If HaHa Clint-Dix is going to get the contract some are projecting, the Chicago Bears will not be bringing him back
One of the more interesting free agent names in 2020 is HaHa Clinton-Dix. HHCD spent just one season in Chicago, hoping to parlay a prove-it deal into a long term contract. We have debated whether or not Clinton-Dix is valuable enough to the team to bring back, and the overall sentiment is that the Bears could find a better fit.
Beyond that, it sounds like they could find a cheaper fit. After Clinton-Dix had about a $3.25M salary cap hit in 2019, it seems like he may have done his job and earned a pay raise.
According to OverTheCap.com, the play that Clinton-Dix had in 2019 was worth $7.2M. The Bears got his production at about half of the cost.
However, that is just what Clinton-Dix wanted. Now he has a chance to show other teams that he played above his salary tag and deserves to be paid what he is worth.
OverTheCap thinks that he can beat his 2019 value on an open market. Pro Football Focus ranks him the number four safety on the market, and combining his 2019 value with being a higher known free agent; he could be looking at a 4-year, $39 million deal. That would come with $15M guaranteed and a $9.7M per-year average.
If he is worth $7M in 2019 and is on the open market, $9M may not be out of the price range.
The Bears had a $1.96M cap hit for Amos in 2019 and a $3.25M cap hit this year. Paying that much in 2020 would be more than both cap hits combined.
When we looked into what the Chicago Bears should value Clinton-Dix at, we saw a much lower number. Some safeties made more than $7M per year, but most teams regretted that decision, realizing they could find cheaper work at similar production.
We summarized that $4M would be the market for Clinton-Dix, and a long term deal would still be hard to complete.
If Clinton-Dix is going to double that salary and get multiple years on top of that, he is far out of the Chicago Bears price range.
The discussion of whether Clinton-Dix is a good fit gets sidelined by the idea that the Bears are much better using their resources on someone else, and letting Clinton-Dix get longterm security elsewhere.