The Chicago Bears made five big moves over the space of the past week to overhaul their roster. They secured three new starting interior offensive linemen, a defensive end, and a defensive tackle. Combined, they will count $56.47 million against the salary cap this year, and all except guard Joe Thuney are under contract through 2027. He should be receiving a contract extension at some point in the near future. While necessary, GM Ryan Poles’ moves have all but swallowed up any viable cap space for the foreseeable future.
That would be a gigantic miscalculation. In truth, Poles and cap manager Matt Feinstein have not only kept the Bears enough under the cap in 2025 to handle any remaining business, but they’ve left the door wide open for future aggressive moves in 2026. Presuming there is another $10 million cap jump next year, the Bears are projected to have $67 million in space. That doesn’t even account for the multiple moves they could make to free up even more.
For example, by cutting or trading Tremaine Edmunds and D’Andre Swift, they would jump to over $90 million.
Ryan Poles has maintained his promise to protect the books.
He always said the team would be selective in free agency. They aren’t afraid to be aggressive but rarely throw away money unnecessarily. None of the contracts they’ve handed out over the past week can be called overpays. All were well within the projections of what those players would command, and some were even cheaper than expected. The Bears have more than enough space to extend Thuney, cornerback Kyler Gordon, and even left tackle Braxton Jones if that is the direction they choose to go. Even then, they’d still have wiggle room to go after a big name.
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There could be plenty to choose from in 2026. Standouts like Drake London, Jameson Williams, Tyler Smith, George Karlaftis, Aidan Hutchinson, Travon Walker, and Ikem Ekwonu will headline the group. Obviously, most of those big names will be retained by their current teams via extensions or the franchise tag. Still, two or three are bound to reach the open market. Ryan Poles has given the Bears an opportunity to remain on the attack.
@Dr. Melhus — So, you’re telling me the (in)famous Ryan Poles introductory speech was misreported — and was actually: “… We’re gonna take the NFC North [and all the dead cap money — because then, we can keep it] and never give it back!” And that’s your latest “best argument” to support the “King Poles” dynasty? Okay… and then you associate yourself with a moron (who displays both, his aversion to free speech, and disrespect for women in his silly, mysogynistic Sports Mockery log-in identity). Two for two — so far — “Doc Martin.” “What in the ‘Wide Wotld of… Read more »
My Poles, right or wrong! Fighting Side of Me! Born in the USA!
George: “I own plenty of credits…”
Poles: “I’ll maneuver the debits…”
Bottom line—-Three 3 3 3 Notorious Losing Seasons—-But let’s call it “Masterwork” even better than the Mona Lisa.
And what do the dumb male Hyenas in the Lion King and here on SM say, “yah, yah, yessum, oh yippie, yup, gotcha… “.
Yes, indeed, cut two of Poles’ hasty big name signings to have more cap space–what masterwork! Cut his overpriced, underperforming players to build the future cap space to move beyond Year Four 4 4 4 4 of the Poles’ rebuild. Seems we can flip this to say: Poles cannot lose for losing, losing, and losing.
However, now that My HC Ben is in charge of personnel, the big money pot will be better served in the selection of players. Remember, this is only Year One 1 of AMB–(After My Ben) rebuild after extremely audacious failures of the past.
Dr Melhaus- TG has no data to project anything because as he says
“ Time discovers Truth”. So, he’s caught in his own web of nonsense.
Just waiting for @TGena to explain with cherry picked statistics how Poles’s cap management is awful. But it might be too hard for him to find any data that can be skewed to show that. As the poster below stated, top 5 in cap dollars every year since Poles started. That streak might end once the Bears are more settled at most positions and start having to pay Caleb, Rome, and so forth. All that said, I’m glad the Bears have a solid handle on their cap. After all, the reason they were able to get Thuney was because the… Read more »