The Chicago Bears have some big-name players on big-time contracts, some worthy and others not-so-much. Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport recently named the most overpaid player at every position heading into the 2025 season, and the Bears had two players make the list: Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and tight end Cole Kmet.
Edmunds signed a massive four-year, $72 million deal with Chicago back in 2023, and he hasn’t exactly proven worthy of that massive pay day. He’s been a solid, consistent linebacker, but he’s being paid elite money for a so-so performance. Edmunds has a massive cap hit of $17.43 million in 2025, but there’s an out in the final year of his deal where it would cost just $2.43 million in dead money in 2026.
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“Edmunds is what he is: a good-but-not-great linebacker who is wildly overpaid,” writes X. “His pact was a bad contract when it was signed. It hasn’t aged well, either. But at least the Bears can get out of it in 2026 with a relatively minimal dead cap hit.”
Meanwhile, Kmet has proven to be more worthy of his recent contract extension. The former second-round pick has been a threat in the passing game and a solid blocker, but it’s the recent addition of 10th overall pick Colston Loveland that has caused some pause. Loveland has the potential to usurp Kmet on the depth chart, even though Ben Johnson will use 12 personnel.
But as Davenport notes: “When the seventh-highest paid tight end in the league isn’t even the best player at the position on your team, something is out of whack.”
Edmunds could certainly be a salary cap casualty next offseason while many have speculated Kmet could be on the trade block if Loveland has a breakout rookie season.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Chicago Bears players dubbed most overpaid at their positions in 2025