The recent buzz in the NFL media has stemmed from the NFL increasing its salary cap from 208.2 million to 224.8 million. This is terrific news for the league, especially for Ryan Poles, who is hoping to rework this roster this offseason. After the news broke, many Bears fans pondered how much money the Bears would be able to spend during the offseason.
The common misconception about the Bears’ salary cap has misled many fans this year. The belief was that the Bears’ salary cap was around 125 million dollars when it is more like 98 million dollars in reality. Don’t be fooled, though, because the Bears still have approximately 40 million more than the team with the second most cap space. What happened to the presumed 125 million that was projected for the Bears? Well, the Bears have to reserve some money for future rookie contracts. Seeing as the Bears will likely have a large rookie class, they have to dedicate much more money than other teams.
There shouldn’t be much concern about the new salary cap number; the Bears still lead the NFL by a wide margin. Though 125 million dollars to spend on free agency sounded like a dream, 98 million will be more than enough for the Bears this offseason. The Bears are amid a franchise-altering offseason, and with the amount of ammunition GM Ryan Poles has, the Bears can be a team to look out for next season.
