The Chicago Bears are at a crossroads right now as the team has to navigate with negative $5.3 million in available cap space, according to OvertheCap.com.
Part of becoming positive will likely include some roster cuts or potential trades. The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain listed linebacker Tremaine Edmunds as a potential cut candidate, writing, “For a team that is currently over the cap, no player has a cleaner “out” in his contract than Edmunds, whose release would create $15 million of cap space while counting as only $2.4 million of dead money.”
Another avenue the Bears can take is trading a player away. Guys like wideout DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet have been popular players as potential trade chips; however, Bears insider Brad Biggs shut down any trade rumors involving Kmet.
Brad Biggs Shuts Down Cole Kmet Trade Rumors
In his latest mailbag, Biggs shut down the Kmet trade rumors.
“I think an extension for Kmet would be likelier than the Bears trading him when you consider how significant tight ends are to Ben Johnson’s offense. The Bears could extend Kmet’s contract with a goal of reducing his cap figure for this season, but they also would have to see him being a significant part of the offense in 2028 and maybe 2029.”
According to Football Insights, the Bears led the NFL in 2+ TE snaps in 2025. More importantly, Kmet had 54% of the snaps in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE) vs. Colston Loveland’s 34% in active games together.
That will likely shift towards Loveland’s favor, but trading Kmet away doesn’t seem to be a smart move for the Bears.
Biggs also laid out Kmet’s numbers and how it won’t be as big a cap increase as people may think if the team were to trade him away.
“Kmet is signed through 2027. He has a $8.9 million base salary with a $1 million roster bonus (due the fifth day of the league year) and a $100,000 workout bonus for each of the next two seasons. So that’s $20 million total. His cap hit is $11.6 million for each season, and there’s no guaranteed money remaining in the deal.”
Ben Johnson Comments on Kmet’s Performance in 2025
Even if Kmet didn’t put up big numbers in 2025, he came up clutch in big moments. Catching the insane touchdown pass from Caleb Williams to send the divisional round matchup against the Los Angeles Rams into overtime was huge, but it was Kmet’s five catches on five targets for 45 yards to help the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings 19-17 that Johnson shared his thoughts on.
“I thought Cole played one of his best games he has so far this year,” Johnson said following the win. “I get he caught a couple more balls, but I’m not even talking about that. He’s great in the running game, and then pass pro, we put him in some tough matchups there on some of their defensive end or outside linebacker types, and I thought he did an outstanding job throughout that. When he was a ball carrier, you felt his presence out there. He was lowering his shoulder, he was stiff-arming. He brought our sideline to life a couple of times.”
Cole Kmet will continue to have a key role in Johnson’s offense, and he won’t be going anywhere this offseason.
Chicago Bears Insider Shuts Down Cole Kmet Trade Rumors