Here’s the full list of Chicago Bears’ 2018 free agents

Hopefully you’ve been staying on top on my roster turnover series, where I break down the Chicago Bears‘ roster on a position by position basis. If you guys have been keeping up with that, then you know the contract status of all the players, but with free agency such a huge deal, I wanted to have one go-to list with all of their 2018 free agents.

Before I get into the list, I wanted to explain the different types of free agents.

Unrestricted free agents (UFA) are players that have at least four accrued years of service in the NFL and whose contracts are set to expire when the new league year begins on March 14. These players are free to sign with any team

Restricted free agents (RFA) are players with at least three years of accrued service with expiring contracts. Teams have until March 14 to make “qualifying offers to their Restricted Free Agents with expiring contracts to retain a Right of First Refusal/Compensation.” The tender amounts for the 2018 season will probably come out in a few weeks, but the 2017 numbers were as follows.

Players who got the first-round tender made $3.91 million. Players who received the second-round tender were at $2.746 million. And the RFAs given an original-round tender made $1.797 million.

Players receiving an offer can negotiate with other teams, but if they sign with a new team their previous team has two options. They can either match the contract offer and retain the player, or they can let the player leave and receive a draft pick compensation equal to the tender.

Exclusive rights free agents (ERFA) really have no options. These players have less than two accrued seasons in the league, and if their current teams wishes to retain them all they need to do is offer a one year minimum salary deal. If the team decides to part ways with the player, then he’ll become a UFA.

You may also hear the term street free agent thrown around. These are players that were waived prior to their contract expiring and they are free to sign with a new team at any time. An example is current Bears’ quarterback Mike Glennon. It’s been widely reported that the Bears will release him soon, and once that happens, he’ll be free to sign on with another team as soon as possible. Street free agents don’t have to wait until the 2018 league year starts.

Here are the 25 Chicago Bears that are free agents.

Offense

Dontrelle Inman - WR - UFA

Kendall Wright - WR - UFA

Josh Bellamy - WR - RFA

Cameron Meredith - WR - RFA

Zach Miller - TE - UFA

Daniel Brown - TE - ERFA

Tom Compton - OL - UFA

Bradley Sowell - OL - UFA

Benny Cunningham - RB - UFA

Mark Sanchez - QB - UFA

Special Teams

Pat O’Donnell - P - UFA

Andrew DePaola - LS - UFA

Patrick Scales - LS - ERFA

Mike Nugent - K - UFA

Cairo Santos - K - UFA

Defense

Lamarr Houston - OLB - UFA

Sam Acho - OLB - UFA

Christian Jones - ILB - UFA

John Timu - ILB - RFA

Mitch Unrein - DE - UFA

John Jenkins - NT - UFA

Prince Amukamara - CB - UFA

Kyle Fuller - CB - UFA

Sherrick McManis - CB - UFA

Bryce Callahan - CB - RFA

There will no doubt be a handful of veterans that the Bears decide to cut in the coming weeks, making them all street free agents.