Fiscal Freedom Permeates Halas Hall
To see it on social media, Bears GM Ryan Poles is the biggest skinflint since Henry F. Potter and Scrooge McDuck.
Fans naturally want more players during free agency when their team finished 3-14 but what's not entirely apparent to everyone is why Poles has done what he has in terms of spending.
They see no high-priced right tackle and wonder why he didn't spend another few million a year to top the amount Denver paid for Mike McGlinchey in an $87 million total deal.
Madness expressed over their failure to sign Orlando Brown Jr. for $16 million a year is just simply failing to understanding football—it should have been obvious to all Brown is too big to fit what they are trying to do with blockers on offense.
Key to all of Poles' moves is the guaranteed money involved, since it eats away at future salary cap space while non-guaranteed cash has no effect on the future if a player is cut or traded.
Why doesn't the spending continue, they wonder, when the Bears still have the most cash left at $33.1 million according to Overthecap.com, as of the weekend. That's about $14 million more than second-place Carolina.
What having this cap space does means is after paying their own draft picks for this year:
- They can address some of the contract extensions and prevent Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, Jaylon Johnson and Chase Claypool from becoming free agents, if they want.
- They can add a few more players who can be of value for either depth or as role-player starters in case other players fail to pan out, much like they did with tackle Riley Reiff last year.
- They can operate without concern should someone go out for the season on injured reserve.
- The main reason he does what he does is to keep the team financially able to make moves for the future.
This last reason is critical.
After this season they will need to decide on the fifth-year option for Justin Fields, and his contract extension in the future will eat up a huge chunk of that cap space.
Filling future years with guaranteed money on contracts of free agents they might not even eventually need because they're able to draft players at those positions is the way to make it so they can't afford to keep players they may want long term, like Fields.
The cap Poles inherited from former GM Ryan Pace was abysmal. Poles dumped since last year.
Now the Bears have what amounts in the NFL to financial freedom for coming years.
According to Overthecap, they are in the top six for cap space over the next three years.
NFL Cap Space
2024-26
*Projected according to Overthecap.com
2024
1. Texans $150.8 million
2. Patriots $131.6 million
3. Titans $127.9 million
4. BEARS $121.7 million
2025
1. Patriots $254.1 million
2. Texans $225.1 million
3. Bengals $220.8 million
4. BEARS $206.6 million
2026
1. Patriots $306.4 million
2. Seahawks $301.5 million
3. Panthers $297.7 million
4. Jaguars $291.8 million
5. Jets $290.6 million
6. BEARS $290.56 million
Adding a player the way they might have with McGlinchey removes huge chunks from not only this year's cap but future caps. It makes little sense when they might be able to find commensurate talent in the draft or even future free agency short term while continuing to look in the draft.
Paying out lesser amounts for shorter-term deals to free agents who can be role players in the short term makes more sense because the draft could eventually supply cheaper, better and younger players at the position.
Free agency ideally should be used for this and for one player who slips through unsigned to the marketplace and can unquestionably help a team long term. It should be used by a contending team for that one position to help put them over the top, or a team on the verge of contending that needs a little push.
There is a finite amount of free agent talent worth acquiring for big amounts of cash spent over multiple years against the cap.
When Poles knows there will be players in the future to spend money on, then it makes little sense to continue throwing away cash for the immediate season and also future salary caps for players who barely fit their standards or who will be too old to be productive soon.
Spending on a player like that, someone in their second or third contract, is like buying a car. The value goes down immediately. After a free agent's second or even third contract is awarded, their skill set begins to erode. Teams generally don't get the same production from older players.
Pace repeatedly stepped over the line and brought in free agents using contracts paying out bonus money well beyond the normal length of years covered by salary, the infamous phantom or voided years in the future. The cash counts against the cap but they have nothing to show for it in those future years from those players other than dead cap space.
That prevents a team from signing more players.
What Poles is doing is managing the cap responsibly and it was something they sorely needed in the past.
Teams can't simply spend at will and ignore the future. Signing just a few key free agents to plug holes in the short term is always the preferable way because it buys time for the GM who has a nose for finding talent in the draft.
If he doesn't have this ability, he shouldn't be the GM anyway.
The fact Poles has a plan for handling all of this and sticks to it is a reason for optimism about the future rather than a source for disparaging remarks on social media.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
