3 surprising players who could make the Chicago Bears roster

2. Austin Reed

Austin Reed might not be the sexiest pick, but it would be a surprise if the undrafted free agent beat out Brett Rypien for the third quarterback spot. It's safe to assume second-year signal-caller Tyson Bagent will be the backup quarterback, and it makes sense that the team would want at least one veteran in the room.

While Rypien, who has four career starts in four years, is not the most ideal veteran to have in Williams' corner, he has still seen enough in-game experience to help the young QB in some situations. However, he has also not been very good. Like, at all. He has four career touchdowns with nine picks and a sterling 59.9 career passer rating.

Needless to say, the Bears don't want Rypien to play. If it turns out that Reed proves to be a much better quarterback when the lights turn on, then that could conceivably open the door for him to grab the spot, regardless of conventional wisdom saying otherwise.

The hypothetical that the Bears could only roster two quarterbacks is another factor that hurts Reed's chances of making the final roster. There is a world in which they only keep two QBs and opt to use the extra roster spot on someone who could help on special teams, especially considering the newly implemented rule that allows the team to call up a QB from the practice squad (presumably Reed or Rypien) in the case of an emergency.

Much like Bagent a year ago, the University of Western Kentucky product proved he had more than enough talent to succeed in his conference (he had 71 passing touchdowns to only 22 interceptions since joining the team through the transfer portal two years ago), and will have to prove he can do the same next month. He will surely be a player they would like to bring back to the practice squad, but they might not have a choice but to keep him if he performs half as well as Bagent did a year ago.