Projecting the Chicago Bears’ initial 53-man roster: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts after the preseason finale
· Yahoo Sports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The day before the Chicago Bears must reduce the roster to 53 players, they used exactly 53 to close out preseason with a 24-15 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday at Nissan Stadium.
Rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas had a 97-yard touchdown on the first offensive play from scrimmage when he juked Titans cornerback Keydrain Calligan with a stutter-and-go and then showcased the blazing speed that might make him the fastest player the Bears have had in some time.
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Thomas totaled 140 yards on five catches and had a 39-yard punt return, and backup quarterback Tyson Bagent was supersharp after missing a week of practice, completing 16 of 17 passes for 208 yards and two scores.
And just like that, with most of the team’s frontline players wearing ballcaps instead of helmets, it’s on to the regular season after the Bears reduce the roster to 53 by 5 p.m. Sunday.
10 thoughts following the preseason finale.
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1. Retired football players who were accustomed to two-a-days pretty much daily and spending close to a month away at training camp will chuckle if you tell them the Bears went through a demanding training camp and preseason.For the way the league is modeled today and the rules in place with the collective bargaining agreement, Ben Johnson made sure this camp checked every box. Those 40 up-downs that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen makes his players do at the start of camp are a breeze, especially in comparison to what the team went through the last two weeks.
Johnson’s plan to take the team on the road for consecutive weeks of joint practices in Cincinnati and then here created organic situations for players to bond, whether it be in the hotel or out at dinner. Long, hot and muggy practices with the Bengals and Titans required players to dial in, and between the two trips, there was a long, physical practice at Halas Hall with a long drive period.
If it’s blazing hot when the Bears begin the season Sept. 13 at Carolina — and it could very well be in the southern city — the last two weeks have positioned the Bears to handle it. In January, Johnson talked about going back to square one and starting over. To him, there was no carryover from an 11-6 season and NFC North title. He designed the offseason program and then the summer to reflect that.
“Listen, all I care about is: Does it help us win or not?” Johnson said before Thursday’s practice. “That’s really what I’m all about.
“Talking about last year isn’t going to do us any good in terms of winning this practice, winning the next preseason game, winning Week 1. That’s really all we care about right now.”
For all the hand-wringing that has taken place about the team’s health over the last five weeks, the Bears are in a decent spot. They’ve lost one primary player — safety Coby Bryant — for a big chunk of the season, maybe all of it. A lot of other teams have had more extensive losses.
Quarterback Caleb Williams is more comfortable than he was a year ago, and the coaches have a better idea of what they want to do with him. The talent around him has been upgraded. He’s seemingly handled the attention that comes with the job, and now we get to see if he’s prepared to meet heightened expectations in Year 3.
Energy is high in the locker room and throughout the building. There was a curiosity at this time last year. Johnson had impressed the players, but how it was going to come together in the regular season, no one could say for certain.
“All the hard work we’ve put in, it’s time to display it on Sundays,” wide receiver Luther Burden III said. “We know where we’re trying to go and we know how to get there. We’ve got to stay detailed and we’re going to be just right.”
Said cornerback Jaylon Johnson: “Go win. That’s it. Confidence is high. It’s a new season now.”
The Bears will get a bonus week of practice before turning attention to game-planning for the Panthers. They will focus on situational work and special teams. Johnson pledged there will be another “good, heavy padded practice.”
“Other than that, though, really proud of the guys for the way we finished,” Johnson said. “That was the name of the game this week. Finish every play, finish every period of practice. Finish throughout practice. We had a big one in hot conditions (Thursday). And then of course finished training camp, which I thought they did. I thought they brought it tonight.”
2. The first thing that entered my mind Thursday morning when Ben Johnson talked about players busting their humps to get back into action was Kyler Gordon.I think Gordon — unnamed by Johnson — was part of the equation but I’m not about to stick names or words into the coach’s mouth.
I also know Johnson was giving a shoutout to players who have, at least to this point, exceeded expectations the Bears originally had in terms of recovery time from individual injuries.
As you may have seen, Johnson was asked about right tackle Darnell Wright’s willingness to play through injuries. Wright last season suffered a torn UCL in his right elbow in the Week 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys, came out for 11 snaps and returned to finish that game. He was sidelined the following week in Las Vegas and then played with a brace on his arm for the remainder of the season.
Wright reaggravated that injury in practice Tuesday but returned for a light practice the next day and was a full participant in the joint practice with the Titans on Thursday.
“I think in general, it’s not just Darnell,” Johnson said. “He’s a great example of it but we have almost the entire roster fighting their tails off to get back out on the field. They do not like missing time. They want to be out there competing. They want to be out there with their teammates, and to me, that’s the sign that we’re moving in the right direction. And I get a lot of positive vibes from that. So it’s good.”
Offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo is the best example. Last winter, the Bears didn’t have any idea if he’d be available to play at all this season. By spring, they wondered if he might be ready at some point late in the season. Now, Trapilo likely will open the season on the 53-man roster with projections here in a little bit.
Out of everything that happened on the field Saturday, seeing wide receiver Luther Burden III run routes and get in and out of breaks at near full speed might have been the most encouraging. Burden suffered a groin injury Aug. 8 when he was tangled up with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in a one-on-one drill. At the time, the Bears hoped he might be available in time for Week 1. If the pregame workout was a good indicator, Burden will be in the mix for the opener, and after the game Johnson said he felt Burden looked “100%.”
“It felt good to be back out there,” Burden said. “It was hot as hell but it felt good. I’ll be ready.”
Defensive end Austin Booker, who was last seen on the field Aug. 20 in a joint practice in Cincinnati, got some work in with an athletic trainer pregame as he deals with a groin injury. That was a positive sign.
Then there’s Gordon, whom I did not spot in Nashville. He was definitely with the team in Cincinnati the previous week, and whether he’s on one trip and not another doesn’t necessarily mean a lot. He’s on the physically unable to perform list, and there’s little chance he will make the initial roster.
It’s to the point that over the next 24 hours, nothing would surprise me with Gordon. I rather doubt the team would choose the nuclear option and releases him. Such a move would have serious salary-cap ramifications for a team that is tight as it is. There’s no way to trade a player with a guaranteed salary of $10 million who hasn’t been on the field since January.
There’s also nothing that convinces me Gordon will for certain play football for the Bears this season. Johnson won’t give more than one- or two-word replies when asked about Gordon. Teammates have described Gordon’s situation as “bizarre.”
The coach certainly left things open for interpretation Thursday if you are wondering what players (or maybe player) is part of the small portion of the roster that hasn’t been busting tails (or tail). A stray intended for Gordon … who knows? Again, I think Johnson’s main point was that he’s proud of how a handful of players and the team’s training staff have helped get those guys in position to contribute.
As best I can tell, Gordon will remain on the PUP list when the initial roster is formed Sunday. It’s impossible to even speculate what kind of timeline there could be for him actually playing football, and Ryan Poles needs to explain the “delay” in getting Gordon going a year after he missed 14 regular-season games.
Gordon has been a talented player for the Bears and has the flexibility to do a lot of things on the back end. Remember, one of the ways the defense was going to help the pass rush was with an improved secondary, something that involved the healthy return of Jaylon Johnson and Gordon and arrival of new safeties Coby Bryant and Dillon Thieneman.
Johnson has looked good this summer. Thieneman is a speedy and sharp rookie who should learn quickly. Bryant could miss the entire season with a left knee injury, and Gordon … no one knows.
3. The Bears knew there would be a lot to work through at left tackle this summer. What they really wanted was to feel good about replacing center Drew Dalman.It’s a little counterintuitive to think the center is more important to an elite offensive line than the left tackle, where pay tops out at $30.1 million annually for injured Washington Commanders tackle Laremy Tunsil. But Ben Johnson puts a ton on the center in terms of communication with Caleb Williams and in the outside zone running scheme.
Johnson has consistently praised Garrett Bradbury, whom the team picked up in a trade with the New England Patriots after Dalman’s surprising decision to retire was announced. The Bears are building for the future with rookie Logan Jones.
Johnson called left tackle a “hot spot” this past week, and he’s not wrong. He also proved last season that the offense could operate at a high level with a revolving door at the position, although the hope is the team doesn’t need to use four starters there again.
Braxton Jones entered training camp as the favorite, and barring something unexpected, he’ll be the starter Week 1 and into the early part of the season. I thought Jones had a better showing in Thursday’s joint practice with the Titans than he did last week in Cincinnati.
When Ozzy Trapilo is ready to take the field, that’s when a decision will be required with an evaluation of Jones (or whoever else is in there) from recent game tape.
With an athletic quarterback like Williams, the priority on center over left tackle made sense to a general manager for another team when I discussed the situation with him from a broad perspective. Elite left tackles are difficult to find in free agency and extremely expensive.
Picking 25th in the draft this year, the Bears weren’t in position to select a clear future star, especially considering they believe Trapilo has a chance to become a good one. So they formulated a plan to have a wide-open competition at left tackle again with Jones, Jedrick Wills Jr., Kiran Amegadjie and Theo Benedet. Trapilo projects to be back in the mix earlier than the franchise could have imagined when he was injured back in January.
“Caleb can avoid edge pressure, but the lack of a firm middle, he probably is not the type of player, at least he wasn’t coming out, that can handle someone in his lap,” the GM said. “He’s not that tall, and that firm middle is so important because it gives you the clean vision lane. For a guy that is as athletic as he is, if I am going to give something up, I’ll say, ‘Let me give a little on the edge and he can spin out of it.’
“As a defense, you almost want to keep him in the pocket because he’s so mobile and he’s so dangerous on the move. He’s kind of like Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Back in the day, when you played Rodgers, you had to change the way you rushed when you faced him. You’re trying to cage him. It wasn’t pin your ears back and go. It was more speed to power and keep him in the pocket because when he escapes, you were hosed. Ben knows that, and that’s how a lot of these opponents are playing Caleb. Ben knows they’re going to cage rush him anyway.
“If I’m playing the Bears, I want my defensive ends going at 80%. I don’t want to win now and flush him immediately. Kind of cage him, stay on the edge, keep him on your hip pocket and then collapse it in on him. That doesn’t make it necessarily easier for the left tackle, and you’re not going to lose sight of what’s going on over there. But the firm middle has become such an important aspect for a lot of these offenses. You’ve got to have a center you believe in to make that a reality.”
Left tackle will remain a hot spot and get a ton of attention. Center often gets overlooked, even when things are running smoothly. The best-case scenario for the Bears is they’re able to manage left tackle more effectively than they did a year ago.
Jones has a chance to settle in. He needs to use his long arms more effectively to punch defensive ends. That would help him better handle power. Trapilo needs to get healthy, and maybe by season’s end the Bears will have some clarity on the position as they look ahead to 2027.
4. Ozzy Trapilo had a wide smile on his face as he pulled his suitcase toward the exit.Trapilo didn’t do a lot Saturday — more individual drill work with coaches in the end zone in a steaming hot pregame workout at Nissan Stadium. But what isn’t there to smile about right now for last year’s second-round pick?
He’s 7½ months removed from a ruptured patellar tendon, an injury the Bears originally thought might wipe out his entire 2026 season. Now, there’s increasing confidence he’ll be available for a good chunk of this season.
“There are a million people that I could shout out for it,” Trapilo said when asked what the arduous road back has been like.
That was a little telling. He didn’t steer the conversation to long days that turned into weeks and then months in the training room. He didn’t talk about the lonely place players rehabbing from injuries can find themselves in. He thought of whom he should credit for being activated from the physically unable to perform list and joining parts of practice for the last two weeks.
“Probably too many to name right now,” Trapilo said. “But huge shoutout to Adam (LaVan) in the training room and Dre (Andre Tucker), the head guy in the training room. They made my job really easy. Basically show up and do what I am told when I am told. And it felt like it just kind of took off from there.”
Trapilo said they had a road map for him immediately after surgery in January when the Bears were saying a best-case scenario might be him getting cleared late in this season. He also singled out assistant strength coach Mark Philippi as being a valuable resource as Philippi had personal experience with the same injury.
“The second I got back after surgery, the plan was in motion from nutrition all the way down to the rehab, the weight room, all of it,” Trapilo said. “They told me the timeline that it normally is for the injury, and you’ve just got to take that with a grain of salt. Everyone is different. I knew the way I was going to attack rehab. That’s what ended up happening.”
What the timeline is right now isn’t exact. Trapilo is being evaluated from day to day and week to week. Yesterday’s plan could change by tomorrow. He has yet to participate in full team drills, which will be a hurdle to clear. The Bears are expected to be at Halas Hall from Tuesday through Thursday before a three-day weekend. Once the season starts, the team can hold a maximum of one practice in full pads per week. The number of those dwindles in the second half of the season.
“I am progressing according to them,” Trapilo said. “There is a timeline for everything and they don’t really tell me, which is probably a good thing. They’re just kind of going through the steps of return-to-play with me.”
It’s a group effort, no question, and plenty of people in the building are handing out props to Trapilo himself.
“He’s been attacking this thing head-on,” Ben Johnson said shortly before Trapilo was removed from PUP. “He’s been here pretty much all summer. I’ve gotten to see him every single day, it seems like.”
Apparently that was the plan, and Trapilo showed up.
After the game, Johnson was asked for an update on the young left tackle.
“Right on track,” he said. “He’s doing individual and getting some drill work to the side there. We like where he is at.”
5. Ben Johnson caught the attention of the analytics and wagering communities early in training camp. Their ears perked up.“We’re the No. 1 regression candidate, so I think we’ve got plenty of motivation ourselves,” Johnson said on July 31.
Johnson had been asked about Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen referencing the Bears and quarterback Caleb Williams when talking about how little attention his team was receiving coming off a 13-4 season.
“This is the best part about coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars — you don’t have to make up telling your players stuff,” Coen said on WJXL-AM 1010 in Jacksonville. “You don’t have to make up the fire. It’s given to us every day.
“I just go pull out my phone, look at the NFL Network website and just pop up here, and I’m just curious if I see any photos or anything about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think I’ll just scroll right on through. I think I’ll see 40 pictures of Caleb Williams and I won’t see a single thing about any of our players on here.”
Coen wasn’t taking a swipe at the Bears. He was pointing out it’s difficult to find much fanfare for the defending AFC South champions. Johnson’s reply was to the point: Hey, there’s criticism about us, too, when it comes to the possibility the Bears will regress in 2026.
“I love that the head coach came out and said he knows the Bears are one of the top regression candidates,” ESPN analyst Joe Fortenbaugh said. “The fact that a coach is openly speaking about understanding the analytics that are working against his team, it’s a very refreshing thing to hear in the sports betting community because maybe, just maybe, if he’s aware of it, he’s aware of the improvements that need to be made in order to combat some of that stuff.”
We jumped into a conversation about the Bears’ season win total, which sportsbooks have at 9½ games.
“The juice has moved to the under in the last couple months since it opened for a few reasons, most notably the one that I think every Chicago fan is already aware of: The Bears are the top regression candidate,” Fortenbaugh said. “Now what does that mean? There’s a few analytics out there that tend to point toward teams going in an opposite direction based on what we saw the year before.
“One thing I would use as an example for this is Kansas City in one-score games. We crammed that down everyone’s throat. The Chiefs won 17 consecutive one-score games — games decided by eight points or less — over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. It was absurd. That is not something that is sustainable. That is a 50-50 proposition, a one-score win. Sometimes you’re going to kick the game-winning field goal, sometimes the opponent is. Sometimes you’re going to turn it over in the red zone at the end of the game, sometimes your opponent is. Over a large enough sample, you should be right around .500 in one-score games.
“So when you see an outlier like Kansas City was, you know that the other shoe is going to drop at some point. It did last year. The Chiefs were 1-9 in one-score games, and then they started to fall off en route to a 6-11 record. That’s a good example for some of this.”
Some of it. Not all of it.
“The Bears were 8-5 in one-score games (including the playoffs), so that’s not the big regression indicator,” Fortenbaugh said. “For them, it’s takeaways. They were No. 1 in takeaways at 33. They were No. 1 in turnover differential at plus-22. There’s no greater predictor of wins and losses than turnovers. On a game-by-game basis, you look at turnovers and so often it tells the story of who wins and who loses. So what happens to Chicago if it doesn’t generate the same amount of turnovers? Naturally, the Bears probably don’t win as many games. That’s something to keep an eye on.
“The second thing that stands out, and this is a reason for optimism, is last year the defense struggled — 23rd in scoring, 22nd in EPA (expected points added) — but the Bears were 26th in games lost on defense due to injury. So they were banged up relative to the rest of the league. So you figure, OK, if this defense doesn’t take the ball away as much this year but it’s healthier, maybe there is a better performance in terms of points allowed and EPA. Now, you start losing guys like Coby Bryant and you wonder if they’re starting to dig a hole.
“Let’s go to the quarterback. Is he going to take a step forward this year? Very exciting last season in Ben Johnson’s offense, but he was 58% completions and that trailed guys like Dillon Gabriel, Michael Penix, Cam Ward, Justin Fields. On top of that, he had a low completion percentage and he didn’t have a high yards per attempt average, 6.9. That was tied for 20th in the league. So if you’re not taking shots down the field, that means you should have a higher completion percentage with shorter, easier throws.
“If they’re going to get to 10 wins and they’re going to do it with a schedule that’s more challenging than last year, they’re going to need the defense to step it up analytically or they’re going to need the quarterback to raise his game in a big way. Those things are possible, but it has me looking under 9½ just because there are so many indicators out there that suggest nine wins is more likely than 10.”
I asked Fortenbaugh if the Bears’ penchant for late-game heroics last season is something he would lump into a discussion about regression. He went the opposite direction.
“It was absolutely insane and there’s a positive to it,” he said. “It’s a testament to them never being out of a game. They never quit. They never give up. The Bears have got a good coach. There is a lot of stuff to like about them. I compare them a little bit to New England. The Patriots are another monster regression candidate. You have everyone in the world picking Drake Maye to win MVP and picking the Patriots to go to the Super Bowl like it’s so easy. Second-easiest schedule in the NFL last year. This year, it gets harder. Not like Bears but it’s more difficult. The Patriots were 8-3 in one-score games. They were 10th in turnover differential. They were No. 1 in health.
“People always talk about the curse of the Super Bowl loser. It’s not a curse. It’s very easy to quantify. The teams that make the Super Bowl generally tend to be two of the healthier teams in the NFL. Health is extremely critical to a deep playoff run. When you’re one of the healthiest teams, the next year, good luck sustaining it. That’s like if you’re one of the most injured teams, you’re going to come back the next year and probably be healthier. The thing is, when the Super Bowl champ is unhealthy the next year, no one dogs them for it because they just won the title, so there’s no curse. But when the loser comes back and gets hurt the next year and doesn’t win, everyone calls it a big curse. It’s not. It’s just regression.”
Who is one player on the Bears roster Fortenbaugh likes to perform well this season? He cited tight end Colston Loveland. The shop Fortenbaugh was looking at had Loveland’s season totals at 69½ receptions, 824½ yards and 5½ touchdowns.
“I like the over on receptions and receiving yards,” he said. “He recorded just 4.1 targets per game over his first 14 games as a rookie but surged to 12 targets per game over his last four contests, which included the playoffs. He’s in line for a big year, especially when you consider the departure of wide receiver DJ Moore. Moore’s numbers have to be redistributed elsewhere, and Loveland is a prime candidate to see a bunch.”
6. Whittling the roster to 53 players by 5 p.m. Sunday is something the Bears have prepared for, but that won’t make the task easy.They weren’t scheduled to return to Halas Hall until about midnight Saturday, and the front office and coaching staff were going to be back at it first thing in the morning to work through a long day, beginning with final decisions and then the process of bringing in dozens of players to release them.
Complicating matters is a handful of injuries. Who starts the season on injured reserve? Who are the two players who move to IR/designated to return? Who moves from the active physically unable to perform list to the reserve PUP list? Who is projected to be healthy and available in time for Week 1? And, finally, who might be ready in the first couple of weeks of the season to avoid an IR stint that would sideline them until at least Week 5?
The Bears have a pretty good idea which players fall in each category, but the information they have shared is thin, other than the timeline for safety Coby Bryant, who is out until at least December and could miss the entire season.
So a little more guesswork than usual is involved with projecting an initial 53-man roster. A year after being ninth in the waiver order at the start of the season (it’s based off the previous year’s standings), the Bears are 25th. Last year they claimed two players from the massive list of cuts leaguewide: linebacker D’Marco Jackson and cornerback Jaylon Jones. Both were solid pickups with Jackson factoring on defense and Jones returning to be a core special teams player.
Whether the Bears will be hunting for a role player on the waiver wire this year remains to be seen. If so, it probably would be at a position where there’s an injury. Would they seek an upgrade at No. 3 running back if there’s one they deem a good fit for the offense and special teams? It’s worth wondering.
Just know the roster released Sunday evening will look different by the time the season opener rolls around. There are always a handful of moves in the early going.
One more thing: When you start wondering about roster decisions, keep in mind that flexible practice squad rules give teams a lot of options. The Bears can begin forming a 16-man practice squad Monday, and six of those players can have unlimited experience. A minimum of 10 must have zero to two years of experience.
Also, don’t be surprised if there are some roster gymnastics in the next three or four days. A year ago, the Bears released wide receiver Devin Duvernay and long snapper Scott Daly the day after the initial 53-man roster was formed. They were re-signed roughly 24 hours later.
Here are the numbers at each position when the Bears established their initial 53-man roster the last four years under GM Ryan Poles (in order from 2022 to 2025):
- QB: 2, 2, 2, 3
- RB: 3, 4, 4, 3
- FB: 1, 1, 0*, 0
- WR: 7**, 6, 6, 6
- TE: 3, 3, 3, 3
- OL: 9, 9***, 10, 10
- DL: 8, 9, 10, 10
- LB 6, 5, 5, 5
- CB: 6, 6, 6, 6****
- S: 5, 4, 4, 4
- ST: 3, 3, 3, 3
* Fullback Khari Blasingame was released to form the initial roster in 2024 and re-signed the next day when long snapper Patrick Scales was placed on IR.
** Wide receiver N’Keal Harry was carried on the 53-man roster and subsequently placed on IR reserve to begin the 2022 season.
*** The Bears cut the roster to 52 at the deadline in 2023 to clear a spot for guard/center Dan Feeney, whom they acquired from the Miami Dolphins for a sixth-round pick. Feeney became the 10th offensive lineman on the roster.
**** They started with six cornerbacks but went to seven almost immediately after claiming Jaylon Jones on waivers.
Ryan Paganetti, who has worked in analytics for the Philadelphia Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders, has shared a ton of interesting material on his X account. He’s worth a follow.
A recent post included a study of the 160 initial rosters across the league from 2021-25 with the average number of players at each position:
- QB: 2.4
- RB/FB: 3.9
- WR: 5.9
- TE: 3.4
- OL: 9.1
- DL/EDGE: 10.4
- Off-ball LB: 4.9
- CB/NB: 5.7
- S: 4.4
- K/P/LS: 1 each
Quarterbacks (3): Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum
The Bears last year bucked what had become an organizational trend of rolling with only two quarterbacks on the roster when they kept Keenum, now 38. It’s highly likely they will go this route for at least one more year.
Keenum signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract in March and will earn $3 million of that this season. There has been chatter about him eventually getting into coaching. While he hasn’t played in a regular-season game since 2023 for the Houston Texans, if you trust Ben Johnson as an offensive visionary, it’s easy to buy into the idea that Keenum is a good resource for Williams and Bagent.
Running backs (3): D’Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, Roschon Johnson
Monangai’s availability at this time last summer was a question mark because he missed a couple of weeks with a soft-tissue injury. Now he has been sidelined since Aug. 16 with a right knee injury and Johnson labeled him “week to week.” As long as that timeline doesn’t bleed into “a month or a little more,” he should be ready for the opener.
Swift has impressed everyone since camp opened and could be poised to improve upon a career-best 2025 season with 1,087 rushing yards. Johnson appears to be the leading candidate for the RB3 spot, but his hold on the job could be tenuous. He gets the edge over Salvon Ahmed because of special teams production and pass protection.
The Bears don’t necessarily need a fourth running back on the initial roster unless Monangai won’t return until a few weeks into the season.
Wide receivers (5): Luther Burden III, Rome Odunze, Kalif Raymond, Zavion Thomas, Jahdae Walker
Six has been the magic number at wide receiver for GM Ryan Poles. Teams often will keep 25 players on offense, 25 on defense and of course three on special teams. There’s a little wiggle room in either direction, and with injuries on the defensive line and in the secondary, if the Bears need to keep 26 defensive players, I could see them going light at receiver.
Even without the potential need for an extra defensive spot, I don’t know that six receivers would be a given this year. The Bears had all six receivers in uniform for four games in 2025. Typically, teams will not have more than five receivers active for a game.
One of the six receivers last season was Devin Duvernay, whose primary role was returning kickoffs and punts. He played in all 17 games but logged only 40 snaps on offense. He appeared on offense in only six games, including one in which he played two snaps and another in which he was on the field for only one play.
So while Duvernay counted toward the receiver total, he was really a last option at the position and primarily a special teams performer — a good one at that. Raymond likely will be the punt returner, and if Thomas makes the coaches comfortable with his ball security, he could be the primary kickoff returner. Raymond should have a bigger role as the No. 3 receiver than Olamide Zaccheaus did last season, and Thomas projects to be more involved on offense than Duvernay was.
This is a long way of saying the Bears could go with five receivers because whomever you pick to be the sixth guy, I’m just not sure what kind of role or need there is. There’s a good chance that guy can do the same job if he’s on the practice squad. If the Bears keep only five receivers on the 53-man roster, I’d bet two make the practice squad.
Tight ends (3): Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Sam Roush
We saw Johnson’s offense really lean into this position from December on last season, when Loveland’s production in the passing game took off and the Bears got into more groupings with two and three tight ends.
Keeping four is a possibility because the team likes veteran Stephen Carlson and undrafted rookie Hayden Large is intriguing. Large looks like the kind of guy who could become productive on special teams, but he left practice with an injury Tuesday and could be out for some time.
Even if Large were healthy, I would project three here because it’s difficult to dress four on game days. The Bears likely will have two tight ends on the practice squad and always can elevate one to the game-day roster when needed. The team feels good about Roush’s development to this point, but there’s always a lot to learn for rookies at the position. This should be one of the best tight end rooms in the league.
Offensive linemen (10): Braxton Jones, Joe Thuney, Garrett Bradbury, Jonah Jackson, Darnell Wright, Theo Benedet, Ozzy Trapilo, Logan Jones, Jordan McFadden, Luke Newman
After looking into the situation with Trapilo, who was activated from the PUP list Aug. 16, the Bears cannot place him on injured reserve unless there’s a new injury. Are there ways around that? Sure. Teams can get creative if they feel it’s necessary with IR rules.
But the Bears activated Trapilo because they wanted to get him in individual drills and slowly build him up. Remember, one of the things Ben Johnson talked about was building up a player’s confidence. That’s absolutely preferable to pushing the pause button with Trapilo, moving him to IR and creating a situation in which he’s not allowed to practice for four weeks.
I don’t believe Trapilo is close to game action. I have not seen him participate in 11-on-11 drills. It has been a slow process and likely will remain that way. But it could be a faster and certainly smoother process if they have him in practice in the weeks ahead.
Provided Trapilo is on the initial roster, I think 10 is the number the Bears go with on the O-line. They’re not going to dress more than eight for a game (some teams will dress only seven), but there’s a belief they’ve built some depth with this group.
Benedet projects as the swing tackle. One thing I wonder is if they have four tackles on the roster and Trapilo isn’t expected to be ready for a while, do the Bears need a fifth option? That might create a spot for Jedrick Wills Jr., who left practice early Thursday, or Kiran Amegadjie.
Ultimately, I had them keep more interior reserves. The Bears feel pretty good about McFadden, Newman and Jones, the second-round pick. Caden Barnett, the undrafted rookie from Wyoming, could stick around on the practice squad.
8. Projecting the Bears defense after cuts to the 53-man roster.Defensive linemen (10): tackles Grady Jarrett, Kentavius Street, Gervon Dexter Sr., Neville Gallimore, Jordan van den Berg, James Lynch; ends Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Dayo Odeyingbo, Daniel Hardy
Recent injuries for Dexter (hamstring) and Booker (groin) make the defensive line projection a little hazy. Dexter’s name has been floated as a trade possibility, but it would be surprising if the Bears could get more than a Day 3 pick for him. Booker did work on the field pregame with an athletic trainer, which was a good sign.
Dexter did not make the trip, but I’m told it’s not a serious injury. Dexter, 24, has a base salary of just less than $1.6 million and has missed only two games over his first three seasons. He struggles to play with good leverage all the time. If the Bears can’t find a trade partner, I believe Dexter will make the roster. It might take a few days for a trade to come together as teams likely will want to survey the landscape before pulling the trigger on a deal.
Street looks like he’s replaced Dexter as the starter alongside Jarrett, and the team is fired up about van den Berg, but it’s more about playing time than starting status on the D-line. Gallimore should be part of the rotation, and if injuries cloud the picture here, Lynch would make sense because he can play end in a pinch. The Bears have lined him up on the interior and a little on the edge.
“I think our interior defensive line is better than probably (what) the outside world gives them credit for,” Ben Johnson said Tuesday. “I know some guys might be rookies, they might be free agents that people don’t know about as much, but the way they’ve gone about their business, I’ve been really impressed with.”
That’s a nod to van den Berg, Street and Gallimore. The feeling is the newcomers might be better fits for what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen wants than Dexter, who was drafted for Matt Eberflus’ defense. Unless the Bears can get something decent in return for Dexter or they feel really good about what they have at the position, it seems a little dicey to trade him. Maybe they believe undrafted rookie Jayden Loving can help out. If Dexter is dealt, that’s a possibility.
At end, Shemar Turner won’t be ready to return from the torn ACL he suffered in late October, so he’ll likely remain on PUP. The sooner Booker, whom Johnson called “week to week,” can get back in the mix, the better. There’s an awful lot of pressure on Sweat to carry a pass rush that was lacking too often in 2025. Ryan Poles is always on the lookout for potential additions that make sense, and if the Bears struggle to disrupt quarterbacks early in the season, there will be an awful lot of noise.
The Bears have made it clear they’re slow-playing things with defensive end Marcus Davenport, who signed Aug. 17 but has yet to practice as he gets into shape. Davenport has been through a lot of injuries over the last three seasons, so ramping him up with intention makes sense. He could be re-signed to the practice squad and the Bears could elevate him to the game-day roster a couple of times before making a roster decision.
With Turner and Davenport, some roster decisions will have to be made down the road.
Linebackers (6): Devin Bush, T.J. Edwards, D’Marco Jackson, Jack Sanborn, Jon Rhattigan, Keyshaun Elliott
The first four appear well-positioned, and after that injuries make this a guessing game. Fifth-round pick Elliott was just activated off PUP in his comeback from a back injury, so he likely has a roster spot. Ruben Hyppolite II is injured again and may wind up on IR. That’s purely speculation. Noah Sewell remains on PUP rehabilitating from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Week 17 last season and eventually could join the mix. I have Rhattigan, the Neuqua Valley product, making the initial roster because he has a ton of special teams experience and is healthy.
We’ve yet to see Elliott do much in full-team drills, so it’s tricky to project him on the roster to start the season. Perhaps he’ll get a stint on injured reserve. Noah Sewell remains on PUP while rehabilitating a torn Achilles tendon suffered in Week 17 last season and eventually could join the mix.
The Bears are hopeful Bush’s range and playmaking ability make him an impact player versus the run and in pass coverage. Jackson made the most of his opportunities last season when pressed into duty and could be the third linebacker when the Bears are in their base defense.
One question here is how many of the reserve linebackers can make an impact on special teams? How many can they dress for a game? Jackson and Sanborn have plenty of experience in that phase. It’s unlikely the team will carry six linebackers for a long time, but I put an extra man at the position.
Cornerbacks (6): Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Malik Muhammad II, Josh Blackwell, Jaylon Jones, Terell Smith
It seems unlikely Kyler Gordon will be on the 53-man roster to start the season, and injuries to Jones (ankle) and Smith (undisclosed) cloud things a little bit. Muhammad has enjoyed a good camp, and though he’ll have some growing pains if he’s the starting nickel early in the season, the Bears appreciate his competitive nature and coachability.
While the focus on Gordon’s situation has taken some of the spotlight off Johnson and Stevenson, both veterans have enjoyed good camps. Johnson is fully healthy and hasn’t missed a practice. That’s a welcome sight for the coaches. Stevenson has been solid and will need to be on his toes if quarterbacks look to stay away from Johnson.
Blackwell remains one of the leaders for special teams. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility the team will poke around the discard pile for a back-of-the-depth-chart cornerback. Smith had two pass breakups against the Titans, which was good to see. Jones could be a question mark after leaving the game with a hamstring injury.
Safeties (4): Dillon Thieneman, Cam Lewis, Xavier Woods, Elijah Hicks
The loss of Coby Bryant for most, if not all, of the season is a major loss because he was the team’s biggest free-agent signing. Lewis seems to be holding off Woods for the starting spot next to Thieneman, the first-round pick, but he’ll have to play to a certain level to keep the spot. Lewis made only 14 starts over six seasons in Buffalo, so Woods is a far more experienced choice.
Hicks came off the PUP list this week in his return from a shin injury and projects as a core special teams performer. If the Bears go heavy at this position, Thomas has flashed a little bit, making an athletic interception last week in Cincinnati. But keeping five safeties would be a bit of a surprise.
While there are injury questions in the secondary, Lewis has positional flexibility as an option at nickel. That will help when there are moving parts until Gordon gets into the mix — assuming he will be on the field at some point.
9. Projecting the Bears special teams after cuts to the 53-man roster.Specialists (3): K Cairo Santos, P Tory Taylor, LS Beau Gardner
The only question is if Gardner has given the coaches enough confidence to roll with him from the outset. Long snappers always are competing to keep their job, whether another one is on the roster or not, because every team keeps a fresh list of available free agents and a couple will come loose in cuts by other teams. The Bears have kept tabs on available snappers over the summer.
The team felt good about how Gardner handled things during the joint practice in Cincinnati when the Bengals heated him up with some pressures. Every NFL snapper can deliver a solid ball. The question is if inexperienced snappers can handle the blocking assignments that aren’t part of the equation in college football.
If Gardner is the long snapper for the season opener, he will be the first one the Bears have used with no prior NFL experience since Week 7 in 2002, when Jody Littleton filled in for injured mainstay Patrick Mannelly.
The Bears didn’t bring in training camp competition for Santos or Taylor as their spots are well-established.
10. There are a couple of things I like about NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.He does a great job with film analysis on television, and he’s great in the underrepresented community of former offensive linemen talking about the game. Baldy’s Breakdowns are often can’t-miss material. He gets out to see teams in person and talks to coaches and players. He also has a great Instagram account because he travels the globe diving and loves to share his adventures.
Baldinger has been a regular at Bears camp for a number of years now, and we always get together and talk about the organization and roster in a general overview. His outsider perspective is always interesting.
Our conversation this year was unlike any we’ve had previously. There weren’t huge questions about the quarterback, and — for the first time in a long time — he could talk about the strength of the offensive line and it wasn’t projection or guessing.
“The Bears are the hunted right now in a division that is very even and was very even last year,” Baldinger said. “The playoff games were very even. It’s going to come down to the little things again. Being able to consistently run it, finishing drives, finishing games. Green Bay couldn’t finish games last year and Chicago did.”
Baldinger enjoyed not only how the Bears offensive line played last season, but also how Ben Johnson’s scheme was executed and played to the strengths of the players. As you can imagine, former offensive linemen get fired up about high-level line play.
“It was great,” he said. “The sudden retirement of (center Drew) Dalman was a big loss. Garrett (Bradbury) is certainly capable and he’s played at a good level and knows the division really well. But the left tackle, they battled that position last year and we’ll see what that looks like. But the right tackle, Darnell Wright, stepped up. It was very, very good. They addressed the offensive line and they came through. They ran the ball as well as anybody.
“Ben Johnson is calling multiple plays, and the quarterback has a lot on him to make sure he’s in the right play. Philadelphia couldn’t defend them last year and the Eagles had a good defense. They had no answer for the cutbacks and some of the things D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai were doing. It’s very creative. Detroit certainly looked like it went backward a little bit without the coach. Ben has a unique approach.”
Gone are the days of Baldinger and others having to find diplomatic ways to say the Bears quarterback has a ways to go to improve to a level that can lift the offense. It remains to be seen how high Caleb Williams will climb this season, and for this franchise and its fan base, it’s uncharted territory.
“They’ve never had a quarterback like this,” Baldinger said. “You go back through the history of this organization and they haven’t had a quarterback that has this playmaking ability and athletic ability. He’s started every game now for two years. You see the sacks go down, the big plays go up, the pocket awareness. He’s improved.
“A lot of that is coaching, but at the same time, if they get all these guys healthy at some point, they might be a lot more explosive in the passing game than we’ve ever seen.”
10a. The Bears had only two running backs in uniform — Roschon Johnson and Brittain Brown — as Salvon Ahmed is dealing with an undisclosed minor injury. Johnson got a heavy workload with 15 carries, and Brown was removed for concussion protocol, so wide receiver Maurice Alexander took some emergency work in the backfield.
“Just a guy that’s selfless,” Ben Johnson said. “I’ve known him for a long time. Love him to death.”
10b. Tyson Bagent finished preseason with a passer rating of 119.3, highest in the league for quarterbacks with a minimum of 25 attempts. The Bears averaged 307.3 passing yardspassing per game, highest in the NFL.
10c. The next time the Bears travel to Nashville, they will play in the Titans’ new stadium. It’s being constructed right next to Nissan Stadium and is scheduled to be completed in the spring. The Bears had many executives on the trip. Presumably they got some information on the sprawling new building.
10d. Welcome to the regular season.