Tanner Gentry, Jonathan Anderson Elevated to 53-Man Roster
Tanner Gentry and Jonathan Anderson have been elevated to the 53-man roster after Kevin White and Jerrell Freeman were placed on IR.
The Chicago Bears are no strangers to injuries. After last season’s MASH unit that somewhat resembled an NFL franchise, having a few injuries to start the 2017 season can’t be too surprising. The Bears already have faced their fair share of preseason injuries, but two more names have been added to the list after week one.
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Kevin White broke his scapula and appears to be lost for the season and Jerrell Freeman has a pectoral injury as well as a concussion that landed him on the IR as well. Both these injuries are unfortunate. The defense, led by Freeman, looked very good against Atlanta, bottling up one of the league’s best offenses for most of the game. White’s injury, coupled with the Cameron Meredith injury from the offseason, leaves the Bears receiver group problematic. One silver lining from this news is that a fan favorite has made his way from the practice squad and onto the 53-man roster.
#Bears are promoting WR Tanner Gentry from the practice squad to the 53-man roster
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) September 12, 2017
Gentry was a UDFA out of Wyoming and had a solid showing in OTAs and developed a strong bond with rookie Mitch Trubisky. With the Bears wide receiver group extremely thin, Gentry won’t just be a spare part on the 53-man roster, he will see offensive snaps in the near future. When Trubisky finally is elevated to QB1, it will be curious to see if Gentry sees a bump in playing time due to the chemistry the two of them have.
Linebacker Jonathan Anderson was also activated from the practice squad. Anderson is a serviceable linebacker that has been up and down off the 53-man roster and practice squad the last couple of seasons. With Freeman out, Nick Kwiatkoski will see the defensive snaps in place of Freeman and Anderson will see the field in a few sub packages and largely on special teams.