Bear Digest

Where Ryan Poles and staff go next with the Chicago Bears roster

The complete Bears roster as GM Ryan Poles and staff get set to spend the night combing through about 1,000 players who have been cut in the NFL.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson will be looking around the league tonight at what's available to fil a couple of spots.
Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson will be looking around the league tonight at what's available to fil a couple of spots. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Take a good look at the Bears 53-man roster for cutdown day because it's likely to change very soon.

Like, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The roster has obvious needs for one running back, an edge rusher and probably another cornerback. Beyond that, it would need to be someone who has suddenly become available and has the talent to knock Ryan Poles' and Ben Johnson's socks off.

"I think this next phase, a little bit, it's kind of like old-school scouting," Poles said. "You have 1,000 guys on waivers, and you go to work. We'll be here all night. We have food ordered. We'll sit in the draft room all night and we'll just dig and identify guys.

"Then, we'll have great communication with our coaches and see if we can find some players that can help us on our 53, or even help on practice squad, and continue to elevate the entire team."

Put on another pot of coffee.

Poles' sleepless sleepover is designed to find players who've been cut, but it also could include trades or signings.

"It takes me back to when I was in K.C., the amount of transactions we had in that first year, just like our first year here, it was a great opportunity to get better," Poles said. "It gets harder because the roster is better, so the spots are limited.

"It's a lot of fun, just searching, tryin to find guys based on some traits, or, there are certain teams that are really deep in one position, so we know that they can't keep them all, and identifying which ones of those guys can help us."

The Bears are well back at 10th in the waiver order so they're not going to get a lot of good players. They don't need a lot, though, just a player or two who could help them as they're trying to get past some injuries.

Social media would have the Bears claiming everyone else's castoffs or trading for every player who might be available.

And no, Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons is not available. He'd be available if Jerry Jones said so, and he hasn't said that. He has said the opposite.

"I've said this before, we will always call and see what the situation is," Poles said of trades. "Then, weigh that against our short-term and long-term decision-making process. Does it make sense? What does it take to acquire a player? If the player is here, what does it cost?

"Then, say, 'OK, for where we are, is that something we want to do?' We're also trying to find out if it is the right culture fit? There are more levels than just grabbing the talent and bringing in, there are some impact things that happen in your locker room and on the field and your salary cap that, yeah, it could give give you a little burst energy, but, long-term, does it make sense for you, or is it going to be a derailer down the road, when you're trying to sustain?"

If they can run the ball, rush the passer or defend against the pass, they might get a little more consideration.

Here's what the roster they have looks like now.

Chicago Bears 2025 53-man Roster

Quarterbacks (3)

Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum

Running Backs (3)

D'Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, Roschon Johnson

Wide Receivers (6)

DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Olamide Zaccheaus, Luther Burden III, Devin Duvernay, Jahdae Walker

Tight Ends (3)

Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Durham Smythe

Offensive Line (10)

Braxton Jones, Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, Jonah Jackson, Darnell Wright, Theo Benedet, Luke Newman, Ryan Bates, Ozzy Trapilo, Kiran Amegadjie

Defensive Line (10)

Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Gervon Dexter, Grady Jarrett, Andrew Billings, Austin Booker, Dominique Robinson, Shemar Turner, Daniel Hardy, Chris Williams

Linebackers (5)

T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Noah Sewell, Ruben Hyppolite II, Carl Jones Jr.

Defensive Backs (10)

Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Josh Blackwell, Nahshon Wright, Nick McCloud, Jonathan Owens, Elijah Hicks

Specialists (3)

Cairo Santos, Tory Taylor, Scott Daly

Injured reserve, designated to return

RB Travis Homer*, LB Amen Ogbongbemiga*

*Must miss four weeks

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.