The Bears have quietly become a very expensive football team. At the moment, the team is projected to be above the 2026 salary cap by $5.3MM, per OverTheCap, with 13 players currently scheduled for a cap hit over $10MM.
Chicago can become cap-compliant with a few simple restructures. But a team that was two wins away from the Super Bowl in 2025 will be looking to add to their roster to gear up for another playoff run. That could lead them to consider releasing a few veterans with high cap numbers.
Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and tight end Cole Kmet are the Bears’ top potential cap casualties, per ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. Edmunds is scheduled for a $17.4MM cap hit in 2026, while Kmet will account for $10.8MM. Those are hefty figures for players at non-premium positions, and the team may already have cheaper, younger replacements for both players on the roster. Neither has guaranteed money remaining on their contract.
Edmunds, 27, is entering the final year of the four-year deal that brought him to Chicago during free agency in 2023. He and T.J. Edwards, the Bears’ other starting inside linebacker, missed a combined 11 games last season, during which time D’Marco Jackson and Nephi Sewell emerged as solid contributors at the position. Edwards still has guaranteed money on his deal, but the team could save $15MM against the cap by cutting Edmunds. Jackson and Sewell would then be positioned for a training camp battle for the right to start next to Edwards in the middle of the defense.
Kmet, 26, saw a decreased role in 2025 after the arrival of rookie tight end Colston Loveland, and his production dropped accordingly. But Kmet had already taken a step back in 2024, and Loveland looks ready to step into a leading role role in 2026. The Bears still use plenty of two tight end sets and do not have a clear TE2 on the roster, making him a less likely cap casualty candidate, per Cronin. Such a move would create $8.4MM in cap space.
An even less likely move for the Bears would be trading D.J. Moore, though it is not completely out of the question, according to Cronin. He is due $24.25MM in each of the next four years, per OverTheCap, though only this year’s compensation is guaranteed. Other teams may value multiple years of contract control of a proven star wideout who has yet to cross 30 years of age. With no guaranteed money left after 2026, an acquiring team could also move on without issue during any of the next three offseasons if Moore is no longer worth his salary.
Chicago has Rome Odunze and Luther Burden as the long-term core of their receiver room, so they might be willing to move on from Moore for the right draft compensation. The added resources in terms of cap room and draft picks would help them fill his snaps while saving money for upgrades at other positions.