Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears’ 53-man roster is coming into form as the Bears have already started working on their cuts. The Bears have cut roughly half the players they need to at this point, but there are still some difficult decisions that need to be made before the Bears get down to 53 players.
It’s also important to note that while we discuss who will be the Bears 53-man roster when it’s announced on Tuesday, it’s still a situation where a couple of the names that are announced will still probably be released and find their way to the practice squad (unless they are poached) assuming the Bears pick up a couple of veterans that become available.
On the offensive side of the ball, let’s look at the bottom of this roster. I think Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, and Case Keenum are set. The tight end room also looks set with Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, and Durham Smythe. Five wide receivers are locks with DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Devin Duvernay. In the running back room right now, I think we can only call D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai locks for the 53. Finally, on the offensive line, we know the starting five is set (with Braxton Jones). I also think Theo Benedet, Ozzy Trapilo, Luke Newman, and Ryan Bates are locks.
That leaves us with 22 locks with three spots up for grabs. Let’s look at the last spots on offense.
Running Back: There will be at least one, probably two more running backs on the roster. Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer are the easy answers here, but both of them have been hurt. Could they end up on the IR? Could they be released? It depends on what their health situations are right now.
Ian Wheeler and Royce Freeman were released today. That leaves Brittain Brown as the only remaining running back. Based on health, I’m going to predict that Brown makes the 53, but only as a placeholder until the Bears can sign a veteran off waivers. I think Travis Homer makes the 53, and Roschon Johnson is either placed on the IR or released.
That leaves us one more spot on offense. If that’s the case, it’s between Jahdae Walker and Kiran Amegadjie. The Bears may make that decision based on who they think they can more safely get to the practice squad. If they do that, that’s probably releasing Walker and keeping Amegadjie. If it’s simply based on performance, it’s going to be Walker over Amegadjie.
Amegadjie has been clearly with the 3s since his return from injury. This may come down to Dan Roushar, and if he thinks there’s enough potential there. Amedgadjie looks pretty solid against the 3s, but we know he gets questionable against 2s and abused against 1s. If Roushar thinks there’s potential and wants to work with him, they may keep Kiran on the 53 this year and give him one more training camp to...
