I was going to post something on this today anyway, but Grizz over at the cowboys site beat me to it, so I am just going to use the article he posted.
"In past years, you'd see a lot of guys released who maybe still had some name value, but who were really in decline in terms of production," said one AFC team executive who was working late Tuesday, trying to figure out how to pare down a prohibitively bloated cap figure. "This year? People are going to be stunned -- not just by the quantity of players who are cut by Thursday, but by the quality, too. It's going to be ugly. There's going to be blood in the streets and, compared to past years, it's going to be from some bluebloods, guys who can still play."
Seeing as how the Bears are an approximate 17 million under the cap, this doesn't affect us in any negative ways, but depending on who gets cuts it certainly can help us. Get a few more quaility receivers and/or punt returners on the market and Randle El's number might come back into the ball park. Here is one little bit about the fallout that could also help the Bears; although, it is expected the Bears will approach this sooner rather than later, but it would give them a few extra years to work with.
For instance, players will now need six accrued seasons, not four, to qualify for unrestricted free agent status. So a standout young player such as Chicago Bears three-year veteran linebacker Lance Briggs, who is coming off a Pro Bowl season and whose contract expires after the 2006 season, would have to wait two additional seasons before being unrestricted.