Bears renegotiate Julius Peppers' deal, free up cap space

The Bears’ salary-cap situation is a tight one. But the Bears were able free up some additional space by renegotiating the contract of defense end Julius Peppers.

A source said the Bears lowered Peppers’ base salary for 2013 from $12.9 million to $9.9 million, converting $3 million to a signing bonus.More importantly, the move frees up $1,795,467 in salary cap space for this season.

But, according to the source, it does increase Peppers’ cap hits for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. His salary cap will actually be $20,683,355 in 2015.

Peppers did meet the media after practice on Wednesday.

“I don’t really know what to say to that, but I guess you can analyze it how you want to,” Peppers said. “But I guess it’s confirmed.”