Let’s address the elephant in the room: the Bears have negative cap space heading into the 2026 NFL offseason.
It’s not the abundance of resources fans are used to seeing. Chicago has been big spenders almost every year that Ryan Poles has been their general manager. Last year was no exception: they traded for both Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, and they signed Drew Dalman, Grady Jarrett, and Dayo Odeyingbo. All five of those contracts signed for over $10 million annually.
2026 will not be nearly as
active in terms of big-money splashes. Rather, expect this offseason to be defined by one or two big swings, as well as restructuring a few contracts to free up some cap space.
The common saying goes that cap space isn’t real. That’s not entirely true, but cap space is extremely manipulative. Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace manipulated the cap with void years, which he used to push cap hits beyond the tenure of the contracts he signed. He used that extra cap flexibility to make such stellar signings like Andy Dalton, Germain Ifedi, and Jesse James.
Luckily, the Bears aren’t in that dire of a position where they’d need to resort to void years. Rather, they will likely opt to restructure certain contracts, increasing the cap hit in 2027 while decreasing it in 2026 and providing more short-term cap space.
To show how easily salary cap can be manipulated, let’s say for the sake of the argument that the Bears restructure all of these players’ contracts:
- WR DJ Moore
- DE Montez Sweat
- CB Jaylon Johnson
- LG Joe Thuney
- DE Dayo Odeyingbo
- RG Jonah Jackson
- DT Grady Jarrett
- C Drew Dalman
- CB Kyler Gordon
- TE Cole Kmet
Restructuring all of those contracts would bring the Bears from negative $5.3 million all the way up to $73.7 million in cap space in 2026, all without having to release a single player.
Will they restructure all of these players? Absolutely not. Should they restructure all of these players? Absolutely not. You’d then be at just over $3 million in 2027 cap space in a key offseason where extending Darnell Wright’s contract should take full priority.
That said, they definitely should look to restructure some of those contracts.
When you’re looking for restructure candidates, you’re looking for players you feel confident will still be on the team in 2027, when the increased cap hit would take place. If you restructure a player on a bad, expensive contract, and they don’t turn things around, you’re stuck with that albatross around your neck.
For those reasons, don’t expect the Bears to restructure Odeyingbo or Jarrett. Both were pricy free agent additions last offseason who failed to live up to expectations in 2025. It makes no sense to increase their future cap hits when you have to rely on a rebound season and there’s that much cap space involved.
That said, you still have plenty of flexibility with the other candidates. Out of that bunch, the players I’d look to restructure the most are Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Drew Dalman, Montez Sweat, and Jaylon Johnson. I feel the most confident that the interior offensive line will be the same in 2027 as it projects going into 2026, barring a retirement from Thuney.
Sweat and Johnson are two players who have been above-average starters for the Bears’ defense for the last few seasons. Though both have reasonable outs in their respective contracts in 2027, I wouldn’t be in a rush to move off of them. If you have concerns that Sweat isn’t fully living up to his price tag or that Johnson is coming off a major injury, you can choose to restructure someone like Moore, Gordon, or Kmet instead.
You also have contract extensions you could pursue. Players who are slated to hit free agency in 2027 besides Wright include Tremaine Edmunds, D’Andre Swift, Gervon Dexter, and Tyrique Stevenson. It seems unlikely all four of those players will be extended, but if you want to keep one or two of them around for the long haul, you could sign them to extensions and create more 2026 cap space in the process.
Let’s run a quick little scenario of how the Bears could create cap space. For the sake of this argument, I will be releasing Edmunds. I will also restructure Thuney, Dalman, Jackson, Sweat, and Gordon.
- Starting 2026 cap space: -$5,300,354
- New 2026 cap space: $45,934,646
- Starting 2027 cap space: $69,646,170
- New 2027 cap space: $35,216,170
Worried about the 2027 cap space decrease? By releasing Odeyingbo and Jarrett next offseason, you’re back up to $62,966,170.
Then, there’s the possibility of a DJ Moore trade. There are individuals on both sides who bring up some valid points. Ultimately, I think the Bears’ best choice is to pursue a trade for Moore. His $28.5 million cap hit is objectively not on par with the 682 receiving yards he had in 2025. He’s the No. 13-paid wide receiver in the entire NFL, and he ranked No. 40 in yards at the wide receiver position. That’s just not a smart use of resources.
Chicago still inheriting $12 million off Moore’s contract makes him a much more valuable trade target for teams in need of help at the wide receiver position. I doubt the Bears could get an Earth-shattering haul of picks back for him, but they could at least get enough to add some depth at other positions.
If the Bears trade Moore, they’d be at over $62.4 million in cap space in 2026. With the aforementioned restructures and cuts, they’d improve to over $91.4 million in 2027.
That’s plenty of space for Chicago to swing big for a high-level defensive lineman or two in 2026. You could throw a safety in the mix, as well. They could also use some of that money to extend players like Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Nahshon Wright, or Braxton Jones, if they so choose. In 2027, you could extend Wright, remain active in free agency, and extend another one of your homegrown talents.
The point is: the Bears have a lot more cap space flexibility than people think. There’s no reason for panic because their current number is in the red, and it’s not a disaster that this is their current cap space situation. General manager Ryan Poles has provided plenty of adjustability for them to move money around and still improve their roster after making the playoffs in 2025.
