Bear Digest

Where Ryan Poles' secret weapon left Bears in salary cap space

The contract terms for Grady Jarrett have been posted and they're about tapped out after all the spending made possible through the efforts of Ryan Poles' secret weapon.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jonah Jackson, Grady Jarrett and Joe Thuney pose with their new helmet after signing with the Bears this week.
Jonah Jackson, Grady Jarrett and Joe Thuney pose with their new helmet after signing with the Bears this week. | Chicago Bears on SI Photo: Gene Chamberlain

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Chicago Bears

Whenever GM Ryan Poles meets with Halas Hall media these days, he seems to have compliments for his secret weapon.

That would be the Chicago Bears contract/cap guy and now a vice-president of football administration, Matt Feinstein. He was credited with helping in the recent spending spree.

"Like I mentioned, with the salary cap and the finance part of it, we have the flexibility to do that, and a lot of that has to do with how well Matt Feinstein has structured everything to allow us to really jump on opportunities," Poles said.


Feinstein's touch has helped them accomplish bringing in three higher priced free agents together and make trades for two higher priced players. And now the last touch on their cap spending situation is known, with the details reported for defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.

The reason they've been able to afford these changes is the way they maneuvered the cap in Year 1, this season and Jarrett's contract is typical.

Jarrett's cap hit is only $7 million this year, which made it possible for the Bears to get in the signing and some others at about $10 million left in effective cap space. It includes $4 million in prorated signing bonus each of the three years on the deal, but only a guaranteed $2.25 million in salary this year. A different version via Spotrac.com calls it $1.6 million less cap hit each year with two void years in 2028-29, so that the bonus is prorated over five years.

Together, defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and Jarrett account for less than $15 million in cap space this year.

Of course, the cap is going to get hit harder by it in the future then, and the $19 million cap hit in Year 2 is big.

The 2027 hit of $16.75 million is less ominous considering $11.75 million is in cash, so there is $12.75 million in cap savings with $4 million dead cap if he's released after two seasons.

The end result of this deal is Overthecap.com has posted the Bears at $10,526,963 for cap space, which ranks as the 26th most available. That's an effective cap space total, which means it includes the projected rookie class total in it.

That figure doesn't include a contract for tight end Durham Smythe, a new one for tight end Stephen Carlson and wide receiver acquisition Olamide Zaccheaus.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.