The Chicago Bears have officially begun to rebuild their roster in new head coach Ben Johnson's image after cutting ties with two veterans on Friday afternoon in a pair of moves that will create significant salary-cap savings.
With the start of NFL free agency less than three weeks away, the Bears are in the process of finalizing their plan of attack to acquire new talent for Johnson and his coaching staff. They are also in fairly good financial standing with the NFL's sixth-most cap space — $69 million — according to Over the Cap.
Evidently, though, the Bears' front office felt more savings were necessary.
On Friday, the Bears announced they had released defensive end DeMarcus Walker and tight end Gerald Everett from their 90-man offseason roster.
Everett is an unsurprising departure. The 30-year-old finished with career-lows in receptions (eight), targets (13), receiving yards (36) and offensive snaps (246) and faded into the background of the Bears offense during his first — and now only — season in Chicago after signing a two-year, $12 million deal last March.
Walker is a bit more unexpected; though, not out of left field.
Walker started 29 games — including all 17 games in 2024 — for the Bears defense over the past two seasons and offered them a versatile edge rusher who was capable of flipping inside to the tackle spots when schematically favorable. He notched seven sacks and 16 tackles for loss in that span.
While Walker had utility, though, he failed to provide a proper complement to Montez Sweat for the Bears defensive line. The Bears might even take the cap savings from his release and repurpose it to sign a better veteran pass rusher.
According to Over the Cap, the Bears will save $10.75 million against the cap in 2025 with the releases of Walker ($5.25 million) and Everett ($5.5 million), putting them near $80 million in total cap space for the upcoming season.
