The Chicago Bears might prefer to roll into the 2026 season with their current defensive ends filling out their rotation off the edge, but their tune may change if they can rope in a five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher for a reasonable price.
The Bears did not add any new edge rushers in last month’s 2026 NFL draft, bypassing the position to focus on other roster needs. They also neglected to make any substantial additions during free agency, limiting their activity to an extension for Daniel Hardy.
Now, the Bears are barreling toward the new season with Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner as their primary four-man rotation, the same unit that finished with the second-worst pass rush win rate (29%) in the league in 2025.
From the perspective of Pro Football Sports Network’s Jacob Infante, though, the Bears’ lack of edge-rusher moves should make them top candidates to sign veteran Joey Bosa, who has 77 career sacks and made the Pro Bowl five times for the Los Angeles Chargers.
“The Chicago Bears being tied down to Dayo Odeyingbo’s bloated contract likely played a role in their being so conservative in their approach towards adding defensive line talent to a unit that struggled rushing the passer in 2025,” Infante wrote May 7. “Their current hope appears to be that youngsters Austin Booker and Shemar Turner step up going into 2026.
“However, Bosa would provide Chicago a necessary insurance policy and a high-floor contributor to their defensive rotation. Plus, with both Odeyingbo and Turner’s ability to kick inside on passing downs as needed, having an option like Bosa could allow the Bears to run some seriously intriguing NASCAR packages on passing downs.”
Can Bears Afford Cost of Signing Joey Bosa in 2026?
Bosa is one of the top available pass rushers in free agency, and as such, would be one of the most logical targets for the Bears if they were to seek out more reinforcements.
While Bosa has routinely dealt with injury troubles since his last season (2021) with double-digit sacks (10.5), he remained a highly effective pass rusher during the 2025 season with the Bills, recording five sacks, 47 pressures and a career-high five forced fumbles and earning PFF’s seventh-best pass rush grade (88.7) among edge rushers.
The problem for the Bears is the same one that has pestered them for the majority of the 2026 offseason, though: money
Bosa is long past the five-year, $135 million contract that he signed with the Chargers during his NFL prime, but he is by no means cheap heading into his age-31 season. He signed a one-year, $12.6 million deal with the Bills in 2025 that came with $12 million in guarantees. If he wants similar money in 2026, the Bears simply cannot afford him.
According to Over the Cap, the Bears have about $11.5 million available in cap space for the 2026 season, but they will need a sizeable portion of that money to sign their draft class (seven selections) and their 2026 practice squad. They will also likely want to set aside some more of their remaining cap resources to use as an in-season piggy bank.
The Bears could still restructure a few contracts on their 2026 books to create more spending flexibility before training camp, but a signing such as Bosa — if his price tag remains in the same range — would chew up all of their remaining money for the year.
Will Bears Get Enough Out of Pass Rush Without Additions?
As Infante noted, most of the Bears’ problems with building up their defensive line in 2026 can be traced back to their poor financial decision-making during the previous offseason. They handed out big contracts to Odeyingbo (three years, $48 million) and veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (three years, $43.5 million) in 2025 free agency, but both underperformed and now carry two of the team’s five largest cap hits in 2026.
That’s a problem the Bears must resolve, but they can’t do much about it until 2027 — when it becomes affordable to shed the contracts of Odeyingbo, Jarrett and Sweat.
In the meantime, the Bears have little choice but to reload with their current personnel and hope that a year of familiarity in Dennis Allen’s defensive system will allow some of their pass rushers to make strides in 2026. But will it be enough to help their defense?
Booker might be the best hope for improvement in 2026. He missed the early parts of the 2025 season due to a preseason injury, but he managed to record 4.5 sacks, 12 QB hits, 29 pressures and 35 total tackles in 10 games when he did get back on the field. He also added nine tackles and a sack in his first two career playoff games for the Bears.
Then comes Odeyingbo and Turner, who each missed significant portions of the 2025 season with injuries. The Bears did not have the luxury of getting to evaluate their full bodies of work in 2025 because of those injuries. While it is more of a long shot, there is still room for both players to surprise if they can stay healthy throughout the new year.
Time will tell if it will be enough for the Bears — or if they will add another edge rusher.
Bears Candidates to Pair Montez Sweat With 5-Time Pro Bowl Edge Rusher