Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
With the Bears about to play their second preseason game tonight against the Indianapolis Colts, I’ve listed a few players below who could be in danger of not making the Bears final 53-man roster. The first round of roster cuts are looming on September 1st which means the Bears will be releasing 15 players off their 90 man roster sometime over the next nine days. Here are a few current Bears who may need a good performance tonight to keep their jobs:
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OLB Willie Young – Listed as the 3rd team OLB despite leading the Bears with 10 sacks last year. Young is coming off as ACL tear but wasn’t listed on the PUP list so is presumably healthy. He was expected to struggle with the move to OLB and he has, he’s fallen behind free agent Sam Acho. If Young doesn’t prove he can play OLB he could be a candidate for a trade or even an outright release due to the $2.45M of cap money it would free up.
ILB Jon Bostic – No one is more surprised with how well Shea McClellin is playing at ILB than I am. McClellin and Christian Jones seem like locks for the first team ILBs and free agent Mason Foster has impressed as well. On paper Jon Bostic is paired with Foster on the 2nd team defense, but he looked absolutely lost in game one of the preseason. The new regime has no ties to Bostic, the former 2nd round pick, and could cut him if his play doesn’t improve. Bostic’s job is being threatened by the strong play of two undrafted rookies, John Timu and Jonathon Anderson, 2nd year player DeDe Lattimore, and Patriots 6th round pick Matthew Wells, who the Bears just traded for. If it comes down to special teams contributions for the 4th ILB spot, Bostic could be in trouble as all four players project as solid special teams players.
S Brock Vereen – Had two of the most glaringly bad plays in the Bears first preseason game and has yet to prove he can play safety at the NFL level. With the strong play of rookie Adrian Amos and the switch of Demontre Hurst to safety, Vereen could be expendable. He needs a big game today to solidify his roster spot.