{"id":484510,"date":"2026-02-16T23:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484510\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T23:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:06:09","slug":"kirk-cousins-alvin-kamara-among-notable-nfc-cut-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484510\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Cousins, Alvin Kamara among notable NFC cut candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Johnson played five solid years for the Bears, earning consecutive Pro Bowl selections in 2023 and 2024, before missing the majority of the 2025 campaign with a severe groin injury. He was largely considered a top-10 cornerback entering last season &#8212; though his contract lands just outside that range, with his $19 million average annual value ranking 13th at the position. So, why is he a cut candidate? Well, there are surprising cuts every offseason, and they usually come down to money. Johnson carries a $24.5 million cap hit in 2026, and the Bears could save $15.5 million by designating him as a post-June 1 release (their most lucrative option for that designation). Also, Johnson\u2019s 58.7 overall defensive grade from PFF ranked 64th out of 98 corners with 400+ snaps in 2025, and his 12.2 yards allowed per target was seventh-most among corners with 20+ targets. He is still young (27 years old in April), but Chicago could do a lot with that cap space if GM Ryan Poles decides Johnson\u2019s not worth the price tag anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnson played five solid years for the Bears, earning consecutive Pro Bowl selections in 2023 and 2024, before&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[17460,28663,13449,1258,1276,64,63,19366,20791,9024,1248,19990,1234,245385,30245,9840,1243,3749,84549,40524,1280,118705,92988,1239,1249,593,19976,1260,1262,85,17467,169846,1272],"class_list":{"0":"post-484510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-aaron-jones","9":"tag-alvin-kamara","10":"tag-analysis","11":"tag-arizona-cardinals","12":"tag-atlanta-falcons","13":"tag-au","14":"tag-australia","15":"tag-bilal-nichols","16":"tag-brandon-aiyuk","17":"tag-bryce-huff","18":"tag-chicago-bears","19":"tag-cole-kmet","20":"tag-dallas-cowboys","21":"tag-dalvin-tomlinson","22":"tag-darnell-mooney","23":"tag-elgton-jenkins","24":"tag-green-bay-packers","25":"tag-james-conner","26":"tag-jaylon-johnson","27":"tag-kenny-clark","28":"tag-kirk-cousins","29":"tag-marshon-lattimore","30":"tag-michael-carter-ii","31":"tag-minnesota-vikings","32":"tag-new-orleans-saints","33":"tag-nfl","34":"tag-no-minute","35":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","36":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-t-j-hockenson","39":"tag-tremaine-edmunds","40":"tag-washington-commanders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}