Windy City Gridiron
With Training Camp just over two weeks away, it’s time to start looking ahead. With a projected cap crunch coming next season, these five veterans have the most to prove in 2025 in order to stick around following the season.
As the NFL offseason winds down and teams start to prepare for the 2025 regular season, there’s a dead period between the final practice of mandatory minicamp and the start of training camp. This allows teams to assess their current rosters while also exploring what the next few years could look like in terms of the cap. For a team like the Chicago Bears, there have been plenty of big contracts handed out in 2025 that will have impacts far beyond this one season.
Bears fans have grown accustomed to a significant amount of cap flexibility over the last few seasons. After all, most bad teams usually have plenty of money to spend. The bigger issue is having enough good players to spend cap space on and ultimately meet the cash floor in those three years. Over the last three years, the Bears have consistently ranked in the Top 10 in available cap space throughout the offseason. With a new coaching staff and higher expectations, General Manager Ryan Poles spent more money in 2025 than he had in the previous three offseasons.
As a result, their cap outlook for 2026 appears tight on the surface. As of now, Chicago is projected to be $7.26 million over the cap when accounting for getting to the 51-player minimum. That, of course, is based on Over The Cap’s assumed $295.5 million cap for 2026 and does not account for any rollovers. Although this should not cause panic among the fanbase, it’s fair to say that they will have to make some tough roster decisions next year. Those decisions will come in the way of cuts, restructures, and allowing players to test the market. We’ll take a look at five players to keep an eye on this season, who are ultimately playing for their futures in Chicago.
No player on this list has more pressure on him than Edmunds heading into the 2025 season. With T.J. Edwards signing a two-year extension and a crunch to next year’s salary cap, Edmunds is going to need to have a career year to be retained. The former Bill has had a lackluster two years in Chicago, coming off a career year in Buffalo. His size, speed, and length have always been intriguing, but his inability to stay consistent has plagued him for most of his career.
Edmunds signed a four-year, $72 million deal in 2023, and due to the structure of that deal, he was essentially guaranteed three years of the contract. 2026 is a different story, and for a team like the Bears, who will be strapped against the cap, he’s their best candidate for a big chunk of cap relief. Barring an All-Pro type of season, there’s a very good...
