Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
It’s been a busy week for the Bears since their upset win over the 49ers last Sunday. The loss of Bears legend Charles Tillman hurts, but if rookie Kyle Fuller can play like he did last Sunday, the Bears secondary should be just fine. Fuller moving into Peanut’s spot in the starting lineup left the Bears secondary depth a bit thin, so they made some moves to remedy that.
The Bears special teams unit has been a mess all season and the Bears also made some moves to shore up that under-rated aspect of the game. Injuries to WRs Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, and Josh Morgan have left the Bears dangerously thin at the receiver position as well, so the Bears called up some a reserve from the practice squad.
The Bears made a lot of moves this week, so I figured a recap might help before Monday night’s game against the Jets. If you see some unfamiliar numbers, you can check here for a little background on the new Bears player(s). Boomer recapped the moves made earlier this week, so I won’t go into too much detail about those, but you can check out Boomer’s post, here . Here is a breakdown of the rest of this week’s roster moves:
Bears Roster Moves:
– Bears place CB Charles Tillman on the injured reserve list – I covered this in my takeaways earlier this week. Peanut will be missed, but hopefully he can come back next year and maybe solve the Bears free safety problem.
– The Bears release QB David Fales and then re-sign Fales to the practice squad – I was worried that Fales might get snatched up by another team when the Bears placed him on waivers, but luckily for the Bears he didn’t and they were able to add him to the practice squad. Hopefully he won’t be needed this season, but it is nice to have a QB who knows the offense ready to go should multiple injuries happen at the QB position.
– The Bears release TE Matthew Mulligan – The Bears signed Mulligan in the off-season from the Patriots to be a blocking TE, but Mulligan showed surprising athleticism in the preseason. From the comments made by both Trestman and Emery it seemed that the Bears had high hopes for Mulligan, but he struggled in limited regular season action. Mulligan had a holding penalty in both Bears games so far this season and wasn’t doing enough good on offense to keep his roster spot.
– The Bears release RB Shaun Draughn – He was one of the surprises of the preseason and earned a spot as the Bears 2nd/3rd RB, but backups need to play special teams and Draughn struggled big-time on special teams once the season started. Draughn had a holding penalty on the opening kickoff of last Sunday’s game that pinned the Bears on the 7-yard line and then missed a block that resulted in a blocked punt and an easy 49ers TD. That was it for Draughn as the Bears released him a few days later.
– The Bears waive WR Chris Williams and re-sign Williams to the practice squad – I was even more surprised that Williams cleared waivers than I was about Fales. Williams has world-class speed and is exactly the type of high-upside player that teams like to stash on the practice squad. If Williams can get healthy (hamstring) he could still give the Bears some help as a deep threat or a kick/punt returner.
– The Bears elevate KR Rashad Ross (#13) from practice squad – Calls himself “the Rocket” despite just average speed for an NFL receiver (4.51). Ross went undrafted in 2013 and has bounced around the league spending time with 3 other teams (TEN, KC, WAS) over the last season. He wasn’t much of a receiver in college (ASU) but was an explosive kick returner and that will be his role with the Bears if he sticks around.