adam Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 So the Bears have 6 2025 starters that are in the last year of their contracts. Additionally, I believe there are two players under contract for 2026 that will be likely cap casualties. That makes 8 holes for 2026. You can't fix everything in FA, and in one draft, so knowing Poles, he is looking at this now. First are the cut candidates, I think Swift and Edmunds will be gone, that would save $22.5M against the cap for 2026 with limited dead cap. RB - Swift - cut candidate, $7.5M cap savings, $1.3M Dead LB - Edmunds - cut candidate, $15M cap savings, $2.4M Dead The other 6 are listed here: DB - Gordon? DT - Billings? LB - Edwards? OT - Jones? S - Brisker? S- Byard? What stands out to me is that out of the 8 players, 6 are on defense with 5 of the potential back 7 being new players in 2026. I feel like Gordon has the highest probability of an extension. Billings seems like another one depending on his health in 2025. Either way, right now those are holes. Considering it is really hard to get starters after the 3rd round, the Bears almost have to address 3 of these positions with the first 4 picks. Ultimately, the Bears may take a Safety or ILB in the top 4 picks, which is normally not ideal, but to keep the roster balanced, it seems like Poles has to at least consider the 2026 roster in the 2025 draft. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASHKUM BEAR Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 On 3/15/2025 at 10:29 PM, adam said: So the Bears have 6 2025 starters that are in the last year of their contracts. Additionally, I believe there are two players under contract for 2026 that will be likely cap casualties. That makes 8 holes for 2026. You can't fix everything in FA, and in one draft, so knowing Poles, he is looking at this now. First are the cut candidates, I think Swift and Edmunds will be gone, that would save $22.5M against the cap for 2026 with limited dead cap. RB - Swift - cut candidate, $7.5M cap savings, $1.3M Dead LB - Edmunds - cut candidate, $15M cap savings, $2.4M Dead The other 6 are listed here: DB - Gordon? DT - Billings? LB - Edwards? OT - Jones? S - Brisker? S- Byard? What stands out to me is that out of the 8 players, 6 are on defense with 5 of the potential back 7 being new players in 2026. I feel like Gordon has the highest probability of an extension. Billings seems like another one depending on his health in 2025. Either way, right now those are holes. Considering it is really hard to get starters after the 3rd round, the Bears almost have to address 3 of these positions with the first 4 picks. Ultimately, the Bears may take a Safety or ILB in the top 4 picks, which is normally not ideal, but to keep the roster balanced, it seems like Poles has to at least consider the 2026 roster in the 2025 draft. Thoughts? Expand Gordan might want to hold off on extending, the talk is he will be used in ways like the honey badger and a huge part of the d. Kenneth Grant, Alfred Collins, Tyler Williams, Deone Walker are all NT/DT that I would love to see added to rotate with Billings. Rd 2 looks like we can take that player. Brisker sure talks like he plans to stay and Byard was a nice veteran to have around, but the Bears need to prepare to have insurance for both. I can see round 3 to get a Brisker replacement and the prospect may be from Penn St. I feel we can get a LB late. Guys like Sanborn should be a dime a dozen. What position can the Bears get by without drafting? RB, WR, or TE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 On 3/15/2025 at 10:58 PM, ASHKUM BEAR said: What position can the Bears get by without drafting? RB, WR, or TE Expand This is honestly the big question. The biggest weakness today is still Edge I think. There is no one after Kmet. RB is under average with Swift. I think Zaccheaus is enough at WR. Rarely do you see a team with 3 elite WRs. I think you have to get an Edge, DT, RB, and TE in the draft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mongo3451 Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 On 3/16/2025 at 1:15 AM, adam said: I think Zaccheaus is enough at WR. Rarely do you see a team with 3 elite WRs. Expand We don't have any elite receivers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger226 Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 I agree that selections will have 2026 in mind but this year performance will say more to who we keep and who we get rid of. With Johnson and Dennis Allen, we will see who fits and who doesn't. Edmonds could have a big year in this offense and could stay. Braxton or Kiran might be the stable LT. I think Gordon gets extended before the season starts. By the contracts he is signing is where to start. Example: Dalman and Jackson are here 3 years. Totally think they extend Thuney. Wright and Kiran are here but Jones is the question with the future. If he was on the open market right now he would be getting 15-18 mil. Look at the OTs signed, better than some of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam Posted March 18 Author Report Share Posted March 18 On 3/16/2025 at 1:48 AM, Mongo3451 said: We don't have any elite receivers... Expand Ok, elite is the wrong word, more like "true starters". Moore was 9th amongst WR's last season in receptions in one of the worst offenses in the NFL. People refer to George Pickens as a WR1, yet he only had 5 more receptions and the same amount of TDs than Odunze, who was WR3 on one of the worst offenses in the NFL. So unless you think you need to upgrade over Moore or Odunze, then you probably shouldn't look to go WR anytime in the first couple of rounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted March 18 Report Share Posted March 18 On 3/18/2025 at 4:27 PM, adam said: Ok, elite is the wrong word, more like "true starters". Moore was 9th amongst WR's last season in receptions in one of the worst offenses in the NFL. People refer to George Pickens as a WR1, yet he only had 5 more receptions and the same amount of TDs than Odunze, who was WR3 on one of the worst offenses in the NFL. So unless you think you need to upgrade over Moore or Odunze, then you probably shouldn't look to go WR anytime in the first couple of rounds. Expand Least I heard about Pickens is that he was on his way out the door and Pitt would likely draft his replacement this year. Cut him next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger226 Posted March 19 Report Share Posted March 19 Another Pickens that appears out the door for us may end up staying. I heard he did the same body regiment that Dexter did but with the injuries affecting him showed nothing last year. If healthy he may very taking a leap forward this year. I think because of the bad year, we look down on all our rostered players coming back. I think we get a few surprises on people playing well that we wrote off. Pickens, Scott, Booker, Cris Williams. A few of these are going to stick and play well. Just don't know which ones it will be. I don't understand why we brought back Kramer while we count on Stromberg as our back up center. Maybe until Stromberg proves he can play healthy the back up backup plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DABEARSDABOMB Posted March 19 Report Share Posted March 19 On 3/19/2025 at 3:58 AM, Stinger226 said: Another Pickens that appears out the door for us may end up staying. I heard he did the same body regiment that Dexter did but with the injuries affecting him showed nothing last year. If healthy he may very taking a leap forward this year. I think because of the bad year, we look down on all our rostered players coming back. I think we get a few surprises on people playing well that we wrote off. Pickens, Scott, Booker, Cris Williams. A few of these are going to stick and play well. Just don't know which ones it will be. I don't understand why we brought back Kramer while we count on Stromberg as our back up center. Maybe until Stromberg proves he can play healthy the back up backup plan. Expand I presume Kramer is well liked and works hard and thus they don’t mind him around for practices etc. they also need depth still and Stromberg has to earn it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger226 Posted March 19 Report Share Posted March 19 On 3/19/2025 at 4:54 AM, DABEARSDABOMB said: I presume Kramer is well liked and works hard and thus they don’t mind him around for practices etc. they also need depth still and Stromberg has to earn it. Expand I think if Stromberg is healthy, he could be sitting on the practice squad if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/15/2025 at 10:58 PM, ASHKUM BEAR said: I feel we can get a LB late. Guys like Sanborn should be a dime a dozen. Expand That's because they can't run fast and play well in coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger226 Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/20/2025 at 2:49 AM, AZ54 said: That's because they can't run fast and play well in coverage. Expand That's why the bears valued Edmund's so much. 6-5 in the middle of the field . The problem with a poor pass rush, the underneath is open to much and where most teams attacked us. That's why Brisker was valuable because he could play that well, when on the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/19/2025 at 3:58 AM, Stinger226 said: Another Pickens that appears out the door for us may end up staying. I heard he did the same body regiment that Dexter did but with the injuries affecting him showed nothing last year. If healthy he may very taking a leap forward this year. I think because of the bad year, we look down on all our rostered players coming back. I think we get a few surprises on people playing well that we wrote off. Pickens, Scott, Booker, Cris Williams. A few of these are going to stick and play well. Just don't know which ones it will be. I don't understand why we brought back Kramer while we count on Stromberg as our back up center. Maybe until Stromberg proves he can play healthy the back up backup plan. Expand Pickens might well show something in training camp but I'm not at all optimistic. If for no other reason because he almost never flashed on a positive play. Tyler Scott is still what he was in college, a semi-fast in-a-straight-line WR. He's not that quick in his cuts IMO and still struggles with his release at times. He also does not have great hands. That said even if we end up cutting him I expect he'll stick around the NFL for a few more years. He offers just enough to be someone's 5th WR/returner. I don't really think OZ is an upgrade per se I just think he fits better what Ben Johnson wants on his routes (ala Amon Ra). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ54 Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/20/2025 at 3:00 AM, Stinger226 said: That's why the bears valued Edmund's so much. 6-5 in the middle of the field . The problem with a poor pass rush, the underneath is open to much and where most teams attacked us. That's why Brisker was valuable because he could play that well, when on the field. Expand Yeah, I'm still frustrated by Brisker's injuries because I really liked his talent and energy on the field. His health is top priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger226 Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/20/2025 at 2:49 AM, AZ54 said: That's because they can't run fast and play well in coverage. Expand I just seen where Vegas has our first choice odds of a RB at the best odds. +125 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearFan PHX Posted March 20 Report Share Posted March 20 On 3/20/2025 at 3:49 AM, Stinger226 said: I just seen where Vegas has our first choice odds of a RB at the best odds. +125 Expand We still don't know what the Bears will actually do, but you can see that a lot of people don't think that's an insane thought. IF there is a blue chip real stud at LT that should be the pick, but Im not sure there is, and that opens to the door to all kinds of things. And who knows what Johnson thinks of the players we currently have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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