If we look at what Spotrac assigns them for estimated value you can easily see why Mooney may be the bigger issue. They assign him an AAV of $14.9 mil. Now that we have Moore and his $16 mil cap cost in 2024-2025 and also have to consider extending Claypool whom Poles spent a top 2nd round pick for I don't see him open to paying Mooney $15 mil a year as well. Not as a #2 WR and also with a need to keep Claypool if that what he plans to do.
Conversely Johnson's projected deal comes in much cheaper at just $7.8 mil AAV which may be a bit on the low side if he truly is considered a #1 CB. Kmet is in the middle at $11.4 mil AAV and for as long as it's taken us to draft an effective TE of our own I have a feeling Poles will pay to keep him due to his age and ascension as a receiver and scorer. Tonyan is here to supplement him not to replace him.
How Poles drafts may tell us more about his plans for both Mooney and Johnson.
If you look at what the top receivers went for this year in free agency there is no way Mooney is getting $15 mill a year.
I was using what Spotrac believes their MV may be but in all honesty I don't buy it. I can see Kmet being somewhere in that range but the number for Mooney seems very high and for Johnson somewhat low. So we'll see how it goes down since it's apparent Poles will at least open negotiations with all three some time this summer.
Not if he replaces that player with TWO that are arguably just as good for less than it cost to keep the one(see Roquan vs Edwards and Edmonds).
Lets be honest here...the Bears haven't had a whole lot of players worthy of paying a big money extension to. Roquan wants $100 mill? Great, I'll sign two linebackers for that who tackle just as well as he does and one of them will be more of an impact in the passing game than he was. Mooney is probably the one who would have been clearly worth an extension, but his injury muddies the waters and he may want to bet on himself to try and get more. JJ's extension is going to be tricky because of his lack of turnovers, but I'd say he's worth extending. After him its really just Kmet right now.
He got his linebackers with his $100 million cap space, not Smith. He could have paid Smith and still had enough money to buy these guys if he wanted.
So let’s just sit tight and see if he is able/willing to keep good players instead of trading them or cutting them for cap space. My point is that we’ve seen good players traded or cut but none yet awarded a big $$$ extension. Let’s just stay cool and watch what happens with Mooney, Kmet, and JJ.
For $4mill more per year he signed TWO linebackers, instead of just one. Why would he have signed both of them if he just gave Smith $20 mill per year?
He got his linebackers with his $100 million cap space, not Smith. He could have paid Smith and still had enough money to buy these guys if he wanted.
So let’s just sit tight and see if he is able/willing to keep good players instead of trading them or cutting them for cap space. My point is that we’ve seen good players traded or cut but none yet awarded a big $$$ extension. Let’s just stay cool and watch what happens with Mooney, Kmet, and JJ.
For $4mill more per year he signed TWO linebackers, instead of just one. Why would he have signed both of them if he just gave Smith $20 mill per year?
Smith plus those two would make Bears one of the best linebacker groups in the NFL. He had the money to do that if he wanted.
For $4mill more per year he signed TWO linebackers, instead of just one. Why would he have signed both of them if he just gave Smith $20 mill per year?
Smith plus those two would make Bears one of the best linebacker groups in the NFL. He had the money to do that if he wanted.
Why exactly would anyone sink that much money into 3 linebackers considering for a majority of the snaps defenses are in two linebacker sets because they're in nickel or dime? That would be astoundingly stupid. Whats not stupid is spending only $4 mill per year more to acquire TWO stud linebackers than it would have cost you to only have 1.
Smith plus those two would make Bears one of the best linebacker groups in the NFL. He had the money to do that if he wanted.
Why exactly would anyone sink that much money into 3 linebackers considering for a majority of the snaps defenses are in two linebacker sets because their in nickel or dime? That would astoundingly stupid. Whats not stupid is spending only $4 mill per year to acquire TWO stud linebackers than it would have cost you to only have 1.
I am just saying that getting rid of Smith is not what enabled him to get these two guys. He could have had all 3 if he wanted. I would usually have all 3 on the field for first down, besides it doesn’t hurt to have some depth at the position. It’s not a stupid idea.
Meyers got a $33 million contract. Mooney will be looking at that.
Yes...thats $11 mill per year...which is less than $15mill per year.
And that should be more in line with what Mooney is worth to the Bears. Because Carolina had to eat Moore's $19.5 mil SB we got one hell of a deal on him cap wise. He's costing us $20 mil and change in 2023 but that number drops to $16 mil over the next two years. So there's our #1 WR at $17.4 AAV 2023-2025.
If Poles decides to keep both Mooney and Claypool neither should come in anywhere near that number. So good point made here brother Butkus.
Why exactly would anyone sink that much money into 3 linebackers considering for a majority of the snaps defenses are in two linebacker sets because their in nickel or dime? That would astoundingly stupid. Whats not stupid is spending only $4 mill per year to acquire TWO stud linebackers than it would have cost you to only have 1.
I am just saying that getting rid of Smith is not what enabled him to get these two guys. He could have had all 3 if he wanted. I would usually have all 3 on the field for first down, besides it doesn’t hurt to have some depth at the position. It’s not a stupid idea.
Let's just say that it's not a wise idea to be paying $6.5 mil to a LB (Edwards) whose only gonna be on the field when we aren't in a nickel defense instead of the $855k Sanborn is getting to play that role. He looked good at MLB last year but lacks the coverage skills of Edmunds and Edwards so he plays at SAM and comes off in nickel defenses. The $20 mil we aren't paying Smith is being used to add at other spots.