WCG’s lead draft analyst makes his early predictions for the Bears’ 53-man roster before training camp.
Chicago Bears training camp is right around the corner. As of this writing, the rookies and quarterbacks have already reported, and the veterans report on Tuesday. The excitement is growing as some semblance of Bears football returns.
Training camp is meant for three things. One, it gets the players back into a groove for the upcoming regular season. Two, in the case of teams like the Bears, it allows teams with new coaching staffs to integrate their playbook with their new team. The third and final thing is it provides an opportunity for depth players to make their case for the 53-man roster.
It’s tough to predict the back end of the roster before training camp and the preseason takes place, but that’s what I’m going to try to do. Here are my early 53-man roster predictions for the Bears heading into 2025 training camp.
Offense
QB (3): Caleb Williams, Case Keenum, Tyson Bagent
RB (4): D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Kyle Monangai, Travis Homer
WR (6): DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Olamide Zaccheaus, Devin Duvernay, Miles Boykin
TE (3): Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Durham Smythe
OT (4): Braxton Jones, Darnell Wright, Ozzy Trapilo, Kiran Amegadjie
OG (4): Joe Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Ryan Bates, Bill Murray
C (1): Drew Dalman
A majority of these are pretty cut and dry. However, I’ll summarize a couple of the key takeaways in bullet points below:
- Ian Wheeler was a preseason hero last year, but I think Kyle Monangai beats him out for a spot on the 53-man roster. Travis Homer feels like a safe pick for the team because of his special teams ability.
- I considered a couple different offensive linemen here, especially on the interior. Sixth-round rookie Luke Newman, Doug Kramer and Ricky Stromberg all popped into my head as potential fits for the 53-man roster. I had Bill Murray edge Newman out at guard by a smidge. You run the risk of someone claiming Newman off waivers, but I think the veteran is the safer move. Bates’ ability to play both guard and center makes having two centers on the 53 redundant, in my opinion.
- Miles Boykin gets the edge over Tyler Scott due to his size and special teams experience. Boykin has played in at least half of his team’s special teams snaps the last three seasons he’s played in the NFL. Scott hasn’t played over 15% in either of his two seasons with the Bears. At 6’4” and 220 pounds, Boykin gives them a more well-rounded receiver room than just have three smaller speed receivers off the bench.
Defense
EDGE (5): Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker, Daniel Hardy, Dominique Robinson
DT (5): Gervon Dexter, Andrew Billings, Grady Jarrett, Shemar Turner, Chris Williams
LB (5): Tremaine Edmunds, TJ Edwards, Amen Ogbongbemiga, Ruben Hyppolite II, Noah Sewell
CB (6): Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith, Zah Frazier, Josh Blackwell
S (4): Kevin Byard III, Jaquan Brisker, Jonathan Owens, Elijah Hicks
Here are some of my takeaways from the defensive predictions:
- No Zacch Pickens on the 53-man roster. You won’t find him on my practice squad, either. I think he gets waived and another team claims the 2023 third-round pick off waivers to try and resurrect his career.
- I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears add a veteran edge rusher to the mix before the start of the regular season. In that case, I would cut Dominique Robinson and keep Daniel Hardy on the 53-man roster. Hardy led the team with 370 special teams snaps last year and ranked ninth among all qualified NFL edge rushers with a 70.6 PFF special teams grade.
- Most of the defense feels cut and dry, since a lot of the new additions just slot into the old roles of players who have left. Zah Frazier takes Jaylon Jones’ spot. Ruben Hyppolite II ends up in Jack Sanborn’s role on the 53-man roster. Dayo Odeyingbo takes DeMarcus Walker’s old role. The only thing that’s different here from last year is the Bears keeping five edge rushers and five defensive tackles. In 2024, they kept six edge rushers and four defensive tackles.
Special teams
K (1): Cairo Santos
P (1): Tory Taylor
LS (1): Scott Daly
- Nothing particularly shocking here. Jonathan Kim could push for a roster spot as the kicker, but I’d be surprised if Cairo Santos lost that battle. Scott Daly was great last year at long snapper for the Bears, so I have him beating out undrafted rookie Luke Elkin. I’d expect Elkin to get picked up eventually once other teams have injuries at the position.
Practice squad
- QB Austin Reed
- RB Ian Wheeler
- WR Tyler Scott*
- WR John Jackson
- TE Stephen Carlson*
- OT Theo Benedet
- OG Luke Newman
- C Ricky Stromberg*
- DE Xavier Carlton
- LB Power Echols
- LB Swayze Bozeman*
- S Major Burns
- S Tarvarius Moore*
- CB Jeremiah Walker
- CB Shaun Wade*
- K Jonathan Kim
Players listed with asterisks are the six allotted veteran slots on the practice squad. Of the 16 players an NFL team can keep on their practice squad, ten of them have to be rookies or second-year players.