The Chicago Bears are now unlikely to return starting strongside linebacker Jack Sanborn for the 2025 season after making a key decision about his free agency.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Bears will not tender Sanborn as a restricted free agent, putting him on track to become an unrestricted free agent next Tuesday.
“The #Bears are not tendering RFA linebacker Jack Sanborn, per source,” Fowler wrote Tuesday on X. “Their starting Sam linebacker the past two seasons also has [six] starts as [a middle linebacker], when he had 71 tackles (six for loss) and three QB hurries.”
Sanborn tallied 164 tackles with 14 for a loss and 4.5 sacks over his first three seasons with the Bears. As Fowler noted, he was particularly impressive in 2022 when he won a roster spot as an undrafted rookie and later on took over as the team’s starting middle linebacker after the Bears traded future All-Pro Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens.
Tendering Sanborn would have meant paying him more in 2025 than he made in the previous three seasons combined, though. According to Over the Cap’s numbers, the right-of-first-refusal tender would cost $3.267 million against the cap, a considerable raise from the roughly $2.5 million that Sanborn has earned since entering the NFL.
The Bears also have a new coaching staff in place that may desire a change in personnel.
Free agency will officially open at 4 p.m. ET on March 12, but negotiations will begin when the NFL’s legal tampering period starts at noon ET on Monday, March 10.
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