Bear is the favorite to receive a $29.3 million contract for a 28-year-old.

Chicago The Bears declared on Thursday that they had dismissed guard Cody Whitehair and veteran safety Eddie Jackson.

The players with the longest contracts on either side of the ball for the Bears were Whitehair and Jackson, who were selected by the previous front office in Chicago. By taking these actions, Chicago avoids paying the 2024 salary cap by an estimated $21.5 million.

Upon the releases of Whitehair and Jackson, the Bears no longer have any draft picks made before 2020 on the roster.

Whitehair later posted his thanks to the Bears organization and fans on his social media pages.

After being selected by Chicago in the second round of the 2016 draft, Whitehair, 31, made 124 appearances with 118 starts in eight seasons. The versatile interior lineman split starts at left guard in 2019–20 after spending his first three NFL seasons at center. Before Teven’s injury in 2023 prevented Whitehair from switching to guard full-time for the 2021–2022 season, Whitehair was scheduled to return to center. For the first five weeks, Whitehair was moved back to left guard by Jenkins.

After making multiple poor snap decisions after switching back to center in Week 6, Whitehair was benched. He finished the 2023 season with 11 starts. For the first time, he did not start every game during this season.

A fourth-round pick in 2017, Jackson played in 100 games over seven seasons with Chicago, starting every one of them. He was selected to the Pro Bowl twice and was named an All-Pro in 2018 while playing on the Bears defense that won Chicago’s last NFC North title. The safety’s last three seasons had been cut short due to foot injuries, and his $18.1 million cap charge was the third-highest on the Bears roster.

In his career, Jackson, 30, recorded 459 tackles, 10 caused fumbles, 44 passes defended, and 15 interceptions. With six career defensive touchdowns, five of which came in his first two seasons, he is tied for third in franchise history.

Following two seasons (2020–21) without an interception, Jackson returned to free safety from strong safety.

Jackson played in 12 games with 37 tackles and an interception the previous season.

General manager Ryan Poles responded, “I know [Jackson was] dinged up a little bit there, but I thought where his impact is really with Brisker and the communication on the back end,” when asked to assess Jackson’s 2023 campaign. “You could see Brisker was extremely at ease when Eddie entered. You could see that he had a significant impact on communication throughout the entire group.