Julius Peppers restructures contract to give the Chicago Bears cap space
According to various reports, the Chicago Bears have restructured their contract with defensive end Julius Peppers to save almost $8 million in cap space for the 2011 season. The contract was restructured last month and no details were made public until
now.
Peppers was scheduled to recieve a $10.5 million roster bonus in 2011 and his cap number would have been close to $12 million. With the revised deal, the Bears will suffer a cap hit of a much smaller $4.3 million for Peppers.
The Bears turned Peppers’ $10.5 million roster bonus into a signing bonus, which they could spread out for the duration of the contract. Peppers contract with the Bears runs through to 2015 and offers the Bears significant cap relief. With an added $8 million
in the cap, the Bears will have greater leeway to sign players on its roster who are scheduled to enter free agency and add depth to their roster.
The last capped year in the NFL set the salary cap at $128 million. In the 2010 the bears were over the cap. Free agency is on hold until the NFL’s labour dispute is resolved however, when free agency returns, a salary cap is also expected to return. In
fact the NFL has been pushing for a decrease in player revenue in negotiations.
If the NFL is successfully able to force players to take nearly a billion dollars in pay cuts, the cap space for individual teams might actually fall by nearly $30 million dollars. The longer the labour dispute lasts, the more the revenue that will be lost,
which will in turn lower the cap space. When free agency finally begins, the Bears and every other team will need all the cap space that they can muster.
Julius Peppers was acquired in last year’s free agency and since then has become an integral part of the Bears defence. Bears coach Lovie Smith said, “Last year, obviously, we were able to hit it big time with him.” Peppers 89 sacks since being drafted in
2002 are the third highest in the NFL. In 2010 Pepper had eight sacks, three forced fumbles and two interceptions.
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