Bear Digest

The significance of Chicago Bears signing former Raiders back

Raiders seventh-round pick Brittain Brown has been added to the Bears roster after Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer suffered injuries.
Gene Chamberlain|
Brittain Brown carries for the Raiders in 2022 preseason play.
Brittain Brown carries for the Raiders in 2022 preseason play. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The choice the Bears made to fortify their depleted running back corps showed confidence in who they have on hand if not the overall health of long-term health injured backs.

Rather than bring in Jamaal Williams, they signed running back Brittain Brown, a Raiders draft pick who did not work out and has been bouncing around the bottom of rosters.

Roschon Johnson went out last week with a foot injury and Travis Homer suffered a calf injury in Sunday's tie with Miami to open preseason.

This meant they were down to one back on the roster who has carried the ball in an NFL game, starter D'Andre Swift.

Brown definitely isn't going to help regarding experience because he hasn't carried in an NFL game yet, either.

Brown was a seventh-round Raiders pick in 2022 and has been in six games, all in 2022 but not carrying the football.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder had 61 plays on special teams.

The Raider waived him at the end of training camp last year, and Seattle signed him to the practice squad, cut him and then put him back on the practice squad. He finished the season there but wasn't signed back this ear.

At UCLA, Brown averaged 6.6 yards and 6.0 yards per carry his final two seasons. He ran for 543 yard on 82 attempts in 2020 and 615 yard on 102 carries in his final college season. He started out at Duke for three years and as a freshman in 2017 had his best year, gaining 701 yards on 130 attempts. For his college career, Brown had 2,284 yards rushing on 406 carries (5.6 ypc) with 21 TDs. He caught 42 passes for 431 yards and two TDs.

When there are players like Williams available and the Bears opt for someone with virtually no NFL experience, it definitely says they like their current options and expect them to return.

In the meantime, the Bears might not even get an opportunity to sign Williams or he could even have another agreement ready to go. He was worked out on Monday by the same team the Bears just played Sunday, the Dolphins.

Miami's Alexander Mattison went out of Sunday's game with a head/neck injury after spending several minutes down on the field after making a 21-yard catch and run.

The signing also indicates the Bears don't see their time for analyzing the current backfield group as finished. If they had concluded they needed assistance, this would be a good time to sign someone. It's also possible they have their eye on someone else who is with another team and can't complete the deal yet.

To add Brown, the Bears waived injured cornerback Ameer Speed, further depleting an injured group of cornerbacks.

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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.