The Bears are more than half-way through the preseason so it’s time to take a look at the roster and see how things are going to shape up. I’m going to break down the offense by position group and look at the projected starters, the back-ups in play to make the 53 man roster, previous roster players that might not make the cut, and underdogs worth rooting for. I will also go through the best and worst case scenarios for each unit with a projected ranking for each. Lastly, I will review the 2016 salary cap hit (spotrac.com) of each unit to see who is worth their pay, who’s a bargain, and who is just stealing money.
The most common theme you will notice is that the Bears are a very young team overall. The positive of the Bears youth movement is the high number of players on their rookie contracts which are always team friendly in terms of cap management. The negative of this youth movement is that young players are unknown quantities who have lots of potential but are usually inconsistent in their on-field performance.
Important dates to keep in mind are the first roster cut to 75 on August 30th and the final roster cut to 53 on September 3rd.
Next: Offensive Line