Projecting the Chicago Bears final 53-man roster before cutdown day

The Chicago Bears have a couple of tough decisions to make at linebacker

Roquan Smith did not suit up for the final preseason game as expected. According to Matt Eberflus, Smith had some tightness going on and they held him out. I call bull on that one, but whatever. I just hope that Smith doesn’t have any hiccups early on in the season due to skipping training camp and the preseason. Either way, Smith is the clearcut LB1 on this team. We will see if they can come together and the Chicago Bears retain Smith beyond this season.

Behind Roquan Smith is Nicholas Morrow. Morrow has had a few inconsistency issues to start the preseason, but as the offseason continued, he started to look sharper. I like him as the middle linebacker and Smith as the Will. These are the two that we will see on the field most of the time as the team plays in the nickel between 60% and 70% of the time.

From a depth perspective, Matt Adams and Joe Thomas are the two guys I see sticking around. Adams is likely to play the Sam position when all three linebackers are on the field. Thomas would be the next guy up but the last linebacker I have making this team is Jack Sanborn.

Sanborn has been all over the field and is a proven football guy. I love his playing style and he brings talent to the special teams unit too. The hard part is DeMarquis Gates will be the odd man out here. He is a practice squad guy who could be coveted by another team.