As the NFL offseason winds down and teams start to prepare for the 2025 regular season, there’s a dead period between the final practice of mandatory minicamp and the start of training camp. This allows teams to assess their current rosters while also exploring what the next few years could look like in terms of the cap. For a team like the Chicago Bears, there have been plenty of big contracts handed out in 2025 that will have impacts far beyond this one season.
Bears fans have grown accustomed to a significant amount of cap flexibility over the last few seasons. After all, most bad teams usually have plenty of money to spend. The bigger issue is having enough good players to spend cap space on and ultimately meet the cash floor in those three years. Over the last three years, the Bears have consistently ranked in the Top 10 in available cap space throughout the offseason. With a new coaching staff and higher expectations, General Manager Ryan Poles spent more money in 2025 than he had in the previous three offseasons.
As a result, their cap outlook for 2026 appears tight on the surface. As of now, Chicago is projected to be $7.26 million over the cap when accounting for getting to the 51-player minimum. That, of course, is based on Over The Cap’s assumed $295.5 million cap for 2026 and does not account for any rollovers. Although this should not cause panic among the fanbase, it’s fair to say that they will have to make some tough roster decisions next year. Those decisions will come in the way of cuts, restructures, and allowing players to test the market. We’ll take a look at five players to keep an eye on this season, who are ultimately playing for their futures in Chicago.
1. LB Tremaine Edmunds
No player on this list has more pressure on him than Edmunds heading into the 2025 season. With T.J. Edwards signing a two-year extension and a crunch to next year’s salary cap, Edmunds is going to need to have a career year to be retained. The former Bill has had a lackluster two years in Chicago, coming off a career year in Buffalo. His size, speed, and length have always been intriguing, but his inability to stay consistent has plagued him for most of his career.
Edmunds signed a four-year, $72 million deal in 2023, and due to the structure of that deal, he was essentially guaranteed three years of the contract. 2026 is a different story, and for a team like the Bears, who will be strapped against the cap, he’s their best candidate for a big chunk of cap relief. Barring an All-Pro type of season, there’s a very good chance that he’s playing his last year in Chicago.
2026 Cap Ramifications: $17.483 million cap hit with $15 million in savings (if released)
2. TE Cole Kmet
Without such an expensive offseason that will hit even harder in 2026, it would have been much easier to feel better about Kmet’s future beyond this season. Instead, the 26-year-old’s future in Chicago is firmly in question. Heading into the offseason, most had expected Kmet to be a focal point of the offense under Johnson. Instead, the team went out and spent their No. 10 overall pick on Colston Loveland, who should be a perfect fit for this offense in the Sam LaPorta role.
So, where does that leave Kmet?
Historically, rookie tight ends tend to start slow. So, it should not be a surprise to see the former Notre Dame product heavily involved in the offense in the early stages of the season. The back half of the season should be more telling. Once Loveland is healthy and gets his feet under him at the NFL level, fans should expect to see him as a featured piece in this offense. Looking back at Johnson’s tight end usage in Detroit, it’s fair to expect their TE1 to see 70% (or more) of the total offensive snaps, and TE2 to eclipse the 50% mark.
Even so, can the Bears afford to pay Kmet’s $11.6 million cap hit? In theory, yes. Due to the modern-day structure of NFL contracts, they could allocate additional funds to keep him under contract. The money saved on a trade or release might be too much to pass up, though. Especially if there are more holes than anticipated heading into next offseason. The only way Kmet can ensure his roster spot is safe heading into 2026 is to have a career year, which might be difficult if he sees less time on the field.
2026 Cap Ramifications: $11.6 million cap hit with $8.4 million in savings (if traded or released pre-June 1st)
3. LT Braxton Jones
Jones has been nothing short of a success story for a fifth-round pick who was plucked from a small school. The fact that he was able to step in from Day 1 and develop into a quality starting left tackle was one of general manager Ryan Poles’ best success stories. That being said, injuries have begun to pile up, and the Bears cannot afford to pay another offensive lineman responsibly. Next year alone, the Bears will be spending roughly $59.5 million on six linemen, including Ozzy Trapilo and Kiran Amgegadjie. A year later, Darnell Wright is projected to cost the team close to $18 million if they choose to exercise his fifth-year option.
Simply put, it’s hard to imagine many scenarios where the Bears can afford to pay four of their starting five offensive linemen $14 million or more per season in 2026. This was always the risk with their offseason approach of paying three interior linemen good money.
Call it a hunch, but it would be a surprise if Trapilo didn’t receive every opportunity to win the Week 1 starting job at left tackle. Despite the talk of potentially moving Wright to left tackle, that’s a scenario that would require two, maybe three plans to go horribly wrong. At worst, Jones is their starting left tackle to open the season. Realistically, he’s likely to produce a more balanced season than Trapilo or Amegadjie. Even so, this is the type of decision that requires a long-term outlook, which is why it’s fair to expect Trapilo to have multiple opportunities to win the starting job from the outset.
Assuming that one of Trapilo or Amegadjie can grab the job by the horns and run with it, Bears fans shouldn’t be surprised to see Jones shopped once he’s healthy. Although we are weeks away from finding out how this will all play out, it would take multiple situations going Jones’ way for him to be back in Chicago next season.
2026 Cap Ramifications: Projected Unrestricted Free Agent (Projected Contract Floor: Dan Moore four years, $82 million with $50 million guaranteed)
NFL: New England Patriots at Chicago Bears Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images
4. CB Tyrique Stevenson
By all accounts, this is a big season in the career of Stevenson. Following a promising rookie campaign in 2023, adversity struck for the majority of last year. Even before the disastrous Hail Mary in Washington, Stevenson was not playing at a high level. Following the blunder, he was routinely benched and appeared to lose all confidence. He finished the season on a better note, but to label him anything more than an unknown heading into Year 3 would be optimistic.
The good news for Stevenson: He’ll have a relatively clean slate with the new coaching staff.
The potential bad news for Stevenson: He’s already accounted for enough playing time over his first two years to qualify on the Level 2 Proven Performance Escalator fourth-year rookie contract scale. This means that his projected $2.052 million cap hit for 2026 converts to an original round tender (projected at $3.453 million), plus an additional $250,000 for reaching level two, and his prorated bonus figure of $422,637 that registers as dead money. His actual cap hit would more than double.
Simply thinking out loud, it’s hard to imagine a team snug against the cap wanting to pay a player $4.126 million if they aren’t sure he’s an ascending player. That’s not to say that Stevenson will struggle again this year, but due to these escalators in each non-first-round pick’s contract, the former Miami product’s future is more clouded than it would be at $2.052 million. If he plays well, it’s a no-brainer. If someone like Zah Frazier starts earning rotational reps with the starters as the season goes on, Stevenson could be a cut or trade candidate heading into next offseason.
2026 Cap Ramifications: $4.126 million cap hit with $422,637 in dead cap. (Projected at a PPE2 amount as a fourth-year player)
5. S Elijah Hicks
The top four names on this list have been associated with a more negative connotation due to their financial ramifications. The last player of the five is here for the opposite reason. Looking at the Bears’ 2026 depth chart, there isn’t a single safety there, unless you’re optimistic that Major Burns and Tysheem Johnson will crack the final 53-man roster in September.
Kevin Byard will be 32 before the start of Week 1, and Jaquan Brisker’s concussion issues are well-documented. Although there’s a chance they could look to retain one of these names, settling on a value for an often-injured player like Brisker will be a challenging task. Instead, fans shouldn’t be surprised to see Hicks getting more playing time in this defense. New defensive coordinator Dennis Allen typically deploys five to six defensive backs in his subpackages. This means that even when a player like Kyler Gordon is on the field as the nickel, there will be plenty of opportunities for a sixth defensive back to make their mark. On paper, that could be Hicks, as he has the versatility at safety or even cornerback.
With no real answers heading into next season, giving Hicks an extended look to prove himself as a capable starter should be high on their priority list. It would be cheaper than overspending in free agency, and more reliable than expecting a rookie to play like an NFL veteran in their first year. Of all the Bears’ upcoming free agents, Hicks has one of the better chances to establish his value and get a multi-year extension next year.
2026 Cap Ramifications: Projected Unrestricted Free Agent