How much do the Bears really have to flex the salary cap?
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How much salary cap flexibility do the Bears currently have?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody.
I don't want to break time. I want to yell about you. Can we handle more Anthony Heron?
Middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 The Score. Where's the money, Lebowski?
The rug really brought the room together. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 104.3 The Score. And to some people, the salary cap doesn't exist. It's fluid. I'm extending people until 2048. It's fine. How many times has Deshaun Watson's contract been restructured? I think we're at a million at this point. And to others, the cap actually does matter. And this was brought up all last week. Fans, observers, trolls, your friends, your friends' friends. frenemies everybody was talking about whether or not the bears cap could afford something like the roughly depends on the situation 35 some odd million dollar cap hit that max crosby was going to be and to some people would say oh the salary cap doesn't matter except ryan poles indicated that it did matter and the bears actions have indicated that it did matter then adam schefter just poured a whole bunch of gasoline on the fire on get up on friday
As we sit back and wonder what team might still make a move for Crosby as time goes on and as he gets healthier, I feel like the Bears are one to watch. What do you think? I don't. The Bears don't have any more money right now, Greeny. They're broke. They're out of money. And so I know people love all this and coming up with concoctions and imaginations and scenarios where a team like the Bears could come up with a player like Max Crosby. Sorry to be a party pooper there, R.C. Hey, go, Lee, Jeffy! I hate it when you bring facts in. I know.
What are the implications of restructuring player contracts?
Look, I'm salty about Colin Markow. I'm going to take it out on you guys. The Bears don't have the money to make a move like that right now.
This seems like a perfect opportunity for layaway. We discussed layaway earlier, Green. Not layaway.
But layaway is part of it. Like take, for example, the Eagles. The Eagles have kicked their salary cap out very far to play under that Jalen Hurts window. They have private equity that is involved. They've structured their team that way. The Bears don't have that. The only non-McCaskey family member on the board, for example, is Pat Ryan. It's a different deal. And this isn't the only report that's out there, Mark.
No, I was just reading from a guy they call Cap, coincidentally. I see what you did there. See what I did there? I want to make sure everybody knew what I did there. Different spelling, though, right?
Sometimes they call him the Cap Man.
The Cap Man. Long live Sports Talk Live, where David Kaplan, who I'm about to read, would let me do my fugitive stuff. What is this, a trench coat convention? Here it is. Here it is from David Kaplan. So there is an uproar after Adam Schefter said the Bears are broke. Relax, he says. After making calls, here's the scoop. That was in reference to salary cap situation. They have, the Bears, whatever they need financially if Poles wants to make a move. That's from David Kaplan right there. So you're conflicting reports.
Wait, wait, wait. What was all that broke talk out of Adam Schefter?
Right. So, yeah. So Kaplan obviously painting a more optimistic picture. And I tend to believe that more, too, because we had Andrew Brandt on. We've been talking about the salary cap exhaustively since the offseason. There are always ways to manipulate the cap. Teams are never truly broke. You can restructure, which we talked about with Andrew as well. Joe Tooney would be a candidate for that. There are ways of manipulating the cap, and the Bears have the ability to do that.
Yeah, I think that's why I was confused with the idea of what Adam Schefter was saying, because I was like, well, does he mean the salary cap?
How does Ryan Poles view the Bears' financial situation?
Because obviously you can restructure as long as you have, well, the money, the cash to pay out roster bonuses and everything else that you need to be able to kick the can down the road.
Well, but here's here's the backdrop, though, is. What we also know is the money that they've talked about regarding a stadium and that they confront $2 billion of it, but they can't do what, say, Stan Kroenke did with SoFi and front $5 billion.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How much salary cap flexibility do the Bears currently have?
0:01–1:48
2
What are the implications of restructuring player contracts?
1:48–3:56
3
How does Ryan Poles view the Bears' financial situation?
3:56–9:30
4
What recent reports suggest about the Bears' financial status?
9:30–12:17
5
What strategies can teams use to manipulate the salary cap?
12:17–14:38
6
How do the Bears compare to other teams in salary cap management?
14:38–15:28
Speakers
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