Bears release S Eddie Jackson, G/C Cody Whitehair

In a pair of unsurprising moves, the Bears released two starters. The moves save $21 million in cap space.

Today, the Chicago Bears announced the release of two starters, safety Eddie Jackson and center and guard Cody Whitehair.

The moves save around $21 million in salary cap space for 2024.

Jackson, a fourth-round pick in 2017, became an instant starter and electric player in the secondary for the Bears. He started exactly 100 games for Chicago, notching 15 interceptions, 10 forced fumbles and six touchdowns.

Jackson was a two-time Pro-Bowler and one-time first-team All-Pro. He was one of the most obvious cap casualties, saving the team over $12 million while carrying a dead cap hit of just $5.5 million, according to Spotrac.

His play hasn’t fallen off quite as much, although the ball production hasn’t been what it was earlier his career, but his tackling was never a strong suit and definitely didn’t fit the mold that Matt Eberflus would want.

Whitehair, a former second-round pick and a one-time Pro-Bowler for Chicago, has started mostly at center in his career, but has seen a noticeable decline in play the past couple of seasons.

Whitehair was initially expected to play guard, but center kept finding him. In total he started 118 games for the Bears.

His rookie year, Hroniss Grasu got injured in camp and the team signed Josh Sitton to play guard. In 2019, he moved back over to guard for James Daniels to take over at center, but Whitehair was eventually moved back to center when the offense struggled.

Later, Lucas Patrick was signed to take on the center position, but injuries and poor play again inserted Whitehair back to the middle.

He was more than serviceable at the position in his early years, although his snapping never seemed to be consistent.

Whitehair’s release should save the Bears just over $9 million in cap space while carrying $4.1 million in dead money, according to Spotrac.

Overall, these are two contributors for the Bears and starting spots that Ryan Poles is going to need to fill this offseason.

They’ve both been a part of some great moments for the Bears and played some great football for Chicago at times.