When things don’t go according to plan, there are three guys at the top you can get rid of. The quarterback. The coach. And the general manager. Ownership can’t be fired.

The Bears moved on from Justin Fields to Caleb Williams. And now they have fired Matt Eberflus to hire former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Ryan Poles remains on as the Bears General Manager though he’s on the hot seat now after Ben Johnson made it clear he wants the GM to be on “the same page” as him.

That means this NFL offseason is crucial for Poles and company. Luckily, they’ve got a lot of cap space to work with. So, let’s take a moment to dig into the Bears depth chart, the contracts, the cap space, and the free agents to see how they might move around the weapons for this team. Maybe we can even make some predictions that might help in fantasy football. 

*The salary cap numbers referenced in this article come courtesy of our friends over at Spotrac.com*

 

 

 

Chicago Bears Depth Chart 2025 (Fantasy Football Relevant)

QB

Caleb Williams

Tyson Bagent

  

RB

D'Andre Swift

Roschon Johnson

Ian Wheeler

Darrynton Evans

WR

DJ Moore

DeAndre Carter

Nsimba Webster

 

WR

Keenan Allen

Tyler Scott

  

WR

Rome Odunze

Collin Johnson

  

TE

Cole Kmet

Gerald Everett

Marcedes Lewis

Stephen Carlson

  • White = unrestricted free agent
  • Green = role is safe
  • Yellow = role in flux
  • Orange = likely a depth piece
  • Red = roster spot not guaranteed

Chicago Bears Free Agency 2025

  • CURRENT PROJECTED 2025 SALARIES: ~$216M
  • CURRENT ESTIMATED 2025 CAP SPACE: ~$64M

 

 

 

Bears Quarterback Depth Chart

Caleb Williams: We saw the full spectrum of good and bad from Caleb Williams in 2025. He can’t really take credit for all the bad though, even if he wants to try to take the blame off the Bears offensive line for a league-leading 68 sacks. He could certainly improve his pocket presence but he also avoided a league leading 50 sacks. 

On the plus side, Williams flashed his ability including his absolute rocket arm. After re-watching the tape Williams is actually one of the rare quarterbacks who needs to take a little OFF some of his throws. I’d much rather have a guy making mistakes because of his incredible physical tools than someone who doesn’t have them at all.

So, for me, I’m buying Williams in my dynasty leagues if I can get him for the right price. In superflex leagues many took him with the 1.01 or 1.02 and I’d gladly give up this year’s 1.01 or 1.02 to get him. This is a talented player with a new scheme coming into town.

Tyson Bagent: The fans like Tyson Bagent. And he’s the kind of guy that can win a game when asked. But Ben Johnson might want to bring in a veteran QB to mentor Williams, especially if it’s someone that knows the system. That could mean pushing Bagent to QB3 or having him get released. 

BEARS QB FREE AGENCY TAKE: There are a few veteran names that have been floated around for the Bears to potentially bring in. Joe Flacco has Super Bowl winning experience so teams have certainly been interested in having him around. The Panthers just locked up Andy Dalton so he’s off the table.

One name that makes a lot of sense if he were willing to join as a backup is Ryan Tannehill. Not only does he have experience and similar mobility to Caleb, he has experience with Ben Johnson. He and Johnson overlapped for six years with the Miami Dolphins including a year where Johnson was the assistant quarterbacks coach. Teddy Bridgewater also just finished his season in Detroit. Those make a lot of sense but here are some other options.

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Joe Flacco, Ryan Tannehill, Teddy Bridgewater, Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota

 

 

 

Bears Running Back Depth Chart

D'Andre Swift: After a brutally slow start, D'Andre Swift picked things up and finished with 1,345 yards from scrimmage despite not cracking 1,000 yards on the ground. It wasn’t a particularly easy line to run behind, after all. 

There’s really no financial incentive to cut Swift - a trade is the only way they could actually save cap space. Not that they would want to move on from him anyway. The real concern for Swift in fantasy football is that Ben Johnson might want to bring someone in to run a committee like he ran in Detroit. That has me potentially looking to sell Swift now in dynasty while folks are hyped about the new offense.

Roschon Johnson: D'Andre Swift’s 3.8 yards per carry was not great but Roschon Johnson’s 2.7 yards per carry was far worse. That’s one of the biggest reasons why bringing in another back could be on the table here. Johnson was able to plunge in a couple touchdowns, but you’d hope for a little more efficiency. 

They aren’t hurting for cap space. And releasing Johnson only saves ~$838K with $384K in dead cap. So moving on from him would be based purely on the roster spot. I imagine they’d hang on to him for depth even if they brought someone else in but it’s not crazy to see them release him after his 2024. 

Ian Wheeler: Wheeler might not have even made the team as an undrafted free agent but he suffered a knee injury and ended up on season ending injured reserve before the season even started. He can be released with only $5,000 in dead cap so he’ll need to make this team from scratch with the new staff.

Darrynton Evans: The Bears called Evans up from the practice squad late in the season to help on special teams when Travis Homer had a hamstring issue. He’s an unrestricted free agent facing a new coaching staff which is a tough spot to be in for a practice squad guy.  

  • Reserves/Futures: N/A

BEARS RB FREE AGENCY TAKE: It’s no secret that the Lions two-headed approach to the run game was a big part of the success. So Ben Johnson might want to bring that to Chicago. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery were both highly talented with a tremendous offensive line so they made it work for fantasy football. But Chicago does not have that offensive line - at least not right now.

That makes D'Andre Swift a fairly volatile asset. Signing or drafting another back would certainly hurt his perceived value so, if you don’t trade Swift before free agency, you likely need to hold for the long haul. The Bears have plenty of cap room so, if they want to bring in a between the tackles runner to compliment Swift, they could go for any of following options. 

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Najee Harris, Nick Chubb, J.K. Dobbins, Javonte Williams, Cam Akers, Elijah Mitchell

 

 

 

Bears Wide Receiver Depth Chart

DJ Moore: DJ Moore is a superstar who they traded a pretty penny to get then gave many pennies via an extension. His contract is through 2029 and there isn’t a reasonable out until at least 2027. So, he’s a Bear long term.

The question now is whether Ben Johnson brings over his scheme from the Lions or cooks up a new scheme. If DJ Moore were in either the Amon-Ra St. Brown or Jameson Williams role he would do just fine but the ARSB role is obviously the better one for fantasy. Moore is smack in the age apex for wide receivers so any competing dynasty team should be interested in acquiring him. 

Keenan Allen: Keenan Allen is getting up there in age but he’s still a productive player. Most teams would love to have a guy like this. The questions boil down to whether it’s worth the money to sign him and whether it’s worth giving him the role he deserves.

Allen is still going to want to get paid. And he’s still going to want to be a focal point of the offense. So asking him to come back and be the third fiddle behind DJ Moore and Rome Odunze isn’t realistic - and it’s also expensive. Ben Johnson’s offenses have not really fed the ball to a WR3 either so it might be mutually beneficial for Allen to land somewhere else in free agency. 

Rome Odunze: I wanted to get a better understanding of the rookie season for Rome Odunze. So I went through all the stats and watched all 500+ routes then I put the key stats and film clips together in this article. I encourage you to check that out to get the full picture of Odunze’s rookie season.

The short and sweet of that article is that Rome Odunze’s stats don’t represent his ability or his potential. He was essentially playing out of position as a field stretcher. Much like DJ Moore, the question now is about what his role in the new scheme is but, unlike Moore, his role can only improve this year compared to last year. Odunze is a hold for me but he’s much closer to a buy than he is a sell.

 

 

 

DeAndre Carter: The Bears HEAVILY featured their top three WRs. So much so that the third WR on the team in terms of receptions was Carter with nine and no other player had more than one. Carter’s main role on this team was returning virtually every punt and kick and, if they don’t sign him as a free agent, they will need to add guys who can handle that.   

Tyler Scott: When you draft a guy in the fourth round he gets the benefit of the doubt for a couple of years. But, at a certain point, they have to find a way to contribute. Tyler Scott did very little for this team outside of returning 8 kickoffs. He’s not a lock to be retained by the new coaching staff, especially if they are bringing DeAndre Carter back. 

Collin Johnson: Collin Johnson was a preseason hero but spent most of the year on the practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster a couple times and will enter 2025 as an unrestricted free agent. He could be back in camp to compete again. 

Nsimba Webster: Webster spent time as a return man for the Bears back in 2020 but he hasn’t appeared in an NFL game since 2022. He was signed to the practice squad as return depth if needed. He’s an unrestricted free agent.

BEARS WR FREE AGENCY TAKE: My assumption is that Keenan Allen will be gone. And, as I mentioned, the Bears don’t need to go crazy signing a WR3 as it hasn’t historically been crucial to the scheme. 

Having a reliable third WR that can step up in case of injury would be helpful, especially if it’s someone that does know the scheme and can help implement it. A guy like Tim Patrick, who was with the Lions last year and is a free agent, would make a lot of sense in that regard. If they don’t bring back DeAndre Carter, they might want to sign some depth WRs that can return kicks as well. Here are some options.

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Tim Patrick, Demarcus Robinson, Joshua Palmer, Van Jefferson, Kavontae Turpin, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Jalen Reagor, Deonte Harty

 

 

 

Bears Tight End Depth Chart

Cole Kmet: Shane Waldron, throughout his entire career, has insisted on rotating tight ends. And he brought Gerald Everett to the Bears with plans to do that. But Cole Kmet is simply better than Gerald Everett and, with the three stud WRs, they just didn’t have room to utilize multiple tight ends. 

Kmet was still fairly inconsistent in this scheme and set up. This new scheme, if it’s anything like the one in Detroit, should be better for Kmet. It focuses on two wide receivers, an every down tight end (in the Lions case, Sam LaPorta), and multiple backs. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean that Kmet will be a top two target on the team but it can’t be worse than being behind three WRs that all get ~100 targets. Kmet is a hold for me in dynasty as his value should hopefully increase though we don’t know for sure what his volume will be like.

Gerald Everett: Everett can be released with $5.5M in savings and only $1M in dead cap so I would not be surprised if that happens. He had a hard time carving out a role with his buddy Shane Waldron and, as we mentioned above, the new scheme really does not utilize a second TE that doesn’t really block. 

Marcedes Lewis: Marcedes Lewis is 40 years old. But he’s still a viable blocking tight end in this league, believe it or not. If he wants to play again, he might be able to get someone to sign him on for those services. It’s crazy to think that his last fantasy relevant season was in 2010 when he was a Pro Bowler nearly 15 years ago and he’s still playing. 

Stephen Carlson: Carlson was signed as a potential blocking tight end option but got injured and landed on the IR. He’s an unrestricted free agent but they could need someone in that role if Marcedes Lewis hangs them up.

BEARS TE FREE AGENCY TAKE: The Bears are set at the top with Cole Kmet. And Gerald Everett is honestly a better pass-catching option than anything out there in free agency if they wanted to keep him. What they will need is some depth and preferably someone who can block. 

POSSIBLE FREE AGENT OPTIONS: Mo Alie-Cox, Harrison Bryant, Ross Dwelley, Durham Smythe, John Bates, Ian Thomas