The fifth name on our ten Chicago Bears with the most to prove in 2025 is about to be unveiled, and it’s our third repeat appearance (hint: five names have returned).
So far, we’ve seen Roschon Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, Gervon Dexter, and Cole Kmet make the list.
Brisker and Dexter were both on this list in 2024, and both of them returned to the list, but both of them returned for different reasons.
Tremaine Edmunds is sixth on the list, and the reason he’s on this list is identical to why he was on this list in 2024.
Simply put: Edmunds needs to be better. Much better.
Edmunds was a more impactful defender in 2024 than he was in 2023, but in both seasons, he failed to reach the level of impact that he should as an $18 million a year defender. His statistics are strikingly similar from 2023 to 2024, and in fact, the one significant difference was interceptions, where Edmunds had 4 in 2023 and only 1 in 2024.
While on the surface, one might consider that drop off considerable, Edmunds was a better pass defender last season. Edmunds' four interceptions were unique in 2023 because, in every case, the ball just seemingly fell in his lap, whether it be a tipped ball or an errant throw; those interceptions were more right place, right time.
Think about this, in 2023, Edmunds, despite having four interceptions, still allowed a passer rating of 85.3. Last season, despite only having one interception, Edmunds' passer rating against was 72.6, the second-best number of his career.
If you like PFF numbers, you won’t like what they think of Edmunds. In 2023, they graded Edmunds 56.6 overall with a 57.5 run defense grade and a 58.3 coverage grade.
In 2024, Edmunds' overall grade was a 59.2 with a run grade of 62.6 and a pass coverage grade of 56.3.
I think PFF’s grades reflect Edmunds' performance quite accurately.
The Bears are paying Edmunds to be a difference-maker. Edmunds should be making impact plays every game. But Edmunds has let the game come to him, and he rarely has made a play that pivots the momentum of a game.
Of linebackers with 500 or more snaps, only 20 linebackers finished with a worse PFF grade compared to Edumnds. 46 linebackers with 500 snaps finished in front of him.
Edmunds’ performance is simply unacceptable.
A stat I love for linebackers is stops. A stop is a tackle that results in an unsuccessful play for the offense. Edmunds was way down on that list. Edmunds only had 34 on the season (an average of just two per game), which ranked him 44th in the league. The NFL leader was Zack Baun with 79.
Edmunds is back in 2025 largely because his contract was too difficult to get out of after two seasons, but it’s quite easy to get out of Edmunds' contract after this season.
Edmunds' cap number is $17.5 million for 2026, but if the Bears cut him, he leaves just $2 million behind in dead cap. If they were to do it before the 2025 season, Edmunds' dead cap hit would be over $13 million.
Edmunds is back because the Bears are stuck with him. But with the Bears' decision to extend TJ Edwards, they are almost certainly hoping that Ruben Hyppolite can emerge as a viable linebacker and become the team’s second linebacker in nickel packages with Edwards in 2025.
For Edmunds to return in 2025, he is going to have to have his best season in Chicago by far. Most likely, he’s going to have to have the best season of his career. Edmunds is going to have to play at an All-Pro level, something he’s never done before.
Edmunds has been a Pro Bowl player twice with the Buffalo Bills, but you have to wonder, if Edmunds does that, but isn’t an All-Pro level, if even that level of performance can save his job at this point.
Edmunds almost certainly won’t be a Bear in 2026; he’s going to have to show he was worth every penny in 2025 to make sure he returns, and based on his first two seasons in Chicago, that’s a very tall order.