Say what you want about Bears general manager Ryan Poles. The guy has managed the Bears salary cap well.

There’s legit no way to argue that.

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The Bears have $55-plus million in effective salary-cap space, which is code for the amount available when the team sign’s its top 51 players and its projected draft class.

All that says this: The Bears are in great shape to make the upgrades required to be a competitive force in 2025. Assuming, of course, they make the right decisions. That’s a big assumption, considering their current track record. Ben Johnson should help, but we don’t know that for sure.

Mistakes in free agency prove costly. Hits in the NFL draft should, too, four years down the line, in a well-earned long-term contract. The Bears haven’t given out many of those, in either direction.

Here’s where the Bears sit in relation to the salary cap as they enter a 2025 offseason where they simply can’t swing and miss:

(NOTE: All Bears salary cap figures taken from the respected site OverTheCap.com)

BEARS SALARY CAP SITUATION

Estimated NFL salary cap: $272.5 million

Bears salary cap space: $62.9 million

Effective salary cap space: $53.9 million (Seventh highest)

Dead money: $2.3 million

2026 cap space: $132.7 million

Biggest contracts in 2025

• Montez Sweat: $20.9 million
• DJ Moore: $20.6 million
• Jaylon Johnson $15.9 million
• Tremaine Edmunds $14.9 million
• Cole Kmet $9.9 million

Top internal free agents

• Keenan Allen
• Teven Jenkins
• Darrell Taylor
• Matt Pryor
• Marcedes Lewis
• Travis Homer
• Amen Ogbongbemiga

Cap-friendly cuts

• Gerald Everett ($5.5 million savings; $1 million dead money)
• Kevin Byard III ($7 million; $1.5 million dead money)
• DeMarcus Walker ($5.25 million; $666k dead money)
• Ryan Bates ($4 million; $0 dead money)
• Jonathan Owens (1.8 million; 125k)

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