Projected future contract for Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson By Matt Eurich - July 21st, 2019
The Chicago Bears are eventually going to have to fork over some big money for free safety Eddie Jackson.
Luckily the team has a little more time to worry about getting a deal done in the future. The talented Alabama alum is set to enter his third year in the league in 2019. Following a strong run during his rookie season in 2017, Jackson blew up in the 2018 season. He parlayed his strong campaign into both an All-Pro and Pro Bowl nod. NFL.com's Anthony Holzman-Escareno recently took a look at the players in line to eventually earn a big contract and pegged Jackson as the top safety to earn a major deal in the future.
Here are the current top 10 safety contracts in the NFL (ranked by average compensation per year). I assume Jackson would easily land in the top 5.
If we want to keep him we're probably looking at something north of a Landon Collins deal. With Mack, Mitch likely, and others that's going to make things really tight.
Here are the current top 10 safety contracts in the NFL (ranked by average compensation per year). I assume Jackson would easily land in the top 5.
If we want to keep him we're probably looking at something north of a Landon Collins deal. With Mack, Mitch likely, and others that's going to make things really tight.
By the time we are negotiating a new deal with Jackson, the Collins deal will look like a bargain.
This is why the Bears have to keep bringing in new young talent in the draft. The Bears obviously can't re-sign everyone. Gotta have quality draft players to take the place of some of these guys. It's just the way it is. I can't imagine what Trubisky is gonna cost us. Wouldn't it be fantastic to win a super bowl this year while we have so much talent under contract? I honestly cannot remember a Bears team with this much player and coaching talent (both). Not since the mid-80s for sure. Now may be our best shot at a Lombardi. This years team is loaded.
Here are the current top 10 safety contracts in the NFL (ranked by average compensation per year). I assume Jackson would easily land in the top 5.
If we want to keep him we're probably looking at something north of a Landon Collins deal. With Mack, Mitch likely, and others that's going to make things really tight.
Which is why you only keep your most talented guys. If Jackson is a top 5 safety in the NFL. You keep him no matter what.
2020 Bears are -27mil in cap. This is why you don't constantly trade up and lose young cheap options while also going after high priced FA's. ARob 15mil cap hit, 2mil dead cap, could see the Bears moving on from him Prince 9mil cap, 1 mil dead. Those 2 moves get them near even. Long 8.1 mil cap, 1.5 dead, Gets them them a little breathing room + the increased cap space, but you'll likely be trying to rework Trubs and Floyd and Jackson.
Problem is w/so few draft picks who replaces them? Enough young talent at WR that ARob is likely replaced by one of them, w/Miller taking on the #1 role. OG? Bars possibly? Skrine/Shelley all of a sudden look like they stick next year. Team will not be diving into FA for a while, and those 2 firsts for Mack and those trade up's for Miller/DaMonty(as much as i like them) are going to hurt this tema the next few years.
2020 Bears are -27mil in cap. This is why you don't constantly trade up and lose young cheap options while also going after high priced FA's. ARob 15mil cap hit, 2mil dead cap, could see the Bears moving on from him Prince 9mil cap, 1 mil dead. Those 2 moves get them near even. Long 8.1 mil cap, 1.5 dead, Gets them them a little breathing room + the increased cap space, but you'll likely be trying to rework Trubs and Floyd and Jackson.
Problem is w/so few draft picks who replaces them? Enough young talent at WR that ARob is likely replaced by one of them, w/Miller taking on the #1 role. OG? Bars possibly? Skrine/Shelley all of a sudden look like they stick next year. Team will not be diving into FA for a while, and those 2 firsts for Mack and those trade up's for Miller/DaMonty(as much as i like them) are going to hurt this tema the next few years.
+1,000
I definitely understand (and agree with) the bold moves Pace made after he sent John Fox packing. But you can't sustain that type of thing (dealing draft picks for high priced FA's). Here's the thing that stands out to me. Look at the majority of high priced FAs each year on the market and notice how many of them are NOT first round draft picks. Yet they have experienced so much success in the NFL that they are high priced guys. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this and you do have first round guys on the market too. But over and over and over again you see mid to late round guys who have proven to be studs in the NFL.
Instead of "buying" our players at a high price, we need to get our own studs through the draft as much as possible - they are younger and cheaper. Then, like a Bill Belichick, fill out that roster with "value FA players" who fit your team and schemes without breaking the cap bank.
As I said, I don't disagree with the moves so far. Love having Mack here. But as the team moves forward these next years the ONLY way you sustain winning here is to have a steady flow of incoming talent through that draft. We've talked about this a number of times. Don't be afraid to let some of the FAs walk and get the extra draft picks like Belichick does:
LINK "The New England Patriots were awarded four compensatory picks in the 2019 NFL Draft. They will have two picks in the third round, one pick in the sixth round and one pick in the seventh round. This means that the team will have 12 total draft picks this season, and six of them will be in the top 101."
It isn't an "accident" that the New England Patriots are always loaded with talent. Think about it. 12 draft picks. Two "extra" 3rd round picks alone... can you imagine what Ryan Pace could do with drafts like that? To put this into perspective we had our 1st draft pick this year in the 3rd round... and only 5 picks in the entire draft. Belechick? With 12 draft picks in Belichick's hand he can laugh at the FAs leaving his team each year. He "buys cheap and sells high" and has the cupboard well-stocked year in and year out. This is what I want to see Ryan Pace do here.
I've watched over 55 seasons of NFL football. When teams try to survive long term "buying" their talent, it has never produced a sustainable winning team. Not sustained winning spanning years.
2020 Bears are -27mil in cap. This is why you don't constantly trade up and lose young cheap options while also going after high priced FA's. ARob 15mil cap hit, 2mil dead cap, could see the Bears moving on from him Prince 9mil cap, 1 mil dead. Those 2 moves get them near even. Long 8.1 mil cap, 1.5 dead, Gets them them a little breathing room + the increased cap space, but you'll likely be trying to rework Trubs and Floyd and Jackson.
Problem is w/so few draft picks who replaces them? Enough young talent at WR that ARob is likely replaced by one of them, w/Miller taking on the #1 role. OG? Bars possibly? Skrine/Shelley all of a sudden look like they stick next year. Team will not be diving into FA for a while, and those 2 firsts for Mack and those trade up's for Miller/DaMonty(as much as i like them) are going to hurt this tema the next few years.
+1,000
I definitely understand (and agree with) the bold moves Pace made after he sent John Fox packing. But you can't sustain that type of thing (dealing draft picks for high priced FA's). Here's the thing that stands out to me. Look at the majority of high priced FAs each year on the market and notice how many of them are NOT first round draft picks. Yet they have experienced so much success in the NFL that they are high priced guys. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this and you do have first round guys on the market too. But over and over and over again you see mid to late round guys who have proven to be studs in the NFL.
Instead of "buying" our players at a high price, we need to get our own studs through the draft as much as possible - they are younger and cheaper. Then, like a Bill Belichick, fill out that roster with "value FA players" who fit your team and schemes without breaking the cap bank.
As I said, I don't disagree with the moves so far. Love having Mack here. But as the team moves forward these next years the ONLY way you sustain winning here is to have a steady flow of incoming talent through that draft. We've talked about this a number of times. Don't be afraid to let some of the FAs walk and get the extra draft picks like Belichick does:
LINK "The New England Patriots were awarded four compensatory picks in the 2019 NFL Draft. They will have two picks in the third round, one pick in the sixth round and one pick in the seventh round. This means that the team will have 12 total draft picks this season, and six of them will be in the top 101."
It isn't an "accident" that the New England Patriots are always loaded with talent. Think about it. 12 draft picks. Two "extra" 3rd round picks alone... can you imagine what Ryan Pace could do with drafts like that? To put this into perspective we had our 1st draft pick this year in the 3rd round... and only 5 picks in the entire draft. Belechick? With 12 draft picks in Belichick's hand he can laugh at the FAs leaving his team each year. He "buys cheap and sells high" and has the cupboard well-stocked year in and year out. This is what I want to see Ryan Pace do here.
I've watched over 55 seasons of NFL football. When teams try to survive long term "buying" their talent, it has never produced a sustainable winning team. Not sustained winning spanning years.
Belichick's system only works do to Brady bailing him out on offense most of the time. Ask any Patriot fan about this and they will tell you there were many years in which the Patriots had worse WRs than us and yet made it to the Championship game.
Most teams first round picks don't go into FA because most teams don't want to get rid of very talented players even at a high price tag. The players in FA are talented sure but most are average at best in easily replaceable position. Once in a while you can find a gem in there. Thing is you can't just ignore FA like the Packers did. There will always be some position that is more talented in FA than the draft.
You don't buy average talent. You let average talent walk. If Eddie Jackson is a top 5 Safety in the NFL. You have to keep him. If he regresses and is just an average Safety like Amos was. You can easily find their replacement.
Even giving up 2 first round picks for Mack our defense has transform into something elite.
2020 Bears are -27mil in cap. This is why you don't constantly trade up and lose young cheap options while also going after high priced FA's. ARob 15mil cap hit, 2mil dead cap, could see the Bears moving on from him Prince 9mil cap, 1 mil dead. Those 2 moves get them near even. Long 8.1 mil cap, 1.5 dead, Gets them them a little breathing room + the increased cap space, but you'll likely be trying to rework Trubs and Floyd and Jackson.
Problem is w/so few draft picks who replaces them? Enough young talent at WR that ARob is likely replaced by one of them, w/Miller taking on the #1 role. OG? Bars possibly? Skrine/Shelley all of a sudden look like they stick next year. Team will not be diving into FA for a while, and those 2 firsts for Mack and those trade up's for Miller/DaMonty(as much as i like them) are going to hurt this tema the next few years.
I agree they will likely let Prince, ARob and Long go. With Mustipher and Bars they likely have two really solid interior linemen. And if we can develop a decent replacement for Massie, we can free up something like $6 million on 2021. But with the current contracts for Long, Massie and Leno we have something like $26 to $30 million a year in cap money.
I don't see a lot of the team game planning their rosters much past the 2020 season as there may be a significant labor action during the 2021 league year. Personally I am assuming a significant lock out and that most of the 2021 season will be lost.