Chicago Bears

My Take on the Bears Final Cuts

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Well, the Bears have finally cut down their roster to the 53-man maximum. There were some surprises, some expected releases, and a couple of injury disappointments. I’ll break down my feelings on the Bears final cuts below.

Good Cuts

RB Jacquizz Rodgers was an effective change-of-pace back in his prime with the Falcons, but he looked like he aged about five years in the offseason. Rodgers showed little to no burst through the line of scrimmage, didn’t have his usual wiggle in the open field, and lacked the surprising power between the tackles that he showed last season.

Rodgers is the Bers best pass blocker among the running backs and one of the better receivers, but Ka’Deem Carey showed he could be an effective pass blocker and was a better shirt-yardage runner through the preseason. Rodgers is a good special teams player, but the Bears kept similar kick coverage players like Josh Bellamy and Sherrick McManis making Rodgers special teams skills somewhat redundant.

Finally the breakout game from rookie power back Jordan Howard lessened the need to Rodgers skills in short-yardage between the tackles. Rodgers should catch on somewhere else, as he’s still a well-rounded RB who can fill a role as a pass blocker, between the tackles runner, and special teams player. The Bears just already have younger and cheaper players to handle those roles and didn’t need the veteran Rodgers anymore.

DE Ego Ferguson – If Ferguson played his first tow years like he did in the 4th preseason game, he might have been in the mix for a starting job on the defensive line. Instead Ferguson was released despite his strong game against the Browns because it was the first game I’ve seen that Ego played like he gave a shit about the team. He’s been lazy, undisciplined, injured, and unreleiable when healhty through his two years in Chicago., He also had a four game PED suspension and missed most of the 2015 season with an injury.

He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2014 draft, one round ahead of Will Sutton who he is often compared too. Sutton is smaller and less athletic than Ferguson, but managed to learn a 2nd position (NT) and worked his ass off to find snaps wherever he could get them. Before injuring his elbow last season, Sutton was making a legitimate push for a starting DE job despite being considered a bad fit for the Bears new 3-4 scheme. This offseason Sutton gained enough wait to earn snaps as the backup nose tackle behind Eddie Goldman. Sutton’s ability to backup the nose tackle position may have ultimately won Sutton one of the final roster spots.

ILB John Timu – Don’t get me wrong, John Timu is one of my favorite Bears. He gives it his all every play on the field and has the natural run-stopping instincts that the Bears need at the ILB position. He anticipates running plays better than any Bears ILB and attacks ball carriers behind the line of scrimmage, giving the rest of the Bears D better chance to be an effective run defense.

Timu’s problem is in pass coverage where he has been consistently exposed as being too slow to cover NFL RBs & TEs. There was play in week 17 where he was beat in coverage by Joique Bell, one of the slowest running backs in the NFL, for a big play. If Timu can’t even cover Bell in man coverage, then there are few players he’s going to be ale to stay with. Timu could have a role as a base package ILB, but with teams passing more than ever, Timu will be a liability more often than not.

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Bad Cuts

CB DeVante Bausby– My least favorite cut of the day. It would be different if the Bears had a healthy group of corners, but there is a very real chance that their top three corners won’t be in uniform for the season opener. That would leave the Bears with the following corners available:

Keeping Bausby for at least a week or two would have made a lot of sense to me, but what do I know? The Bears have been looking for a tall corner for years and seemed to have finally found a potentially good one in Bausby (6’2, 187, 4.48) who improved steadily over the course of the preseason.

Bausby played his best game in week four against the Browns, showing good anticipation and breaking on the ball with authority. There aren’t a lot of competent 6’2 corners out there who can play and the Bears just let one go for nothing.

WRs Daniel Braverman – I’m a little biased as a Big Ten fan who watched Braverman destroy the secondaries of both Ohio St and Michigan St who had 11 drafted players combined on defense. In those two games Braverman had 23 catches for 233 yards and a touchdown. As impressive as that was, Braverman also was one of the Bears best players in training camp, consistently getting open and catching everything thrown his way.

W/plays like this #Bears rookie WR Daniel Braverman will have no prob seeing the field. What a catch. pic.twitter.com/sdATU4nyaT @NFLDraftBible

— Christian Shanafelt (@ChrisShanafelt) August 2, 2016

Luckily the Bears have slot receiver Eddie Royal, Marc Mariani, and… no one else in the slot. Actually they don’t even have Marc Mariani who they also decided to release for some reason. So Eddie Royal is the Bears only legit slot receiver and he’s been known to miss games for serious issues like a stubbed toe, a windy day, eating too much at lunch, and his wife’s time of the month.

It’s possible that the Bears are planning on using Josh Bellamy in the slot which could be effective if Bellamy has learned how to catch in his fifth season in the league. Most likely the Bears are targeting a lot receiver released by another team this week. Let’s hope so at least because relying on Eddie Royal is a recipe for disaster.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

TEs Tony Moeaki & Rob Housler – I wouldn’t have kept both of them, since neither if much of a blocker, but the Bears definitely should have kept one of them. Starter Miller is an excellent receiver, but has struggled to stay healthy his whole career and is already struggling to get out of concussion protocol. If Miller isn’t ready to play the Bears have just Khari Lee and Greg Scruggs as backups.

Khari Lee is a good blocker but slow and very raw as a receiver. Greg Scruggs was a defensive lineman for the Bears last year and hasn’t played tight end since high school. Neither player is even competent as a receiver and if Miller gets hurt, the Bears will have no receiving weapons at tight end.

Keeping either Moeaki or Housler would have at least given the Bears a safety valve receiver who can catch short passes. Moeaki and Housler are too old for the practice squad, but all is not lost if the Bears can sneak rookie Ben Braunecker onto the practice squad. He was healthy in week four but the Bears kept him on the sidelines. I thought that could be because Braunecker had already made the team, but it turns out the Bears just wanted keep other teams from getting tape on Bronk. Hopefully the Bears subterfuge works out and Braunecker end sup on the practice squad if/when Miller gets hurt.

Lee and Scruggs should have a positive impact in the running game and it looks like that will be a focus for the Bears this season, but their lack of receiving chops will let defensives know exactly what the Bears are doing on most plays. Lee, a former 6th round pick in 2014, does have some upside and hopefully he will develop into at least a mediocre receiving option.