One of the biggest struggles for the Chicago Bears this offseason was navigating the decreased salary cap, which was settled at $182.5 million following financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With cap rollover from the 2020 season, the Bears have $190 million to use in 2021. Still, entering Saturday, Chicago was roughly $19 million over the salary cap, which factors in the signing of kicker Cairo Santos and wide receiver Allen Robinson’s franchise tag.
In a move that doesn’t come as much of a surprise, the Bears are restructuring some contracts to free up a good chunk of cap space ahead of the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears will be saving $23 million in cap space by converting the 2021 base salaries of Khalil Mack, Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair into signing bonuses.
Bears will be saving just over $23 million of salary-cap space this week by converting the 2021 base salaries of LB Khalil Mack, S Eddie Jackson and OL Cody Whitehair into signing bonuses, per sources. The moves will give the Bears more firepower heading into free-agent week.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2021
