4 reasons Chicago Bears signing Kevin Byrard is an upgrade from Eddie Jackson

3. The Chicago Bears will save money by signing Kevin Byard

Speaking of paying for, this is one reason the Chicago Bears see Kevin Byard as an obvious upgrade over Eddie Jackson. As it stood, the Bears were going to have a cap hit of over $18M next year. In cutting him, they saved $12.56M, which gave them a dead cap hit of $5.6M. 

They signed Kevin Byard to a two-year, $15M deal. When you factor in the signing bonus, the cap hit next year will be less than $7.5M, but at the very worst, that is the cap hit for the Bears next year. When you add the $7.5 to the $5.6 of Jackson, they are on the books for $13.1M to get their starting safety. In that, they still save $5 compared to the Eddie Jackson cap hit. 

The $5M is essentially what they are paying Ryan Bates, who they just traded for. So, they were able to add Bates and Byard for the same cost. As noted, the cap hit will go down this year, and go up next year, but you have to assume that most of the 2025 money will be able to be cleared, similar to Jackson this offseason. 

When you factor in that Byard is not only going to be on the field more, but the Chicago Bears saved money in the process, it is easy to accept this as an upgrade.