Chicago Bears sign former Bills LB Tremaine Edmunds to 4-year, $72 million deal

The Chicago Bears have made their biggest free agent signing of the 2023 cycle, agreeing to a four-year, $72 million deal with Buffalo Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

Bears are giving former Bills’ LB Tremaine Edmunds a 4-yr, $72M that includes $50M guaranteed, per source. It is the largest 4-year contract for an inside linebacker in the NFL.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2023

Edmunds joins former Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards to form a revamped Bears linebacker corps that now rivals the NFL’s best.

Tremaine Edmunds will be 25 in May and has already played 5 NFL season where he started all 74 regular season games and eight postseason games. 2x Pro Bowler has had 100-plus tackles every season so far.

— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) March 13, 2023

Tremaine Edmunds appeared in 13 games in 2022 (all starts) and finished the year with 102 tackles, six tackles for loss and one sack. The uber-athletic linebacker has been to two Pro Bowls and has had over 100 tackles in every season of his carer.

Tremaine Edmunds (Va. Tech) “comp” in 2018 draft was former @Bears great Brian Urlacher with the length and range for a ILB/MLB in Tampa 2 scheme.
It was really good in Buffalo, just not great and not as physical as Urlacher but Edmunds only will be 24 years old in May.

— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) March 13, 2023

Edmunds, 24, was a 2018 NFL Combine darling when he ran a 4.54 40-yard dash at 253 pounds. He’s proven to be one of the league’s top young playmakers at his position over the last five seasons.

Tremaine Edmunds will look to continue the historic tradition of dominant linebacker play for the Chicago Bears, that began with the likes of Dick Butkus and Mike Singletary and extended through Brian Urlacher and Roquan Smith.

Edmunds was considered one of the top free agents available in 2023, checking in 17th on PFF’s top 100.

“Edmunds made huge strides in coverage in 2022, a major weakness in his game through his first four seasons,” PFF wrote. “He is a truly freakish athlete and will be 25 years old throughout his entire sixth NFL season in 2023 after being selected No. 16 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft as the second-youngest player in the overall class. Edmunds” 86.9 coverage grade in 2022 was the third-best mark among off-ball linebackers, and he forced an incompletion on 10.3% of targets into his coverage while allowing just four explosive receptions the entire season (0.9% of targets into his coverage, ninth among linebackers). Edmunds also missed just 6.5% of potential tackles, the lowest rate of his career and another huge sign of continued growth from a football intelligence and play recognition standpoint.’