While the Chicago Bears have good salary cap space, having as much as possible is always good. It appears that a fan-favorite player could be a cap casualty.
The Chicago Bears have certainly been busy this offseason so far. Days after the season ended, they fired nearly the entire offensive coaching staff. Then they proceeded to interview nine potential candidates for offensive coordinator.
Once they hired Shane Waldron, he proceeded to hire his staff. In the past several days, they made a flurry of hires and now have the full coaching staff in place.
Now that the coaches are in place, general manager Ryan Poles can start to take care of the roster. It seems that he has a big decision on a popular player. Safety Eddie Jackson has been a stalwart for the team since the Bears drafted him in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Jackson quickly showed that he was a steal, becoming an instant ball hawk. In his first three seasons, he had 10 interceptions, three of them returned for touchdowns. Additionally, he had five fumble recoveries, two of them for touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl twice and an All-Pro first team.
Things changed, however. Over the next two seasons, he had zero interceptions and just one fumble recovery (returned for a touchdown).
It appeared that Jackson was on his way to becoming the player he was earlier. He had three interceptions in the first three games of the season. He added another a few weeks later. However, he suffered a foot injury early in Week 12 and missed the rest of the season.
Jackson hoped to come back in 2023 strong as ever. That did not happen, though. He continued to deal with injuries. He once again had his season cut short.
After two struggling seasons followed by two more injury-laden seasons, the Bears look as if they are going to look in another direction. Despite mentoring and complementing Jaquan Brisker on the field, the time has come for the team and Jackson to part ways.
The whispers about the Bears cutting Jackson are growing louder. If Poles does cut Jackson, Chicago saves a lot of money. Jackson has a salary cap hit of $18.14 million this season. If the Bears cut/trade him, they can save $12.56 million. If they designate it a post-June 1st that number goes up to $14.15 million.
The Chicago Bears are in pretty good shape salary cap-wise. They are currently projected to have nearly $46.9 million in cap space. That is the eighth-most in the NFL. While that is a strong number, it is always good if you can find more. The Chicago Bears roster has a few holes to fill and having a thick wallet helps Poles go after the free agents he wants.
Last year, Poles entered the offseason with the most cap space in the league. He was able to hit free agency and sign many players, using nearly all of the $110 million in cap space he had at hand. The great thing about it was that he did not go on a crazy spending spree. He handed out relatively efficient deals.
Just by letting Jackson go, the Bears’ total rises to about $59.5, which would rank fourth. In addition to Jackson, there are other players, such as Cody Whitehair, who could see the chopping block. The offseason is off and running and the Chicago Bears will play a big part of what happens around the league.
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