Chicago Bears roster decisions accelerate as free-agency talks and cap moves begin
Chicago Bears roster priorities will change immediately, with more flexibility under the salary cap and new holes to fill at wide receiver and linebacker ahead of the negotiating window. On Monday, March 9, 2026, the team can begin agreeing to deals with free agents, before contracts can be signed when the league year begins Wednesday.
Chicago Bears moves create room and new needs before Wednesday
The most direct impact is financial and structural: Chicago cleared $15 million in cap space by cutting linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, after first telling him and his agent they could seek a trade and then reversing course eight days later. Edmunds had four interceptions in 13 games last year, the second-most among all NFL linebackers, leaving the team with production to replace as negotiations open.
Chicago also reshaped its receiver room by trading DJ Moore and a fifth-round pick to the Bills in exchange for a second-round draft pick this year. The deal removed a potential $24. 5 million salary cap hit that would have been the third-highest on the team, after Moore posted 682 receiving yards on 50 catches last season, the worst numbers of his career.
D’Marco Jackson and Daniel Hardy deals stabilize special teams units
While the roster churn creates openings, two agreements lock in special teams continuity. Linebacker D’Marco Jackson is returning on a two-year, $7. 5 million deal after the team claimed him on cut day during training camp, citing his experience in coordinator Dennis Allen’s system from New Orleans. Jackson emerged as a solid special teams player and spot starter, earning NFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 15 after recording the first sack and interception of his career in a win against the Browns.
Defensive end Daniel Hardy also agreed to return on a two-year deal worth as much as $6 million. Hardy played only 5% of the team’s defensive snaps last year, but appeared on 78% of its kicking plays and totaled 22 tackles, making his return a stabilizing move as the wider roster is reworked.
Garrett Bradbury arrives after Drew Dalman retirement paperwork
Chicago addressed the center position through a trade after Drew Dalman decided to step away. The day Dalman filed his retirement paperwork, the Bears traded a 2027 fifth-round draft pick to the Patriots for center Garrett Bradbury. Bradbury started every game for the AFC champions last year and has one year remaining on a $9. 6 million contract signed last year, after spending six years with the Vikings.
Dalman had played every snap and reached the Pro Bowl in his first season with Chicago, then told the team he planned to retire after five years in the NFL and filed the paperwork three days later. The timing turned the position from a strength into an immediate personnel problem, and the Bradbury trade functioned as a direct replacement move before the free-agency period begins.
The next roster turning point comes when the negotiating period opens Monday, March 9, 2026, followed by the start of the league year Wednesday, when contracts can officially be signed. If the team uses the cap space created by the DJ Moore trade and Tremaine Edmunds release on early agreements, its depth chart could look materially different by Wednesday.
