Berrian and Rex can't all be back and this team still make some upgrades in FA.
Thanks, glad you posted this.January 6, 2008
#7 Megan said . . .I had a thought while picking up poop in the back year, thinking about the cap situation. I think Angelo will, in general, be loathe to enter into big time long term contracts, because next year will be Lovie's referendum year. As GM, he has to be thinking about the future, and the distinct possibility that if Lovie fails next year, that future will include a new coach.
That new coach could have a completely different offensive and defensive philosophy (like a defensive 3-4 which is becoming increasingly popular as the Tampa 2 is losing some luster). So even a decision like locking up Briggs may be something he feels could make them inflexible to a defensive scheme change. Now maybe Briggs fits into any system.
But if you follow my thinking, I think the safest thing to do given a possibility of a new coaching staff within 2 years is to trade down, not pick a "franchise" QB this year (who a new coach would certainly like to have a hand in picking), and not lock up any long term contracts for players that may not fit in an unknown future system.
This could impact Oline picks as well, because I think there are different philosophies here as well - small and quick or big and strong.
Just a thought, couuld be the fumes getting to me.
January 6, 2008
#8 jeff said . . .Now that I have finally had a chance to read this...
He makes some very good points. Pretty much echoed what all of us have said about about Fred Miller.
Not sure what he means exactly about Olin Kruetz. It's interesting what he says about Archuleta. Kinda like he's worn out his welcome.Benson, hmmm sounds like Angelo is afraid to admit he's a bust.
Jeff, it is a good piece, really breaks down the possibilities for the future in very simple terms. (for those of us who don't dig too deeply into the finances of football.)
I am sad to be talking about this now. I was hoping to not be too deeply into this subject until Feb.
Silver lining? it gives us a good long time to think about things.January 6, 2008
#9 Polygonhell said . . .this weekend is breaking my heart.
January 6, 2008
#10 JB said . . .I don't think you can plan assuming that your Head coach will fail next year. f you believed that, you might aswell fire him now.
I also think it's important to note that you have to plan beyond the end of this year, and simply can't spend every dollar under the cap, because at some point your going to have to renew upcoming contracts and pay bonus' to the likes of Hester.
January 7, 2008
#11 Phil from SATX said . . .I think the #14 money maker and Biggs' reference to what the Bears will do with his contract will be the big franchise move this season. Locking up TH, who when healthy is probably the best DT in the league, for the next 6 years is paramount to the future of this defense. So while yes, I would like to see Briggs brought back and definitely B-Twice, the #1 thing this offseason in terms of current player contracts is signing tommie before he decides he'd like of whiff of FA...we need to treat him like we did peanut and vasher last year and not like the briggs situation...and believe me, TH would warrant a franchise tag.
January 7, 2008
#12 Phil from SATX said . . .Hey Jeff - way to go 4 for 4 on your picks. Might you have made some money this weekend?
January 7, 2008
#13 jeff said . . .Hard to believe that Btwice is the top free agent receiver in the offseason. That has to ensure he's gone unless the Bears franchise him, and I still say whether they're under the cap or not, he has not shown nearly enough to warrant spending $8MM for one season on him. UNLESS the Bears are convinced he has the potential to be one of the top receivers in the league and they are willing to bet $8MM on it, and then try to pay even more for a long term contract next year.
This is yet another example of the Bears being in an unfortunate position with few choices because of random timing and all other top receivers under contract. The limited supply will shoot the price up well beyond where the Bears can or want to pay. So again, they could decide it's worth $8MM to see whether he definitively proves himself as a bonafide top receiver next year, but it's still a lot of money to pay for someone who underperformed as much as Berrian did this season.
Better off burning another franchise by having them overpay for him.
January 7, 2008
#14 Rancid said . . .let's just say that jeff's going to be eating this week. seattle is opening up as an 8.5 point dog next week. ch-ching!
January 7, 2008
#15 Shady McBears Fan said . . .Others have brought this up but I will repeat them and say that this unfortunate situation concerning BB is othe fault of the BT (who I am usually not terribly critical of) for not signing BB to an extension at the end of last season. That would have been the time. Call it avoiding the Christmas rush. That was the error. Now we must either overpay, or lose him and become even shorter at WR. I know it's not a popular opinion but I am still thinking that we address OLine adequately through FA, and Kenny Phillips is gone by #14, then I would like to see us take WR Limas Sweed if we lost BB. A lot of "ifs" which goes to show that as annoying as it was, Angelo's comment about seeing the market is probably the only way to go.
BTW, just when I thought I was beginning to ease a bit in my hatred of RT I found myself vindictively cheering against the Chargers today simply because brother Norv was the coach. I hate them all.
January 7, 2008
#16 said . . .Saw Angelo while at work today. He said he couldn't stand to watch the playoffs. I can't blame him, the Bears (with the way they ended the season) could beat any team at this point. He also mentioned the weakness of the defense was due in large part because of the secondary. Whether it was personnel or scheme, he wouldn't say. But he did say it should have been fixed after the Cowboys game, but wasn't. My guess is that it has to do with a certain S named AA. But who knows. Very nice guy. Also saw Tony Kukoc today, not such a nice guy. But anyway, go Bears!
January 7, 2008
#17 Phil from SATX said . . .... And when I say "any team" I mean any team in the NFC.
Daaa Bears!
January 7, 2008
#18 Polygonhell said . . .You're right, Rancid, we seem to let too many guys get all the way to the end of their contracts putting us in rock-and-a-hard-place positions. At least with Briggs they had made an offer.
I'm a Texas Longhorn fan and alum and I still don't want them picking Limas at 14. There are unfortunately now injury concerns about him given a wrist surgery. Given our horrible injury luck this year, I'm against picking anybody with meaningful picks that have past injury concerns (remember that DD also had an injury background at Oklahoma).
Completely agree about the all-Turner hatred, which was already going on in my head as I vowed to root for the Colts against the Bolts next week. In fact, since Vince is out, I'm now becoming a Giants fan (to take out the Cowboys) and a Seahawks fan (ditto GB), while rooting for anyone but the Patriots in the AFC. Hey, an all-Manning SB would be kind of cool, especially when older brother gives younger the equivalent of a titty-twister, Indian rope burn and a beef stew all at the same time.
January 7, 2008
#19 JB said . . .The Bears, have in general been very good about resigning players before their contracts expired. But with the scheduled increase in the salary cap this year, anyone with a contract due this year wasn't going to sign early.
January 7, 2008
I'll admit...no idea what a beef stew is. Agree with rooting against GB & Dallas... my surrogate playoff team is the jags because they actually can run the ball and don't turn it over... tough test for them next week.
January 7, 2008
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