Free agent Bills let leave named among NFL's 'most overpaid players'
Bleacher Report named the "most overpriced player" at each position in the NFL heading into the 2025 season.
Once upon a time, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds was a first-round pick by the Bills but did not stick around in Buffalo. Prior to the 2023 season, Edmunds signed a big contact with the Chicago Bears in free agency.
Since then, the Bills have not struggled at the position. Edmunds was once in one of the NFL's best linebacker duos with Matt Milano in Buffalo but Terrel Edmunds has since taken his spot there seamlessly.
While Edmunds is still considered a productive player in B/R's breakdown, it's not the list he or the Bears will want to see him on.
B/R's breakdown on Edmunds can be found below:
Average Annual Salary: $18 million
Over his seven seasons in the NFL, Tremaine Edmunds has been consistently productive. The 2018 first-round pick for the Buffalo Bills has tallied at least 100 total tackles every season he has been in the league.
But as Bleacher Report's Kris Knox pointed out in calling his four-year, $72 million contract one of the NFL's 10 worst, what Edmunds has not been in Chicago is a true impact defender:
"Edmunds hasn't been a complete bust for the Bears. He's topped 100 tackles in each of his two seasons with the franchise while allowing an opposing passer rating below 90.0 in coverage. He has certainly had his moments.
"Edmunds has not, however, been a Pro Bowl-caliber player or helped turn Chicago's defense into a top unit. Pro Football Focus graded Edmunds as the league's 119th-best linebacker overall for the 2024 season. In other words, Edmunds has been good but not great when at his best for the Bears. In return, Chicago is paying the 27-year-old as if he was an All-Pro-level off-ball linebacker.
"Among inside 'backers, only San Francisco standout Fred Warner is earning more annually than Edmunds."
Annual salary is the only place you'll see Edmunds compared to Warner. Edmunds is what he is: a good-but-not-great linebacker who is wildly overpaid.
His pact was a bad contract when it was signed. It hasn't aged well, either. But at least the Bears can get out of it in 2026 with a relatively minimal dead cap hit.
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