Ryan Pace Continues Mastery of Salary Cap
The deadline to sign Alshon Jeffery to a long term deal came and went on Friday and the Chicago Bears did not sign Jeffery to a contract extension. Jeffery will play the 2016 season under the franchise tag, something that was becoming more and more evident as the deadline approached. The Bears decision not to more aggressively pursue an extension for Jeffery was met with mixed responses from Bears fans. While there is definitely a contingent of fans that want Jeffery to remain a Bear, GM Ryan Pace’s decision to let Jeffery play out at least one year on the franchise is a smart one and shows just how crafty he is at keeping the Bears’ franchise in a healthy salary cap situation at all times.
Look at the Chicago Bears future commitments. In 2020, the only Bear under contract is Jay Cutler and none of that money is guaranteed. In 2019, the only Bears under contracts are Jay Cutler, Pernell McPhee, and Danny Trevathan, as well as the final year of this year’s group of rookie contracts. It should be stated that only Leonard Floyd’s rookie deal is the only contract that will have some guaranteed money on it at that point.
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In essence, the Bears have almost zero dollars guaranteed to players beyond 2018. Rewind another season and look at their 2018 contracts, other than the rookie contracts of Leonard Floyd and Kevin White and a few million of Danny Trevathan’s contract (approximately $2 million), none of the Bear contracts are guaranteed for that season either.
In short, other than the guaranteed rookie contracts, the Bears have roughly $2 million guaranteed in veteran contracts beyond the next two seasons. That is brilliant cap maneuvering by Pace any way you slice it.
Getting back to Jeffery, to lock down Jeffery this season, the Bears were going to have to give him a contract similar to AJ Green which was valued at 5 years, $70 million with $45 million guaranteed. The Bears most likely were most likely offering somewhere in the vicinity of $11 to $12 million per year with around $25-$30 million guaranteed. For Pace to commit to Jeffery like the Cincinnati Bengals did to Green, Jeffery is going to have to show that he can stay healthy and thrive as a number one receiver this season.
It’s clear that Pace doesn’t like guaranteeing much of anything beyond two seasons of a contract, but to lock down Jeffery, he is going to have to guarantee the third year of his contract. It’s clear, knowing how little interest Pace has in guaranteeing multiple years of a contract, that he is going to move forward very carefully with Jeffery’s deal next season, knowing that he also is going to have to give a large guarantee to Kyle Long.
Regardless of what Pace does moving forward, he will move forward cautiously with the guaranteed dollars which will help the Bears never be in cap hell in future years and help keep the team competitive year in and year out for several seasons.
Jeffery will most likely get a long term deal from the Bears next season, but there is a definite chance that Pace will choose to move on from Jeffery, especially if Kevin White proves to be a star this season. As for now, next season is next season and this season Alshon Jeffery plays on the franchise tag. It was a smart move by Pace and the front office and he continues to show that the Chicago Bears will always be in a good salary cap situation under his watch.
Bill Zimmerman is an editor and featured writer for FanSided‘s BearGogglesOn. Like his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter for more news and interaction.