My Predictions for Bears Last 15 Cuts
6.) ILB John Timu – Last year inside linebacker was one of the weakest positions on the Bears defense, but they added two high priced free agents in Danny Trevathan & Jerrell Freeman and drafted Nick Kwiatkoski in the 4th round. That leaves probably just one ILB spot between last year’s starters like Timu, Anderson, Barrow, and Christian Jones. Barrow is already hurt, Jones has been moved to OLB, which leaves the last ILB spot between Timu and Anderson.
It’s a tough call, but Timu has consistently been exposed in coverage and has missed multiple tackles over the last two weeks of the preseason. I’d be surprised if the Bears don’t keep Timu around on the practice squad.
7.) TE Rob Housler – He flashed his upside in week two of the preseason, taking a slant over the middle, breaking a tackle and running for 58 yards down the sidelines. Housler is a very similar player to Zach Miler in that he has ideal size (6’5, 250) and all the physical tools to be a weapon at tight end, but just can’t stay healthy consistently. The fact that Housler couldn’t even make it through the four-week preseason healthy is a bad sign and will probably cost Housler his roster spot.
8.) S Chris Prosinski – The emergence of Harold Jones-Quartey as the starter opposite Adrian Amos and the solid play of rookie Deon Bush has probably cost Prosinski his spot on the Bears roster. He’s an excellent special teams player, but the Bears drafted some players with special teams potential and more upside on defense. Demontre Hurst is a solid special teams player who has the versatility to play corner or safety and I think he will end up taking Prosinski’s roster spot. If someone were to get hurt, I could see the Bears keeping Prosinski’s number on speed dial, but I don’t think he will make the final 53.
9.) DE/NT Will Sutton – He gave it an admirable shot playing out of position as both a 3-4 DE and NT during the preseason, but Sutton (6’0, 297) just ins’t a good fit for Vic Fangio’s scheme. Hopefully the Bears can trade Sutton to a team that needs a 3-tech DT. I could see the Bears keeping Sutton as depth due to Cornelius Washington’s injury issues, but I think it’s more likely that the Bears end up signing a more traditional nose tackle like Terrance Knighton or Sammy Lee Hill. Even better the Bears could call up Terry “Swamp Monster” Williams from the practice squad who was just released today. The Bears also have players like Akiem Hicks and Mitch Unrein who could fill in as backup NTs for Eddie Goldman.
10.) DE Ego Ferguson – The Bears 2014 2nd round pick has been a massive bust so far with a pathetically bad rookie season and then a 2015 spent on the injured reserve list. Ferguson flashed some power and aggression last night against the Browns, but it was probably too late to save his job.
11.) TE Ben Braunecker – Finally started practicing this week, but the Bears held him out of the final preseason game. Maybe it was to keep other teams from getting tape on Braunecker, maybe they didn’t want to risk injury, or maybe Braunecker just wasn’t ready. Either way I expect the Bears to try and stash Braunecker on the practice squad because the non-Miller TEs seem pretty bad.
Next: More Potential Cuts