Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 236: Bears aren't spending the $$ they should to win

Transcript

Bears Banter Ep. 236: Bears aren't spending the $$ they should to win · 2nd City Gridiron

0:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for watching!
0:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Fair enough, bears, bears aside for another edition of the Chicago Bears podcast bears banter power by second city gridiron bill Zimmerman with you and we weren't not going to do a podcast this week.
0:31
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Courtney Cronan schedule next week and we're
0:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We have Courtney on.
0:35
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to really dive into the free agency and who the bear's signed and how they fit and how this seems looking for 2026.
0:42
[SPEAKER_00]: What they need to do in the draft, we will do the nuts and bolts next week with Courtney.
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But I wanted to have a conversation because I stirred up some.
0:54
[SPEAKER_00]: some crap last week with some tweets and an article and now it's being discussed on ESPN 1000 and the scores hit none at a little bit and we've made a bit of a mess of bears land so I want to talk about it in a little more detail.
1:12
[SPEAKER_00]: then I am going that I can on a you know 280 character tweet or an 800 to a thousand word article you know I could I could sit there and make a three vows and word article but I understand we've all got attention spans of a mosquito at this point and we're not going to sit there and read long form journalism.
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's
1:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about it.
1:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get in your ear or in front of your eyes if you're watching on the second city grittering YouTube channel.
1:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you like and subscribe there.
1:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, the second city grittering podcast feed.
1:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you get that one on your download list and make sure you're getting all the great offseason content that we are providing for you weekend and
1:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, what has happened here is an atom shifter.
2:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I was talking about this a couple of weeks beforehand.
2:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So this isn't just from the atom shifter common on get up.
2:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I had talked about this beforehand because I heard some things that the bears may not be spending, like a lot of bears fans.
2:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I think expected them and myself included that they were going to spend this off season.
2:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was surprised and I kind of put some things out about the salary cap and how the bear should be spending and what they may or may not do.
2:29
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of fans were kind of like, why are you bringing this up now?
2:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It was right before the start of free agency.
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Why you're bringing this up now?
2:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was just kind of like, because I want people to know what my stance is on the bear's finances, what they can do, can't do, etc.
2:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Adam Shefter, of course, the Max Cross me thing goes down.
2:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He's back with the Raiders, Raiders say they still want second round picks.
2:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I know the Raiders right now are saying they're not trading him.
2:54
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not trading him right now because they don't have an offer they consider is enough to get Max Cross beyond a new team.
3:02
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't want to trade him for less than two first round picks.
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They may wait until the summer, when he's healthier, see if they can get two first round picks for 2027 and 2028.
3:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a team is more willing to do that.
3:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe a team is willing to do it with some conditions in terms of playing time, where it's a second round pick.
3:21
[SPEAKER_00]: That becomes a first round pick, depending on the amount of snaps, Max Crosby plays or games he plays, whatever it might be.
3:28
[SPEAKER_00]: There's ways around that.
3:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But Adam Shefter, because Ryan Clark on ESPN says that the bears make a lot of sense, because the teams we've seen have made moves at edge since the Max Cross we think fell apart like Bradley Chubbe to Buffalo.
3:42
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people thought Buffalo could get in the mix for Max Crossbee.
3:45
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not going to pay Bradley Chubbe and do this.
3:48
[SPEAKER_00]: The Dallas Cowboys went forward with their Rashad Gary.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Jerry Jones has at least said he's not going to
3:55
[SPEAKER_00]: pursue Max Crosby when when there's going to stick with Gary.
3:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he said it directly.
3:59
[SPEAKER_00]: They said he said it through media reports like Diana Rousini and whatnot.
4:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, the Eagles, they seem to have fallen off the map here.
4:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So, all the potential teams
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: that could be involved for Max Cross.
4:12
[SPEAKER_00]: We have kind of fallen off except the bears.
4:14
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears still need edge help.
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So Ryan Clark goes, how about the bears?
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And Adam Shepter said, there is no way this is happening.
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears are broke.
4:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And what does he mean when he says broke?
4:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Now.
4:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I sent some tweets about it.
4:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I wrote an article about it.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Lot of fans got big man, some media members, David Kaplan, who I love Kaplan.
4:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been on this podcast multiple times.
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Kaplan talks about it.
4:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Greg Gabriel comes after me on social media.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So we stirred up a whole lot about the Chicago Bears and their financial situations.
4:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about what I meant.
4:52
[SPEAKER_00]: what they should be doing and where this is all going in the next few years.
4:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how long this podcast is going to be.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a full-bolt bears banter.
5:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not doing a guess.
5:02
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not doing a mailback.
5:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Just me and you talking bears finances.
5:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, forget Max Crosby for a second.
5:10
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
5:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at what the bears did in free agency.
5:14
[SPEAKER_00]: What have the bears done to improve their roster?
5:18
[SPEAKER_00]: the answer is nothing.
5:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you want to sit there and say they've got some guys that are better fits for what Dennis Allen wants to do or what not, that's fine.
5:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But in essence, all the bears have done is replaced guys.
5:31
[SPEAKER_00]: We can go right through it.
5:32
[SPEAKER_00]: All the madeies.
5:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The key is his gone.
5:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Cleve Raymond is in the left tackle position.
5:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Braxton Jones and
5:44
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... neville galamor replaces Andrew billings tremendous admins out uh... deven bush in kobi brion in kevin brion uh... kevin bired out all they've done is replaced guys and they've also lost jacquand brisker haven't replaced him yet i i think they've replaced john of an oins at safety but they haven't actually replaced jacquand brisker they don't have a starting caliber safety to go with brion uh... they have not replaced uh...
6:12
[SPEAKER_00]: by my trying to plank on his name.
6:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, how embarrassing.
6:17
[SPEAKER_00]: The cornerback situation.
6:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Nation right, there you go.
6:20
[SPEAKER_00]: See, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the adult brain sometimes will still kick in.
6:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Nation right, they haven't replaced right.
6:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Does that just mean Tyrex Stevenson is going to step in and start a corner, do they like, you know, say, Fraser, do they like 12 Smith coming off the injury?
6:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Are they just going to kind of see how things shake out?
6:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to draft someone early.
6:38
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what's happening there.
6:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you look at the bears, you can make arguments that they have got better fits in certain spots now than they did before in terms of what Dennis Allen wants to do.
6:52
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got guys that more speed things like that.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So we can make that argument.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: but in essence, they've replaced guys.
6:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And they haven't made like a splash replacing guys, right?
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's not like they let Olimites the Kies walk out the door and broaden AJ Brown, right?
7:09
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't make do anything like that.
7:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't make notable upgrades.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You can say, oh, I'd rather have Raymond than Olimites the Kies.
7:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, that's fine.
7:17
[SPEAKER_00]: We can have that conversation.
7:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the Raymond signing.
7:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually signed as two players because he's also replacing Devin Duverne from the return angle.
7:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, we can talk about that.
7:27
[SPEAKER_00]: but they haven't noticeably made any difference in the roster.
7:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And for the Bears fans who sit there said, well, they've got the draft and they can bring guys, yeah, 32 teams have the draft and can bring guys in.
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you sit there and say they can improve through the draft, so can other teams and they have much better draft positioning than the Chicago Bears do.
7:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's an argument I don't want to hear about.
7:48
[SPEAKER_00]: right now, the bears and essence are running it back.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can make the argument that the offense is going in the right direction.
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Williams, Luther Burton and Colson Lovelin are all about to break out and become all pro caliber players.
8:02
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears believe it.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson believes it Ryan polls believes it a lot of fans believe it.
8:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe it.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to sit there and say we just want the offense.
8:11
[SPEAKER_00]: to stay as is, because we think our players are going to improve enough that that's going to improve the offense.
8:17
[SPEAKER_00]: On the defensive side of the ball, you can sit there and say, well, the linebackers are pretty good.
8:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And we like Bush more than Edmunds.
8:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And we do Marco Jackson did a good job.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're okay there.
8:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Secondary, we've paid Jalen, we've paid Kyler.
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: We like Kobe Bryant, what he's going to bring.
8:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're mostly okay there.
8:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You can make all those arguments.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: But the one argument you can't make,
8:39
[SPEAKER_00]: is that the bear's defense of line is good enough.
8:42
[SPEAKER_00]: What the bear's defense of line last year and coming into this year is good enough.
8:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you say it, and it's not like there's a lot of young players, like yeah, Schermar Turner could get better and Austin, Booker could get better.
8:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But Javon Dexter, this is entering year four, Neville Gallamores of veteran, Montes, sweat is a veteran, like you, you know, Grady Jarrett's fading.
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not improving, Dio, Dengbo's been heard.
9:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You, this defense of line is not good.
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: It's arguably the worst defensive line in the league.
9:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I haven't sat there and broken down whose defensive line might be worse, but you can't say it's better than bottom 10, bottom 5, it's a very bad defensive line.
9:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So for the Chicago Bears to say we didn't need to improve the defensive line,
9:28
[SPEAKER_00]: would be foolish.
9:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they didn't say that, but they did say it with their words.
9:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's two ways you can look at this.
9:34
[SPEAKER_00]: You can look at this that the Chicago bears felt their defensive line was good enough as it is.
9:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And they want to add a couple rookies and that's what they're going to go with coming into the year in 2026 to you as a bears fan believe that.
9:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You should not.
9:49
[SPEAKER_00]: You should sit there and say, no, that bear's defense of line wasn't good enough, and it needed to be improved upon.
9:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you can also sit there and say that Denis Allen and Ryan Poles are not complete idiots, and there's no way that they felt their defense of line was good enough last year.
10:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And to that, I would say, I agree with you.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So, where does that put us?
10:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did the Chicago Bears not add to the defensive line?
10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, we'll talk about Max Cross, we hear in a second, but this goes beyond Max Cross, me, because when the Bears were starting free agency, they did not sign any defensive players.
10:24
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not sign Bradley Chubber.
10:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not sign Phillips, or they did not sign any of the defensive line in that were available that could have been fits.
10:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not make a trade to add a defensive line and end of the mix.
10:36
[SPEAKER_00]: they replace Andrew Billings.
10:38
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all they did.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So why would they do that?
10:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, some of you will sit there and say, well, they're out of cap space.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, the Chicago Bears are out of cap space.
10:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're about 7 million under the cap.
10:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They need to be about 15 million under the cap right now in terms of being able to sign their rookie class and have enough money.
10:59
[SPEAKER_00]: to make things work in terms of, you know, operations in season, bring in guys up and down, you know, signing players here, there, whatever they need to know.
11:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You always want about 10 million to do that kind of operations in season.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, they need to sign their rookie class as well.
11:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So they need about $15 million.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They've got about six or seven million right now.
11:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So they need to open up a little cap space.
11:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But basically, you can sit there and say, well, the bears don't have
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Any cap space so that's when Adam Shepter was saying when he said the bears were broke.
11:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He was saying the bears don't have any cap space And maybe that's all Adam Shepter meant But here's the thing Adam Shepter follows the league better than anybody
11:41
[SPEAKER_00]: right?
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got more context, more information.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The amount of information he has that he doesn't share is as high as Mount Everest.
11:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like he's everything he hears.
11:51
[SPEAKER_00]: He spits out.
11:52
[SPEAKER_00]: No, he is a vehicle.
11:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He is a medium for owners, for players, in terms of getting information.
12:00
[SPEAKER_00]: There was an article when all Sean Jeffrey was a free agent.
12:04
[SPEAKER_00]: There was an article with like some video involved of how Adam Shepter works and they went behind the scenes on his calls and everything.
12:12
[SPEAKER_00]: All Sean Jeffery called up Adam Shepter.
12:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Not his agent.
12:16
[SPEAKER_00]: All Sean Jeffery called up Adam Shepter and kind of asked about the wide receiver market.
12:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Shepter told him what he was hearing and Shepter kind of did this now.
12:25
[SPEAKER_00]: As
12:27
[SPEAKER_00]: as a return to the favor, I would love it if you could let me know what's happening with you when you have an agreed contract so I can break the news.
12:36
[SPEAKER_00]: All Sean Jeffree decided to give the news to Jocina Anderson.
12:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure, and I'm not saying I'm not trying to make all Sean Jeffree a bad guy, I'm sure he reached out to Shefter Rapp, Jocina Blazer, whoever he knows to try and get the best idea of what his market was, obviously he went to the Philadelphia Eagles.
12:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Shepher does this kind of stuff.
12:54
[SPEAKER_00]: He works with teams.
12:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He helps them.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: They help him.
12:59
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how this works.
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, Justin Fields, the market for the bears is a second-round pick.
13:06
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we heard from Shepher, right?
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We heard it from all these people.
13:10
[SPEAKER_00]: It was clearly not a second-round pick.
13:12
[SPEAKER_00]: That was Ryan Polls working the media to try and tell other teams what it was going to take to get Justin Fields.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not have the market dub correctly.
13:21
[SPEAKER_00]: No one came anywhere near it too.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I think they did get a four.
13:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was the Philadelphia Eagles.
13:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they might have offered a fourth for them, but they tried to do right by Justin.
13:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They wanted to give an opportunity to start.
13:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Filly, he would have just been Jalen Earth's backup.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He goes to Pittsburgh, he gets to play.
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: We know the story.
13:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is how the Bears operate.
13:41
[SPEAKER_00]: This is how more importantly, how Adam's Chefter operates.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So this kind of stuff is going on all the time.
13:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So Chefter has a lot of information about teams.
13:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Chefter knows that the Bears have a lot of cap flexibility, that they have the ability to make a lot of money open up in the cap.
14:00
[SPEAKER_00]: if they move Jalen Johnson's contract, they restructure Jalen Johnson's contract.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They can restructure Odango and Brady Jared.
14:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they don't want to touch them because they're probably going to be off the team in a year.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fine.
14:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Joe Tune, Jonah Jackson, there are contracts up and down this roster that they can reschedule and open up money.
14:22
[SPEAKER_00]: They can easily open up
14:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you can look at this and say, well, there's no reason for the bears to do this, but they're always is a reason.
14:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And some teams operate this way, not every team.
14:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I'm calling out the bears on this, this is not me saying the bears are the 30 second team and they suck in their terrible.
14:44
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of teams do this.
14:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm looking at this from a way,
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: how the bears can be the most competitive and take advantage they can the most of these next two years before Caleb Williams is making like $65 to $70 million a year.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: If the bears open up this cap space and don't utilize it, it rolls over into the next year and adds more cap space to the bears.
15:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can sit there and say, well, they shouldn't restructure some of these contracts because it's going to leave dead money next year.
15:17
[SPEAKER_00]: More dead money next year than it would have this year, but I have talked to a lot of cap experts, so to speak.
15:25
[SPEAKER_00]: media types and people who work for agencies to try and get a good grasp of what teams shouldn't shouldn't do.
15:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And the bottom line here is, and we're just going to talk about the bears.
15:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And when I say this, just say, I'm not singling out the bears.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking bears because this is the bear's banter podcast.
15:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You could talk about other teams that do this as well.
15:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears do not maximize their opportunities for winning because they do not open up and spend enough cash to open up cap space.
15:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the big argument that we were having with the Adam Shefter being broke thing is cash versus cap space.
16:03
[SPEAKER_00]: cash is how much a team is willing to spend that particular year not how much money they have under the cap and I think that's confusing for some people and I am certainly not a finance major but I am going to try and explain it the best I can and if you understand this already great it's not going to take more than a minute or two to get through this but
16:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, we know salary cap space, $300 million.
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears have a cap hit of $8 million on a player.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They got $292 left, et cetera, et cetera.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You've got $300 million to operate for this calendar year.
16:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Cash is different because cash is what you're actually spending on a year and a year in basis.
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And the cash for this year,
16:48
[SPEAKER_00]: for the Chicago Bears could be significantly higher.
16:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And I will use the Ravens as an example.
16:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson, Jackson had a $74 million cap in.
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And of that $74 million, $51 million of it was his base salary.
17:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the base salary, what they did is they took 50 out of the 51 million, so his base salary was becomes the league minimum.
17:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And they took that 50 million and converted it to a bonus.
17:18
[SPEAKER_00]: And what that bonus does is it takes the length of the contract remaining.
17:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And it spreads that 50 million, including this year.
17:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So if there's, you know, five million, if there's five years left on the contract, and you convert 50 million in a bonus, it puts 10 million additional dead, dead dollars on each year.
17:40
[SPEAKER_00]: But what does that do?
17:42
[SPEAKER_00]: That opens up a significant amount of space.
17:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So suddenly, Lamar Jackson's hit cap hit of 74 million drops to 34 million.
17:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And they have an additional 40 million in cap space.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And what did the Ravens do with that 40 million in cap space?
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: They signed, tray Hendrickson.
18:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Chicago Bears can do that with certain players as well, and open up that cap space.
18:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the trick to all of it.
18:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So that $50 million that they converted.
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That gets paid to Lamar Jackson this year.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They have to pay that bonus to him this year.
18:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And now they're additionally paying Trey Hendricks in and other people with that salary cap space they opened up.
18:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So what you do, if you're an owner, you pay cash that doesn't count necessarily against the cap at least for this year, at least not in full.
18:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And you then you are able to sign more players and give and spend more cash.
18:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope I explain that well.
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So in essence, if an owner is willing to spend more money this year,
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: They can open up additional cap space.
18:52
[SPEAKER_00]: The Kansas City Chiefs have been borrowing from the bank of the homes for years.
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: They convert massive amounts of money from his salary, base salary, two bonus, and open up huge amounts of cap space.
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Chiefs are making money hand over foot.
19:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They have no problem spending more money.
19:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the Chicago Bears are broke.
19:11
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean?
19:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Does not mean the Bears are filing for bankruptcy.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, maybe Shepter is just talking about salary cap space.
19:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But Adam, Shepter aside, the Chicago Bears like most NFL teams, perhaps all NFL teams.
19:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't tell you, I know exactly how the Tampa Bay bucks operate and signs their football operations.
19:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Teams have a cash budget that they are allowed to spend on a yearly basis.
19:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Greg Gabriel yelled at me and said their budget every year was whatever it takes.
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And I can tell you because another member of the Bears front office texted me and said that that was total BS.
19:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, he didn't say that the Bears year to year, the football operations operated with ample cash.
19:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And that it was not like a problem.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: in terms of having enough money.
19:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But the idea of whatever it takes was the budget every year, simply isn't true.
20:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And when you look at the Chicago Bears this year, you can easily see that the Chicago Bears are not operating with a whatever it takes, mindset, because they could have opened up more space and signed help to the defense of wine.
20:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And if your argument is, well, they've already paid Grady, Jared, and Dio, Dengbo, and Montez sweat, they can't put anymore money into the defense of wine.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And to that, I would say BS, because Dengbo and Jared can both come off the books after this year.
20:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you paid, let's just say Bradley Chubb.
20:36
[SPEAKER_00]: If you paid Montez Sweat and Bradley Chubb, and yeah, you've got money going to a Dengbo and Jared Bad contracts, you want to get off the books, you can easily do that.
20:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're only dealing with paying the defensive line too much this year in this year alone.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Then suddenly you've only got two big contracts on the books for 2027.
20:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So the Chicago Bears are choosing
20:58
[SPEAKER_00]: whether it's football operations or the budget that was put forth between the conversations between George McCaskey, Kevin Warren, and football operations in terms of how much cash they can spend this year.
21:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when I'm talking to these cap experts about this, here's the two things that come up that are important to note that you're not going to hear anyone else as far as I know in Chicago, media talk about.
21:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one,
21:26
[SPEAKER_00]: money kicked down the road in essence is worth less than it is this year.
21:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Easy example here would be $10 million.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You restructure a contract you kicked 10 million into next year, right?
21:40
[SPEAKER_00]: 10 million this year is worth $10 million because it's 10 million on a $300 million salary cap.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you push that hit to 2027,
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The salary cap is going to go up by about 10%, you've about 330 million.
21:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So the 10 million this year, with even though it's 10 million next year, but it's a bigger cap.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So it takes up a smaller percentage of the cap.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So 10 million this year is kind of like 9 million next year.
22:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So in essence, if you open up cap space this year and push the same amount of dollars into next year, it's going to cost a smaller percentage against your cap.
22:21
[SPEAKER_00]: and the cap experts, this is not me.
22:23
[SPEAKER_00]: The cap experts are telling me, that's the smartest way to manage your money.
22:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it's not like you want to just kick 50, 60, 70 million in because then you're going to start hampering how much cap space you actually have.
22:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But in terms of operating like this, you also have to keep in mind, and this is the second point.
22:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The salary cap is going up significantly and it's going to go up even more significantly in
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: who says, 2026 salary cap is 300 million and this was part of the tweet I talked about that the salary cap in 2021 compared to where it is now has already gone up 44 percent in four years.
23:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So, 2026 is 300 million.
23:06
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what this person told me he expects the salary cap to be over the next four years.
23:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been going up roughly 10%, 10, 9, 10, 12%, pretty consistently here the next few years.
23:20
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no reason to think that's going to change.
23:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So the salary cap this year is 300 million.
23:25
[SPEAKER_00]: The salary cap for 20, 27 is going to be about $330 million.
23:31
[SPEAKER_00]: The salary cap for 20, 28 is going to be about $375 million.
23:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And the salary cap for 20, 29 is going to be about $410 million.
23:42
[SPEAKER_00]: then, because the NFL has this ability to opt out on their television deals, they're in the process of reworking their television deals.
23:49
[SPEAKER_00]: This is all going to kick in for the 2020, 30 season.
23:52
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have more platforms, maybe Apple TV, maybe YouTube wants more Netflix wants more.
23:58
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have more platforms bidding massive dollars for less games so they can spread it
24:06
[SPEAKER_00]: That is going to be a huge influx of cash collective bargaining agreement goes to the players that goes to the players via the salary cap.
24:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a chance that in 2030, the salary cap could be $500 million.
24:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He's projecting it the person I talk to, who I think's pretty smart, and I verified it with another person who does this, who I think is pretty smart.
24:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They think $475 million for the 2030 salary cap is pretty good idea.
24:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So now you've got the bears who are spending on a $300 million salary cap this year.
24:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you know, you're going to have up to 200 million additional dollars added to the salary cap over the next four years.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: you can spend aggressively.
24:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I was trying to say when people are like, oh, that's too much money.
24:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's too much money.
25:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Every contract is aging well.
25:03
[SPEAKER_00]: If you sign someone who a four, five, six year deal.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty, unless this guy was a total disaster, every contract is aging well because salaries are going up at a tremendous rate.
25:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So the bears should have no business sitting here and going, whether we can't open up this, we're going to have this much dead captain.
25:23
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter because the cap is skyrocketing at such a tremendous rate.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So what is holding the bears back?
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think George McCaskey wants to win.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's overly cheap, but I do think he is pretty prudent with his cash.
25:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And here are two things that are coming up that I think are impacting why the Chicago Bears are not spending on the defensive line.
25:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is, Darnell Wright is gonna get a big extension this year.
25:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And Caleb Williams is, and maybe Roman Dunesay,
26:01
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to get a big extension next year.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And you sit there and say, OK, well, that's extensions.
26:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So what?
26:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, here's what the big deal is.
26:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And talk to someone who knows this stuff.
26:12
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not coming from me.
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: This is coming from people a lot smarter than I am.
26:17
[SPEAKER_00]: When you sign a player, let's make up a contract for Darna and write that we think is within reason.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: There are now right signs a four year contract for $120 million, 30 million a year.
26:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about to go and write for a left tackle right now, right tackle, that again, maybe it's 28 million, maybe it's 32 million, the final numbers don't really matter.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: He gets $120 million of that and we can know we get fully guaranteed total guarantees
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he gets a $20 million signing bonus.
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he gets $60 million of that fully guaranteed and additional $25 million in total guarantees for $85 million.
27:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the total guarantees don't matter for this conversation, but the fully guaranteed does.
27:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The fully guaranteed $60 million.
27:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, again, I couldn't get a straight answer if it's 100%, or 75%,
27:14
[SPEAKER_00]: because I'm not great at lawyer when I actually read the CBA.
27:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not great at at lawyer speak, but talking to the people who know this is the situation.
27:26
[SPEAKER_00]: That money needs to go into escrow.
27:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the NFL, because it's owners and forcing owners, they don't enforce it very well, but if agents want to make sure it's enforced, it can get enforced.
27:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So at a minimum, George McCaskey knows that he has to have $60 million available for his, you know, for Donald Wright's signing bonus and to potentially put the rest of it the other $40 million in escrow.
27:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So that money gets put in an account.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's there, Darnell Wright can see it's there, know that that money is eventually going to be his.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's caught, if he's injured, no matter what, that is his money.
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Now get, it doesn't always get enforced, but it can get enforced.
28:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But you know who I think would make sure it gets enforced.
28:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not sitting here knocking the guy because I think he's very smart.
28:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's very well read in terms of understanding the CBA and everything that goes into it, Carl Williams.
28:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Carl Williams, I think, will be exactly the type of agent in essence because we know Caleb is representing himself.
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to make sure that things are done by the book.
28:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So Caleb Williams' fully guaranteed is probably going to be, like, so,
28:56
[SPEAKER_00]: we know CJ Stroud and Bryce Young probably aren't getting big deals at least not this year.
29:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're not going to see maybe a veteran gets a different contract, Lamar Jackson.
29:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We've heard these things.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we get to 2024, Caleb Williams is going to need a new contract.
29:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, the 2024 class in 2024.
29:14
[SPEAKER_00]: 27.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Drake may is going to need a new contract, Caleb Williams is going to need a new contract.
29:19
[SPEAKER_00]: If Jayden Daniels gets back on track, he's going to need a new contract.
29:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Bone X is going to need a new contract that is four guys, and you could say whatever you want about bone X and I say plenty, but I think those are four guys that are going to be pushing up the top of the NFL quarterback salaries.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we look at this,
29:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Hail Williams, and I don't know exactly what the number is going to be, but DAX had 60, chaos going to be making $65 to $70 million a year.
29:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I firmly believe that.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So if that's the case, and he gets a four-year deal that seems to be what quarterbacks are getting these days, he's going to get three years to that guaranteed.
29:56
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears are going to need probably $200 million.
30:01
[SPEAKER_00]: In escrow for Caleb Williams contract, especially if Carl Williams insists that it gets put in escrow because that's what it says you need to do by the books.
30:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Carl seems to be a pretty by the books guy.
30:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a lot of cash.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you're talking about, you know, Darnell writes contract and in Caleb Williams contract, that is a lot of cash.
30:20
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears need to have on hand.
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: for those contracts.
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They've obviously got money tied up in our LinkedIn Heights.
30:28
[SPEAKER_00]: We got the stadium thing.
30:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Are the bears cash poor?
30:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Are they actually broke?
30:32
[SPEAKER_00]: No, of course not.
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They have tens of millions of dollars coming in all the time.
30:38
[SPEAKER_00]: But do the bears are the bears comfortable converting a bunch of salary to bonus
30:46
[SPEAKER_00]: opening up a space this year that if they don't go and get Max Crosby can get rolled over in the next year.
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So they have more money to spend next year.
30:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they can cut guys like go dango and share and have even more money and they can really kind of go on a spending spree if they want.
31:03
[SPEAKER_00]: or are they going to be focused on signing Darnell, right?
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Signing Roman Dunes, a signing Caleb Williams, getting those guys to cash.
31:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, they'll max out the salary cap.
31:13
[SPEAKER_00]: But maxing out the salary cap and spending cash, like I said, are two different things.
31:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Is George McCasky going to be willing to spend the cash to really push the envelope these next couple years until Caleb Williams' contract extension kicks in.
31:30
[SPEAKER_00]: down the road.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Just because he signs it next year, it's not like it kicks in.
31:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't replace the rookie contract.
31:35
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the window the bears have before Caleb Williams starts making significant money.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And are the bears willing to take advantage of it?
31:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Right now the answer is no.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: and we can sit there and and David Kaplan can say the bears are not broke and sorry cap, I love you buddy, but I agree with you.
31:56
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears are not broke.
31:57
[SPEAKER_00]: No one's trying to say the bears are broke.
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: What I'm trying to say is the bears are not doing everything they can to improve this roster this year.
32:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And it is not
32:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It is not irresponsible spending to go out and get an additional guy to this defensive line, bigger than Neville Gallimer.
32:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Who may be great this year?
32:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how he's going to be, but it is not irresponsible spending to go out and try and get guys that can make an impact this year because we know that rookies rarely make a big impact, especially when you're talking about second round guys, late first round guys, bears are drafted with the fourth or fifth pick,
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're not going to be able to get a superstar guy there.
32:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The Jared versus the world rarely make into the 20s.
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I know he did, but he didn't make it to 25 either.
32:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So the Chicago Bears are in a situation where they can do more, but they are not doing it.
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: and you cannot expect rookies to come in and make a big impact or second round picks, third round picks.
33:03
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't even know if they're gonna pan out.
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Javan Dexter did a couple things as a rookie, but he was a rotational guy, Zach Pickens didn't even make it.
33:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Austin Booker was the fifth round pick, but he didn't do much as a rookie.
33:17
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't have an expectation, especially, you know, they draft a safety at 25.
33:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a plug and play guy.
33:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to start.
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: There are certain positions.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: where you can get guys that can make an impact as a rookie.
33:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Defensive line is not usually one of them, especially further down the line with day two picks or late day one picks.
33:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears are in a situation where if they truly wanted to improve the defensive line for this year, they needed to add one or two solid veteran players that can eat at least 50% of the snaps
33:55
[SPEAKER_00]: where they can have short-term answers starting and rookies developing behind them where those rookies can then step in and play in a year or two.
34:04
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the Bears needed to do.
34:06
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't do it.
34:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And I am not sitting here and saying George McCaskey is cheap and he's pension pennies.
34:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But I am saying that George McCaskey is not maximizing this window for the Chicago Bears.
34:18
[SPEAKER_00]: an actions speak louder than words.
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing you can do that tells me that the Chicago Bears are maximizing their window to win now based on their actions.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't.
34:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to tweet at me at Bill T. Zimmerman, you go right ahead and tell me why I'm wrong.
34:39
[SPEAKER_00]: because again, the salary cap is exploding over the next four years.
34:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The more space they know what to do with, and you know what happens when you have gobs of salary cap space, the free agency classes keep getting worse and worse and worse.
34:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the salary cap is exploding at a faster rate than players' salaries are right now.
35:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So therefore teams are getting more and more space in essence to wiggle around and not lose their best players.
35:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got to utilize trades and you've got to look for some team eventually.
35:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll get up against the cap like the Eagles and Philips will go to the Carolina Panthers or whatever.
35:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Everyone's in a while.
35:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Those type of guys open up, but those are when you need to strike.
35:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are the guys you need to bring in.
35:25
[SPEAKER_00]: There's only gonna be a handful of guys every year that are really worth the big dollars.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They just are not gonna become available.
35:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And with this cap going up more and more and exploding potentially like it's going to, like a lot of people are projecting it's going to in 2030, it's gonna be even less.
35:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So take an advantage of it.
35:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Bring the guys in now that you think can make an impact on this roster.
35:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears did not do it.
35:49
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears are an essence coming back in with their 2025 roster with a couple better fits and some rookies and hoping that the rookies, you know, can make an impact this year and that guys like Burton, Lovelin and Caleb are even better next year because there's not a lot of other players that can improve.
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if we look at the defense here, Jalen Johnson is who he is or if anything is going to start fading.
36:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, Tyler Gordon is who he is.
36:16
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's a lot of room for him to get significantly better if we he's out there 16, 17 games that would help.
36:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Kobe Bryant now has been in the lead for four years.
36:24
[SPEAKER_00]: We kind of know who he is.
36:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he gets a little better, but we know who he is.
36:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He's replacing a guy who was an all pro.
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not like we're gonna get better play there.
36:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Devin Bush might fit the DA system better than Tramaine Edmonds, but again,
36:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Edmunds got paid more money than Bush.
36:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, they're comparable players.
36:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The defensive line, they made no changes.
36:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The offensive line, it's going to be worse this year.
36:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what the bears are relying on right now is improvement from basically three offensive guys.
36:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Because right now,
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have a lot of guys on rookie contracts starting where you sit there.
36:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We like, oh, it's only his second year.
36:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He could improve.
37:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It's only his third year.
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He could improve.
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Schumart Turner takes a step forward.
37:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Austin Booker takes a step forward.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not like there's zero opportunities for this, but there's not a lot of high end opportunities for a lot of young players to improve on this bears team.
37:15
[SPEAKER_00]: They needed to add veterans.
37:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't do it.
37:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And why didn't they do it?
37:19
[SPEAKER_00]: they didn't do it as far as I'm concerned because they know they got to pay Caleb Williams a boatload of money next year, Donald right to a certain extent this year.
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But Caleb Williams, a boatload of money next year, they need to have a ton of cash on hand, and I think that impacted what they did this year.
37:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And Greg Gabriel, who yelled at me about what I said, then puts out a tweet about, well, you can't pay everyone, and you know you've got to extend Donald Wright and Caleb Williams, so that's what the bears are doing here.
37:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically agreeing with me after screaming at me.
37:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you have that kind of situation and you know the cab's going up like it is, you do not have to be as concerned about not being able to pay everyone.
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: No one's sitting there and saying they need to go out and pay $50 million for an offensive tax, you know, trend Williams.
38:09
[SPEAKER_00]: No one's screaming the Trent Williams didn't get traded for it and isn't a Chicago bear.
38:12
[SPEAKER_00]: We all would have loved to see it, but no one is screaming about that.
38:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Taylor Decker is still available.
38:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Is he too banged up?
38:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Did they look at his medicals?
38:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Or is it just too much money that the bears didn't want to spend it left tackle on a one-year deal?
38:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Taylor Decker's looking for a two-year deal.
38:29
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what the situation is with Taylor Decker.
38:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not jumping the conclusions that the bears blew it with Braxton Jones.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: that might have been their best opportunity to move forward because there weren't that many options to begin with, but you cannot, and I will repeat this until the cows come home, you cannot look at the bears' actions, and no, and you all know it, and no, that the bears have a ton of cap flexibility.
38:56
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not broke in terms of the salary cap.
39:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They can open up $30 million easily in salary cap space today if they wanted to do it.
39:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, that money would get pushed into future years, but with the way the salary cap is going up, one, those dollars are worth less in future years than they are this year
39:24
[SPEAKER_00]: is not going to impact these, these deadcap hits, the deadcap hits aren't going to impact the salary cap nearly as much next year and the year after that, then they will this year.
39:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears are not doing it because they are saving their cash for other things, except I'm not saying they're broke.
39:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But
39:46
[SPEAKER_00]: The football operations had to operate under a budget that Kevin, George and Ryan, maybe Ben was there to sat down and determine what kind of cash opportunity they were going to have to spend this year.
39:59
[SPEAKER_00]: They came up with a number and the bear spent it.
40:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's it.
40:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the end of the story.
40:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Now again, the bears are going to have to convert a little salary to bonus and open up some space and I can see it right now that the bear's fans of disagree with me.
40:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to be the victory lap.
40:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, look, they read in Joe tuning in Jonah Jackson's contract to open up $12 million, you're a liar, Bill.
40:20
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that has to happen.
40:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, that means that George spent a little extra cash this year, but it's not the impact he could do.
40:28
[SPEAKER_00]: If you wanted the bears to go out and make a big splash, and now the only splash left is Max Crosby.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So that comes back to the Adam Shefter, you know comment about them being broke.
40:39
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, that means the Bears have maximized the amount of cash that the organization was willing to spend on players this year.
40:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, could things change?
40:50
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Bears take a look at Max Crosby and July, and he's flying around.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like he's 26 years old.
40:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And Dennis Allen is drooling.
40:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And they say, we got to go get this guy and they convince George to go do it and spend the cash.
41:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He needs to, sure, that's a possibility.
41:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Words right now are saying that the bears are pleased with their roster for this year, but you know they're not.
41:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You know they don't think this defensive line is good enough.
41:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They are just hoping for a winged up prayer that this thing gets solved and these players figure it out on their own.
41:24
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't have the horses at the defensive line.
41:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't have the horses at the defensive line, you're not going to impact the quarter be opposing quarter back enough.
41:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And this defense, it could be better than it was last year or it could be worse.
41:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if they don't get as many turnovers as they did last year, even if the defense is a little better than it was last year, it's going to be really bad on the defensive side of the ball.
41:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So the Chicago Bears have put themselves in a pickle.
41:50
[SPEAKER_00]: and people want to yell at me and say that I don't know what I'm talking about.
41:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's fine, maybe I don't, but you know who does know what they're talking about, the people I've talked to, and I'd love to give their names, because you know a couple of their names, and you would sit there be like, oh, that person knows what they're talking about.
42:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that person.
42:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Bye.
42:06
[SPEAKER_00]: they're not in a position to be able to put their names on this because of the jobs they currently hold.
42:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have to use them as anonymous sources, but I can tell you, they know what they're talking about and they know that Chicago Bears are not doing everything they can to win this year.
42:22
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the bottom line with the Chicago Bears.
42:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So when the Bears are broke, it means the Bears are not spending any more cash on players.
42:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It does not mean they're about
42:33
[SPEAKER_00]: does not mean they're cash poor, it does, you know, yes, the Chicago Bears have to operate differently than an independently wealthy billionaire.
42:42
[SPEAKER_00]: An independently wealthy billionaire who's got 15 billion dollars can go buy an NFL franchise for $7 or $8 billion and still have half his billions left over where if he wants to spend extra money and lose money in essence on his NFL team yearly because he wants to try and win, that's up to that owner.
43:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, maybe that owner, because the Broncos fans are all screaming their own by Walmart, and they're not spending any money this year, and they're screaming, how can we be this close to a Super Bowl, and you're not spending any money on players.
43:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The Broncos fans are going crazy.
43:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So getting an independently wealthy billionaire doesn't necessarily mean they're going to spend and spend and spend.
43:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to have the right independently wealthy billionaire who's willing to spend.
43:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Chicago Bears have to operate it a little differently.
43:28
[SPEAKER_00]: doesn't mean they're a mom and pop shop in their broke, just doesn't mean they have an unlimited pocket to dive into anytime they want to go out and sign a player.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So does that mean George is holding the purse strings a little too tight?
43:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Does this mean George is saying, we got to get Caleb Williams done before we worry about signing other big players?
43:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know exactly what it means, but what I do know is that the Chicago Bears aren't doing enough.
43:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what this conversation has been about over the last week or so.
43:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Is how the Chicago Bears are operating their money, specifically their cash, not their salary cap, in terms of
44:08
[SPEAKER_00]: where they are and where they can go with this roster over the next couple of years.
44:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, it is a fact that since the Khalil Mac deal, so put 2018 aside, where yes, the Bears did spend.
44:21
[SPEAKER_00]: 2019 to the present, the Chicago Bears are the last place team in terms of spending cash in the league.
44:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, at the same time, the Chicago Bears have been rebuilding for a lot of that.
44:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They shed salaries.
44:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So yes, there's been a reason the bears would be towards the bottom in terms of spending.
44:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, they weren't rebuilding the whole time.
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'll leave you with this.
44:49
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears quarterback situation.
44:54
[SPEAKER_00]: in 2020 and 2021.
44:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think the bears, as Greg Gabriel said, did quote whatever it takes to improve the quarterback situation?
45:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We, Derrick Carr was available because he ended up on the Saints.
45:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, there were players of hell and maybe you didn't want them and maybe the bears didn't want them.
45:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But do you think Nick Folls was do whatever it takes to improve and to win?
45:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I sure don't.
45:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I am a feeling if you talk to Matt Naggi and Ryan Pace, they would tell you the same thing.
45:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Doesn't mean they didn't get a little extra try and fix the tropisky problem, but did they get enough?
45:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Did they get the whatever it takes?
45:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Cache situation.
45:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Clearly they did not.
45:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So when the Chicago Bears are trying to win, and they are a good team, and they have a great coach, and they have a great quarterback, and they are gonna be competitive.
45:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But here's the difference.
45:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have made this point, and I believe it to be true.
45:58
[SPEAKER_00]: A great coach and a great quarterback can make you a playoff team every year.
46:06
[SPEAKER_00]: but they can't make you a Super Bowl team or a Super Bowl contender every year.
46:11
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a difference between being a playoff team and a Super Bowl contender.
46:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams with whatever roster they have can make the bears a playoff team every year.
46:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But to be a Super Bowl contender, you need a GM who's doing well in the draft and you need ownership
46:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You need an owner who's well at none of this.
46:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You can argue the same's process.
46:39
[SPEAKER_00]: But the saints are well over the cap every year.
46:42
[SPEAKER_00]: They open up a ton of space because ownership is well in the spend cash.
46:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And the same stink.
46:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got to spend it the right way.
46:50
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just a, here's extra cash, go get whoever you want.
46:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But teams like the Philadelphia Eagles do it all the time.
46:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Eagles work magic because how he rose when there's a very good GM, he's got the backing of ownership who's willing to spend cash and make that roster work and maximize their window year-in and year-out.
47:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is the difference.
47:13
[SPEAKER_00]: the Chicago Bears are not doing that right now, which is why a big reason why they want to own their own stadium because they want more revenue streams coming in so they can spend more money.
47:25
[SPEAKER_00]: But the opportunity is there for them to spend money right now and it me and they are not.
47:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's one of two things, either their broke and they don't have the cash and no one's saying that's true and no one thinks that's the case.
47:41
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not getting the budget from George McCaskey.
47:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me a way that this is something different because I don't see anything and the cap experts I've talked to, they don't see it another way either.
47:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The Chicago Bears, like other teams, still operate this largely as a business and do not go all in for wins and lose potentially money or hurt their bottom dollar because they spend an extra 20, 30, 40, 50 million dollars in cash on the season.
48:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what this conversation has been about.
48:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking for 48 minutes.
48:19
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope this made sense.
48:21
[SPEAKER_00]: If it didn't make sense, drop comments in the YouTube comments.
48:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, hit me up at built-in Zimmerman on Twitter slash X. I will try and talk about it further.
48:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you disagree with me, I would love to have a debate.
48:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Not screaming and yelling and telling you you're stupid.
48:36
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I would love to have a conversation about this because there's no reason right now to look at it another way
48:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're going to continue with this offseason Bears banter.
48:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, Courtney Cronin, schedule the come on next week.
48:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Then we're going to pivot fully to the draft.
48:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll have our draft people on.
48:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Talk about what the Bears can do with those picks coming up at the end of April.
48:58
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got plenty to talk about.
49:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That is not the Bears finances and how much money football operations has to go out and get players.
49:06
[SPEAKER_00]: But as bears fans, we should all be disappointed with how they address the defensive line this year.
49:13
[SPEAKER_00]: All of us, there's no reason.
49:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can say, oh, I'm free agency here's an over.
49:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is.
49:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's left?
49:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Other than Max Crosby.
49:20
[SPEAKER_00]: When I go out and get Max Crosby and prove me wrong, go ahead bears fan, or go ahead Chicago bears, I'd love to see it.
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But right now,
49:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, replace the players.
49:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You let walk out the door and you haven't done anything to improve the roster.
49:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And before you say, oh, they can improve in the draft, soak in 31 other teams.
49:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to do it for bears, Banner.
49:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We will talk to you later.
49:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Adios, everybody.
49:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, bears.
49:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Spend some cash.
49:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Jesu.
49:51
[UNKNOWN]: Adios.