Angelo Blackson's Contract Allowed to Expire

The Bears allowed the contract of defensive tackle Angelo Blackson to void, ending his stint with the team at two years.

It was one of 21 contracts league-wide that voided on Feb. 20 when it wasn't extended. Another of the players who had the same situation was Buccaneers defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, the former Bears player.

The deal former GM Ryan Pace signed Blackson to used 2023 as a void year and he did not have an actual salary set aside for the season. So when the deadline arrived and he hadn't been extended with a salary, it simply expired. Although it expires, Blackson is not officially a free agent until March 15 when the new league year begins.

Blackson already had been paid the $500,000 he counts for against the Bears cap in a bonus, so now the $500,000 is dead cap space.

It was basically a part of Pace's habit of paying money far into the future against dummy years in order to stay under the cap—a practice they have tried to scrap under new GM Ryan Poles in a more responsible management of the cap.

Blackson was actually an opening-day starter in Matt Eberflus' first season, bucking the odds as a defensive tackle signed in a two-gap 3-4 front who made it onto the field in a single-gap 4-3 approach.

Last year was the first Blackson ever played extensively in a 4-3 one-gap style of defense. The Bears gave him the chance to prove he could do it and he started the first three games but eventually they settled on former Vikings defensive lineman Armon Watts.

Blackson started only one more game and still played a big role with 30 defensive plays or more in four straight games after losing his starting spot, but then gradually lost playing time until he was inactive against Buffalo. Then he started against Detroit in a 41-10 loss.