As we count down the days until training camp we will also be counting down the Chicago Bears 2022 roster. The Bears will take a 90-man roster into training camp, and it is currently set during the time when little to no roster action happens.
With that in mind, it is the best time to rank the roster, something we have done every offseason since 2017. Today, we start with the number 90.
Chicago Bears Number 90 player in 2022: Antonio Ortiz, LS
Antonio Ortiz is a long snapper from TCU. He did not initially sign as a UDFA but was given a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears during both of their rookie minicamps. During the Bears tryout, he was given a contract to join the team as a UDFA.
Ortiz has been a long snapper at TCU for four seasons and had 44 starts as a long snapper. I think fans can forgive that he did not get drafted given his position.
Still, it is his position and his role on the roster that has him at number, as there has to be someone in this role every year.
Antonio Ortiz will have to enter training camp and compete with Patrick Scales. Most fans do not even know who Patrick Scales is, but they should because he has been with the team since 2015. That does make him a Ryan Pace lifer, and it could be that Ortiz, the signing of Ryan Poles beats out Scales, the long-term snapper from Pace.
Still, Poles is the leader in the clubhouse until he is beaten considering he has seven years of NFL experience. Even if Ortiz wins, the best outcome for a long snapper is that nobody knows who he is. Even if he has a Patrick Scales seven-year run, he cannot jump into the top 53 of this list before the season starts. Last season we had Patrick Scales at number 63. That could be as high as Ortiz would ever be.
The best-case outcome for most other players on this list will be much higher than Ortiz, and that is why a player who actually has a clear path to the 53-man roster winds up being ranked 90th on the list.