Why Bears Could Afford a New Allen Robinson Deal

Joey Laine's ability to work the numbers got the Bears cash to pay Eddie Jackson, and could let them keep their own free agents or sign others.

One of the keys to Bears improvement is already at work and doesn't wear jersey No. 10 or sack quarterbacks.

Joey Laine continues to show why any general manager's key weapon in the NFL is his numbers guy. He is to Ryan Pace what the tight end can be to a quarterback, if the Bears only had a healthy tight end.

Laine is the bean counter. His creative financing is a key to whether the Bears are able to keep some of the talent they've amassed, especially on defense.

It's his skills that could make possible a new contract for wide receiver Allen Robinson II even when the cash doesn't seem to be there.

Lane came over from the Saints as director of football administration with general manager Ryan Pace after serving in a similar capacity for six years in New Orleans.

He's already been at work this offseason with Eddie Jackson's new $58.4 million deal

Jackson's salary cap numbers on a four-year, $58.4 million contract extension can still make it possible for the Bears to bring in more free agents and retain players.

Extending deals for Robinson and finding ways to pay free agents like Nick Kwiatkoski, Danny Trevathan and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix are possible expenses for the team going forward.

According to Overthecap.com, Jackson's salary cap figure for this season on the new deal he received is only $3,716,452, or 1.9 percent of the total cap for 2020.

It includes a base salary of $2,566,452 and base guaranteed salary of $1,050,000, with a $100,000 workout bonus.

The Bears will really need to worry about offsetting Jackson's deal in years 2022-2024, but he's still a relatively inexpensive $11.45 million in cap space for 2021.

The signing and removal of Kyle Long from the cap brings the Bears' estimated cap figure to approximately $20.6 million. Long cost the Bears $1.5 million of dead cap space, but his salary and other contingent bonuses saved were $8.1 million.

They used some of the savings from re-working Kyle Fuller's deal to afford a new contract for Jackson. There are still several other possible cap moves they could make as they go through who to retain and who they'll let hit the market.

Besides Fuller, they've actually already fed off the deals for Khalil Mack and Charles Leno Jr. in the past by swapping out salary for guaranteed money, and have several others that could be tapped including Cody Whitehair's.

Now the real question is whether they can slide around enough cash to make a bid for a major free agent quarterback, although they've said Trubisky is their guy.

Eddie Jackson's new deal

Key numbers: $58.4 million, including

Year, Total Cap Cost

2020 $3.7 million

2021 $11.4 million

2022 $13.5 million

2023 $15.5 million

2024 $16.6 million

*Salary guaranteed $10 million total first two years

*Guaranteed prorated bonus $2.257 million in 2020, $2.4 million each year 2021-2024

Source: Overthecap.com

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