LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears released linebacker Tremaine Edmunds on Friday after granting him permission last week to seek a trade.
The 27-year-old Edmunds was entering the final season of a four-year, $72 million contract he signed in 2023. The Bears saved $15 million in cap space by letting him go before the start of the league year next week.
Edmunds helped the Bears go from worst to first in the NFC North. He led the team with 112 tackles and had four interceptions despite missing four games with a groin injury.
Chicago went 11-6 and won its first division title since 2018. The Bears advanced in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, rallying to beat Green Bay in a wild-card thriller before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime in the divisional round.
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FILE - Chicago Bears middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds looks on during an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Nov. 2, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)
CHICAGO (AP) — From former presidents to an NBA Hall of Famer to prominent pastors, stories of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s influence on politics, corporate boardrooms and picket lines loomed large Friday at a celebration honoring the late civil rights leader.
The public tribute — with appearances by Grammy-winning gospel singers and Jennifer Hudson — felt at times like a church service and others like a political rally. Many, from former President Bill Clinton to the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader and founder of the National Action Network, likened Jackson’s death to a call to action, from speaking out against justice to voting in the midterms.
Former President Barack Obama said Jackson's presidential runs in the 1980s set the stage for other Black leaders, including his own successful 2009 presidency and reelection.
“The message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn’t any place or any room where we didn’t belong,” Obama said to the boisterous crowd of thousands. “He paved the road for so many others to follow."
The event drew a slew of elected U.S. leaders. Other notable attendees included actor and producer Tyler Perry, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and political activist and theologian Cornel West. Detroit Pistons great and Chicago native Isiah Thomas also spoke at the event that lasted five hours.
The crowd gave an especially warm welcome to Obama, who launched his political career in Chicago, and credited Jackson with keeping him on his toes. He said he was grateful to Jackson for providing a “legacy of hope" in contrast with the current Republican leadership in Washington.
“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope,” Obama said. “Each day we wake up to some new assault to our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law, an offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible.”
Clinton said Jackson made him a better president, while former Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris talked about Jackson's inspiring 1980s presidential runs and showed off campaign memorabilia she had kept from them. Former President Joe Biden also spoke during the service.
President Donald Trump, who praised Jackson on social media after he died and also shared photos of the two of them, did not attend.
The event honoring the protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate followed memorial services that drew large crowds in Chicago and South Carolina, where Jackson was born. Friday’s celebration — at an influential Black church with a 10,000-seat arena — was the largest.
Attendees waited in long lines outside the church as television screens played excerpts of some of Jackson’s most famous speeches. Inside, vendors sold pins with his 1984 presidential slogan and hoodies with his “I Am Somebody” mantra.
Marketing professional Chelsia Bryan said Friday that she decided to attend for the "chance to be part of something historic.”
“As a Black woman, knowing that someone pretty much gave their life, dedicated their life to make sure I can do the things that I can do now, he’s worth honoring,” Bryan said.
Jackson died last month at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak. His final public appearances included the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
"Every single person in here has a Jesse Jackson story,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said to the crowd. “The time he shook your hand, the time he prayed for you, the time he held you up, the time he prayed the funeral for somebody you know ... and he prayed you to a new course of existence.”
Sitting in the crowd was 90-year-old Mary Lovett. She said Jackson’s advocacy inspired her many times, from when she moved from Mississippi to Chicago in the 1960s, taught elementary school and became a mom. She voted for Jackson during his presidential runs and appreciated how he always spoke up for underrepresented people.
“He’s gone, but I hope his legacy lives,” she said. “I hope we can remember what he tried to teach us.”
Jackson's pursuits were countless, taking him to all corners of the globe: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, health care, job opportunities and education. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
Sharpton, who considered the late reverend a lifelong mentor, said he hoped attendees would take home some of the “Jackson fire.”
“Don’t sit here so holy and sanctified and act like you have no assignment yourself,” he said to the increasingly boisterous crowd. “We didn’t come this far to turn around now.”
Another son, Yusef Jackson, who runs the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, recalled how his father carried a well-worn Bible but also showed his faith by showing up to picket lines.
“He lived a revolutionary Christian faith rooted in justice, nonviolence and the moral righteousness,” he said. “He was deeply involved in the political struggles of his time, but his gift was that he could rise above them. It’s not about the left wing or the right wing. It takes two wings to fly. For him, the goal was always the moral center.”
A final homegoing service was scheduled for Saturday at Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Services in Washington, D.C., were tabled after a request to allow Jackson to lie in honor in the United States Capitol rotunda was denied by House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said the space is typically reserved for select officials, including former presidents.
From left, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former first lady Jill Biden, and former President Joe Biden attend the Public Homegoing Service for Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Former President Barack Obama speaks during the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
A person stands during the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
From left, Former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, former President Barack Obama, Jill Biden, and former President Joe Biden attend the Public Homegoing Service for Reverend Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
People gather before the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The casket with the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives for the Public Homegoing Service at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
The casket with the Rev. Jesse Jackson is seen before the Public Homegoing Service at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Veronica Edmonds waits on line to enter the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026.(AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
People stand on line before the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Lisa Fields waits on line to enter the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
People stand on line to enter the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026.( (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
People stand on line to enter the Public Homegoing Service for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Friday, March 6, 2026.((AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
People pay their respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson inside the South Carolina Statehouse as he lies in state Monday, March 2, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, Pool)
Santita Jackson, daughter of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, speaks at Brookland Baptist Church during a tribute service honoring her late father Monday, March 2, 2026, in West Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
The casket of the Rev. Jesse Jackson is carried to the South Carolina Statehouse, where he will lie in state, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley, Pool)
Rep. Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., hugs a mourner at a public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Jacqueline Jackson, the wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, attends his public visitation at Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
