Bears LB Tremaine Edmunds named to dreaded list no NFL player wants in 2025

When the Chicago Bears signed linebacker Tremaine Edmunds to a four-year, $72 million contract in 2023, he was viewed as the next in a long line of rangy and athletic linebackers who've manned the middle of the Bears' defense at Soldier Field.

But after two middling seasons in Chicago, the narrative around Edmunds' deal has shifted to a bit of buyer's remorse.

In fact, Edmunds' mega-deal was recently ranked as the fifth-worst contract in the NFL entering the 2025 season.

Yikes.

"Edmunds has not, however, been a Pro Bowl-caliber player or helped turn Chicago's defense into a top unit," Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox wrote. "Pro Football Focus graded Edmunds as the league's 119th-best linebacker overall for the 2024 season.

In other words, Edmunds has been good but not great when at his best for the Bears. In return, Chicago is paying the 27-year-old as if he was an All-Pro-level off-ball linebacker."

Edmunds is a decent starter at this point in his career, but he's being paid as an elite linebacker, which makes it likely that he's entering his final year with the Bears.

It would be cost-prohibitive for the Bears to cut ties with Edmunds this season. He carries a $13 million dead cap hit. But that changes in 2026; his dead cap amount drops to just $2.4 million.

Perhaps Edmunds enjoys a breakout season under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. But he'll need to really break out to justify his $17.4 million salary in 2026.

Edmunds has the third-highest annual average salary at inside linebacker, behind San Francisco 49ers star Fred Warner and former Bears first-round pick, Roquan Smith. He hasn't produced near the level of those two studs, making him an obvious chopping-block candidate sooner than later.