Bear Necessities: Chicago excited for N’Keal Harry’s eventual return

Bears WR N’Keal Harry was placed on IR last week, meaning the soonest he can return is Week 5. Chicago is looking forward to his return.

This is our online morning newsletter, Bear Necessities. Subscribe to get the latest Bears news delivered to your mailbox every day.

The Bears have a lot of unproven wide receivers on their roster, and the hope is they rise to the challenge in Chicago. One of those is former first-round pick N’Keal Harry, who failed to live up his high draft status with the Patriots.

But Harry has a second chance with the Bears. Unfortunately, he’s going to need to wait a little bit longer to take advantage.

Harry is recovering from ankle surgery in early August, which landed him on injured reserve to start the 2022 season. Harry will have to miss the first four games of the regular season, meaning he’ll be able to return as early as Week 5 against the Vikings.

Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham is excited to see what Harry can do when he makes his return this season.

“We’re just happy with the player that N’Keal is, what he’s shown in college coming out,” Cunningham said. “Once he gets healthy, the main thing is just getting him healthy and back on the field. What he showed when he was in practice during training camp: Physical specimen, strong at the catch point. It’s just unfortunate that the injury happened. But we look forward to having him back on the field.”

There isn’t a timetable for Harry’s return — outside of Week 5 being the earliest — and Poles says “it’s hard to tell right now” when Harry will ultimately return.