The Chicago Bears are days away from the start of free agency and have plenty of holes to fill on the roster going into the second season under head coach Ben Johnson.

Since doing our last Mock Offseason, a lot has changed for the Bears. We learned a lot of intel at the NFL Combine about some upcoming moves and potential trades in the works and Tuesday’s sudden retirement of center Drew Dalman threw a wrench in the team’s offseason plans. So, let’s do another exercise to see what the upcoming weeks could look like for the Bears.

Using tools from Over the Cap, Spotrac, and Stick to the Model, we created our mock offseason 2.0. Here is what we think the Bears should do, not necessarily a projection of what will happen.

Starting salary cap space: $2,536,445

Roster Cuts

• RB Roschon Johnson ($192,172 in dead money / $1,145,000 in cap savings)
• CB Tyrique Stevenson ($422,637 in dead money / $3,674,000 in cap savings)

Tremaine Edmunds is the team’s most obvious cut candidate, but more on what we’ll do with him in a little bit. So far, the Bears have only released one player in Amen Ogbongbemiga. Two other candidates I see getting released are Roschon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson based on the savings alone and the roles they played this past season. Neither seem like ideal fits for this coaching staff.

Cap space after roster cuts: $7,355,445

Trades

• LB Tremaine Edmunds and 2026 fifth-round pick (No. 164) traded to the New York Giants for DE Kayvon Thibodeaux
• QB Tyson Bagent traded to the Arizona Cardinals for 2026 third-round pick (No. 65)

First big move of the mock offseason, the Bears send Tremaine Edmunds ($15 million in cap savings if traded) and a fifth-round pick to the New York Giants for edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux. This is a much cheaper deal than trading for Maxx Crosby or signing Trey Hendrickson and gives Chicago a younger player. The Giants are also in need of a starting caliber linebacker after releasing Bobby Okereke. Thibodeaux is set to play on his $14,751,000 fifth-year option, but in this mock, the Bears would sign him to a three-year extension around $50 million with a $30 million signing bonus. This can allow Chicago to reduce his 2026 base salary to the vet minimum for a $7.26 million cap hit in 2026.

The second trade we made was sending Tyson Bagent to the Arizona Cardinals. The Bears made it clear they ideally wouldn’t want to move Bagent and have a high asking price in return. Chicago doesn’t quite get the second-round pick they want but still land the first pick of Round 3. Moving Bagent also saves Chicago $3,750,000 with $1 million in dead cap.

Cap space after trades: $18,845,445

Contract Restructures

• DE Montez Sweat ($9.8 million)
• LG Joe Thuney ($7.4 million)
• WR DJ Moore ($14.7 million)
• RG Jonah Jackson ($6.2 million)

Going with the same approach as last time by doing a standard restructure for Montez Sweat, Joe Thuney, and Jonah Jackson. This time around, however, I’ve decided to keep DJ Moore instead of trading him, which means we’re going to have to rework his deal that currently has the highest-cap hit on the team. A standard restructure pushes more money down the road and makes it harder to eventually move on, but the $14.7 million in 2026 savings is worth it if we’re not going to trade him.

Cap space after restructures: $56,945,445

Resignings

• S Kevin Byard (two-year, $20 million)
• LB D’Marco Jackson (two-year, $6 million)
• WR Devin Duvernay (one-year, $2 million)
• OT Braxton Jones (one-year, $4 million)
• OL Jordan McFadden (one-year, $3.5 million)
• QB Case Keenum (one-year, $3 million)
• TE Durham Smythe (one-year $2.5 million)
• DE/LB Daniel Hardy (one-year, $2.5 million)
• S C.J. Gardner-Johnson (one-year, $1.3 million)
• LS Scott Daly (one-year, $1.215 million)

Kevin Byard is the top priority player for the Bears ahead of free agency and has earned a raise at $10 million per year on another two-year deal. After that, D’Marco Jackson gets a two-year extension as well with a raise giving Chicago an in-house option to replace Edmunds. Braxton Jones is another important player to retain, if he’s willing, to add more competition at left tackle.

The other seven players are valuable role players to keep in the building, especially Case Keenum after we previously traded away Bagent.

Cap space after re-signings: $28,930,445

Free Agent Signings

• C Tyler Biadasz: three-year, $30 million
• RB Kenneth Gainwell: two-year, $6 million

Heading into free agency, the Bears wouldn’t have a ton to work with after all of the in-house extensions/re-signings. The first priority needs to be finding a starting center to replace Dalman and unfortunately we didn’t have the funds to chase after Tyler Linderbaum. Instead, we landed on Tyler Biadasz, who still has valuable starting experience at half the projected cost.

The other external signing made was handing a two-year deal to Kenneth Gainwell, giving Ben Johnson some more spark in the backfield. With D’Andre Swift entering the final year of his deal, it made sense to do a multi-year deal with Gainwell.

Cap space after re-signings: $10,930,445

2026 Mock Draft

• Round 1, pick 25: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toldeo
• Round 2, pick 57: Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech
• Round 3, pick 65: Gracen Halton, DT, Oklahoma
• Round 3, pick 89: Devin Moore, CB, Florida
• Round 4, pick 129: Bishop Fitzgerald, S, USC
• Round 7, pick 239: Logan Fano, DE, Utah
• Round 7, pick 241: Behren Morton, QB, Texas Tech

In the draft, I went best player available at a position of need by adding a hard-hitting safety to pair with Byard in Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Jacob Rodriguez in the second-round is great value and he has a chance to be a Day 1 starter next to T.J. Edwards. To round out Day 2, I added a Dennis Allen-style player on the interior in Gracen Halton and a tall outside cornerback in Devin Moore.

Day 3 was all about creating defensive depth by adding a ball-hawking safety, a long-limbed edge rusher, and a new developmental project to add to the quarterback room.

Chicago Bears News

The first free agent domino for the Bears is leaning in a positive direction with a resolution coming sooner than later

Kevin Byard III is leaning toward sticking with the Chicago Bears based on latest report.

Kole Noble