Bear Digest

Has Ryan Poles Put the Bears in Salary Cap Trouble for 2026?

Despite a successful 2025 season, the Bears have several roster needs and not much cap space.
Pete Martuneac|
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Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears' 2025 season may be over, but Bears fans are filled with hope for the future. Despite a heartbreaking Divisional round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, which included three interceptions for Caleb Williams, this team proved that they're not the same ol' Bears. Most importantly, Caleb Williams has proved himself to be a franchise quarterback, and Ben Johnson, who played the role of the bad guy this postseason, has implemented a winning culture.

However, one can't help but notice some of the similarities between this team and the 2018 Bears. Those Bears famously won 12 games that year and clinched the NFC North division title. Matt Nagy was a first-year head coach and won the NFL Coach of the Year award. Everything appeared to be on the upswing for Chicago, but we all know how that went.

Are the Bears headed for a similar disappointment in 2026? They're certainly a regression candidate given all the wild games they were part of, and despite their success, that roster has several holes, especially on defense. Compounding that problem is the fact that the Bears are already over the projected 2026 salary cap limit by about $4 million.

This leaves us with one question: did general manager Ryan Poles paint the Bears into a corner with some disastrous contracts?

Ryan Poles has not yet begun to fight

While it's true that the Bears are currently over the projected salary cap limit, this doesn't even tell half the story. Poles actually deserves credit for how he's structured the contracts for this team because the Bears have a tremendous amount of salary cap flexibility. He hasn't used any void years (which shoves money into future seasons), and the Bears are only on the hook for $500,000 of dead cap, ninth-lowest in the league. For comparison, the Las Vegas Raiders, who finished with the league's worst record in 2025, have over $35 million in dead cap for 2026.

The best news is that Poles still doesn't have to use void years on contracts if he can avoid it. According to Spotrac's review of the Chicago Bears' financials in 2026, Poles can create $31.6 million of cap space with simple conversions on the contracts of DJ Moore, Joe Thuney, and Grady Jarrett. Releasing Tremaine Edmunds would free up an additional $15 million, and letting go of Cole Kmet would add another $8.4 million.

Tally it up, and you find that Poles can give the Bears roughly $51 million of salary cap space in 2026 without ever pushing a single dollar of bad money into future years, which would be kicking the can down the road. That is ample space to sign a draft class, bring back key free agents, and still leave room for midseason deals.

Dennis Allen, Ryan Poles, and Ben Johnson
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Extensions and trades will still figure towards the salary cap

Let's not forget about extension and trade candidates. Darnell Wright's All-Pro breakout in 2025 makes him a slam dunk to get an extension, but that won't go into effect until 2028 if the Bears pick up his fifth-year option. Montez Sweat and D'Andre Swift both had good seasons and could be extended, which in their case would lower their cap hits by a few million.

Last of all, there are trades. Ryan Poles has not been particularly aggressive in the trade market in the past, but winning the NFC North and coming within one field goal of the NFC Championship game may change his calculus. Trade buzz around D.J. Moore is growing, and the Bears have been linked to a blockbuster trade for Maxx Crosby. Depending on how this hypothetical deal is structured, it could also offer the Bears some salary cap relief.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, the Bears are fine. Ryan Poles has deftly maneuvered the salary cap thus far in his tenure and put the Bears in a healthy financial situation. Will this be the year he gets aggressive and goes after a blockbuster trade to push the Bears over the top? We don't know, but no one need worry that they won't have the money to make it happen.

Ryan Pole
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Pete Martuneac
PETE MARTUNEAC

A former Marine and Purdue Boilermaker, Pete has been covering the Chicago Bears since 2022 as a senior contributor on BearsTalk. He lives with his wife, two kids and loyal dog.

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