Chicago Bears manipulate practice squad rules to add defensive line depth and injury replacements

the Chicago Bears practice squad is set with a couple of players coming from outside of the organization and Ryan Po's using the rules to add a little bit more depth that doesn't count against his 53-man roster just yet you are locked on Bears your daily Chicago Bears podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day this is lock on bears and I'm your host Lauren Cox I'm here to bring you your daily in-depth Chicago Bears news and Analysis you can follow me on Twitter at Cox Sports one you can follow the podcast at lockon Bears on Tik Tok Instagram Facebook Twitter and the lockon Bears YouTube channel where you can keep up with all of our video podcasts as well thanks for making the lockon Bears podcast your first listen today we're part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use our promo code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time on the show today we look at this Bears practice squad that includes a Green Bay Packers wide receiver and a New England Patriots defensive lineman and and Ryan Po's working the rules here a little bit to add guys that will help out this team week one against the Tennessee Titans without having to give them the full 53 man roster spot as of right now the Bears don't have a Long Snapper on the 53 man roster but they've got a plan for that too while also getting a pretty good bill of health we'll go through some injury updates from practice as the Bears still have a couple weeks to get ready for the Titans but continue to get mostly good news on the injury on the injury front with one more player leaving practice with an injury adding back to the list two steps forward one step back for that group but as the Bears finalized their 53-man roster on Tuesday Wednesday was the opportunity to put in waiver claims and then sign guys to your practice squad the Bears were not awarded any players on waivers uh one of their former players went to another team on waivers the tight end Brendan Bates who was competing for that number four spot and obviously none of the none of the tight ends stuck as a number four he was claimed on waivers by the New York Jets Bates had six catches for 100 yards this preseason seemed to be a decent blocker an undrafted rookie free agent get a chance to be on the actual active roster of the New York Jets the Bears no no waiver claims awarded to them they were ninth in the waiver order spot because they were picking ninth in the draft that's where it spots so it's possible that there were guys that they put a claim on but then they were awarded to a team who went before them but I'm guessing probably not even that it's possible but I don't I don't think that's as likely I mean the Panthers were before them and they claimed like five or six players Patriots claimed a few guys like some of those teams that were picking earlier in the draft could have claimed a guy the Bears wanted but they seem to get most of what they wanted taken care of with those trades before the 53-man roster cut down for Daryl Young on the defensive line and and Chris Williams on the defensive line to try and fill those spots and of course they added some more players to those spots on the practice Squad bringing in a trio of players who weren't in training camp with the team so far I think the headliner that that jumped out and got our attention was samori T from the Green Bay Packers a seventh round pick at wide receiver for them who was you know never one of their top three guys the last couple Seasons but you know always in the mix there a little bit a guy that they liked in Green Bay were developing and bringing him along he did some punt returning for them as well Al there's a little bit of that ability there some speed some size there like he can make some plays for sure and he's purely on the practice squad so it's not like he's going to get the call up right away and and be a a contributing player in the in the short term but someone who the Bears see some potential in and want to develop him along with with Colin Johnson at wide receiver on on the practice squad to start and then at defensive tackle the Bears added Sam Roberts of the New England Patriots to their practice squad and it's been reported right away that the Bears already plan on calling up Sam Roberts for week one bringing him to the active roster for that game to add more defensive tackle depth and that's the one of the ways Ryan poles is working within the rules here to address some of the most vital positions on the roster right now we know that Zack Pickins is injured and we'll go through we had a little bit of an injury update from Maddie B and and Ryan polls on Wednesday that we can get a not a ton more but a little bit more progress on on who's getting better and is still working their way back to the team but with pickin's status in doubt you know the Bears only had three healthy defensive tackles on the roster and rather than use another 53 man roster spot on another defensive tackle they can just stick with the practice squad which allows you to elevate two players each week from the practice squad to the roster for the game that don't end up counting for your 53-man roster so Roberts will be one of those guys who they have on the squad still the practice squad so he's not getting a full contract not a full roster spot but gets elevated on game day to be that fourth defensive tackle if Zack Pickins isn't able to go the other player the Bears plan on doing that with is with a Long Snapper who they signed to the practice squad not the Long Snapper who had been in training camp with Patrick scales but a different Long Snapper Scott Dy from the Detroit Lions the Bears put their own Long Snapper Patrick scales on injured reserve he had back surgery we'll see they don't know they don't have a great timetable for how long that will be but D's been in the NFL for a little while here snapped pretty well for the Lions and has been there for a little while but just got beat out in Camp by a you know a better younger option there but you know instantly finds a home with the Bears he's you know he's not super old or anything he's 30 he's been around the NFL for a little bit snapped at Notre Dame if you're a fan of those teams but been with the Lions for the last few seasons spent some times with with uh the the XFL I think for a little while as well but got back in the NFL with the Lions and had been been their guy for since 2021 really but moving on to a different name there a Chicago area native kind of keep with Ryan P's theme of finding local kids there so the same thing though Patrick scales is on IR instead of using that roster spot for another long Stamper the bear said well we can just call a guy up from the practice squad we don't have to keep him on a roster like I don't think they're very afraid of a team signing Scott Dy off the practice squad and taking him away from the Bears to be able to call up so they say yo you know what we can just take advantage of having those ex ra spots on the practice squad so that when they put Patrick scales on IR they brought back the fullback Ki blasen game and that filled out your 53 man roster that they we talked yesterday about the possibility of you know do they put Zack Pickins on injured reserve short term just to free up another roster spot to get a Long Snapper and a fullback back on the roster do they put Ryan Bates on the practice squad because he's been injured at the center position excuse me put Ryan Bates on injured reserve to free up another roster space there neither one of those moves ended up happening and that's a good sign for both players injuries and I do want to talk about the injuries in just a little bit but first I want to go through some of the other names and and really more so the decisions that went into this Bears practice squad they had to settle on a quarterback they didn't put any running backs on there some interesting choices on the offensive and defensive lines there and still I think between now and even week one this Bears practice squad may still change so I want to kind of go through the the surprising decisions and the names we still need to know on this squad from guys who were brought back and who weren't brought back from the initial you know 90 man roster that had been with this team at training camp so we'll take a deeper dive into some of the names to know on the practice squad next on locked on [Music] Bears this episode of Locked on Bears is brought to you by our new friends at 5our energy I love taking 5H Hour Energy as a great way to pick me up when I'm dragging a little bit or I'm feeling a little bit tired or maybe I just didn't sleep that well the night before and I just need a little something to pick me up 5-hour Energy has always been there 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this offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and can't be used with other promotions and the code is not good on subscription orders but 20% off your multi pack of 5H Hour Energy just use that promo code locked onfb at 5our energy.com [Music] this Bears practice squad has 14 players who were a part of this training camp and preseason roster plus the three players that were brought in as outside free agents that we just talked about samor tur from the Green Bay Packers The Long Snapper Scott Dy from the Lions and the Patriots defensive lineman Sam Roberts and if you're an astute listener who pays attention to practice squad rules you might be saying to yourself wait a minute 14 of their own players plus three outside players that adds up to 17 players the NFL practice squad only allows you to have 16 players under the expanded Rules From A couple of years ago what gives how do we get to that many players and I thought I had this figured out and then I looked more closely at the rules and I don't have it figured out the way I thought I did so 16 is the rule you're allowed to keep a 17th player if they are granted an exemption from the NFL's International player pathway program so you may recall during training camp Tory Taylor got to count as an extra player they had 91 on their 90 man roster because Taylor didn't count towards the 90 man roster because the NFL wants to encourage more international players getting into the game Tory Taylor comes from Australia didn't count towards the 90-man roster now on the 53 he counts towards the 53 but you can keep one extra practice squad player the same way that doesn't count toward your 16 player practice squad and so when I first looked at this Bears practice squad I went and saw okay well the undrafted rookie free agent offensive lineman Theo benedet who we got to know on Hard Knocks for his karaoke and his Eagle Speedo that he tore pants off and revealed during his karaoke scene he is Canadian he is not from the United States that's an international player perhaps they will get an international player exemption for Theo benedet to then keep a 17th player on the practice squad but I double check the rules and Canadians don't count us and Canadian residents don't count in the international player pipeline I think any other country and there's rules about like how long you know you can't you can't have done more than like two years of school in the US and there's you know there's some other restrictions about it but you got to be born the other somewhere else and not have done SP spent a minimum or a maximum amount of time in the US for schooling prior to coming to the NFL but benedet can't count towards that because he is Canadian and I'm not aware of any of the other practice squad players being international players that would be eligible for that exemption and so I think the Bears are going to have to remove someone still from their practice squad cuz the way this works chronologically on Wednesday the Bears announced 14 players signed to their practice squad the 14 guys who were with the team during training camp you know Reed Johnson Carlson keran benedet choma mallerie Cowart Baskerville Jones torren Stewart Moore Johnson 14 guys who were here they announced right away they have not yet formally announced the wide receiver samori T the defensive tackle Sam Roberts and the Long Snapper uh Sean Dy or Scott Dy excuse me they've not yet announced those players officially yet it's been reported by Adam shefer and others that those players will be joining the Bears practice squad but officially they still have to come to halis Hall and pass a physical before they can be officially assigned to the practice squad so perhaps Ryan PES signs 14 of his own knowing that he's got three more guys coming and that he's going to have to get rid of one of those 14 but maybe he tells himself Hey listen on the off chance that Tor or Roberts or even Dy fails their physical that they were dealing with some kind of injury in their respective former teams training camp that the Bears didn't fully know about or the even the player might not have been fully aware of or whatever and then they fail the physical you know the Bears would hate to let that last player have gone to another team and then the bears oh it turns out we do actually have a spot for you but you already signed on someone else's practice squad so it's too late to bring them back maybe the Bears just said all right let's let's keep these 14 guys that we all really like and then if all three of our outside guys all P their physicals will pick one of those 14 guys to get rid of and say sorry you thought you made the practice squad but whoops we found somebody else that we liked better and when I look at this Bears practice squad as it stands right now there are when you count Sam Roberts coming in from the Patriots he will be the fourth defensive lineman on the Bears 16 player practice squad a full 25% of your practice squad is all defensive linemen I would suspect that when SL if Sam Roberts passes his physical as expected that they will remove one of the other defensive linemen on the practice squad particularly if I had to if I was if we could bet money on FanDuel Sportsbook for who's going to get cut off this practice squad I would put my money on DeShaun mallerie the undrafted rookie defensive tackle because they already have defensive tackle Byron Cowart who is really the number four guy throughout the entire preseason and then the the last one is Jam choma at defensive end and I think they want to keep at least one defensive end and then a couple of defensive tackles but right now it would be three defensive tackles and one defensive end if they keep all of them when Sam Roberts passes his physical it just seems like the natural spot where you might remove someone else from that practice squad to say yeah okay we kept an extra defensive tackle because we really need to make sure we've got depth there but once we get this new guy in all right sorry mallerie you were kind of the the last one included in this list anyway so we're going to move on and keep keep the new guy once he's in here then you'll actually be down to 16 and fit fit the proper number of practice squad players as we look at this full Squad a couple of other rule things to note that on the practice squad now you can keep veteran players but you can only keep six players that have more than two years of experience in the NFL 10 of your guys have to have two or fewer years of experien in the NFL and then you can keep six who are more experienced veteran players so your six veteran players once these moves all go through will be the wide receiver from the Packers samor T tight end uh St Carlson the offensive tackle Jake keran The Long Snapper Scott Dy uh the defensive tackle Cowart and then the safety to various Moore because technically Roberts is in his second season from the New England Patriots and so those would be your six veterans the other 10 are all younger players in the mix there it stands out to me a couple of different things one that they chose undrafted rookie quarterback Austin Reed instead of Veteran quarter back Brett rien on the practice squad they like Reed Matt IU spoke highly of him on Wednesday and explain a little bit of like yeah we like the way he worked and the way he performed and we believe in him and want to keep trying to develop him so that's why he's on this practice squad I'm surprised there is not a running back on the practice squad but I suppose when you have four running backs on the roster plus veis Jones who's kind of your fifth running back in here you know with him and Travis Homer and the big three at the top the bear said maybe they just said all right we've got five guys there we really don't need to keep a practice squad running back because wheeler is already on injured reserve anyway so we'll keep him around in that regard the Bears wanted to keep tight and Brandon Bates on the practice squad as we mentioned earlier claimed by the Jets on waiver so I think that's how Carlson gets onto the squad instead but I think it would have been baates had the Jets not come in and and scooped him up the Bears only keep two offensive lineman on the squad tackle Jake keran and guard Theo benedet I would imagine without a center on the practice squad the Bears Envision I'm guessing Doug Kramer will will return to the practice squad once Ryan Bates is fully healthy the for now Kramer's on the 53 the Bears have three centers on the 53-man roster when Bates is fully healthy ready to go no question good to go I believe they will release Doug Kramer keep two centers on the roster and then put Doug Kramer back on the practice squad giving them a third offensive lineman on the squad and and an actually like true Center on the practice squad at that point those were kind of the big stand outs to me everything else yeah they kept a couple Lineback they kept a couple corners they kept a couple safeties like I thought they might go out and bring in more guys from outside of the organization but the fact that that there are 14 here and probably going to be 13 in you know in reality when they hit week one of guys that were here that they wanted to keep around on their practice squad speaks to the kind of depth and development that Ryan poles has been able to build here where they really do like a lot of the guys they couldn't cut and it's not like they're turning that over trying to find better options to develop it's like no even even the third and fourth string guys they feel like have some real talent that's worth keeping around and trying to build up into something that can contribute in the future or maybe even later this season in case of injuries on a practice squad call up the good news is the injuries are getting better for the Bears and they still have time to get ready for week one they did get a little bit they did have one player leave practice on Wednesday with an injury that could be concerning but a couple of guys are making more progress getting their ways back so we'll get a little bit of an injury update and how that will shape the team's decisions for week one now next un locked on [Music] Bears this episode of Locked on Bears is brought to you by game time the best way to get tickets for all of your favorite Live Events I have the game time app downloaded on my phone and I use it all the time I've got tickets to go see AAL LaVine with my girlfriend coming up here in a couple of weeks that we're really excited about that we got on game time because with game time we can see the view from the seats that we're buying so we know exactly where we're going to be sitting in that venue and we also know exactly how much we're paying because game time has has Allin pricing that has all the fees built in so you don't get any of those those big price increases when you get to the checkout and 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get the break and then game week before the Titans is a normal week of practice for preparation for that game and so at Wednesday's practice we got a little bit more of an injury update in a couple of key areas so let's start with the guys who didn't practice Keenan Allen at wide receiver was one that right away grabs your attention wait a minute Keenan Allen didn't practice he he hasn't been hurt this preseason at least as far as we've been able to tell what's going on there Matt I don't think she was EV flu or poles I think Ryan poles Ryan poles said uh Keenan Allen had an issue with his cleats and was dealing with some discomfort in his foot so he'll be fine but he was like on the bike for practice and just kind of doing conditioning stuff that way but evidently I don't know what kind of cleat issue would be serious enough to cause enough discomfort to keep him out of practice but obviously very precautionary Kean Allen doesn't need to be out there he'll be good to go for week one but like I I it's hard to Envision what kind of cleat issue unless like you screwing in the spike too far it goes into your foot I know that's not literally possible but like is it squeezing your foot too tight and you get some I I I literally I don't know I don't know what that could be but nothing for the Bears to be concerned about the one that's still lingering the most Zack Pickins dnp at practice on Wednesday hasn't practiced in a little while it's why they're planning on calling Sam Pickins up to the excuse me Sam Roberts up to the 53 man roster for this game it's why they traded it's part of why they traded for Chris Williams like the defensive tackle spot is the one where injuries I think are still going to play the biggest role entering week one I'm not expecting Pickins to play but Matt eberl was was talked with on was that Tuesday or Wednesday now the days are running together with me this summer it's a problem but Matt iberus was asked are there any guys in your roster that you don't think are going to be ready for week one and his quote was it doesn't look like it right now but we'll see so there is some optimism that Zack Pickin could play week one but the Bears are clearly preparing via Sam Roberts and Chris Williams they're preparing for the possibility that Pickins can't go or that if he can go he won't be 100% so you're going to need extra depth on the defensive tackle position either way so no pickings that's more serious no Allen at practice that's less serious at this stage but that means your injured Center Ryan Bates back at practice was my understanding it wasn't a full team practice participation for him but was limited and participating in some one-on ones and some other stuff on the side so clearly a step forward and making some progress there and if he's practicing on a limited basis on August 28th he will be good to go in in I mean borrowing a setback I suppose but it means he's really you know on track to go for the Bears when they take the field week one against Tennessee Titans on September 8th it's plenty of time and another week and a half here for this team to really get him back to 100% And then Kevin byard the free safety the veteran he had been injured and he was back at practice participating pretty close to full as well so the Bears feeling pretty good about their health all the starters back in there in the mix most of the top backups minus Zack Pickins back at least at a li to a limited capacity but then during practice on Wednesday one player left with the trainers and did not return dealing with an injury situation and that was backup guard Bill Murray which of all the players on the roster to go down with an injury perhaps the most affordable the backup guard not either of the starters not someone who you you would hope in week one Bill Murray has no reason to take the field because your starting five offensive lineman are healthy and they play the entirety of the game so like if there's a the most Expendable player on the roster might be Bill Murray in terms of who can get hurt cuz Matt prior can play backup guard or backup tackle like I don't mean to like downplay Bill Murray who had a really strong preseason in training camp in order to make this 53 man roster ahead of jari Carter who was cut and ended up on the Carolina Panthers practice squad Bears kept the benedit on their squad instead of him and he went to Carolina instead which was interesting but still Bill Murray is a backup guard and if that's the worst of your injury concerns out of Wednesday I will absolutely take that still Pickins is probably the bigger one but like if if Murray has to miss a little bit of time the Bears can find other backup guards they have guys they like they could always sign jari Carter off of the Panthers practice squad if they really need to so all things considered good bill of health moving forward in the right direction and still have plenty of time for those guys to keep getting healthier and as evil flu said doesn't look like it right now for now that any of those guys will miss week one but I just don't suspect Zack Pickins will be 100% and may not even it may may just keep them out for precautionary reasons if you got other defensive tackles you're going to call up from that practice squad I think at this point then the dust will mostly be settled on this Bears roster again like we talked about like it seems like they still have to cut one more practice squad player to make room for the three veterans but that feels like it should be the only transaction between now and week one when they call up two players off the practice squad but that's not I don't know if that counts as a transaction you're not bringing in someone new or losing anybody you didn't have but like in Theory this Bears roster should now be pretty much set for week one so this is the team that's going to play the Tennessee Titans and should you know win that game I mean we we'll preview that game we'll have our crossover o excuse me we'll have our Crossover with uh Tyler Rolland of locked on Titans before that game we'll have a lot of time to dig into Tennessee but this is the roster so now now is the time to certainly get to know them and get familiar with what the the Bears are working with this season assuming there isn't another big roster change coming between over the next couple of days we still have to go back and recap Tuesday's episode of Hard Knock I know it's going to feel late and old a little bit at that time but like these roster moves are more important and more relevant to the team but we did get episode four of Hard Knocks that I don't know I thought was it got to some of the like better emotional stuff but also reminded us of a lack of overall drama and like interesting other story lines that the Bears have had to deal with this season so I want to go through some of the things we learned from that episode and I think we'll still get one more with with cutdown day included on it next week on Tuesday and we'll have to do sort of like a big this season of Hard Knocks recap we may hope to talk to Larry Dyer from bear talk underground about that we've been talking about getting together for a really like a just a hard knocks Deep dive session here over the course of the full season so that's why you have to hit that subscribe button whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast app subscribing is the best way to keep up with all of our daily in-depth Chicago Bears news and Analysis thanks for making lockon Bears your first listen today we're part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day if you're looking for a second listen why don't you check out locked on fantasy football cuz we're your team every day that includes your fantasy football team where you can get daily Insight on the best fantasy draft strategies waiver wire pickups and of course lineup decisions all season long find locked on 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