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It took the Bears until about three hours after the 3 PM deadline to release their final roster, but they finally did it and I have listed the final round of cuts below with my thoughts on each. I fully expect the Bears to be active on the waiver wire and make perhaps 3-4 more transactions to upgrade the bottom of the roster. I will have updates on those moves as they happen, but here is my first list of recently released players that may be on the Bears radar. The Bears also made six cuts last night.
Some players who were considered on the bubble but made the roster include: OLB Willie Young, ILB Jon Bostic, RB Ka’Deem Carey, WR Josh Bellamy, WR Cam Meredith, CB Bryce Callahan, S Sherrod Martin, and ILB John Timu.
Today’s Roster Cuts
OLB David Bass – Of all the Bears DEs from last year, I thought Bass had the most ideal skill set to transition to a 3-4 OLB. He was undersized for a DE, showed some natural pass rush skill, and good football instincts, but the Bears are just too deep at OLB. Veteran Jared Allen has taken to the position surprisingly well, Lamarr Houston has recovered quicker than expected from his ACL tear, and free agent Sam Acho has made plays every time he’s on the field. Bass showed flashes this preseason, but just got caught up in a numbers game. He is eligible for the practice squad, but I would be surprised if he clears waivers.
OL Michael Ola – Made 12 starts for the Bears last year at both guard and tackle. Ola’s versatility is his best asset as he can play guard or tackle on either side, but is already 26 years old and struggled both last season (-12) and this preseason (-1.7). The only reason I am surprised is that the Bears are so thin on the O-line right now and a versatile reserve like Ola could have filled in as needed, but maybe the Bears have their sights set on a swing tackle released by another team.
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NT Terry Williams – Boooo! I’m bummed Williams didn’t make the squad despite his dominant performance against the Browns on Thursday night (+5.8 grade from Pro Football Focus). With Jay Ratliff suspended for three weeks and Eddie Goldman suffering concussion symptoms, the Bears could use another nose tackle and I figured it would be Williams or Brandon Dunn but they were both released. Hopefully the Swamp Monster will stick around on the practice squad.
NT/DE Brandon Dunn – Not a flashy player, but a stout run stopper with the size (6’2 | 300) to play either DE or NT in pinch. Dunn had a solid preseason and I thought he did enough to earn one of the spots on the bottom of the roster, especially considering how thin the Bears are on the D-line but perhaps the Bears brass have targeted some other D-lineman released today.