The Bears have now jettisoned both the veteran quarterbacks behind Justin Fields on their depth chart. Following P.J. Walker‘s release, Chicago will cut Nathan Peterman, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.
This may not be the end of the road for the Bears and Peterman. They would like to bring him back on a practice squad deal, per Pelissero. A seventh-year veteran who has settled into a reserve role since a rough stretch of early-career game cameos, Peterman spent last season with the Bears.
More interestingly, the Bears now have only rookie UDFA Tyson Bagent behind Fields on their active roster. With Walker and Peterman off the 53-man roster, Bagent has been the Bears’ top backup option during training camp and the preseason, ESPN’s Courtney Cronin adds. It would still qualify as unusual to give this job to a rookie UDFA out of a Division II program (Shepherd), but unless the Bears add another arm on the waiver wire or in free agency between now and Week 1, Bagent is on track to be a surprising QB2.
Peterman found himself in the same transaction last year. The Bears were a bit deeper at quarterback in 2022, rostering Trevor Siemian as well. But they prioritized Peterman via a P-squad deal. This arrangement led to Peterman starting a rather important game — for draft purposes — last season. The ex-Bills draftee completed 11 of 19 passes for 114 yards in a Week 18 loss to the Vikings — a defeat that ended up securing Chicago the No. 1 overall pick. Betting on Fields, the Ryan Poles regime traded the pick to the Panthers for a package that will help the team bolster its roster around Fields.
That game marked Peterman’s first start since his disastrous Buffalo work. Despite that historically bad four-start sample in Buffalo, Peterman has managed to remain a relatively coveted commodity. He spent nearly four years as a Raiders backup, covering almost all of Jon Gruden’s second stay with the team, and has another opportunity awaiting ahead of his age-29 season.
Bagent might be a D2 player but he set a ton of records. He’s got a better then average arm, runs real good and has a good read on defenses. Not saying he’s going to be a number 1 some day but this kid was expected to be drafted around the 5 round or so.
Now Mr. Peterman can concentrate on his catalog.
“Hey Peter man, check out Channel 9!”
I pray I can get one of those discounted Peterman jerseys before the stampede begins.
This is great. Show the fans who spend time watching and consuming the NFL product that winning does not matter as fans will still follow blindly no matter what happens. Team does not need QBs or any quality players. It’s not like the Bears had proven QBs to begin with. Bring back the Spare Bears from the 80s. Heck Tom Waddle could give them a reference.
Owners figured out long ago that fans have an addiction to sports. They wouldn’t be able to charge $40 for a hot dog and beer if there weren’t people in need of a regular fix.
God you’re old…and dumb.