Stud Inside Linebacker Being Released
March 6th, 2026
Pro Bowl LB now a free agent.
This will get you tossing and turning when you go to bed tonight, or help kick-start your caffeine Friday morning, depending on your sleep pattern.
Joe can sense Bucs fans are weary of Joe typing about free agent edge rushers who are pushing or on the wrong side of 30. Fans want guys in their prime.
OK, how about this:
The Bucs need inside linebackers in the worst way. Maybe worse than an edge rush. Think about it: If the Bucs don’t upgrade the edge rush — that wouldn’t shock Joe — at least the Bucs have YaYa Diaby.
If Lavonte David retires, who do the Bucs have? SirVocea Dennis.
Joe rests his case.
Late Thursday night, multiple reports out of Chicago have the Bears set to release linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who will be 28 in May. Last week at the combine Joe spoke with a Chicago source who said the pending release had nothing to do with Edmunds’ play. In fact, the Bears were happy with his play.
The problem is, the Bears are in a pinch with the salary cap and are shedding salary. That’s why they waved goodbye to Edmunds.
The Virginia Tech grad has never had a season with less than 100 tackles in his eight-year career. Last year he tied a career high with four picks and added nine passes defensed.
Joe maintains the Bucs need three inside linebackers — awo via the draft and signing one, or signing two and drafting one. However you want to add it up.
Edmunds would be a great start to rebuilding this Bucs defense.
March 6th, 2026 at 12:32 am
I don’t know hasn’t he always been a cold weather guy? He would definitely be a huge upgrade for the next 4 years if Licht isn’t going to bargain shop again
March 6th, 2026 at 12:46 am
Picked at #16 and has played well. Don’t know his price, maybe $18M. That’s way more than LVD is getting paid, but will Licht abandon his Dollar Store ways? Probably not, but he should. I would look at him very hard and probably pick him up.
March 6th, 2026 at 12:46 am
I really hope we get him! Go Bucs!
March 6th, 2026 at 12:49 am
In the NFL he has always played in a Great Lakes city. He went to college at Virginia Tech.
March 6th, 2026 at 1:34 am
He is an upgrade but the Bucs will be competeing with other clubs who have aneed at the position as well but if they sign him, that is one less LB position to fill.
March 6th, 2026 at 1:45 am
I don’t believe the Bucs will sign any 1st tier expensive free agents such as this player Edmunds. It’s all going to be cheap, inexpensive players. Additionally, I don’t believe the Bucs management is all in on winning a SB this season. They will say things that point to them being a contender. But there actions say otherwise. Love the team, just pointing out the reality.
March 6th, 2026 at 1:53 am
Todd would have Edmunds emulating and learning from Sir Vocea Dennis by the third day of mini camp.
March 6th, 2026 at 3:24 am
Tremaine Edmunds (drafted #16 in 2018 by Buffalo) became who we thought Devin White would become. And he’s gotten paid handsomely for it.
He signed a 4-year $72 mil contract with the Bears back in 2023 after playing his first 5 yrs for the Bills. He’s in the ‘elite’ for MLBs, but he’s not the highest paid. Fred Warner (49ers) makes $21 mil each year. Roquan Smith (Ravens) makes $20 mil. Then comes Edmunds ($18 mil), Zack Braun (Eagles) $17 mil and Nick Bolton ($15 mil). Quality doesn’t come cheap.
Tremaine Edmunds (6’4″ & 251 lbs with 4.54 sec speed in the 40) is worth it. He’s a LEADER with 8 yrs of MLB experience. Has never made less than 100 tackles in any year, and averages 900 def snaps per season. Has a career 72.4% Completions Allowed percentage, and made 4 INTs last season (and 9 INTs over the last 3 seasons).
Bucs have gotten away cheap at MLB (White, KJ Britt, SVD) for the whole time Bowles has been DC. Once Devin White shall we say ‘went downhill’ our defense has gone into a freefall. We NEED to shore up the middle of our defense (interior DLine, MLB) especially with some very talented performers if we expect to turn this thing around. Tremaine Edmunds would be an excellent start to build around, then draft 2 ILBs for him to work with.
March 6th, 2026 at 3:33 am
Despite the impressive INT and PBU numbers in 2025 the sabermetrics say Edmunds struggled mightily on pass downs. Anzalone is as good as they come in coverage and brings more as a leader and communicator in the middle plus he’ll cost half as much as Edmunds so he is still my guy for the Bucs in FA.
Then absolutely, positively draft at least two more new ILBs.
March 6th, 2026 at 4:33 am
I think Anzalone’s former DC Aaron Glenn, who has $77 mil in cap space to play with, will make him an offer too rich in dollars and assurances for the Bucs to compete with though so I’m not expecting this ideal ILB to become a Buc. His only other NFL DC Dennis Allen is the guy letting Edmunds go. Why? Maybe because Anzalone is cheaper and better vs the pass these past 3 seasons? Edmunds was the best in the business in 2022 in Buffalo but he just isn’t worth the big money to the cap-strapped Bears, or the Bucs if you are asking me.
I’m quite fine with the Bucs getting all their new ILBs in the draft and resigning only David at ILB in free agency. He’ll have a bounce back 2026. There is no need to overpay anyone at ILB when their is a top 5 pass rusher that wants to play in Tampa.
I’m all about the Bucs making a spending splash in FA but at premium positions only. It’s not Mike Evans or… It’s Mike Evans and (Trey Hendrickson) and (Anzalone or Dre’Mont Jones) and… If the Glazers will front some cash for a few months and let Greenberg do what they pay him to do. The cap doesn’t exist. Do what the Eagles do. Except pay a LB over $50 in a 3 year deal then have him be a healthy scratch for the Super Bowl you go on to win. Huff was the piece Vic Fangio needed to get his defense Super Bowl dominating quality- to the tune of $50 mil- until he immediately wasn’t. So don’t do that stupid LB move but sign top end deals and restructure contracts until the 2029-2030 tv/media washes all old liabilities away. This group in this window is worth the investment.
March 6th, 2026 at 5:29 am
I’ve always believed MLB is the most important piece of a defense. He should be the QB of your defense. What’s more important than that? If you look at some of the great defenses, they had great MLBs, tone setters, Keuchley, Nickerson, Lewis, Singletary. Look what we got. Time to retire David, get somebody like Edmunds, and draft one fairly high.
March 6th, 2026 at 6:32 am
These teams all getting rid of ILB’ers must already have one or be planning to draft one…
March 6th, 2026 at 6:44 am
Edmunds is worth every penny. If I had to pick who would bring the the greater value to the team at this point in their career between Edmunds, David, ME13, Godwin, or Goedeke….Id say Edmunds. David is done, ME13 is a $17 million WR at this point, Godwin’s replacement is already on the team…E², and Edmunds has missed less games in his entire career than Goedeke does every season. Loosen the purse strings Licht and look past your hand picked tomatoes for a change.
March 6th, 2026 at 6:47 am
He will want big money
March 6th, 2026 at 6:58 am
Why not give the bears a late round pick for him.
March 6th, 2026 at 7:24 am
While ILber is certainly a “need”, I dont think they need to spend big money at the position. Id let David walk, draft J Rodriguez in the 2nd and Kyle Louis in the 3rd. Sign a vet who is solid and won’t break the bank. Guys like Anzalone, Kaden Ellis, Leo Chanel would all be big upgrades over SVD and come in much cheaper than Edmunds.
March 6th, 2026 at 7:28 am
Licht cannot sign him due to the fact that it would make perfect sense.
March 6th, 2026 at 7:35 am
Sign David, Edmond, Hendrickson, in the first rd. draft TE, second rd. draft a cornerback
March 6th, 2026 at 7:50 am
We will see if Bowles was being honest about getting “Bigger”. Edmunds will make our LBs look small!
March 6th, 2026 at 7:52 am
Bears are looking at Chenal to replace Edmunds. Maybe we should be looking hard at Chenal too since he’s cheaper?
March 6th, 2026 at 8:00 am
I said we needed min 2 ILB last year and the position was, shockingly, completely neglected. Maybe AC/DC loving GM does go into the RoH based on Brady signing/ensuing SB, but otherwise there are a lot of misses and misfires.
Now the least action is a LVD return, signing a QUALITY vet starter and an early draft pick. If 54 does not return then add one to that FA or draft count. Also have to sign Hendrickson and draft at that position. Need 2 CBs, probably a TE, a WR if we (likely) cannot afford ME13 after the other moves. Also need some OL depth and a RB.
March 6th, 2026 at 8:05 am
Fanofdabucs … ‘While ILber is certainly a “need”, I dont think they need to spend big money at the position.’
If we play our cards right, we could probably re-sign KJ Britt & pair him with SVD as our starting ILBs for only a couple mil. Then just re-sign Reddick (for cheap obviously), Gaines & Hall, and we could easily surpass the 411 points we allowed last season. I’m thinking Top-32 is within our grasp.
OR … we could take to heart what Hodad wrote … ‘MLB is the most important piece of a defense’ … and spend accordingly.
March 6th, 2026 at 8:11 am
Don’t the Bears have to eat Edmunds salary this year?
March 6th, 2026 at 8:25 am
DR- Good point
“Tremaine Edmunds (6’4″ & 251 lbs with 4.54 sec speed in the 40) is worth it. He’s a LEADER with 8 yrs of MLB experience. Has never made less than 100 tackles in any year, and averages 900 def snaps per season. Has a career 72.4% Completions Allowed percentage, and made 4 INTs last season (and 9 INTs over the last 3 seasons).
The Bucs had a another FA linebacker signeing back in the day that was a leader and changed the Bucs Def. Does Hardy ring a bel? Great investment!
March 6th, 2026 at 9:02 am
Don’t think the Bucs can fill enough holes unless some contracts get reworked . Clearing up space is the task at hand . The zero talent at TE and 6 defensive positions is not achievable with 25 mil cap and maybe 1 first year difference maker in the first three rounds .
March 6th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Could be our next Hardy Nickerson
March 6th, 2026 at 9:16 am
You gotta bust a few moves to be great. Licht has probably been ordered by the Glazers to continue his bargain dumpster ways. I don’t see it happening.
March 6th, 2026 at 9:23 am
We can’t afford any descent free agents thanks to JL making ridiculous extensions like he did last year with Godwin and Zion. I would even say the Goedeke extension was ridiculous. Luke is a good solid RT but isn’t a Pro Bowl caliber player and misses a lot of time due to injury. Yet JL paid him like he’s one of the best RTs in the league.
March 6th, 2026 at 10:12 am
Outrigger
You’re preaching to the choir. The luster is off JL. He has squandered all the cap space with the overpayment on the extensions. Add this to the many draft busts on defense and you have the Buc’s current condition. We need 8 new NFL competitive starters minimum and have no money to pay them. Despite a professed build through the draft philosophy and no money spent on good imported FA, we have no cap room. Pure mismanagement. JL should be on the hot seat with Bowles. Oh yeah, granted themselves 3 year extensions.
March 6th, 2026 at 10:25 am
Damn. Damn. He must’ve been really young when he was drafted then, if he’s still only 27 years-old, after 8-seasons in the league. Must’ve graduated HS and enrolled early at about 17 years-old. And, a “GRAD!?” Wow. He must be some sort of genius. The Bears are shredding that salary for a reason (also DJ Moore)… They must feel that they have Crosby in the bag. They have to while they still have 3-full seasons left of having Williams on a rookie deal. Big-Time state of Urgency for Da Bears.
March 6th, 2026 at 10:53 am
MelvinJunior … ‘He must’ve been really young when he was drafted then, if he’s still only 27 years-old, after 8-seasons’.
Hadn’t thought about that but you’re spot on. He was born May 8, 1998, so TODAY he’s only 27. With 8 full years under his belt, Edmunds must’ve been only 19 (almost 20) when he was drafted by the Bills in 2018. He played at Virginia Tech for 3 yrs (2015-2017) so he must’ve been 17 thru his entire freshman year. Don’t see that very often.
March 6th, 2026 at 10:57 am
guys go from studs to duds overnight in the not for long league…
we have seen it first hand many times…
and last season we were introduced to the dud-liest of edge fledge in a hedge…
i can honestly say if we had signed joe shoyinka to a one year deal, (which i didn’t want us to do), he would have probably been more productive in the system, just due to continuity and light pressure to get better
March 6th, 2026 at 11:01 am
MelvinJunior … Bears obviously believe that ‘This is the year of the Linebacker’ and are willing to draft one high to replace Edmunds. Money is surely the driving factor though.
I’m a huge believe that the middle of your defense has to be strong or you’re dead meat. Interior DLine (for Run Defense & Pass Rush), MLB (for Run Defense & Pass Defense & Signal Calling), plus a Free Safety (Jack-of-all-trades). Ideally all 3 positions become FIELD GENERALS who can provide the leadership that all great defenses have on the field.
March 6th, 2026 at 11:32 am
Can someone answer of the Bears are still on the hook for Edmund’s 13.9mill salary for 26?
March 6th, 2026 at 11:37 am
If