Chicago Bears: Nick Foles contract details reveal wizardry

The contract details of new Chicago Bears quarterback Nick Foles have been revealed.

When Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace brought in former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles by dealing away a valuable fourth-round pick, many fans immediately resorted to confusion and, for some, anger.

The Bears are already without a first-round pick and also enter this year’s draft without a selection in the third. So, leave the team without a pick for over 100 selections in between the second and fifth round was a huge risk by Pace.

It was initially reported that Foles’ contract would be restructured a bit after being traded to the Bears, and now we finally have those details.

It appears that Foles will still make the $24 million guaranteed, but the cap hits are spread out evenly over three seasons.

Per OverTheCap, the Bears only had roughly $1.5 million of cap space going into today. However, that accounted for over a $15 million hit from Foles’ salary.

Now, he only carries a hit of $8 million, giving the Bears an extra $7 million in space for this year — that’s remarkable.

Take into consideration that the Bears could still extend Allen Robinson and restructure Akiem Hicks, and Pace looks like a magic man once again.

As for the loss of a fourth-round pick, the money still doesn’t make up for it. Chicago is still without a pick in the first, third and fourth rounds. But, on the positive side, their cap situation looks a lot better now and could only get better from here on out.

Looking at the future years of Foles’ deal, though, it gets interesting. He can reportedly earn up to $6 million in incentives in each year, which would reflect in his following year’s salary. But, that likely means Foles would end up earning the starting job and performing well in order to receive that incentive pay.

If the Bears end up getting a solid starting quarterback who plays well, then so be it. All of the cash is worth it.

Keep this in mind: If the Bears had traded for Derek Carr, they would be looking at over $20 million per season, on average, for the next three years. Instead, they get Foles for a base salary of $8 million per year. That’s incredible, when you think about it.

In another scenario, the Bears could have dealt for Andy Dalton and his $17.7 million salary for this upcoming season. Chicago also could have spent a pretty penny on a free agent quarterback, but in the end, they may end up with a starting quarterback for $8 million this year.

What a wizard that Pace guy is. Pretty remarkable.