Place on dubious list ramps up pressure on two veteran Bears defenders in 2025

Among the issues the Chicago Bears had last season, the dysfunction-fueled struggles of the offense naturally garner the most attention. But the defense, former head coach Matt Eberflus' "specialty", was at best mediocre and just bad in some capacities.

Dennis Allen has not been a great head coach, but he is undoubtedly one of the top defensive minds in the NFL, which is why Ben Johnson wanted him to be the Bears' defensive coordinator.

Allen brings a different mode of operation to the Bears' defense than the one Eberflus favored, which is undeniably a good thing. That change should also be helpful to some key defensive players who need to have a rebound season in 2025.

Placement on dubious list turns up heat on 2 key Bears defenders

As Week 1 approaches, Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report has named the most overpaid NFL players at each position.

Two Bears' defensive players made the list: edge rusher Montez Sweat and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

"We'll preface this with the fact that Montez Sweat may have been better than his raw numbers in 2024, as he was used as a pure rusher less than in the past and he got a lot of pressure that didn't register."

"That said, if you've committed nearly $25 million per year to an edge, you need more than 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and 13 quarterback hits." 

"He ranked outside of the top five in sacks, QB hits and tackles for loss, despite the fact that he's the seventh-highest-paid player in the NFL at that position." 

"And it wasn't as though that was a fluke. The 2019 first-round pick has just one double-digit-sack campaign and one Pro Bowl nod in his career."

Sweat was pretty good after the Bears acquired him during the 2023 season, with six sacks over the final nine games. But he tallied just 5.5 sacks in 16 games last year, which exposed a deeper metric that is troubling.

As shared by Bears analyst Clay Harbor, Sweat's nine percent pass rush win rate since becoming a Bear ranks 84th in the league over that span.

The top of the market at the position climbs with each new deal, but Sweat is still tied for the 10th-highest paid edge rusher in the NFL based on annual average ($24.5 million), and he has three years left on his deal. The heat is on him to have a rebound season in 2025.

As for Edmunds, he had 110 total tackles last season as he played almost every defensive snap (1,056). But over his two years with the Bears his impactful plays have eroded, taking his Pro Football Focus grades down in-kind.

"This headline 2023 free-agent signing hasn't really panned out for the Bears, who invested massive money in an off-ball linebacker with two Pro Bowls on his resume but have thus far received so-so results."

"Edmunds is a solid player who racks up tackles, and he did have four interceptions in 2023. But he's now posted four straight single-digit AVs since going to the Pro Bowl with the Bills in 2019 and 2020." 

"The 27-year-old hasn't been a playmaker like he was in his early Buffalo days, and that four-pick 2023 campaign in Chicago looks like an aberration. Yet only four-time first-team All-Pro Fred Warner earns a higher salary among off-ball linebackers."

As Gagnon noted, Edmunds' early years with the Buffalo Bills look like the outlier. In terms of overall PFF grade, his final year in Buffalo (2022) is the only season he has landed among the top 47 off-ball linebackers. Can you say contract year drive? And the Bears were the team to bite the following March.

While they are married to Sweat for two more years, unless they want to take on a big dead money hit in 2026, the Bears can cut Edmunds and clear $15 million in cap space with a dead money hit of less than $2.5 million next spring.

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The Bears overpaid for Sweat and Edmunds, and that's not going to greatly change even if they perform better moving forward. But if there wasn't ample pressure on them already, being called out to justify their outsized contracts adds a layer of it for both guys heading into this season.