Lakeshore liquidation just beginning
Poles shows that he’s serious about change with Mack trade, with more moves likely forthcoming
Khalil Mack was the first to go, and he was far from the last as first-year general manager Ryan Poles begins the long process of rebuilding the Bears, who had the second-oldest roster in the NFL at the start of a 2021 season that ended with a 6-11 record.
The question after the Mack deal was what’s next — or maybe more important, who’s next?
The answer turned out to be running back Tarik Cohen and nose tackle Eddie Goldman, both of whom the Bears will release. And others are likely to join them in the coming days and weeks.
You can’t go halfway if you’re going to tear down a team that has had one winning season in the last nine years. Any player who isn’t deemed to be potentially part of the future when the Bears are ready to contend again should be available or considered for replacement.
The Bears struck a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, agreeing to trade Mack in exchange for a second-round draft pick this year and a sixthrounder in 2023.
Poles didn’t kick off the makeover at Halas Hall with a minor transaction. He signaled this is a major renovation, not a project for a weekend warrior.
The trade will saddle the Bears with $24 million in dead salary-cap space for this season, but it frees up $6 million in space for 2022.
And Mack will be off the team’s books in 2023, when his cap number was to climb to $28.5 million, a huge number because the team repeatedly had restructured his contract to create cap space as it went along.
Mack was the highest-paid player on the roster. His departure raised legitimate questions for three of the four players with the next-highest salaries for 2022 — one of whom was Goldman, whom a league source said the team actively shopped before deciding to release him.
DE Robert Quinn $12.8 million base salary, $17.14 million cap figure
Coming off an 18 ½-sack season, there’s no question Quinn would have decent trade value. The return for Quinn, who will be 32 in May, might not be as good as it was for Mack, but he clearly has gas remaining in the tank.
Dealing Quinn would leave the cupboard at defensive end nearly bare for new coach Matt Eberflus, which could be a factor.
Maybe the smart play would be to hang on to Quinn for now and wait for a contending team to have a need.
Provided he’s healthy and performing well, Quinn could be valuable at the trade deadline, and an acquiring team wouldn’t need a huge amount of cap space to fit him in. But if Poles really wants to tear this thing all the way down, he would gauge the market for Quinn now.
S Eddie Jackson
$11 million base salary, $15.09 million cap figure
The Bears signed Jackson to a four-year, $58.4 million extension just after the 2019 season, and he hasn’t been the same player since reaching the top of the pay grade at his position.
It’s unknown how Poles, his staff and the coaches evaluated Jackson on film from 2021, but the safety wasn’t an impact player and the tape certainly doesn’t say $11 million. That salary would make trading him a challenge. The Bears could approach Jackson about a pay reduction, but it’s unknown how he would react. Releasing him would create $18.56 million in dead cap space, more than the space he would take up on the roster.
Paying him $11 million this season might make less sense than swallowing a huge cap hit, but cutting Jackson would leave the Bears with almost nothing at the safety position.
DT Eddie Goldman $8.76 million base salary, $11.81 million cap figure
Goldman, 28, still could flash at times and be a monster in the middle of a run defense. But it’s a passing league, and he wasn’t the same player he was before a contract extension and then opting out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns.
Goldman’s high base salary likely made getting even a lateround pick in return difficult, especially if teams figured the Bears would cut him if they couldn’t find a taker. Cutting Goldman will create more than $6.5 million in cap savings.
Cohen will be released with an injury designation. He has missed the last 30 regular-season games since suffering a torn ACL in his right knee, and his base salary for 2022 was $3.9 million — a big chunk for a gadget player and punt returner.
The Bears have more decisions to make.
Linebacker Danny Trevathan, whose play slipped considerably the last two seasons, is expected to be released. The Bears already are carrying $45 million in dead cap space for 2022 after adding $5
million for Goldman, and releasing Trevathan would add more than $8.9 million to that figure. But he simply didn’t have any range last season.
Outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu could be the victim of a scheme change. The Bears can release him before a $250,000 roster bonus is due. Defensive lineman Angelo Blackson has a similar $250,000 roster bonus the team must decide on, but cutting him would create even more depth issues at the position.
Maybe the Bears will find a taker for quarterback Nick Foles now that they have paid him
$16 million the last two seasons.
He’s owed $8 million in 2022, $5 million of which is fully guaranteed. A deal would be easier after March 20, when a $4 million roster bonus is due. Flipping Foles would put the Bears in the market for a new backup quarterback, and it’s hard to say what they could get in return.
Poles has difficult decisions to weigh as he considers efforts to add additional draft picks this year, clear salary-cap space for 2023 and build a roster with existing players he wants to be part of the process.
It’s a long play, one Poles proved he’s eager to begin after agreeing to trade Mack.