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Chicago Bears veteran called team's most overpaid player in new NFL ranking

Originally posted on Chicago Bears on SI | By Bryan Perez | Last updated Jun 9, 2025 10:08 PM ET

The Chicago Bears' payroll has gone up quite a bit during the 2025 NFL offseason. Much of that increase in expenses has come on the offensive side of the ball, as GM Ryan Poles was more than willing to open the checkbook for Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, and Drew Dalman.

The Bears' defense received it's fair share of cash thrown its way, too, with the additions of Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett.

One of the main reasons Poles was able to be aggressive with his spending this offseason is because of how calculated and careful he's been in free agency over his first few seasons as Chicago's general manager. But that doesn't mean he hasn't made some mistakes along the way.

Take a recent breakdown of every team's most overpaid player, for example. The Chicago Bear who earned that distinction is linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, whom Poles signed as one of his first big-ticket free agents.

"Edmunds has been one of the highest-paid linebackers in football since the Bears signed him in 2023," Yardbarker's Seth Trachtman wrote. "While he's recorded more than 100 tackles in all of his seven NFL seasons, Edmunds has failed to transform Chicago's defense into an elite unit. His cap hit is nearly $17.5 million this season."

You'd be hard-pressed to find any Bears fan who disagrees with Edmunds being dubbed Chicago's most overpaid player. He's been a very average addition to the starting lineup since inking a four-year, $72 million deal in 2023.

Sure, Edmunds' box score looks pretty good during his two years as a Bear. He registered 113 tackles in 2023 and 110 last year, but for a player with as bloated a contract as Edmunds', he's expected to do more than make tackles; he's expected to make impact plays. And he hasn't.

The Chicago Bears could do a lot worse than Edmunds as one of their starting linebackers, but if the former Buffalo Bill doesn't raise his level of play in 2025, there's a good chance it'll be his final season on the team. His dead cap figure drops from over $13 million in 2025 to just $2.4 million in 2026.

This article first appeared on Chicago Bears on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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