This offseason, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles will try to assemble the perfect roster to take the franchise to the Super Bowl for the first time in over 40 years.
The Poles have to first decide who to bring back: Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Nahshon Wright, or D'Marco Jackson. While those are some big questions on defense, Windy City Gridiron's Bill Zimmerman spoke with people at the Super Bowl and had this to say about the linebacker position.
"I didn’t find one person who thought Tremaine Edmunds would return this upcoming season. I also got the idea that the Bears wouldn’t mind moving on from TJ Edwards as well, but that it didn’t make much sense financially, and that Edwards, being an off-ball linebacker who is 30 years old and coming off a significant injury, has no trade value. Edwards will most likely be here in 2026 because of what was laid out above, but will almost certainly be gone in 2027. Edwards feels like another extension they’d like to have back, although I didn’t hear that directly, just the feeling I got talking to people."
Bears' T.J. Edwards might be out the door soon
Edmunds has been a popular choice as a release candidate because it would save Chicago $15 million in salary cap space. That would be massive since the Bears are in the negative with cap space to start the offseason.
Edwards is an interesting situation, though, where the Bears might be okay moving on from him as well. He finished the 2025 season with 67 tackles, five pass deflections, three quarterback hits, two tackles for loss, one interception, one touchdown, and a half sack in 10 games.
The 2025 campaign was not a good one for Edwards, as injuries in the regular season cost him seven games. He then missed the NFC Divisional Round game against the Los Angeles Rams after he suffered a fractured fibula in the NFC Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers.
Zimmerman is right that the Bears shouldn't release Edwards, as that would result in a $-2 million cap savings with a dead cap of $12.9 million before June 1, according to Spotrac. After June 1, though, the Bears could save $6 million against the cap and a dead cap of $4.6 million by trading him if they truly wanted to get him off the roster. The smartest financial move is to wait until next offseason, when the Bears can save $8.5 million and have $2.3 million in dead cap in 2027 and $0 in dead cap in 2028.
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Chicago is going to start seeing a lot of movement at linebacker over the next two offseasons, as it appears the Bears are ready to move on from Edwards and Edmunds sooner rather than later.