Important Dates for Upcoming Contract Triggers

[soulman]

https://247sports.com/nfl/chicago-bears/LongFormArticle/Bears-contract-triggers-2019-offseason-128784855/#128784855_1

Important dates for upcoming contract triggers

To much to cover with a single post but worth keeping an eye since in some cases only a portion of a players salary is guaranteed.

For instance;

March 15 - OL Kyle Long

(Photo: Wesley Hitt, Getty)

Contract Trigger: $4.75 million of base salary becomes guaranteed

This will be a situation worth monitoring. Long has three Pro Bowls to his name and is beloved in Chicago's locker room, but he has also been unable to stay healthy throughout the last three seasons. Long has a cap hit of $8.5 million in 2019.

He has been on injured reserve in each of the last three seasons but returned late in the 2018 season. He started Chicago's playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. If the Bears opt to let him go the guard position will become a huge area of need for the organization because of the lack of depth at the position.

[JAF-N72EX]

Long: He just turned 30 and health has not been on his side but I don't see the Bears releasing him. So either one of three things happen.
1) He gets traded outright.

Although he has minimum value at this point, this option does seem like a small possibility but also highly unlikely at the same time since I don't see any team picking up his contract where he set to make $9M APY over the next 3 seasons. A sign and restructure with another team......possibly. But I would think if he was open to that option then he would stay put here because the only advantage he would receive from such a deal would be maybe a little more money and quite honestly I can't see Long as being a player who cares THAT much about money to walk away from a SB contender for a few extra pennies.

2) He receives a reconstructed contract and is asked to accept it or move on.

This seems like the better option at this point for both sides.

Worth noting. Right now he has no leverage in any negotiations for several reasons, so Pace could(and should) take advantage of this.

Between his injury history, the very possibility of him being close to retirement, his position value, and the fact that the OL didn't seem to miss a beat without him even when he newcomer Witzmann got reps after Kush -- all of this places his value at a much lower rate and makes it extremely hard for his agent to argue against.

3)  He remains on the team with the same contract until next year before recontrcuting his contract .

I would not rule this out either. To play a little bit of devils advocate to what I said above about his contract leverage. Regardless of his injury history, he is still a veteran leader on this team and that goes along way and is one of those underrated traits that often get over-looked. We have seen in the past how players react when teams get rid of vets like Long -- it absolutely crushes morale. Even that aside, a veteran presence means more than ever with one of the youngest teams in the league and is something that cannot be easily replaced. 

Floyd: Gut feeling. He doesn't get the a 5th year option. I don't see how he doesn't get an extension and given that we are strapped tight on money with Amos and Callahan still in the balance, someone(or some players) contracts are getting revised to make room. 

[soulman]

It would seem that #2 or #3 are more likely but in effect with only $4.75 mil of his 2019 salary guaranteed we have some protection against another injury anyway.  So asking him to restructure is more about the cap than it is the cash and it only extends the amount of time we'll have dead cap if he's released.

But with a March 15 deadline we're likely to know their plans soon enough.  Personally I don't think there's any way they'll release him but if they do it would typically be sooner than later out of respect for his status as a vet and his efforts as a Bear and a team leader so he can latch on elsewhere.

We can exercise Floyd's option now but the cap hit for that won't have any impact 'til 2020 at which time we can extend his deal and reduce it or it can be withdrawn provided he isn't injured.  I'm sure they'll work on an extension next year because I don't see him with a $15 mil plus 2020 cap hit.

[WindyCity]

Extending Floyd is a must. He is not a 14/ year player. Give him a long term 9-10 deal and he gets double the guaranteed money and we get the cap number we want.

Also, extend Cody Whitehair before the season. We don’t want to be dicking around with our best OLmen when we cannot afford to tag him.