There is no doubt that the Chicago Bears have had an active offseason with general manager Ryan Poles shifting the focus from the Bears rebuilding over the course of the past two seasons to entering the 2024 season with the expectation of contending.
For Poles, one of the big focuses of his first two years as the general manager of the Bears was lowering the amount of dead-cap money the Bears have on their payroll. As the Bears prepare for the start of Training Camp in two weeks, the team is within the Top 10 in terms of having the lowest dead-cap allocations.
The Bears have a total of $13,352,832 in dead-cap allocations for the 2024 season. Eddie Jackson is the former Bears' player with the highest allocation, $5,580,000. Jackson's dead-cap hit accounts for 2.18% of the Bears' 2024 Salary Cap. Behind Jackson in terms of the former Bears' players with the highest dead-cap hits are Cody Whitehair and Justin Fields. Whitehair has a dead-cap hit of $4,104,000, while Fields has a dead-cap hit of $2,771,265.
What is the Chicago Bears' salary cap allocations?
The Bears' total salary cap allocations for the 2024 season currently sits at $238,464,754. Even with the move toward contending, the Bears' total salary cap allocations sit within the bottom half of the NFL. In fact, each of the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings all have higher allocations.
It should be no surprise that Montez Sweat has the highest cap hit on the Bears. For the 2024 season, Sweat's cap hit is $25,085,200. Sweat's cap hit accounts for 9.82% of the Bears' total salary cap allocations for the 2024 season.
As for how much cap space the Bears have available, they sit at $21,674,469. The Bears are in the top half of the NFL in terms of available cap space heading into the 2024 season and have more than enough room to make another addition or two prior to September.