Bears waive six players ahead of Saturday’s roster deadline

Chicago released six players on Thursday morning to trim the roster to 74 ahead of the Sept. 5 53-man roster deadline.

With less than two weeks until the Chicago Bears open the regular season against the Detroit Lions, there are some roster cuts that need to be made. The Bears need to trim the roster from 80 to 53 players by Sept. 5, and they’ve already started making roster moves.

Chicago released six players on Thursday morning to trim the roster to 74. They waived running back Napoleon Maxwell, receivers Alex Wesley and Ahmad Wagner, offensive lineman Corey Levin, defensive lineman Lee Autry and linebacker Keandre Jones.

There’s a good chance some of these players could wind up on Chicago’s practice squad, which will have 16 available spots should they clear waivers. The Bears still need to cut 21 players by Saturday’s deadline.

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Bears sign K Cairo Santos, WR Alex Wesley

The Chicago Bears announced some roster moves Monday, including the additions of K Cairo Santos and WR Alex Wesley.

The Chicago Bears announced some roster moves Monday, including the signing of kicker Cairo Santos. Santos, who played for the Bears in two games back in 2017, converted 4-of-5 field goals during that span before suffering a season-ending groin injury.

Most recently, Santos started the season with the Tennessee Titans, but he was released after he went 0-for-4 in a Week 5 loss to the Buffalo Bills. In his six-year career, Santos has completed 108-of-134 field goals, good for 80.6 percent.

But it doesn’t sound like Santos’ addition is competition-related. It’s more of an insurance policy for kicker Eddy Pineiro, who’s nursing a groin injury right now.

“(Pineiro) does have a little bit of a groin [injury] that he’s dealing with right now,” Nagy told reporters Sunday.

The Bears also signed wide receiver Alex Wesley, who returns for his second stint with the team within the last month. Wesley spent the final two weeks of the 2019 season on Chicago’s practice squad before he signed a reserve/futures contract in late December. Wesley was waived July 27 as part of roster cut-downs.

Chicago also placed tight end Darion Clark on injured reserve and released former Green Bay Packers receiver Trevor Davis.

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Bears release LB Devante Bond, S Kentrell Brice and WR Alex Wesley

With the official report date for training camp just days away, the Bears have started trimming their roster down to 80 players.

With the official report date for training camp just days away, the Chicago Bears have begun making cuts to their roster to get it down to 80 players.

The Bears announced the release of linebacker Devante Bond, safety Kentrell Brice and wide receiver Alex Wesley on Sunday night.

Bond was signed by the Bears last December, and he appeared in the final three games of the 2019 season exclusively on special teams. The former sixth-round pick appeared in 29 games with six starts in three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he tallied 26 tackles and one tackle-for-loss.

Brice, a former undrafted free agent out of Louisiana Tech, signed with the Bears on Jan. 8. In three seasons with the Packers, Brice played in 26 games with 14 starts, where he registered 100 tackles, including one tackle-for-loss, six pass breakups, one interception, one sack and one fumble recovery. He signed with the Buccaneers last March, but he was released as part of final cuts.

Wesley, who was an undrafted free agent out of Northern Colorado, joined the New York Giants last year. Wesley was released as part of final cuts, and he joined Chicago’s practice squad last December.

The Bears roster is now down to 85, and they need to release five more players ahead of the Aug. 16 deadline.

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9 Bears players in danger of being cut ahead of training camp

Let’s take a look at nine Bears players that are unlikely to survive those pre-training camp cuts ahead of Tuesday’s report date.

There have been a number of obstacles that the Chicago Bears have had to deal with during this unconventional offseason amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether that’s an entirely virtual offseason or absence of a preseason, which is a blow to late-round draft picks, undrafted free agents and other players looking to make an NFL roster.

As that wasn’t a big blow, NFLPA leadership informed players that rosters will be trimmed from 90 to 80 to start training camp. Which means the Bears need to cut 10 players by next Tuesday.

Chicago already parted ways with tight end Ben Braunecker on Thursday. Now they need to cut nine players ahead of Tuesday.

Let’s take a look at nine players that are in danger of being released by the Bears ahead of training camp.

S Kentrell Brice

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

With a crop of veteran safeties ahead of him, Kentrell Brice faces an uphill battle to lock down a roster spot. Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson will likely be the starting safeties, with returning Bears Deon Bush and DeAndre Houston Carson serving as depth. And Brice, who was undrafted out of Louisiana Tech, might not make it to training camp given guys like free-agent addition Jordan Lucas and Sherrick McManis, both who bring more as special teams contributors.

Broncos worked out 19 players, including QB Tyree Jackson

The Broncos worked out more than a dozen players this week, including former Buffalo quarterback Tyree Jackson.

We already knew that the Denver Broncos worked out former Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald on Tuesday. Thanks to NFL reporter Howard Balzer, we now know the names of 18 other players that worked out for the team.

In addition to Fitzgerald, Denver also worked out two other QBs: Taryn Christion and Tyree Jackson. Here’s the complete list of players that worked out for the Broncos, according to Balzer:

  • WR Tyre Brady
  • WR De’Mornay Pierson-El
  • WR DeAndrew Thompkins
  • WR Trevion Thompson
  • WR Alex Wesley
  • WR Papi White
  • QB Taryn Christion
  • QB Nick Fitzgerald
  • QB Tyree Jackson
  • TE Tyree Mayfield
  • OG Larry Allen
  • OG Joshua Garnett
  • OG Bunchy Stallings
  • OT Ka’John Armstrong
  • OT Brian Fineanganofo
  • RB Alex Barnes
  • RB Nick Brossette
  • RB Jeremy Cox
  • RB Matthew Dayes

Jackson (6-7, 249 pounds) is likely the most notable player on the list. He threw for 6,999 yards and 49 touchdowns during his three years at Buffalo and rushed for 757 yards and 16 more scores. Jackson signed with the Bills as a college free agent in April but failed to make their 53-man roster.

Related: Broncos worked out 16 players last week.

Jackson was selected by the DC Defenders in the XFL draft for the upcoming 2020 season but he would likely turn down a chance to start in the upstart league if he is invited to camp by an NFL team.

Jackson and the other players that worked out for the Broncos are likely being considered as “future contract” candidates. Players not on an active roster at the end of the season are eligible to sign future deals that become official when the new league year begins in March.

At the end of last season, Denver signed 10 players to future contracts.

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