A report last night put the Chicago Bears as the favorites to land prized defensive end Mario Williams when NFL free agency begins today at 3 p.m. The Bears are seeking an edge rusher to compliment star Julius Peppers, and Williams would seem to be a perfect fit. Only one problem: he's going to cost a of money, and likely take up the majority of Chicago's salary cap space.
In his latest mailbag at ESPN, John Clayton said Chicago should think twice before allotting so much cap space to one position.
A: In the salary-cap era, I can't see a team paying two defensive ends $14 million a year. Although it looks great on paper, it doesn't work well for the capologists, particularly in the early part of a new CBA that has flat caps. Sure, you can structure a deal that can work for a year or two, but the big numbers at one position eventually catch up to a team. A Cover 2 team can do great when it has two pass-rushers, but it would be hard to feature the two highest-paid ends in the league and still take care of other positions.
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