June 1 No Key Date for Bears

The end of May and beginning of June in the NFL used to mean players being cut en masse for salary cap purposes.

This hasn't ended entirely but it has been greatly curtailed with a rule allowing teams to designate up to two players for a post-June 1 cut in advance of the date.

June 1 is a deadline date or marker within the collective bargaining agreemment. Teams cutting or trading players after that date can carry half the remaining bonus money paid to a player against that season's cap space, and the rest in the following season. Prior to that date, the bonus money they prorated against remaining years on a player's contract must be applied in full to the season at hand if they are traded or cut. Teams don't have to cut it in half like this but they can and it makes both sense and dollars and cents to do it.

The Bears have already designated running back Tarik Cohen and linebacker Danny Trevathan to be cut post June 1, and this allowed them to save about $4 million in cap space on Cohen and $3.3 million on Trevathan for this year.

However, next year they will still count money against the cap for those two players—1.75 million for Cohen and a whopping $6.49 million for Trevathan because of the contract Ryan Pace signed him to prior to 2020.

Money paid already to players but prorated against the cap over the course of contracts which comes due immediately or over two seasons is known as dead cap. It's cap money teams can't spend because it's already space in their cap committed, hence the name dead cap space.

This is the problem the Bears have had throughout the rebuilding process this year because of big contracts signed by players under Pace who no longer are with the team.

Khalil Mack is taking up $24 million of salary cap space this year.

Nick Foles $7.67 million.

Eddie Goldman $5.15 million.

Andy Dalton $5 million

Jimmy Graham $4.66 million

Germain Ifedi $1.5 million.

Also, Tashaun Gipson, Jesse James and Damien Williams are taking up less than $1 million in dead cap space.

They even still are absorbing $2.8 million from Charles Leno Jr. and $170,649 for Riley Ridley, two players who departed the prior year.

After June 1, $1.75 million more in dead cap space will be eaten up by Cohen and $2.43 million by Trevathan for 2022.

In all, there will be bonus money counting against this year's cap for 13 former Bears after June 1 and the amount will be about a ridiculous $57 million, according to Overthecap.com.

That's $57 million they couldn't spend out of this year's cap space of $208 million to pay for more players, and this is the main reason Ryan Poles couldn't go hog wild and buy up receivers, offensive linemen or a better three technique on defense.

Next year he can.

Normally there might be more players cut for cap purposes on June 1 by the Bears but there aren't because they're in rebuilding mode and have been making these roster moves all along to make sure they can have the cap as clear as possible for next year.

Here are the possible cuts ranked in order, although none seem likely now anyway.

1. DE Jeremiah Attaochu

Attaochu played five games and tore a pec muscle last year in his first Bears season. He is listed now as a defensive end, according to defensive line coach Travis Smith. Attaochu's whole career has been spent as a stand-up player, an edge linebacker. The ends in the new 4-3 are playing down with a hand in the dirt so he seems to be a mis-fitted piece.

The Bears get $2.45 million in cap savings by cutting Attaochu but they'd also have to eat $650,000 more in dead cap. So the net savings of $1.8 million isn't exactly big coin.

Because the Bears could actually still trade Robert Quinn, they might want to hold on to an experienced edge rusher even if he hasn't chased quarterbacks from a down position. Without Quinn, they'd be left with Al-Quadin Muhammad, Trevis Gipson, rookie Dominique Robinson and practice squad player Charles Snowden as their edge rushers and definitely could use another situational rusher even if he was always standing up with he rushed in the past.

So if Attaochu seems their most likely candidate for post-June 1 departure, it is no sure thing and most likely wouldn't even occur until final roster cuts in early September.

2. DT Mario Edwards Jr.

Some other things probably need to occur before the Bears could feel comfortable cutting Edwards. For one, they'd have to come up with another player capable of effectively playing three technique at defensive tackle. Edwards is the backup behind Justin Jones and a situational pass rusher in the 4-3. Before they would want to cut Edwards they would need someone else—say, possibly a Larry Ogunjobi—to be on board, but this seems unlikely.

In the end, the Bears would net only about $1 million by cutting Edwards. He'd save $2.61 millon and his dead cap hit would be $1.61 million. It hardly seems worth the effort and wouldn't be if they were to find no one else who can be a three technique in his place. Edwards can also slide out to defensive end, but Smith said last week the plan now is to keep Edwards at tackle.

3. NT Angelo Blackson

This one currently seems even less likely because Blackson is lining up with starters and figures to be the starting nose in the 4-3, even if he hasn't done this for a team using a 4-3 in the past. Coaches like his quickness off the ball and play-making ability so far, but then again things could change once they get a good look at training camp and preseason games. At this point it's not easy to judge pass rushers or tacklers when they aren't wearing pads.

"Pass rush is hard to assess because it’s a little bit easier for the rushers to get around because there’s no pads on but once you put the pads on and those tackles can really block 'em, I think that’s when you really assess what it is and the same thing in the running game," coach Matt Eberflus said.

Second-year backup tackle Khyiris Tonga seems even less suited to play 4-3 nose because he is 338 pounds, but he is only on a rookie contract as a seventh-round pick. Either way, neither is an ideal nose for the 4-3 and there is no real depth beyond Blackson and Tonga.

Blackson would get them back only $2.35 million if cut and costs them $750,000 in dead cap space. So, their net savings would be $1.635 million.

4. DE Robert Quinn

The longest of long shots but Quinn is the only other player whose post-June 1 departure could save them real money. Quinn is worth draft pick capital so cutting him appears out of the question. CBS's Jason LaCanfora speculated he'd be worth a second- and a third-rounder, which seems highly unlikely since Khalil Mack was a better overall player and brought back only a second and a sixth. Either way, Quinn has value and the pass rush pressure he applies could help make their own young, rebuilt secondary more effective. They wouldn't want to simply cut him. If cut or traded, they would need to absorb dead cap of $4.237 million according to Overthecap.com, but they would save $12.9 million in cap space. It's always possble he'd be traded just before the mid-season trade deadline if things were going poorly, as many observers expect to happen with the team this season.

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