The early negotiating period for 2026 free agency officially starts at 11:00 a.m. (CT) today. But everyone knows there’s already been some down-low groundwork laid out between agents and teams. How else do you explain the frenzy of reports that are sure to hit social media shortly after 11?
The Chicago Bears were hit with the retirement of center Drew Dalman last week, so they traded a 2027 fifth-rounder to the Patriots for Garrett Bradbury. Yesterday, they re-signed special team ace Daniel Hardy.
You can check out our transaction tracker right here for a running list of all the Bears’ moves.
We’ll update this news and rumor tracker as the reports relating to the Bears start trickling in on this first day of free agency.
The deadline for teams to exclusively negotiate and re-sign their own free agents is today at 11:00 a.m. (CT). Once that passes, the frenzy officially begins!
Once the clock strikes 11:00 a.m., here are all the Chicago players who can now legally negotiate with other teams.
Chicago’s remaining free agents
Case Keenum, QB
Durham Smythe, TE
Travis Homer, RB
Olamide Zaccheaus, WR
Devin Duvernay, WR
Braxton Jones, LT
Ryan Bates, OL
Scott Daly, LS
Jaquan Brisker, S
Kevin Byard, S
Elijah Hicks, S
C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Jr., S
Jonathan Owens, S
D’Marco Jackson, LB
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB
Nahshon Wright, CB
Jaylon Jones, CB
Nick McCloud, CB
Chris Williams, DT
Andrew Billings, DT
Dominique Robinson, DE
Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, DE
The deadline to submit qualifying offers to restricted free agents (RFAs) and exclusive rights free agents (ERFAs) is the start of the league year, when free agency opens on March 11 at 3:00 p.m. (CT). The Bears have one such player.
Jordan McFadden, OL – RFA
If you guys see any interesting rumors or reports, share them in the comment section, but please DO NOT share bogus rumors from random or fake Twitter accounts that make stuff up for likes and shares.
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