What can Chicago Bears do with Danny Trevathan?
The Danny Trevathan contract has been a disaster from the start. When the Chicago Bears extended him, it surprised us, mainly because of his age and health. What do you know, he has not been able to stay healthy and lost a step when he has.
This has now gone from a Ryan Pace issue to a Ryan Poles issue as Poles inherited some of what was left behind. Pace gave Trevathan a stunningly long extension at the time, and it is putting Poles in a spot where he has to make tough decisions.
For Trevathan, the decision of whether to cut him or not may not be that hard. It is so hard to assume that the Bears would get any worth on the field based on his past two seasons. The question becomes, when do they make the move?
Chicago Bears must release Danny Trevathan
They can designate him a pre-June 1st cut. This would clear the money right away, but it would leave the Bears with a lot of dead caps.
The Chicago Bears would eat over $3M this year to get nothing out of Trevathan. Beyond that, he would have ~$4M cap hit in 2024, and ~$1.6M in 2025. The hit would. be even in 2023, though. Still, over three seasons the Bears would be eating over $8 million in dead money.
The other option is to make him a post-June 1st release. Trevathan could still be let go beforehand, but the salary cap space would not clear until June 1st.
Still, on June 1st, they would get ~$3 million in cap space rather than eating all of it. Beyond that, they would save ~$4M in dead space in 2023. It still would come with ~$4M in dead money in 2024 and 2025, but that is half of the dead money they would eat if they did an immediate release.
This one should be pretty simple, they have to make him a post-June 1st cut. They will not have the extra money until well after free agency, but they can roll it over, and also sign their draft class with the $3 million they get from Trevathan. It is a $6M swing next season and overall saves the Chicago Bears roughly $4.6M over the next four seasons.
The issue with the post-June 1st releases is that Ryan Pace put the Bears in a spot where they may have a few post-June 1st releases. Tarik Cohen and Eddie Goldman are other players who would save the Bears more money if they wait. However, in their case, they may have to take the small savings to help sign free agents this year. They know they will get the extra money from Trevathan.
dark. Next. Projecting Allen Robinson next contract
Either way, the decision they make on Trevathan just makes the Cohen and Goldman decisions even harder.