The Chicago Bears need to make adjustments to their salary cap to clear up some room if they want to add new players in free agency.  In order to make these signings the Bears need to find a way to add more to the roughly $4-million they are currently under the cap, plus leave room for rookies and their own free agents. 

The Bears have a way to add an additional $7.8-million to that $4-million if they cut players who are under performing or it may be best to send packing.  If the Bears cut Devin  Hester, Earl Bennett, Kellen Davis, Adam Podelesh their base salaries would equal $7.8-million in savings.  Base salaries are not guaranteed so the Bears would  not owe them that money and that would alleviate some of the pain associated with the cap crunch.

During this edition of the best Chicago Bears podcast on the web we talked about the lead up to the 2013 free agency period for the Monsters of the Midway.  What does the Henry Melton extension mean for the Bears?  What players are the Bears targeting to bring back in 2013 and what positions and players are the Bears targeting on the open market to be a part of the new season. 

The Chicago Bears are in a hell of a salary cap and financial crunch on a level with some of the worst salary cap situations in the NFL.  This fact has gone completely unnoticed by even the most nuanced NFL analysts and Bears beat reporters.   The problem has gone unnoticed because prior to Henry Melton being designated the franchise player the Bears were under the salary cap. 

The Bears are just barely under the 2013 salary cap now with Melton's franchise tag guarantee, but have seven free agents of their own that would likely fit into the 2013 season plans.

Yesterday marked a milestone in the 2013 NFL free agency period, teams had to declare who would receive the franchise tag and who would be allowed to hit the open market.  In comparison only seven other teams hit players with the extremely restrictive designation.  Only two players that received the tag could have theoretically been targeted by the Bears had they been allowed to hit the open market.

Both of those players were left tackles, Branden Albert of the Kansas City Chiefs and Ryan Clady of the Denver Broncos were kept off the market.  The Bears have been extremely quiet about their free agency plans to this point, but one point they have leaked out, they are  happy with J'Marcus Webb as the starting LT.  Webb deserves to be the starting LT based on his performance for the 2012 season.

The Bears today informed cornerback DJ Moore that he will not be pursued in free agency to return to Chicago for the 2013 season.  Moore was a fourth round draft pick in 2009 NFL draft and developed into an extremely good play maker during his time in Chicago.  

He developed into the starting nickel back and was seen as a key young component of the Bears defense moving forward.  No player made a better impact in the secondary on a per snap basis that D.J. Moore did during the 2011 season.  Moore however found his way to the bench, not for his play rather for his outspoken nature as a player.

We're back at it after a break in the action with another edition of the Bear Report radio podcast.  This week's edition we talked about J'Marcus Webb and his future with the Bears.  We talked about the players that stood out hte most at the NFL combine.  What prospects should the Bears target at the 20th overall selection in the draft?  We also spoke with Russ Lande Scouting Director at the National Football Post to get his feelings on the prospects the Bears were looking at during the combine. 

The 2013 NFL Scouting wrapped up in Indianapolis yesterday after the defensive backs ran their 40-yard dashes and went through their on the field drills.  Overall the first impressions coming out of Indy is overall it was an very uneventful combine with not many newsworthy stories.  Certainly the rest of the NFL draftniks don't see it that way with news about how well the Honey Badger performed or how Manti Te'o didn't perform so well. 

For the Chicago Bears though, there was nothing  that happened amongst the prospects they should be considering with the 20th overall selection in the NFL draft that was of note.  With that in mind let's take a look at some of the prospects that the Bears should be narrowing their list down to.

Second year offensive tackle Gabe Carimi was benched a little over a quarter of the way through the season, in favor of free agent pickup Jonathan Scott.  Scott was cut after a few years unsuccessful years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and then signed by the Bears when it became apparent that Chris Williams was going to be cut. 

Scott came in and was the starter for the final five games of the season at the right tackle spot and now heads to free agency.  The question with Scott now becomes, is he worth retaining or should the Bears do something to upgrade the position?

Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman and GM Phil Emery took to the podium at the NFL combine today to talk about the state of the franchise.  First up to talk today was Trestman who spoke about Urlacher and the progress of player and roster evaluation of the Bears.

The most intriguing quote that came from Trestman was in regards to current defensive end Shea McClellin and where he fits into the Bears defense.

Kellen Davis showed a lot of promise as a player for the Chicago Bears in his limited action.  At one time it was thought that Davis could consistently catch 40 to 50 balls a season and be a very good TE threat for the Bears.  He had shown some solid ability speed good hands and he's a big target that can jump.

This was supposed to be the year the Davis broke out and replaced the production of the departed Greg Olsen.  Instead Davis fell on his face and had an horrible season, a season that should cost him his job after signing a two-year contract extension.