Bears Bring Back Linebacker Devante Bond on 1-Year Deal

Bears bring back former Tampa Bay linebacker Devante Bond, who played briefly last season due to injuries

The Bears have signed Devante Bond, who could figure in as a special teams player in 2020.

Bond was on the Bears last season after Roquan Smith suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle and Danny Trevathan suffered a season-ending elbow injury. The inside linebacker signed with them Dec. 9 and got into three games after playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since coming into the league in 2017 as a sixth-round draft pick, 183rd overall.

When the Bears signed Bond, they had to wait for him to be cleared by the NFL because he had been waived by Tampa Bay while under a four-game suspension for a violation of the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy.

Bond, who is 26 years old, signed a one-year deal. 

In 2017 and 2018 Bond made six starts and played in 25 games for the Bucs, then played in seven more last season for them before being cut in mid-October. He made 39 tackles with Tampa Bay.

Bears inside linebackers Danny Trevathan, Nick Kwiatkoski and Kevin Pierre-Louis are unrestricted free agents, and any signing is needed for depth purposes at this point. Bond is 6-foot-1, 236 pounds

It's also possible Bond could develop into a player who could help the Bears at some point. He came into the league with excellent numbers at the NFL scouting combine inluding a 4.7-second 40-yard dash, a 37 1/2-inch vertical leap, a 121-inch broad jump and a 7.07-second three-cone drill.

At Oklahoma, Bond made 46 tackles in 19 games over two seasons.