The Chicago Bears won their last two games against the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots after the return of quarterback Caleb Williams, so it has been a bit easier for everyone to forget, or at least ignore, that the team played each contest down both of its starting defensive ends.
DE Dayo Odeyingbo is going to miss at least another two games on the injured reserve list (IR) with a quadriceps injury, but pass-rusher Montez Sweat is eligible again for Week 8 against the Seattle Seahawks after serving a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
Chicago added Sweat back to its active 53-man roster on Friday evening after removing tight end Cole Kmet from the same group following a season-ending ACL tear that he suffered against the Patriots during the Week 7 edition of “Thursday Night Football.”
“Montez Sweat fills Cole Kmet’s spot on the 53-man roster as his 2-game suspension is officially over,” Harrison Graham of “Chicago Bears Now” reported to X on Friday.
Montez Sweat Back With Bears, but Perhaps not for Long
Sweat led the team last season with 10 sacks and has put up two sacks and two tackles for loss across five games played this year. He is in the third season of a four-year, $98 million contract that ends after the 2027 campaign when Sweat will be 31.
Sweat’s suspension probably has not landed him in head coach Ben Johnson’s doghouse, if for no other reason than that the team is thin at defensive end and needs Sweat producing at a meaningful level if the defense is going to hold up.
That said, Sweat is not a guarantee to be on the roster through 2027. Chicago can save $21 million against the salary cap next year by cutting or trading Sweat with a pre-June 1 designation, and the dead cap hit will only be a shade over $4 million. That timing is important, too, because it means that the Bears could use the money they save to spend on free agents next March.
Bears Can Clear Decks on D-Line Next Offseason, Free Nearly $50 Million in Salary Cap Space
Chicago also owns one pick in every round of next year’s draft. And with needs on both the edge of the defensive front and the interior of the D-line, the Bears profile as strong candidates to go after one, or both, positions early in the process.
That could mean a parting of ways with Sweat, Odeyingbo or both next offseason, with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett falling into the same category.
Both Odeyingbo and Jarrett are having bounce-back seasons after playing below average by their standards in 2025, each player’s initial campaign in Chicago. However, Odeyingbo is now hurt again after missing nine games last year with an Achilles tendon tear. The Bears can save $15 million against the cap by cutting or trading him next offseason (pre-June 1 designation).
Jarrett, like Odeyingbo and Sweat, will enter the final year of his contract in 2027 and represents potential savings of $13.5 million if the Bears cut or trade him next spring. As such, Chicago can put just shy of $50 million back in its spending coffers to improve the defense in 2027, along with using several high draft picks toward the same end, by cutting/trading Sweat, Odeyingbo and Jarrett next March.
Bears Fill Cole Kmet’s Roster Spot With $98 Million Pass-Rusher