Three surprise cuts the Chicago Bears should make in 2020

With the Chicago Bears salary cap issues in 2020, we know Ryan Pace will make roster moves this offseason. Could we see some surprise cuts?

The Chicago Bears are among the bottom six teams for current, projected salary cap space in 2020. The team will save a little over $8 million dollars just because Kyle Long decided to step away from football. Then the team was able to restructure Kyle Fuller’s four-year contract to save another $6 million in cap space for 2020.

According to Spotrac, the Bears have just under $15 million dollars in cap space. This is not enough to land a top free agent or retain some of the other players on the roster. This means Ryan Pace and company will have to determine which players will stay and which players need to go.

We have already identified Taylor Gabriel and Prince Amukamara as potential cap casualties. Gabriel is set to make $6.5 million this season but would save the Bears another $4 million in cap space if they let him go. Gabriel is coming off an injury-plagued season due to multiple concussions. Letting Gabriel go would not be a “surprise” cut but more of an expected one.

Amukamara is even more likely to be a cap casualty for this Chicago Bears team. He is due $10 million dollars this season, but with only a $1 million dead cap hit, the Bears would save $9 million dollars by giving him his pink slip. Amukamara is about to be the 15th highest cap hit among corners for 2020. He does not deserve that type of cash and the Bears can find a discounted corner to replace him fairly easily.

With these two moves alone, the Bears would save over $13 million dollars and find themselves with $28 million to spend this offseason. This still puts them behind most other teams as the league average is $43 million. This brings us to more players who could potentially see themselves on the chopping block this offseason.