There are several Chicago Bears, a couple on whose contracts the ink is not yet dry, who enter this season likely needing to maintain or improve their level of play to remain with the organization on their current deals.
With player contracts that are largely non-guaranteed and a hard salary cap, the NFL, more than any North American professional sports league, is a what-have-you-done-for-me lately business. Organizational loyalty and nostalgia for iconic players are saved for after they retire. The second a player’s performance backslides and a team can gain salary cap relief by releasing him, the concrete under his feet morphs into the thinnest layer of ice. For many players, even the most established ones, every year is a tryout to remain with their team the following one.
There are no Edwin Jacksons in the NFL, players whose teams are forced to keep them indefinitely because their contracts are guaranteed and the teams are desperately hoping to salvage something positive for their financial commitment. If Jackson were an NFL linebacker and not a major league pitcher, he would have been released as soon as his team could gain salary cap relief by parting ways with him, maybe sooner.
Under NFL salary cap rules, a team can prorate a player’s signing bonus over the life of his contract. However, when a player is released before he fulfills his contract, the portion of the signing bonus that has been prorated for seasons that the player does not complete and any other guaranteed money accelerate against the salary cap for that season’s or over two seasons’ caps depending on whether the player is released before or after June 1.
This results in what is called “dead money” or allocations to the salary cap for a player who is not on a team’s roster. While all teams have dead money, it is optimal to try to minimize it. However, there are instances when a player’s cap figure is so much greater than the dead money that would result from releasing him, it is more palatable to endure the dead money than to keep the player regardless if he is a high performer. The impetus is even greater for a team to release a player whose cap figure exceeds the dead money and whose performance is no longer commensurate with the cap figure.
Let’s review four Bears whose 2014 season could be a tryout for next season because of their 2015 salary cap figures.
Defensive End Willie Young: Young signed with the Bears after four seasons with the Detroit Lions. Pro Football Focus ranked Young as the 15th best defensive end in 2013 among qualifiers, and he earned positive marks against the run and rushing the passer. He tallied the third most quarterback hurries. However, he has only six sacks in 48 career games, three of which came last season. Moreover, he will be 29 years of age this September. The Bears signed the defensive end to a three-year deal.
Young’s 2015 salary cap figure is approximately $3.2 million, while the dead money that would be created by his release prior to next season is about $1.3 million. The potential cap savings: $1.9 million.
Offensive Guard Matt Slauson: Slauson, 28, signed with Bears prior to last season and, according to Pro Football Focus, tuned in an exceptional year. He ranked sixth of 64 qualifying guards and turned in positive grades both protecting the passer and run blocking. He was rewarded by the Bears with a four-year contract extension that takes effect this season.
While Slauson has recorded positive overall grades from Pro Football Focus in each of his four professional seasons, he had a negative run blocking grade in 2012 and subpar pass blocking grade in 2010.
Slauson, who has never missed a game during his four-year career with the Jets and Bears, has a 2015 salary cap figure of about $3.3 million. The resultant dead money from his release prior to next season would be $1.3 million. The potential cap savings: $2.0 million.
Tight End Martellus Bennett: Bennett signed a four-year contract with the Bears prior to last season and recorded the second most single-season receiving yards by a tight end in franchise history. His 759 yards, also the 16th most single-season receiving yards by a Bear, has only been eclipsed by Hall of Famer Mike Ditka in 1964.
Bennett, 27, ranked 19th of 64 qualifying tight ends by Pro Football Focus but was an awful 62nd pass blocking. Moreover, his insubordination issues, including a training camp scuffle with rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller and subsequent suspension, have been well documented.
Bennett’s salary cap figure for 2015 is approximately $6.1 million, and the dead money that would be a byproduct of releasing him would be approximately $2.2 million. The potential cap savings: $3.9 million.
Running Back Matt Forte: Some might scoff at the idea that Forte needs a successful year to complete the fourth and final season of his contract in 2015. The second leading rusher in Bears history galloped for 1329 yards last season and added 74 receptions for 594 yards. He produced personal single-season highs in rushing and receiving yards.
Pro Football Focus ranked Forte, 29 in December, 21st of 56 qualifying running backs.
Forte only needs to look at the likes of RB’s LaDanian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander, QB Peyton Manning and WR Steve Smith as examples of players who were deemed expendable as soon as their production did not keep up with their gaudy salary cap figures.
Forte’s 2015 cap figure is $8.8 million. If he is released prior to the 2015 season, the dead money that would accelerate against the Bears salary cap would be $1.0 million. The cap savings: $7.8 million.
Left tackle Jermon Bushrod and even newly-signed defensive end Lamarr Houston have higher cap figures in 2015 than the dead money that would result from their being released prior to next year.
By no means are we suggesting an imminence of these players being released. We are hopeful that all will be an integral part of a Bears’ playoff contender. Moreover, the larger the percentage of dead money allocated to the salary cap, which is expected to be set at $122 million next season, the more constricted a team is in assembling a competitive roster.
However, where the cap savings is significant by releasing a player and/or that player is no longer producing at the level commensurate with his cap figure, zero sentimentality will be entered into the equation when deciding whether or not to release him.
Just ask arguably the best player in NFL history, Jerry Rice, who was released by the San Francisco 49ers after 16 glorious seasons with the organization and finished his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks.