Cutler’s contract is worse because MLB has no salary cap.
Yeah, good point.
And at least ARoid was good at one point.
What will happen then? Well, for one, the Bears will need to find a trade partner. As I mentioned when I wrote about the possible 2015 quarterback trade market last week, Cutler’s deal is structured in such a way that precludes him from being released. His 2015 base salary of $15.5 million is already guaranteed, so if the Bears cut him by this March, they would pay $19.5 million in cap penalties, sinking their 2015 team in the process. If they don’t cut him before then, $10 million of his 2016 base salary will become guaranteed, leaving the Bears stuck even further into the future with Cutler as their quarterback.
If the Bears trade Cutler, the base salaries go to the new team. If they traded Cutler by March, the Bears would be responsible for only $4 million in dead money left because they restructured his deal this offseason. A possible trade partner might try to create cap space and force the Bears to eat more of the deal by insisting they turn part of Cutler’s guaranteed base salary into a signing bonus before making the swap, a move that would leave the Bears — not the opposition — on the hook for that amount of the deal.
If the Bears converted $8.5 million of Cutler’s 2015 base salary into a signing bonus, they would pay the actual cash up front and technically spread the bonus across the length of the deal, only for the deal to accelerate onto their cap next season if Cutler were traded elsewhere. That would leave the Bears on the hook for $11 million next season. The acquiring team, meanwhile, would see its cap obligation fall from $15.5 million to $7 million. That sort of move might net the Bears a better draft pick as part of a trade.