Bears' 53-man roster reveal teases good news (one way or the other)

The Chicago Bears, along with the other 31 NFL teams, revealed their initial active roster for the 2025 season on Tuesday afternoon. There are always interesting things to note, players kept, players waived, etc., and there could be new players swapped in for some of those who were kept in the coming days.

How known injury situations are handled when shaping the initial 53-man roster is notable. Being placed on IR before cutdown day ends a player's season, while waiting keeps the door open for them to return after a minimum four games missed.

One such injury situation for the Bears was with edge rusher Austin Booker. He was a preseason stud, especially in the first game against the Miami Dolphins, but he he suffered a knee injury in the second game against the Buffalo Bills and he did not play in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs

After the preseason finale, Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters Booker would be out "a few weeks."

The obvious assumption there was the second-year man will miss some regular season games, with the possibility of an IR stint to open the season if it came to that as the Bears honed in on a 53-man roster.

Bears' 53-man roster reveal teases good news one way or the other

On the Bears' initial 53-man roster (h/t to Clay Harbor), there's Booker among 10 defensive lineman.

Booker being on the 53-man roster initially could still lead to him being placed on IR before Week 1. But it's also possible his knee injury isn't that bad, or as bad as initially thought based on Johnson's remarks. At this point, the injury is apparently not bad enough to warrant sidelining him for the first four games of the season and the Bears are willing to carry him as a weekly inactive for first few.

But if Booker's injury will land him on IR, which is less likely now but still possible, maybe the Bears are looking to add another edge rusher. Free agent signing Dayo Odeyingbo didn't exactly light it up during the preseason, to the point Booker seemed like a threat to his starting job.

It's possible the Bears are looking at adding an edge rusher regardless of Booker's injury status, with the idea of covering for a few games while he's out and providing depth after that.

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It's good news that Booker is on the initial 53-man roster, since that indicates he may only miss one or two games to start the season. But if that were to change, and he's placed on IR as a procedural matter after cutdown day, that likely means someone will be added to the edge rusher mix. So it's all good news, no matter what happens with the Bears' preseason star.