Chicago Bears 2023 Free Agents

General manager Ryan Poles is slated to have nearly $120 million in cap space to build up his Chicago Bears for the 2023 season, but a portion of that will need to go to some of his players coming out of contract. The Bears have already inked wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown to a one-year extension.

Here’s a list of all the Bears coming out of contract and an explanation of each free agent designation.

All info courtesy of Over the Cap.

Unrestricted Free Agents

Khari Blasingame, FB

David Montgomery, RB

Nathan Peterman, QB

Tim Boyle, QB

Dakota Dozier, OL

Riley Reiff, OL

Michael Schofield, OL

Ryan Griffin, TE

Trevon Wesco, TE

N’Keal Harry, WR

Dante Pettis, WR

Byron Pringle, WR

Angelo Blackson, DL

Armon Watts, DL

Mike Pennel, DL

DeAndre Houston-Carson, S

Dane Cruikshank, S

Matthew Adams, LB

Nicholas Morrow, LB

Joe Thomas, LB

Elijah Lee, LB

Patrick Scales, LS

• Unrestricted free agents can sign with any team once the 2023 league year opens, but their current team can negotiate with them before they hit the open market. These players have more than 4 seasons of accrued service time in the NFL.

Restricted Free Agents

Sam Mustipher, C

Andrew Brown, DL

Javin White, LB

Darrynton Evans, RB

Breon Borders, CB

• Restricted free agents have at least three accrued seasons of service, and their current team can give them a qualifying offer of either a First-round tender, Second-round tender, Original-round tender, or a Right-of-first-refusal tender. If they accept the tender, they can then negotiate with other clubs, but their original team can match if they receive an offer.

Exclusive Rights Free Agents

Josh Blackwell. CB

Dieter Eiselen, OL

• Exclusive rights free agents have less than three accrued seasons of service, and if their original team offers a one-year contract at the league minimum, then that player cannot negotiate with other teams.

Defensive lineman Andre Anthony was placed on practice squad injured reserve by the Bears earlier this season and is classified as a street free agent per Over the Cap.

For more on free agency definitions, you can visit this link.

With the season over for the Bears, they can now sign players to a reserve/future contract. Any players that finished the regular season unsigned to a 53-man roster are eligible for this type of deal, so many of the practice squadders will be brought back.