Graham Contract Move Frees Up Cap Room.....

[soulman]

Jimmy Graham Move Frees Up Cap Space

Originally posted on FanNation Bear Digest
By Gene Chamberlain  |  Last updated 9/7/21

https://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/jimmy_graham_move_frees_up_cap_space/s1_16634_35806028?utm_source=mb&utm_medium=email&mb_edition=20210908&mb_loc=right_h

 

The Bears seemed to be up against the cap and that isn't a good place to be as the season is about to start.

Jimmy Graham has provided some relief, or at least his contract did.

Graham's contract was restructured, according to a report by ESPN's Field Yates. Graham was in the final year of the contract and the Bears merely floated the rest of the money out over four void years from 2022-2025 so they could better absorb the cap hit.

 

The amount converted from salary was $5.825 million and that all became signing bonus money. The Bears were able to free up $4.66 million in cap space by making this move.

Graham had originally been due a $7 million salary for this year.

While some see this as a way of pushing off debt to the future and inevitably the future comes back to bite, it's a very common practice. Dak Prescott, Julio Jones and Carl Nassib also had this happen this week, according to Overthecap.com.

It's also such a small amount each year that with the salary cap likely to leap forward next year and in future years it becomes almost irrelevant.

It means the Bears have about $3.7 million in cap space available to finance any moves they must make during the season, like picking up replacement players. That figure is via Overthecap.com.

 

It might not sound like much cash but Jason Fitzgerald of Overthecap.com reports there were 12 teams with worse cap situations after the Bears made this move.

It really says nothing about Graham other than they are able to retain his services for this season. If they decided they wanted him on the team in the future he would need to come up with another contract because there is no salary attached to those four new void years on the deal.

Graham turns 35 during this season and whether they would even want to retain him after signing Jesse James this year, drafting Cole Kmet last year and keeping Jesper Horsted on the active roster this year would seem doubtful, but GM Ryan Pace does have long ties to Graham from their Saints years together and Graham does still provide a good red zone target last year he caught a team-high nine touchdown passes, including one in the playoffs.

[soulman]

Still puzzled that with the signing of Jesse James and the expected emergence of Cole Kmet why we felt a need to keep Graham at all.  When Graham was signed we lacked the two 6'6" TE targets we have now and Horsted had not yet emerged as a dependable "U" TE.  We're spending a lot of money on a TE whose targets and red zone impact is likely to be far less in 2021 than it was in 2020.  IMHO Horsted needs more work.

[Sugashane]

Graham is still a viable redzone threat, but Nagy shouldn't be expecting much between the 20s. 

Still, in picking between him and Fuller or an extension for ARob I just can't imagine why Graham was kept. 

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

Can someone explain this move to me? I thought the Bears were just under the cap before so why hurt the future to create extra when you don't reallly need it immediately?

[soulman]

14 minutes ago, RunningVaccs said:

Can someone explain this move to me? I thought the Bears were just under the cap before so why hurt the future to create extra when you don't reallly need it immediately?

Because they feel they will need it for personnel operations throughout the season.

It's kinda like keeping your cash in favor of using a credit card that offer you free interest for 24 months.

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

So they're probably going to try and sign Orlando Franklin or something. Thanks!

[beardown3231]

Why didn't they do this a few months ago so they could at least keep Fuller or Leno?

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

29 minutes ago, beardown3231 said:

Why didn't they do this a few months ago so they could at least keep Fuller or Leno?

Because this damn team has to match every bit of good luck (see Fields, Justin) with some totally harebrained deliberate move (see, Graham, Jimmy goddamned)

I remain convinced (just like I was/am that Pace passed on my guy Watson due to injury concerns) that somehow keeping Jimmy Graham around was tied to Russell Wilson coming here and then they all just forgot about it.  It's much easier to believe that than to picture Pace and Nagy sitting around a table with pictures of Fuller, Leno and Graham and somehow deciding that ancient TE was the piece of the puzzle they couldn't afford to lose and not the pretty good CB or the servicable but cheap OT.  I'm just waiting for Pace to mention something about how Graham is a great mentor for Cole Kmet while Matt Stafford scores 40pts on us because we're counting on not one but two very sketchy CB prospects to hold down the back of the defense while Robert Quinn catches his breath mid play. 

[WindyCity]

I do not understand paying a 35 year old TE 7 million and having a 4.6 million dollar cap hit next year when you are not competing this season?

Someone please make it make sense.

[blkwdw13]

3 hours ago, RunningVaccs said:

Can someone explain this move to me? I thought the Bears were just under the cap before so why hurt the future to create extra when you don't reallly need it immediately?

They were slightly over before this and had to get under by a certain time. This move accomplished that. 

[Madmike90]

Anyone know what happens if Jimmy retires at the end of the season?

[abstract_thought]

1 hour ago, Madmike90 said:

Anyone know what happens if Jimmy retires at the end of the season?

Bears still pay the 4.66M next season.

[soulman]

Chicago Bears: What does Jimmy Graham restructure really mean?

by Rob Schwarz Jr 7 hours ago Follow @ChiRuxinBGO

The Chicago Bears are making moves, but what do they really mean? Honestly, not much. Do not get too excited about reports that the Bears recently freed up salary cap space. That’s right, the Bears just restructured Jimmy Graham’s contract, which gave them a decent bump in their salary cap space.

Why would they do this during the week leading up to the NFL regular season? Clearly, the team is under the salary cap and the move was not needed. By converting part of Jimmy Graham’s salary into a signing bonus, they created $4.66 million in cap space. The contract includes four voidable years, but what does that mean and why would Ryan Pace do this?

 

 

 

Field Yates

 

@FieldYates

·

Sep 7, 2021

The Cowboys converted $6.25M of QB Dak Precott's base salary into a signing bonus, creating $5M in cap space. The Titans converted $14M of WR Julio Jones' salary into a signing bonus, creating $11.2M in cap space (adding two void years as well).

 

Field Yates

 

@FieldYates

The Bears converted $5.825M of TE Jimmy Graham's salary into a signing bonus, creating $4.66M in cap space (with four void years added as well). The Raiders converted $2.51M of DE Carl Nassib's salary into a signing bonus, creating $2.008M in cap space.

6:40 AM · Sep 7, 2021

 

Let’s look at the second question first. Why would Ryan Pace add four years to Jimmy Graham’s contract? That would put the seasoned (many of you would say, washed up) veteran on the roster through to 2025 and he’d be 39 years old. Ryan Pace must be crazy, right? Well, not exactly.

The Chicago Bears keep kicking the salary cap can down the road

The only reason that teams are using the voidable years is to create cap space now, push the money owed down the road and live to see another day. It is a not-so-sneaky accounting trick that teams have been using recently with the downward trend in salary cap this season due to COVID-19. In this case, that $4.66 million the Chicago Bears are saving shows a $1.165 million cap hit spread out over the next four years, but it actually accelerates into 2022 and is owed next year.

Yep, you read that right. The team is saving $4.66 million right now, but will just owe it as a dead cap hit next year. Why do this then? Well, the value of the dollar next year is more valuable to NFL teams more often than not. The 2020 season was a strange one that caused the 2021 salary cap to fall for the first time in over a decade. Now, the salary cap is projected to be over $200 million once again.

The problem I have with the move being done now is the timing. Obviously, other teams do it too, but it would have made more sense for Ryan Pace to make this move earlier in the year like the Buccaneers did with Tom Brady or the Saints did with Taysom Hill. By doing this earlier in the offseason, it would have given Pace more to play with.

Could the Chicago Bears have signed a better offensive tackle as an insurance policy if they wanted to still move on from Charles Leno? It’s possible that nearly $5 million could have been enough to even hold onto Leno for this season. He was only owed $9 million. The move earlier in the offseason could have also given the team more money to spend on a cornerback in free agency. The faith in Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley is still mind-boggling to me.

I’d feel more confident with the likes of Bashaud Breeland or Steven Nelson on this roster. Instead, we are all rightfully concerned about this cornerback group and offensive line. Why do it now, though is the question most Chicago Bears fans are asking. Well, here’s a couple of guesses as to why, but just know the chances of them signing a free agent at this point is very slim.

• Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears probably want some breathing room in case an injury occurs this year
• Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears probably want some breathing room in case they go to make a trade before the trade deadline
• Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears might be lining up a contract extension for players like James Daniels, Bilal Nichols, or the more unlikely Roquan Smith. Smith has a fifth-year option in place and I’d expect a contract extension to take place next summer instead. However, Daniels and Nichols will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the year. Pace has a history of signing his players to extensions the week prior to or within a couple of weeks after the start of the NFL season.

It is interesting to see how Ryan Pace and the Bears continue to use the salary cap. We could see plenty of dead cap on the books next season should the team choose to move on from players like Robert Quinn ($9.3M), Eddie Goldman ($5.1M), Nick Foles ($7.6M). They will be on the hook now for Jimmy Graham and will also still owe Andy Dalton who also has two voidable years on his contract.

Luckily the Bears have Justin Fields on a rookie deal, but how are they to build around him? They better hope Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins both hit, or this team could be in trouble and we will watch the first couple of Justin Fields’ seasons be wasted with washed-up or below-average talent.

The good news is that the salary cap is very fluid and I would not get too overly concerned about the ramifications at this point — especially as the salary cap continues to increase. However, it is definitely once again concerning. This is a big reason why Kyle Fuller (pandemic the main cause) is not on the roster.

Edited September 8, 2021 by soulman

[soulman]

The real answer is pretty clear.  Pace is building up massive amounts of potential dead cap in an attempt to keep himself "cap solvent" enough to make it through this season.  It's like running up debt on a credit card in exchange for keeping cash today.

While it's not impossible that he has an extension in mind the amount is little enough to make me believe he's simply buying some cap space in the event he needs to add a player to the OL or at CB for instance because who we have is not getting the job done.

[abstract_thought]

2 hours ago, soulman said:

The real answer is pretty clear.  Pace is building up massive amounts of potential dead cap in an attempt to keep himself "cap solvent" enough to make it through this season.  It's like running up debt on a credit card in exchange for keeping cash today.

While it's not impossible that he has an extension in mind the amount is little enough to make me believe he's simply buying some cap space in the event he needs to add a player to the OL or at CB for instance because who we have is not getting the job done.

It's a way to buy some flexibility for this year. You free up the 4.66M for in-season acquisitions, if necessary. If not, you can roll that 4.66M into next season and offset the dead cap you've created.