Zah Frazier Said He Was 'Medically Cleared' Before Bears Cut Him Ahead of Rookie Minicamp

Chicago Bears 2025 fifth-round pick Zah Frazier did not play at all last season due to a personal reason and was waived a day before rookie minicamp.

Chicago Bears defensive backs Devin Kirkwood and Zah Frazier. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Cornerback Zah Frazier will officially never play a snap in an NFL game for the Chicago Bears, and one has to wonder if he'll ever play a snap for any team.

Selected in the fifth round of 2025 NFL Draft, Frazier sat out all of last season due to a personal reason that remains a mystery. He took part in rookie minicamp last year and was not heard from again after landing on the NFI list. All of that came after it was noted he might have been the fastest cornerback the Bears ever drafted.

Back in January, Frazier posted an update to social media saying he had been "medically cleared," although he did not go into any detail about what he was medically cleared from.

With that, we assumed Frazier would be back for rookie minicamp this week, but that will not happen after all because the Bears decided to waive the UTSA product on Thursday.

It is currently unclear if the reason behind Frazier's release was related to what happened last year.

"He had a situation that presented itself in a category that I would say 'personal,'" general manager Ryan Poles said last August. "As we dug into it, tried to help him out, it revealed itself as something that happened before he got here. So credit to our staff finding the root cause of what he was going through."

When asked about Frazier in January, Poles admitted that he had a "mountain to climb" in order to be a contributor on the team this coming season.

“He needed to play,” Poles said.

What this means for Bears' defense

UTSA defensive back Zah Frazier. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

For Poles, it's another swing and a miss on a draft pick, although this one doesn't hurt as much because Frazier was just a fifth-rounder.

For the defense, Frazier being gone doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, Frazier might have factored in as depth for the Bears, but it's not like Chicago was banking on him anyway considering Poles' comment in January. He was a total wild card and was on the roster bubble going into the offseason program.

If anything, this means the Bears are going to bring in another cornerback to replace him on the offseason roster. After all, Chicago could use all the depth options it can get after the cornerbacks room was ravaged by injury last season.

Adding to that, the boundary cornerback spot opposite Jaylon Johnson is not yet spoken for, with Tyrique Stevenson, Malik Muhammad and possibly others set to compete for it.