After the Chicago Bears’ second preseason game you can say that the team saw more clarity emerge from their wide receiver depth chart. An argument could be made that the top five have started to lock themselves in.
Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Velus Jones, and Byron Pringle have been looked at as roster locks. A player that is joining them as the fifth wide receiver is Dante Pettis.
Is Chicago Bears WR Depth Chart Locked In?
Pettis has checked every box needed to make himself a lock. So, the question from there becomes whether a sixth wide receiver will join them, whether they go with the rare, but the occasional choice to keep seven wideouts, or whether it is just those five.
The rest of the depth chart includes Tajae Sharpe, Dazz Newsome, Isaiah Coulter, Chris Finke, David Moore, Nsimba Webster, and Kevin Shaa. Of course, there is also N’Keal Harry but is expected to go on the IR.
Finke and Moore did not play in preseason week two. Moore missed the first game as well, and his roster spot is looking bleak.
Shaa is a perfect candidate for the practice squad, which cuts the list in half. We are down to Coulter, Sharpe, Newsome, and Webster. Webster really only provides value as a return man.
He looked rough last game as a wide receiver despite his explosive return. That return may have been more of a glimpse of what he can do for other teams, because with Velus Jones healthy, Webster is gone.
Dazz Newsome was behind Webster as a punt returner after his fumble last week, and nothing he did this past week made things better. Coulter could certainly prove more next week, but also could easily find himself on the practice squad.
So, it has sorted itself out. Sharpe could make it as a sixth wideout, but besides him, the five are locked in, and the rest are outsiders.
Sharpe could be cut while the team puts Harry on the IR, then they can re-sign Sharpe quickly because he is on a veteran salary contract. They risk losing Sharpe but know that he is their sixth wide receiver as it is. Injuries helped shape the depth chart, but there is just one last question entering the last preseason game.