The Chicago Bears face an interesting problem during the offseason as they are $4 million under the cap and must make some tough decisions to get back on track.
There has been speculation about what the team will do with trades and cuts to get them to the point where they can actually make moves. Bears general manager Ryan Poles addressed those concerns and what the team is going to do.
"There's a couple guys we've got to make decisions on," Poles said via ESPN's Courtney Cronin. "You know, if that's trade, release, there's a lot of different options that … or few options that we can go down to create some space. But like I said before, this is a unique situation where we've gotten our roster in a position where we have a lot of talented players, a lot of guys getting paid well, and that puts some constraints on the cap. So we got to make some tough decisions. And, you know, like I said, when we win games, you create these relationships. There's leadership guys or guys that were captains that mean a lot to our organization. But when you’re kind of put in a corner, that's what league's been and has been."
Ryan Poles opened up about cap issues during the offseason
There have been a lot of ideas floated about what the Bears can do to resolve that cap issue. The number one idea is cutting linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, as that would save the Bears about $15 million in cap space and put them back in the black.
Bears wide receiver DJ Moore has also been involved in trade rumors as well. If Chicago trades Moore before June 1, they are looking at saving $16.5 million towards the cap, which would be quick ways of getting them enough money to go to work.
Poles left open the possibility of restructuring contracts on the team as another option. The Bears could create over $85 million in cap space by reworking deals within the organization, and while he wouldn't do it for everyone, that would be the easiest way to do so without moving too many players off the team.
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Chicago has a lot of options, and Poles is not going to have an easy time making tough calls, but this is a team close to making the Super Bowl, so they have to make something happen.