2026 cap number: $1,266,224 (R-4)
I would have liked to drop $20 million-plus on at least one premium player at each position. I just couldn’t get around the fact of needing more than 15 players on the roster. Penei Sewell ($28 million) was the most tempting potential luxury acquisition on the offensive line, but — and I hate to use language like this in a piece about spending to the limit — the savings opportunity with Garett Bolles made too much sense. For $20 million less, left tackle will be manned by a first-team All-Pro who registered the best pressures-allowed rate (5.9%) last season of any tackle with 500-plus pass-blocking snaps, per Next Gen Stats. Whether or not Tyler Smith stays inside or kicks outside in 2026, he looks good here at left guard, matching Bolles with the best pressure rate allowed among guards (3.8%) to reach that play-time threshold — and hey, whaddaya know, Quinn Meinerz is two spots behind Smith (4.9%).
Luke Wattenberg’s cap hit doesn’t rise into the double digits until the final season of the extension he signed in November, and it’s at an especially sweet $3.6 million this year. So, again, though I would have really enjoyed picking the most expensive center available (Creed Humphrey, $18.1 million), I had no choice but to rock with Wattenberg, who was credited by NGS with just 23 pressures and zero sacks allowed in 2025. Wright blossomed into a second-team All-Pro while helping the Bears keep Caleb Williams clean enough to play like a star.
The backups could easily start on any other roster, which I can say with authority because they have started on their actual rosters. Rasheed Walker, Warren McClendon, Tanor Bortolini and Mason McCormick belong to one of my favorite subgroups of players: Day 3 picks made good.