Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears were slammed up against the salary cap more than just about any team in the league.
According to OvertheCap.com, the Chicago Bears were just $1.5 million under the salary cap for the 2025 season. That isn’t even enough space to operate in-season costs, such as adding players to the practice squad and calling players up and down from the squad on Sundays. And you can forget about adding a player at the trade deadline if that is something they would want to pursue.
The Bears solved that issue by restructuring the contract of cornerback Jaylon Johnson on Wednesday.
The move gives the Bears just shy of $10 million in operating costs for the season. That puts them comfortably where they need to be, but if the Bears are serious about contending in the future, they should do more.
Ryan Poles has done a good job managing the cap and keeping the Bears in a healthy spending situation. Now it’s up to George McCaskey and ownership to show the fans they are serious about competing.
As Poles reworked the salary cap and released and traded several high-priced aging veterans, he’s consistently had more than enough money to operate and spend freely in free agency.
That’s no longer the case.
The Bears have now pushed themselves up against the cap, and with a Caleb Williams contract extension on the horizon, the Bears are going to be in even tougher salary cap waters to navigate.
That’s where it’s important to remember: cash isn’t the same as salary cap.
You want to know how great teams keep their players and continue to stay active in free agency? It’s thanks to ownership groups that allow GMs to convert salaries into bonuses and reduce the players’ salaries.
The players are on board with these restructures because they receive more cash on hand now, rather than having to wait; it doesn’t change their monetary totals at all.
For the teams, it creates salary cap space and allows them, in essence, to go over the cap. The Bears have contracts like Montez Sweat, DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, and others, where the Bears can convert salary into bonuses and push their salary cap space up near $50 million.
That additional money will roll over into 2026 and give the Bears cap flexibility to spend on players again in 2026 when they are theoretically in a position to start pushing for a Super Bowl championship.
The Jaylon Johnson move was a smart move, but a necessary one. If that’s all they do, it’ll show that ownership isn’t quite ready to spend like they need to to truly contend with the NFL’s big boys. But if they do more, it’ll show that George McCaskey is grabbing a seat at the table and telling the league the Chicago Bears have arrived.
