In a purely "a move is better than no move" sense, the Chicago Bears finally added an ostensibly noteworthy edge rusher when they signed former first-round pick Marcus Davenport on Aug. 17. His history with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen at the start of his career with the New Orleans Saints bolstered the potential fit.
When it comes to getting into football shape, there's no substitute for actually getting on the practice field. It's also fair to say the Bears will cautiously ramp up a player who has played just 14 of a possible 51 games over the last three seasons.
As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune recently suggested, which makes sense, Davenport could start the season on the practice squad as he gets fully ramped up. With that potential plan in mind, it's fair to assume Davenport would pass through waivers unclaimed at roster cuts, and it can happen.
Bears' Marcus Davenport experiment has started exactly as expected
Thursday's joint practice against the Tennessee Titans marked 10 days since the Bears signed Davenport. The practice schedule around the second and third preseason games hasn't been as extensive as it was earlier this month, but Davenport has yet to make an appearance in Bears colors and now he won't for a few more days.
Before the joint practice against the Titans, in light of revealing that defensive end Austin Booker is dealing with a groin injury, Bears head coach Ben Johnson was then asked if Davenport is dealing with any kind of injury himself.
"He's not dealing with anything", Johnson said. "We want to make sure we're being smart with him. He's a player that's missed a lot of time over the last three years. So he's being integrated into the program from conditioning, to strength program, drill work, and we're slowly ramping him into it."
As the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator, Johnson got a close look at the time Davenport missed in 2024. The majority of the 15 games he missed that season were due to a season-ending triceps tear, following a dirty move by Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Paris Johnson. But he had already missed one game with another injury, and we'll never know if he would've battled what has really been a career-long lack of durability all season long.
It's fine, and highly recommended based on his injury history, for the Bears to slowly get Davenport going in their all-around program. But you'd think he'd have been able to practice to some extent by now, even if it's only in a fairly limited fashion, which prompted the reporter's question to Johnson. Yet, he has not.
Even before they had him in for a workout, the day before they signed him, the Bears knew what they were getting into with Davenport. Time will tell if bringing him in actually yields anything of note to help the pass rush.
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Things are off the expected start, though, with Davenport being completely absent from the practice field for what's in line to quickly become two full weeks since being signed.
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