Since placing left tackle Braxton Jones on IR due to a knee injury he suffered in Week 3, the Chicago Bears have been operating with 52 players on the 53-man roster. With three players in the middle of their activation windows from the PUP list, head coach Ben Johnson said that would be rectified before Week 5 against the Green Bay Packers.
On Saturday, the Bears announced that linebacker Noah Sewell has been activated from the PUP list, and running back Zavier Scott has been elevated to the active roster from the practice squad. With Kyle Monangai (toe) out for Sunday's game, Scott's elevation is only surprising in that he got the nod over preseason standout Salvon Ahmed.
Sewell has completed his return from the torn Achilles he suffered in Week 17 last season. As ESPN's Courtney Cronin noted, his 21-day activation window was set to expire next Wednesday, October 14.
With rookie linebacker Keyshaun Elliott (quad) out this week, it made sense to activate Sewell. Elliott has only played special teams so far this season, but that role needs to be filled.
Bears' activation of Noah Sewell means nothing regarding Kyler Gordon
When asked earlier in the week which of the three defensive players on the PUP list would be activated before Sunday's game, head coach Ben Johnson gave a vague answer. Either he genuinely didn't know at that point in time, or he just didn't care to say publicly.
"We'll let this thing play out" , Johnson said..."We'll make a decision at the end of the week ... we've got a lot of things in flux right now with the roster this week."
The easily assumed player to be activated this week from the PUP list was cornerback Kyler Gordon, over Sewell or defensive end Shemar Turner. But the Bears have been adamant about the idea of Gordon not only getting but staying healthy, and they surely want to see him get through another week of practice without issue.
Gordon and Turner, after being listed as questionable on Friday's injury report, have been downgraded to out for Sunday's game.
Let's put it to bed: The decision to activate Sewell, and not Gordon, this week has nothing to do with the team's clear frustration with how the situation with Gordon played out all offseason and into the start of the season. In the simplest terms, there's time to burn on Gordon's activation window.
As Cronin also noted, Gordon returned to practice a week after Sewell and Turner did. So his 21-day activation window ends on October 21.
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With an open spot on the Bears' 53-man roster, Sewell got the nod this week. Barring something unforeseen, expect Gordon to be activated next week, and someone will have to be let go to make room for him.
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