Bears announce first wave of 2026 offseason roster moves with young talent expected to stick around in Chicago

The Chicago Bears have abruptly turned the page to the offseason with a blank chapter ready to start writing in for the 2026 season after the team's divisional round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Life in the NFL moves fast as there's no time to sit around and sit with all of the emotions, good and bad, from the previous season.

As such, the Bears got back to work quickly this week to start laying out the plan for the offseason and improvements that can be made going forward with this coaching staff and roster. In terms of the roster moves, the Bears announced the first wave on Tuesday.

Bears have announced the reserve/future contracts going into 2026

The following 14 players signed reserve/future contracts with the Bears, which means these players are now set to join the 90-man roster when the 2026 league year kicks off in March.

• TE Nikola Kalinic
• RB Brittain Brown
• WR JP Richardson
• WR Maurice Alexander
• TE Stephen Carlson
• DL Jonathan Garvin
• DL Jeremiah Martin
• LB Dominique Hampton
• DB Dontae Manning
• DB Gervarrius Owens
• DB Dallis Flowers
• OL Kyle Hergel
• LB Nephi Sewell
• LS Luke Elkin

The majority of these players were on the 16-man practice squad throughout the 2025-26 season with the Bears or spent time in Chicago at some point in 2025-26. Most of these players are also first or second year players that have some developmental traits that the Bears want to continue working with going into next summer.

Of those 14 players, six were elevated from the Bears practice squad and on the gameday roster throughout the regular season and the playoffs (Kalinic, Richardson, Alexander, Brown, Carlson, and Flowers). Some even earned some high praise from head coach Ben Johnson for their contributions.