How the Restricted Market Could Help the Bears

The Bears and Packers renew their rivalry twice a year, and it's been heated possibly since Tillie Voss of Green Bay fought with Frank Hanny of the Bears in 1924, leading to the league's first ejections.

Everyone knows it's Voss' fault.

Petty differences of the past aside, the Packers recently have made the rivalry one also lived in the offseason.

They tried to take Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller when he was a transition free agent in 2018 and the Bears had to match a four-year, $56 million offer sheet to keep him. They sought to steal defensive coordinator Vic Fangio but Matt Nagy talked him into returning, and then a year later he got hired by Denver. Then they succeeded in plucking safety Adrian Amos in unrestricted free agency.

The Bears' signing of Jimmy Graham might constitute payback to some, but not really because Green Bay didn't want him and cut him. Even the eight TD catches Graham made last year—three more than he had for two seasons combined in Green Bay—doesn't mean much because the player the Packers relied on instead, Robert Tonyan, had 11 TD passes. And Tonyan was mentored by Graham.

So the Bears can stand to do something which would irritate the Packers, and the opportunity is there in restricted free agency.

They could sign Tonyan to an offer sheet for a long-term deal. They also could address the issue of a backup quarterback by signing Green Bay backup Tim Boyle to an offer sheet, or possibly Packers defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster.

The Restricted Market

The Packers' salary cap structure left them with seven restricted free agents this year.

Restricted free agents rarely change hands in the NFL but it does happen on occasion. Teams tender their own restricted free agents for one year while working toward a long-term deal in the future.

Tenders prior to this collective bargaining agreement were entirely manageable but now they are a bit tougher to negotiate. As a result, some teams will try to go really cheap and simply not make tender offers to their restricted free agents, then if no one comes after them they sign the player for far less than the lowest tender. The Bears did this with DeAndre Houston-Carson in the past.

Teams can give their free agents first-round tender of $4.77 million and then would receive a first-round draft pick in exchange if they decide not to match an offer sheet for the player. They can designate second-round tender at $3.38 million and then would receive a second-round pick if they don't match the signing team's offer.

Finally, there is the original-round tender of $2.13 million. There is draft pick compensation at the level where the player was drafted, but with an undrafted free agent there is no compensation. The restricted free agent's team maintains right of first refusal on any offer brought to the restricted free agent but there would be no tender.

Most of the tenders are the $2.13 million brand. The Packers would be foolish not to tender Tonyan on at least the second-round level after the season he had in 2020.

The Bears definitely could use another tight end and if Tonyan received the lowest level tender it would be in the Bears' interest to pursue him because they'd owe no compensation. They would just need the money, which isn't exactly plentiful.

The Bears would realize a cap savings of $2.7 million by cutting Graham this year. That's money they could apply toward getting a long-term deal for a restricted free agent they sign.

If the Packers do fix Tonyan at a second-round level, the Bears probably wouldn't be interested because they're not so desperate for a tight end they need to spend a second-round pick to get one for a second straight year.

Since Tonyan was undrafted, the Bears wouldn't need to give the Packers compensation if Green Bay tried to go cheap and tender Tonyan at the lowest level. And Green Bay might have trouble matching the offer sheet.

The problem for Green Bay is, like the Bears, they have cap problems. In fact, the Bears might be in a better cap situation than the Packers. Green Bay is $11.45 million over the cap as of Feb. 25 according to Overthecap. com. The Bears are $2.5 million over it. So both teams have to shed talent or restructure existing deals or both.

So needing to match offer sheets on players for long-term deals would be anything from an unwanted nuisance to a disaster.

The Bears probably are not in a situation to put the poison pill in a deal of the sort needed for Tonyan—front-loading the contract to make it extremely difficult for a cash-strapped team to match.

Make the Packers "Boyle"

Pursuing Boyle would be a decent option depending on what the Bears do at quarterback.

They could use a backup who already has been in the NFL if they plan to go forward with Nick Foles as starter this year, and also draft someone. They've had Tyler Bray in a third-quarterback role. Being behind Foles and Mitchell Trubisky isn't quite the same as being the backup to Aaron Rodgers, especially one who has defied the odds the way Boyle has.

Although Boyle hasn't really played in games, he's good enough that he beat out first-round pick Jordan Love for the backup spot last year and previously had beaten out Deshone Kizer to be backup.

Love is the so-called future for the Packers and Boyle was good enough to be ahead of him on the depth chart.

There would be no draft pick compensation if Boyle is tendered at the lowest level because he's an undrafted free agent who had possibly the worst first three seasons for any college quarterback ever while playing for UConn. Then he improve in his final year at Eastern Kentucky and apparently has kept right on improving.

Adding D-Line Depth

Another possible player to watch is Lancaster.

The Bears are losing Roy Robertson-Harris in free agency. There is no doubt about this because he'll command a much larger salary than the $3.2 million restricted free agent tender he signed last year. And he's a fourth defensive lineman on a three-man front, so he's merely a rotational player but a good one. They could also lose fifth defensive lineman Brent Urban for the same reason, although his deal would be much less.

Lancaster has been a rotational player who started 18 games in three seasons and has been more of a run defender with 1 1/2 sacks and 79 tackles. He wouldn't bring the height advantage leading to tipped passes that the 6-7 Urban adds, but would be an experienced hand in the rotation. The best the Packers would do is tender him at the lowest level, if even that.

The Bears do have Lancaster's defensive coordinator for the past three seasons on staff now, senior defensive assistant Mike Pettine.

The other Packer restricted free agents are safety Raven Green, safety Will Redmond, cornerback Chandon Sullivan and cornerback Parry Nickerson.

None of this is as exciting as if the Bears somehow wound up with Aaron Rodgers some day.

It's not even as exciting a brawl between Voss and Hanny, but it would contribute to the offseason rivalry without doubt.

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