The New CBA Has Reportedly Passed and How It Affects the Bears

The Collective Bargaining Agreement was sent to the players this past week for final voting. According to multiple insiders today, the agreement passed by the narrowest of margins. Just 60 votes out of 2,000 players. Still, this means there will be labor peace in the league for another 10 years. So how does this affect the Chicago Bears? Well it means there will be an expanded playoff format starting this year with 14 teams gaining entry instead of the original 12.

It also means there will likely be a spike in the salary cap. While final numbers aren't certain, projections are for it to be somewhere between $4-10 million. This would be a huge boost for the Bears who are dealing with a tight cap situation after handing out extensions to Eddie Jackson, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Danny Trevathan. An extra $10 million would give them enough flexibility to be aggressive on the quarterback market as many hope.

Last but not least, it means there will be an official move to a 17-game season starting in 2021. This means 2020 will be the last year fans watch the 16-game format which had been in place since 1978.

Chicago Bears now have a clear strategy in place

There are now two tools GM Ryan Pace has to utilize that weren't available before. There is no longer a 30% rule which will allow teams to backload contracts a lot more, allowing Chicago to push cap hits down to later years when the NFL cap is expected to rise dramatically. Then there is the return of the post-June 1st cut designation. This allows teams to cut players and spread their dead money cap hits across multiple years instead of all at once.

That means for example instead of receiving just $2.9 million in cap for cutting Charles Leno can now be increased to $8 million with the June 1st designation. It can also be used on Trey Burton as well. Pace suddenly has more options, which might explain the recent hint by Ha Ha Clinton-Dix that he might've signed a new deal with the Bears despite belief they wouldn't be able to afford him.