Bears Start Creating Cap Space by Shaving Veteran Defensive Player

It's time for Ryan Poles to begin addressing the salary cap and the first move he made in that direction on Thursday was a minor one.

Amen Ogbongbemiga was given his release by the Bears on Thursday. | Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

Amen Ogbongbemiga represented depth at linebacker and special teams but the Bears found that quality elsewhere last year when necessary.

As a result, they’ve decided he is among the players who they can do without moving forward.

The former Chargers linebacker was cut by the Bears on Thursday and the transactions saves them a small amount against the salary cap for 2026. The Bears saved $2.07 million but they do absorb $375,000 in dead cap space.

Ogbongbemiga started one game and played in eight last season after he was in all 17 games during 2024, his first season in Chicago. He made 17 tackles and broke up a pass last season but had only one special teams tackle one year after he had shared the team lead for special teams tackles with Daniel Hardy at 11.

Ogbongbemiga was limited by knee and hamstring injuries last year at a time when the Bears really needed linebacker help due to injuries. T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell went out for extended periods.

Instead of Ogbongbemiga, they signed D’Marco Jackson and counted on him.  Jackson, who is an unrestricted free agent, made 48 tackles in his relief role last season. The Bears also drafted linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II in Round 4 last year, but he spent much of the season inactive on game day.

The Bears have bigger decisions coming at linebacker prior to the start of free agency. They must decided on whether they want to keep Edmunds and a cap hit of $17.4 million. If he is cut, they would save $15 million against the cap according to Overthecap.com.

Whether to give Jackson a contract and for how much is also an issue they face, and then if Edmunds is released they would need to come up with a suitable replacement. Edmunds made nine interceptions, forced two fumbles and recovered two, and was in on 335 tackles during his first three years on a four-year, $72 million contract.

Last season defensive coordinator Dennis Allen moved Edmunds to weakside linebacker after he spent the first two seaons playing middle linebacker in Matt Eberflus' defensive scheme.

The Bears went into Thursday $5.3 million over the NFL's salary cap, according to Overthecap.com.

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