Chicago Bears Release CB Isaiah Frey & G James Brown

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

The Bears made two more cuts to get down to the 75-man roster limit by today’s deadline at 4 PM EST. The Bears released CB Isaiah Frey and G/T James Brown which puts them at 75 players total until the next cut down to 53 players on Saturday. Both of these cuts are somewhat of a surprise considering that they were with the team last year and have both started games for the Bears in the past. With today’s cuts and the recent release of vets like Jordan Palmer, Adrian Wilson and Nate Collins it appears that Trestman is releasing the veteran players a week early to give them more time to catch on with another team.

Isaiah Frey is more of a surprise considering that he was the Bears stating slot corner for 6 games last season and played significant snaps in all 16 games. With the return of Kelvin Hayden, the addition of 1st round pick Kyle Fuller and the strong preseason play of Sherrick McManis and Demontre Hurst, Frey was deemed expendable. It didn’t help Frey’s cause that he suffered a hamstring injury before training camp and wasn’t able to practice or play in any preseason games. He attempted to return to practice yesterday, but couldn’t make it through the day without his hamstring flaring up. A big knock on Frey last year was that he was on the field for over 50% of the Bears defensive snaps without causing any turnovers. The release of Frey, a 6th round pick from the 2012 draft, leaves only two players still on the roster from Phil Emery’s first draft with the Bears, Alshon Jeffery and Shea McClellin.

I thought James Brown was having a pretty solid preseason, but with Brian de la Puente and Eben Britton close to returning and the strong play of newcomers Robert Turner and undrafted rookie Ryan Groy, there was a logjam at the guard position and Brown was let go. Brown started the last three game of 2012 for the Bears, but didn’t see the field at all in 2013 and rarely made the active roster. I would be surprised if both players don’t catch on with other teams before the season starts.