LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGN) — The Chicago Bears have announced their final cuts and made their 53-man roster official for the 2025 NFL season.
Here’s a breakdown of who Ben Johnson and the Bears’ coaching staff selected to take the field come Sept. 8 against the Minnesota Vikings.
Quarterback
- Caleb Williams
- Tyson Bagent
- Case Keenum
Running Back
- Roschon Johnson
- Kyle Monangai
- D’Andre Swift
Wide Receiver
- Luther Burden III
- Devin Duvernay
- DJ Moore
- Rome Odunze
- Jahdae Walker
- Olamide Zaccheaus
Tight End
- Cole kmet
- Colston Loveland
- Durham Smythe
Offensive Line
- Kiran Amegadjie
- Ryan Bates
- Theo Benedet
- Drew Dalman
- Jonah Jackson
- Braxton Jones
- Luke Newman
- Joe Thuney
- Ozzy Trapilo
- Darnell Wright
Defensive Line
- Andrew Billings
- Austin Booker
- Gervon Dexter Sr.
- Daniel Hardy
- Grady Jarrett
- Dayo Odeyingbo
- Dominique Robinson
- Montez Sweat
- Shemar Turner
- Chris Williams
Linebacker
- Tremaine Edmunds
- T.J. Edwards
- Ruben Hyppolite II
- Carl Jones
- Noah Sewell
Defensive Back
- Josh Blackwell
- Jaquan Brisker
- Kevin Byard
- Kyler Gordon
- Elijah Hicks
- Jaylon Johnson
- Nick McCloud
- Jonathan Owens
- Tyrique Stevenson
- Nahshon Wright
Special Teams (K/P/LS)
- Cairo Santos
- Tory Taylor
- Scott Daly
Who was cut?
Shortly after the 3 p.m. CT deadline for NFL teams to cut down to their 53-man roster, the Bears announced 17 players were waived or released, two players were moved to the active roster, and two players were added to injured reserve.
Chicago waived three injured players—defensive back Tysheem Johnson and offensive linemen Doug Kramer and Bill Murray—and 11 more active players: wide receivers Maurice Alexander, Tyler Scott and JP Richardson, running back Brittain Brown, offensive linemen Jordan McFadden and Ricky Stromberg, defensive linemen Jonathan Ford, Jamree Kromah and Zacch Pickens, defensive back Mekhi Garner and long snapper Luke Elkin.
The Bears also released wide receiver Miles Boykin, tight end Stephen Carlson and defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon.
Alongside those waived and released, Chicago activated Jaylon Johnson and punter Tory Taylor to the active roster and placed running back Travis Homer and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga on injured reserve with a designation to return.
The Zah Frazier Conundrum
Rookie sixth-round pick Zah Frazier, a cornerback from the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA), will not be a part of the Bears’ 2025 NFL season.
General Manager Ryan Poles said Frazier will be placed on the Non-Football-Injury (N.F.I.) List, and is done until next year.
“[It’s] a little bit of a complicated deal because he’s going to go on N.F.I.,” Poles said. “He had a situation that presented itself in a category that I would say [is] personal. 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 for finding the root cause of what he’s going through.
“He’ll be down for the year, but he’ll spend time going to meetings, [he’ll be] in the weight room, meet with medical staff, [and prepare] for next season to get ready to play.”
What’s the difference between waived and released?
Basically, the timeline of when and how players can be signed or claimed by other teams.
When a player is released, it means they can sign immediately with any other team.
Meanwhile, if a player is waived, it means they have to go through a 24-hour claims system. If a team claims a player inside that window, they also claim their contract. If a waived player clears that 24-hour period without being claimed by another team, they become a free agent and can sign anywhere, or return to their original team’s practice squad.
The overarching theme that dictates whether a player is released or waived has to do with the number of accrued NFL seasons they have. If a player has four-plus seasons under their belt, they have to be released. If they have under four, they have to be waived, according to the league’s collective bargaining agreement.