Feb. 21--INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL Players Association projects next season's salary cap to be at least $143 million, executive director DeMaurice Smith said Friday. That would be a $10 million increase from last season.
The Bears aren't hurting for space. Although the cap total won't be finalized until closer to March 10 when the new league year begins, the Bears would be approximately $23 million under the NFLPA's projection.
That flexibility would be particularly helpful if the Bears want to be aggressive in free agency. They're transitioning to a 3-4 defense and seeking greater consistency on offense coming off a five-win, last-place season.
"We're healthy with our cap right now, so if we want to be, we can," general manager Ryan Pace said Wednesday. "Cliff Stein (vice president of football administration) has done an excellent job in that. Again, it's just measuring what positions are strong in free agency versus what positions are strong in the draft, and we're going through that right now.
"But if there is a player that we know can upgrade us right now, we'll attack it. And there's different levels of free agency, but we'll look at every level of it and upgrade our roster that way."
Of course, the Bears' cap space for next season is fluid, especially as they consider roster decisions. During their media sessions Wednesday, neither Pace nor coach John Fox committed to retaining receiver Brandon Marshall or quarterback Jay Cutler next season.
An NFLPA spokesman said the union also expects $35 million worth of fully guaranteed benefits per team.
