Before the preseason gets underway and the roster shuffling begins, it is a good time to look at who exactly is on the roster bubble. The easiest way to do that is to establish which players would be locks on the 2023 Chicago Bears 53-man roster.
Identifying 53-man roster locks for the Chicago Bears before preseason
So, we will look into each position and only identify the players that we think will certainly be locked to make the roster without any questions.
Quarterbacks( 2): Justin Fields, PJ Walker
These two are clearly the only locks as the other two fight for a roster spot.
Running Back (4): D'Onta Foreman, Roschon Johnson, Khalil Herbet, Khari Blasingame
The Chicago Bears adding so many running backs does not make Travis Homer a lock, but as we will discuss soon, he will be high on the bubble.
Wide Receiver (4): Tyler Scott, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, DJ Moore
The most surprising piece of news from this list is probably that Velus Jones is missing. Still, he was behind Equanimeous St. Brown and Dante Pettis last year, so he will be in the same range as them again to enter training camp.
Tight End (2): Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan
The other options at tight end are not locks, and both bounced between the roster and practice squad last year, leaving just two locks.
Offensive Line (7): Braxton Jones, Nate Davis, Teven Jenkins, Cody Whitehair, Darnell Wright, Larry Borom, Lucas Patrick
The five starters are locked in, and Lucas Patrick has been the sixth offensive lineman in almost all settings. Larry Borom is probably the best option at both left and right tackle if anything happens. Considering Patrick is the top guard and center backup, and Borom is the top backup on both sides of tackle play, the rest of the room is up in the air.
Defensive Line (8): Trevis Gipson, Dominique Robinson, Rasheem Green, DeMarcus Walker, Gervon Dexter, Zacch Pickens, Andrew Billings, Justin Jones
Some could debate if the edge rushers are locked in, but based on the current roster, these are the top eight, and the question is more about if any of the bubble guys force the team to carry nine or ten.
Linebackers (4): TJ Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Noah Sewell, Jack Sanborn
These four are surefire locks, the question is whether a name or two will join them soon.
Cornerback (4): Kyler Gordon, Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith
Kindle Vildor is the big name missing, and with all of the additions, that makes it hard to say he is a lock. On the flip side, even though he is just a rookie, Terell Smith only has day three draft capital and is entering a deeper room than expected. He is a lock, for now.
Safety (3): Jaquan Brisker, Eddie Jackson, Elijah Hicks
You could debate Elijah Hicks but he made the roster last year and has real special teams value that keeps him back. There are enough depth names to be debated for the rest of the group, though.
Specialists (3)
41 roster locks leaves 12 spots for bubble players to claim this summer