Chicago Bears’ Roster: Report Card Grades for Every Position
Published by Andrew Dannehy on September 1, 2013
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
As new head coach Marc Trestman’s first camp has closed and the Chicago Bears have trimmed their roster down to 53 players, it’s time to take a look at what they have heading into the season.
With a first-year head coach, it was hard to predict how many players the Bears would keep at each position. I made an attempt at the start of camp, correctly predicting 47 of the final 53 players. It would have been 50, but Sedrick Ellis retired and both Matt Blanchard and Kelvin Hayden were injured.
The Bears decided to keep just two quarterbacks, due to Blanchard’s injury. They also have three halfbacks, one fullback, six wide receivers (not counting Devin Hester), three tight ends, nine offensive linemen, nine defensive linemen, six linebackers, 10 defensive backs and four specialists.
The biggest surprise on the Bears’ roster was how J’Marcus Webb went from the starting right tackle to not even making the team. The Bears’ elected to go with rookie Jordan Mills after the first preseason game and Webb didn’t respond well to the demotion, struggling from then on.
The Bears elected to keep three undrafted free agents, while releasing 2012 third-round pick Brandon Hardin. Hardin is the second 2012 draft pick to have been released, joining fourth-round pick Evan Rodriguez. Should Hardin clear waivers, he could rejoin the Bears on injured reserve.
As every team does, the Bears are going to have injuries this season. There are some positions where they simply don’t have adequate depth and that could come back to bite them. Of course, there are others where they’re deeper than most teams.
Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the Bears roster.
