Bears' cap situation means some inevitable moves are going to happen soon

After Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles acknowledged he had checked in on the possibility of trading for Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, ESPN's Adam Schefter put a frog in the punch bowl during an appearance on "Get Up."

"The Bears don't have any more money right now, Greeny. They're broke. They're out of money," Schefter said. "The Bears do not have the money to make a move like that right now. They just cannot afford it."

Schefter was only slightly exaggerating, as the Bears had just $6.5 million in cap space at that point in time according to Over The Cap. It also wasn't the end of the world, with viable paths to creating cap space.

Since then, as contracts for free agent signings have hit the books, the Bears' standing in relation to the salary cap has worsened. Different sources have different exact numbers, but Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer offered a stark, official-sounding number in comparison to other teams that are close to the salary cap.

That $213,000 in cap space doesn't account for when the contracts of fresh signings James Lynch and Jack Sanborn officially hit the Bears' balance sheet.

So some expected, and inevitable, moves to create some cap space breathing room are coming. Probably soon, too.

Bears' inevitable moves to create cap space are coming ASAP

Fortunately, the Bears have a lot of options to create cap space. Using Over The Cap, let's run through some.

-Extend guard Joe Thuney: $12.16 million
-Extend guard Jonah Jackson: $11 million
-Extend or restructure linebacker T.J. Edwards: $5.7 million (extend); $3.6 million (restructure)
-Restructure cornerback Kyler Gordon: $6 million
-Restructure defensive Dayo Odeyingbo: $7.4 million
-Restructure defensive end Montez Sweat: $9.85 million
-Extend or restructure tight end Cole Kmet: $7 million (extend); $4.4 million (restructure)
-Restructure cornerback Jaylon Johnson: $6.96 million
-Restructure defensive tackle Grady Jarrett: $6.6 million

Those first four moves, extend Thuney, Jackson and Edwards and restructure Gordon, could create nearly $35 million in cap space in a relative flash. The other maneuvers listed, with an extension for Kmet rather than a restructure, could create $37-$38 million in cap space as a collective.

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It's unlikely the Bears do anywhere near all of the moves listed above to create cap space, since they simply don't need to and they could've done some of them already. But they can create some real breathing room quickly, and the time to get something done on that front is basically right now.