Chicago Bears Add Much-Needed Depth at Nose Tackle

This weekend, the Chicago Bears, and the rest of the teams in the NFL, cut their rosters down to 53 players and are now ready for the start of the 2017 regular season. For the most part, the Bears’ roster looked as expected. However, the initial 53-man roster did cause some head scratching by fans. There were five tight ends, and only five defensive linemen. But, general manager Ryan Pace wasn’t done making adjustments to the roster.

After placing safety Deiondre’ Hall on injured reserve, Pace re-signed nose tackle John Jenkins, who was recently cut from the 90-man preseason roster. Jenkins will now be the backup to three-year veteran Eddie Goldman. This addition to the defensive line is greatly needed, considering Goldman’s injuries dating back to 2016.

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Goldman missed 10 games last season due to an ankle injury, which eventually landed the 320-pounder on IR. To make matters more cautious, Goldman was under the concussion protocol after Chicago’s Week 3 preseason win over the Tennessee Titans. Assuming that not playing in the preseason finale gave him ample time to recover, Goldman should be ready to go against the Atlanta Falcons in the season opener on Sunday.

And to add even more insurance, the Bears placed nose tackle Rashaad Coward to their practice squad after being cut on Saturday. Having Jenkins and Coward as second and third options, respectively, may not give Bears fans all of the confidence in the world, but it is much better than not having anyone waiting in the wings in the event Goldman is bitten by the injury bug once again.