Eddie Goldman helps Chicago Bears create cap space

The Chicago Bears have been looking for salary cap space in any capacity. Today, Eddie Goldman helped them find some

While every Chicago Bears fan wants to upgrade from Adrian Amos with a big named safety or bring back Bryce Callahan on a big deal, the fact is that the Bears are currently strapped for cap space.

A team that went out and signed whoever they wanted last year now has to be frivolous as those cap charges of Allen Robinson, Trey Burton, Khalil Mack and others are starting to count against the team.

Still, the Bears cannot just run it back and hope for better results next year. They have to get better. With that in mind, the team needs to find salary cap space in any avenue possible.

The Chicago Bears cut Dion Sims and restructured a deal with Kyle Long. Next up is a restructure with Eddie Goldman.

A lot of people look at a restructure as a pay cut but it is anything but that. Goldman is going to get more money upfront. As shown he is getting a $3 million signing bonus.

Because it is a bonus, it goes from the Bears cap to Goldman’s pocket. However, money paid upfront by a bonus is then tacked on to the last years of Goldman’s deal, prorated out evenly for each year.

In some situations, this can catch up to you. The Steelers gave Antonio Brown a $9.7 million bonus in 2018 and because of that, they have $21 million in dead salary for trading him.

Of course, Goldman getting a much lower bonus means a much smaller penalty on the cap. The Bears would also have to trade or release him before his contract runs out for a situation like the Steelers to happen.

The Chicago Bears are confident Goldman will play out his contract and live up to it as they gave him more guaranteed money up front to save on their cap immediately.

The move should get the Chicago Bears close to $20 million in cap space.