The Chicago Bears are currently in the process of trimming down their roster to 75 players today. The team must get down to 53 by this Friday. The Bears have already started early making roster decisions, releasing Running Back Kahlil Bell, putting this year’s 3rd round pick Brandon Hardin on injured reserve, and placing Wide Receiver Johnny Knox on the physically-unable-to-perform list.
The Bears cut an additional 12 players. The following players that were cut: QB Matt Blanchard, RB Harvey Unga, WR, Terriun Crump, WR Chris Summers, OG Nick Pieschel, DT John McCargo, DE Derek Walker, DE Thaddeus Gibson, LB Adrien Cole, LB K.C. Asiodu, and S Trevor Coston.
The most surprising cuts on the list come on the offensive side of the ball with Blanchard and Summers. Behind Jay Cutler, there are two veteran QB’s on the depth chart in Jason Campbell and Josh McCown.
A lot is invested in Campbell, who will be counted on to be the back-up for the team, but keeping McCown as 3rd string raise eyebrows considering most teams around the league like to keep a developmental player in that spot.
You have to figure that Blanchard will draw some interest from some clubs to be their developmental QB. He surely helped his case with two solid performances in the preseason.
Summers wasn’t a surprise cut given the talent that was in front of him at the WR position, but I did expect him to play in the preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns. On the other end, the Bears could have possibly seen enough from Summers to where they want to keep him on the practice squad.
The defensive cuts don’t come as a surprise, specifically on the Defensive Line. The most notable name on the list, McCargo has been outplayed completely by Nick Collins at the 3 technique position. Gibson was having a solid camp, but once preseason arrived, he got passed up by DE Cheta Ozougwu.
The Bears should have the roster trimmed down from 75 players-to-53 players by Friday 9pm Eastern Time, so I expect more analysis on roster cuts at that time.
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Cheta Ozougwu is not an undrafted rookie. He was Mr. Irrelevant in 2011.
You are right, my error.