Tag: ryan nall

Report: Bears hiring Oregon State’s Michael Pitre as running backs coach

It sounds like the Bears have found their new running backs coach in Oregon State’s Michael Pitre.

The Chicago Bears had a handful of coaching vacancies this offseason, and they’ve filled all of those on defense. Now, it sounds like they’ve filled one of those openings on offense.

According to ESPN college football writer Adam Rittenberg, the Bears are expected to hire Oregon State running backs coach Michael Pitre as their new running backs coach.

Pitre replaces Charles London, who left the Bears to join Arthur Smith’s staff in Atlanta. Pitre has been at Oregon State for the past three years, where he served as the running backs coach and, most recently, the recruiting coordinator.

Interestingly enough, Pitre coached both running backs Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce at Oregon State. Now, Pitre will be reunited with his former players and get to coach two of the game’s best in David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen.

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Report: Bears hiring Oregon State’s Michael Pitre as running backs coach

It sounds like the Bears have found their new running backs coach in Oregon State’s Michael Pitre.

The Chicago Bears had a handful of coaching vacancies this offseason, and they’ve filled all of those on defense. Now, it sounds like they’ve filled one of those openings on offense.

According to ESPN college football writer Adam Rittenberg, the Bears are expected to hire Oregon State running backs coach Michael Pitre as their new running backs coach.

Pitre replaces Charles London, who left the Bears to join Arthur Smith’s staff in Atlanta. Pitre has been at Oregon State for the past three years, where he served as the running backs coach and, most recently, the recruiting coordinator.

Interestingly enough, Pitre coached both running backs Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce at Oregon State. Now, Pitre will be reunited with his former players and get to coach two of the game’s best in David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen.

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Bears RB David Montgomery ruled out vs. Vikings

The Bears have ruled out starting RB David Montgomery (concussion) for Monday night’s game against the Vikings.

There hasn’t been much to love about the Chicago Bears’ run game this season. And things got worse with news that starting running back David Montgomery has been ruled out of Monday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Montgomery suffered a concussion in last Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans. He’s remained in concussion protocol all week, but the Bears have already ruled him out for a pivotal Week 10 game.

With Montgomery out, that leaves the Bears thin at running back with Cordarrelle Patterson, Ryan Nall, Artavis Pierce and practice squad member Lamar Miller.

Patterson told reportersPatterson told reporters earlier this week that he would be the next man up if Montgomery couldn’t play, which certainly looks to be the case. But look for Miller to possibly get some touches against the Vikings.

The Bears run game ranks last in the NFL with 82.3 rushing yards per game, which says more about the offensive line than Montgomery.

It’ll be a tall task trying to get the run game going without Montgomery and more instability on the offensive line.

Bears expected to sign RB Lamar Miller to the practice squad

The Bears are adding some depth at running back with the addition of Lamar Miller to the practice squad.

The Chicago Bears are adding some depth at running back following the loss of Tarik Cohen, who tore his ACL in last Sunday’s win against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Bears are signing veteran running back Lamar Miller to their practice squad, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Miller is coming off a torn ACL sustained last preseason. But before his injury, Miller served as the lead running back for the Houston Texans, where he totaled 2,934 rushing yards with 13 touchdowns. What Miller also brings to the table is his ability to catch passes out of the backfield, something the Bears are losing with Cohen. Miller had 92 receptions for 678 yards and five touchdowns during his time in Houston.

The Bears recently promoted undrafted rookie Artavis Pierce to the active roster following Cohen being placed on injured reserve.

There were depth concerns behind starter David Montgomery heading into the season with a running back room that consisted of him, Cohen, receiver-turned-running-back Cordarrelle Patterson and inexperienced Ryan Nall.

We’ll see how Miller factors into things for the Bears, who should certainly promote him from the practice squad sooner rather than later this season.

5 takeaways from Bears’ initial 53-man roster

The Bears trimmed their roster down to 53 on Saturday. There weren’t any big surprises, but here are our takeaways from the initial roster.

The oddest training camp and preseason in recent NFL history concluded this weekend as all 32 NFL teams trimmed their rosters down to the final 53. The Chicago Bears were one of the final teams to officially announce their final roster, as is tradition over the last few seasons.

While there were truly no shocking cuts or transactions, the movement we saw so far paints a pretty clear picture as to what the Bears saw over the last month. Here are my takeaways from the team’s final cuts.

1. No undrafted rookie free agents made the team

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

As I said, this was the preseason in a very long considering no fans were allowed in attendance for any Bears practices and there were no preseason games either. That meant none of the undrafted rookie free agents (UDFAs) the Bears signed after the draft could showcase their skills against opposing NFL players. It was clearly a problem because after final cuts, no rookie UDFA made the team.

Guys like running back Artavis Pierce, and outside linebacker Ledarius Mack, two of the most-hyped players coming into camp, are now left with very little NFL tape and a ton of uncertainty following the Labor Day Weekend. This likely isn’t an issue just for the Bears, as other teams likely had difficulty keeping those players on the roster with little to judge them on. Here’s hoping all seven UDFAs find work elsewhere.

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Cordarrelle Patterson meeting with RBs, not WRs​ at Bears camp

There are questions about RB depth behind David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen. But Matt Nagy has WR Cordarrelle Patterson working with RBs.

The running back group for the Chicago Bears has been under some criticism due to the lack of depth behind David Montgomery and with Tarik Cohen being more of a receiving back.

Some were hoping that the Bears would sign a veteran in free agency or hoping for an undrafted free agent to make some noise in training camp, but head coach Matt Nagy is getting creative.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported Friday on “Inside Training Camp Live” that the Bears are planning for Cordarrelle Patterson to be used more as a running back this season.

“Patterson has been in meetings with the running backs — not with the wide receivers,” said Garafolo. “When they signed him to a two-year, $10 million deal before last season, they really had visions of using him creatively.”

Last season, the 29-year old carried the ball 17 times for 103 yards. In Patterson’s seven-year career, he has 103 carries for 785 yards with seven touchdowns.

The Bears wide receiving room is crowded as it consists of Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, Ted Ginn Jr., Javon Wims, Darnell Mooney, and Riley Ridley. While the running backs consist of Montgomery, Patterson, Cohen, Ryan Nall, and undrafted free agent Artavis Pierce.

Patterson could still get some targets either split out wide or in the backfield. But with how the receiving group is shaping up to be, Patterson probably wasn’t going to haul in as many receptions compared to what he could get in rushing attempts.

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ESPN lacks faith in Bears running back depth in 2020

ESPN named the Bears running backs group as the shakiest in the NFL, given the lack of depth behind David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen.

During an offseason where the Chicago Bears made some notable additions at positions of need on offense, including quarterback and tight end, it’s the running back position that was ignored and remains a concern heading into the 2020 season.

ESPN took a look at every running back group in the NFL, and they believe the Bears have the shakiest running back situation. Which makes a little sense given the lack of depth behind David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen.

This is one of the situations where “it’s all relative” really comes into play. Could David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen put together a solid or exceptional season? Absolutely. However, it’s not hard to identify more proven and effective backs on the other 31 rosters. Montgomery underwhelmed on 267 touches as a third-round rookie last season, whereas Cohen posted atrocious yardage numbers on a per-carry (3.3) and per-target (4.4) basis. Furthermore, Chicago’s depth is also arguably weakest in the league.

There’s a ton of hype surrounding Montgomery heading into his second season. And it’s easy to see why. He had 889 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He also added 25 receptions for 185 yards and a score. Montgomery surpassed 1,000 all-purpose yards as a rookie.

That despite the overall struggles of the run game, including the offensive line and Matt Nagy’s aversion to the run. Montgomery hasn’t gotten a fair shake, which will certainly change in 2020 given the increased focus that’s been placed on finding a balance on offense.

Any concerns from the run game don’t stem from Montgomery or Cohen. Rather, the lack of depth behind them. Two unproven players in Ryan Nall and undrafted rookie Artavis Pierce will battle for the third running back spot, which will ultimately serve as Montgomery’s backup.

The Bears would do well to bring in a veteran running back to compete for that third spot. But, at least at this point, they seem content with the options on the roster.

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Top roster battles at the start of Bears training camp

There’s a lot of competition at several positions on the Bears’ roster. Let’s take a look at those battles happening in training camp.

Last year, it was the kicker competition between Eddy Pineiro and Elliott Fry that was the biggest discussion at training camp. Which was a good thing considering that there weren’t many questions outside of kicker.

But this season that’s completely changed. Well, not completely. There will be a kicker competition for the second straight training camp — albeit one that won’t be as front and center. But one of the themes for this season for general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy is the focus on competition at multiple positions. And there’s a lot of competition at several positions on the roster this season.

Let’s take a look at the seven position battles that will be happening in Bears training camp.

1. Quarterback

The most important position battle will take place at the most important position in all of sports, which isn’t exactly a comforting thought. Following Mitchell Trubisky’s struggles last season, Pace went out and brought in experienced veteran Nick Foles to not only push Trubisky but possibly replace him as the starter.

While many had Foles pegged as the clear favorite for most of this offseason, the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have quieted those beliefs if only because of the limited sample size that Nagy will have to choose his starter from. Trubisky has an advantage as far as familiarity with his teammates, especially as he’s been working with both returning and new skill position players during the offseason. The Bears will have to get creative during camp in a decision that could make or break this season.

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Bears roster 2020: Upgrades, downgrades, or level moves for each offensive unit

We surveyed every unit on the Bears offense to decide if they project to be better or worse in 2020, or if we can expect more of the same.

The Chicago Bears have kicked off training camp, where both returning and new faces to the roster have arrived at Halas Hall to begin preparation for the 2020 season. Obviously, the 2019 season didn’t go as planned for the Bears. But the hope is that, with some of the changes made this offseason, that Chicago can prove that last season was more of an anomaly than a trend.

Starting with the offense, there have been some big changes made to this roster, particularly at quarterback and tight end. Following an atrocious outing on offense in 2019, they were changes that needed to be made. Whether those changes ultimately result in a complete turnaround on offense remains to be seen, but it’s hard to imagine it could get worse than last season.

We surveyed every unit on the Bears offense to decide if they project to be better or worse in 2020, or if we can expect more of the same.

Quarterbacks

USA Today

Gained:

  • QB Nick Foles

Lost:

  • QB Chase Daniel

Heading into 2019, the belief was that Mitchell Trubisky was poised to take the next step in his young career and establish himself as the Bears franchise quarterback. That obviously didn’t happen. Following a disappointing outing by Trubisky, Chicago traded for former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Nick Foles, who will battle Trubisky for the starting job in training camp.

The main difference is that, this year, the Bears have two quarterbacks on their roster that, for all intents and purposes, are starting quarterbacks. No offense to Chase Daniel, who was an adamant backup for the Bears. But whoever Chicago’s back-up quarterback winds up being, he could be expected to step in and not miss a beat. Despite whoever wins the starting job, you can’t say the Bears didn’t upgrade at quarterback.

The verdict: Upgrade

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Here is the Chicago Bears’ salary cap position heading into training camp

The Bears enter training camp with a decent salary cap situation following news of one prominent defensive player opting out of the season.

The Chicago Bears enter training camp with a decent salary cap situation, especially following news of one prominent defensive player opting out of the 2020 season.

The biggest storyline from the start of camp last week was nose tackle Eddie Goldman choosing to opt out of the 2020 season due to health and safety concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While Goldman’s loss is a brutal blow to Chicago’s defense, it also impacts the team’s salary cap situation in 2020.

With Goldman off the books for the 2020 season, that freed up roughly $3.2 million giving the Bears roughly $18.8 million in salary cap space, according to Over The Cap.

Which should help given Chicago’s current situation at nose tackle. John Jenkins, who was the in-house favorite to take over for Goldman this season, was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, which puts his status up in the air and leaves the Bears without a true nose tackle on the roster.

With roughly $18 million in cap space, general manager Ryan Pace could turn to free agency to sign someone like Damon Harrison or Mike Daniels to a one-year deal for insurance on the defensive line.

The Bears also have questions at running back, as they don’t have a proven backup to David Montgomery. Right now Ryan Nall is the presumptive third running back on the 53-man roster, but the Bears have some money if they’d like to bring in a proven veteran, such as Devonta Freeman or Lamar Miller, to join Montgomery and Tarik Cohen.

Although the Bears need to be careful with their cap space given the potential impact in 2021. The salary cap in 2021 could be reduced as much as $23 million due to potential revenue losses from minimal attendance at games with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, the Bears are in a good position with roughly $18 million in cap space. Although wide receiver Allen Robinson is due a worthy extension as he enters the final year of his three-year contract with the Bears.

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