Adam Jahns at The Athletic writes about his take always from an interview with GM Ryan Poles at the owner’s meetings.
“Extra point, Part 2: Poles has turned to Cliff Stein, the Bears’ senior vice president/general counsel, to handle player contract negotiations and the salary cap.”
“‘It was really cool to see Cliff back at it,’ Poles said. ‘You could tell he has a lot of respect from the agents from the time he did it before. They were excited to see him and hear his voice. And he has a wealth of knowledge that I know helped me and it helped Matt. And we have a nice little team that we’ve put together. So he was a big part of this.'”
Personally, I was glad to see this. Stein is far more conservative than what was needed in the Ryan Pace era where the Bears were constantly manipulating the cap to put off charges into the future. Stein dates back to the days when the Bears were far more financially responsible and rarely overpaid for a player.
Stein has actually talked to agents during the draft and told them that the Bears wouldn’t take their player without a promise that there wouldn’t be a hold out. I think we’re going to be back to the days when the Bears were among the first organizations to get all of their draft picks signed.