Chicago Bears Rumors & News - Pro Football Rumors

Bears Will Not Name Starting QB Prior To Week 1

By Sam Robinson | at August 29, 2020 3:09 pm

One of the league’s premier position battles will not be settled, at least publicly, until the Bears suit up for their regular-season opener.

Matt Nagy said Saturday he will not declare whether Mitchell Trubisky or Nick Foles has won the job prior to the Bears’ Week 1 game. The Bears will travel to Detroit for their 2020 opener.

Ordinarily, a team featuring a quarterback competition would name a starter by the time its third preseason game comes. With the COVID-19 pandemic prompting the NFL to scrap the preseason slate, the Bears will attempt to keep their decision in-house. Though, the clubhouse leader here will stand to see more reps than the likely QB2 in the coming days.

The Bears acquired Foles from the Jaguars to push Trubisky, who has not worked out to the team’s liking. The Bears passed on Trubisky’s fifth-year option in May.

Foles, 31, is also coming off a down year, suffering a broken collarbone in Week 1 and being replaced by sixth-round rookie Gardner Minshew shortly after he recovered from the injury. Foles, however, has a significant experience edge on Trubisky, who dropped from third in QBR in 2018 to 28th last season. While Foles has not shown much outside of Philadelphia, his two late-season runs with the Eagles — involving a Super Bowl LII MVP award and a wild-card win over the Bears a year later — certainly dwarf Trubisky’s accomplishments.

16 comments Chicago Bears Mitchell Trubisky Nick Foles

NFL Workout Updates: 8/28/20

By Sam Robinson | at August 28, 2020 6:21 pm

Here are the workouts that took place around the NFL on Friday:

Buffalo Bills

DT Daryle Banfield
DT Toby Johnson
DT Akeem Spence
DT Gabe Wright

Chicago Bears

LB Devante Bond
RB Napoleon Maxwell (visit)
LB Gabe Sewell

Detroit Lions

OL Kevin Pamphile

Kansas City Chiefs

DB Hasan Sharif

Las Vegas Raiders

WR Darren Andrews
QB Kyle Lauletta
WR Charone Peake
WR T.J. Rahming
QB Kyle Shurmur

Pittsburgh Steelers

WR DeAndre Thompkins

Bears Work Out LB Alec Ogletree

By Sam Robinson | at August 28, 2020 4:44 pm

After more than six months in free agency, Alec Ogletree has resurfaced on the NFL radar. The Bears brought in the former Rams first-round pick for a Friday workout, per Albert Breer of SI.com (on Twitter).

The Giants made Ogletree a cap casualty in February. This marks the first Ogletree news since then. The 29-year-old linebacker started 26 games for the Giants over the past two seasons, but the team dropped him before signing Blake Martinez to a lucrative deal.

Ogletree was largely unable to live up to his four-year, $42MM Rams extension in New York, but he did produce in 2018. The former No. 30 overall pick intercepted five passes and notched two defensive touchdowns in his first Giants season. He has started at least 15 games in a season four times (all with the Rams) and has four defensive TDs and 12 forced fumbles on his resume as well.

In Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith, the Bears have two clear starters at linebacker. Behind them, however, Chicago’s roster houses 2018 fourth-round pick Joel Iyiegbuniwe and two recent UDFAs. Despite suiting up for 31 career games, Iyiegbuniwe has played just 26 defensive snaps. Both Smith and Trevathan have battled injuries in recent years, and the Bears lost longtime backup/spot starter Nick Kwiatkoski in free agency.

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David Montgomery Suffers Groin Injury

By Zachary Links | at August 27, 2020 10:02 am

THURSDAY, 10:02am: Montgomery will be out of action for 2-4 weeks, which means he still has a chance at playing in the Bears’ season opener against the Lions (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport).

WEDNESDAY, 12:53pm: Bears running back David Montgomery went down with a non-contact injury on Wednesday, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. After hobbling off of the field, the 23-year-old was diagnosed with a groin strain. Now, the Bears are awaiting word and hoping for the best.

It’ll take at least a day or two to determine Montgomery’s timetable for recovery, but it’s possible that the Bears won’t have the young rusher for the start of the season. Without Montgomery, the Bears will have to lean even more on Tarik Cohen, plus support from Ryan Nall and Artavis Pierce. Cohen, of course, is utilized more as a pass-catcher than a traditional RB. Last year, he carried the ball just 64 times for 213 yards in total while recording a career-high 79 catches. Montgomery, meanwhile, logged 242 totes for 889 yards as a rookie.

This year, the Bears were counting on Montgomery to take a big step forward. The youngster has been eager to show what he can do, especially since cleaning up his diet.

“Whenever I had the craving for a Krispy Creme doughnut, I’d definitely go have one back in the day,” Montgomery said, via the team’s website. “But now, I fight the urge to go have one…I feel amazing. Everything feels good right now, as far as my body. I’m not as sore as I was last year because of the lack of food that I don’t need that has a lot of inflammation to it. And just running. Just being able to run and feeling good at how I run and being able to make the right cuts.”

10 comments Chicago Bears David Montgomery

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/25/20

By Zachary Links | at August 25, 2020 11:51 am

Today’s minor moves:

Baltimore Ravens

Signed: P Johnny Townsend, WR DeAndrew White

Buffalo Bills

Released from IR: DT Niles Scott

Chicago Bears

Signed: WR Alex Wesley
Released: WR Trevor Davis
Waived/injured: TE Darion Clark

Cincinnati Bengals

Signed: C Frederick Mauigoa, DT Kahlil McKenzie
Waived: G Clay Cordasco, WR Damion Willis

Cleveland Browns

Claimed (from Dolphins): DE Curtis Weaver
Placed on IR: S Grant Delpit

Las Vegas Raiders

Signed: DE Sharif Finch
Waived: DE Ade Aruna

Los Angeles Rams

Signed: LB Daniel Bituli, LB Derrick Moncrief
Waived: LB Bryan London, QB Josh Love

Miami Dolphins

Re-signed: LB Trent Harris

New Orleans Saints

Signed: DB Kemon Hall

New York Jets

Signed: RB Pete Guerriero
Waived: DB Anthony Cioffi

Philadelphia Eagles

Signed: TE Tyrone Swoopes
Waived: WR Robert Davis

San Francisco 49ers

Waived: RB Salvon Ahmed

5 comments Baltimore Ravens Buffalo Bills Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Las Vegas Raiders Los Angeles Rams Miami Dolphins New York Jets Philadelphia Eagles San Francisco 49ers Transactions Ade Aruna Alex Wesley Anthony Cioffi Clay Cordasco Curtis Weaver Damion Willis Daniel Bituli Darion Clark Derrick Moncrief Frederick Mauigoa Grant Delpit Johnny Townsend Josh Love Kahlil McKenzie Niles Scott Pete Guerriero Robert Davis Salvon Ahmed Sharif Finch Trent Harris Trevor Davis Tyrone Swoopes

This Date In Transactions History: Victor Cruz Retires From NFL

By Zachary Links | at August 23, 2020 7:28 pm

Two years ago today, former Giants superstar Victor Cruz retired from football. Cruz was still shy of his 32nd birthday, but a string of injuries ultimately slowed down the charismatic salsa dancer.

From 2011 through 2013, Cruz averaged 80 receptions, 1,209 yards, and eight end zone salsas per season. The first year in that set basically came out of the blue. Cruz joined the Giants as an undrafted free agent out of UMass in 2010. In 2011, he managed 82 grabs, 1,536 yards, and nine TDs. His 2012 encore wasn’t quite as efficient (he posted an 86/1092/10 stat line), but he was still recognized as a vital part of the Giants’ passing attack and earned his first career Pro Bowl nod.

Not wanting to risk losing Cruz to free agency – particularly after watching him carve up the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game – the locked Cruz down with a five-year extension worth up to $43MM. Cruz could have gambled by staying on track for free agency after the 2013 season, but the added security of the deal, including nearly $16MM in guarantees, made it a worthwhile tradeoff.

In hindsight, it was the smart play for Cruz. Initially slowed by a heel bruise, he came two yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark in 2013, despite missing two games. Unfortunately, in 2014, the course of his career changed dramatically. A torn patellar tendon ended his campaign after just six games and a calf injury in the following season put him under the knife before he could take the field.

By the time Cruz returned to action in 2016, the Giants’ offense was fully focused on Odell Beckham Jr. Meanwhile, Cruz’s trademark speed was gone, and so was his longtime mentor Tom Coughlin. Cruz took a pay cut to stay in the fold, but he registered just 39 catches for 586 yards. After that, he moved on to the Bears, only to suffer a season-ending injury at the end of the preseason. When his personal campaign to return to the Giants failed, Cruz called it quits.

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Bears To Sign K Cairo Santos

By Rory Parks | at August 23, 2020 12:39 pm

The Bears are expected to sign kicker Cairo Santos, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Schefter’s ESPN colleague, Field Yates, had reported shortly beforehand that Chicago was bringing Santos in for a workout (Twitter link).

Santos signed with the Chiefs as a UDFA in 2014 and served as Kansas City’s kicker from 2014-16. He was largely successful during that time, never hitting less than 81.1% of his kicks and nailing a very strong 88.6% in 2016. But a groin injury derailed his career a bit, and KC waived him partway through the 2017 season. The Bears picked him up a few weeks later, but he appeared in just two games for Chicago before landing on IR.

Over the past two seasons, Santos has suited up for the Rams, Bucs, and Titans. He hooked on with Tennessee just before the start of the 2019 season to replace the injured Ryan Succop, but his stint in the Music City was disastrous. In his fifth game with the Titans, Santos missed four field goals in a 14-7 loss, and he was cut shortly thereafter.

The Bears appeared to stabilize their kicking situation with Eddy Pineiro in 2019. Pineiro won the job after an open casting call last offseason, and he ultimately connected on 23 of 28 field goal tries and 27 of 29 PATs. But as Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, head coach Matt Nagy gave a non-answer yesterday when asked how Pineiro was doing in camp thus far. Apparently, Pineiro did not attempt a single field goal during the portions of practice that were open to the media this past week, so there is plenty of speculation that Santos may be more than just veteran competition.

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COVID-19 Test Results Cause Concern

By Rory Parks | at August 23, 2020 9:10 am

NFL training camps had been rolling right along with very few COVID-19 cases. The positivity rate had been less than 1% (and dropping), and as of this morning, only four players league-wide were on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

But the NFL released a statement today indicating that yesterday’s testing returned several positive results from each team that is serviced by the same lab in New Jersey. The league is investigating those results, the impacted teams are working to confirm or deny the positive tests, and clubs around the league are taking precautionary measures, including altering or cancelling football activities today. The full statement can be found here, courtesy of Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (on Twitter).

Luckily, it appears this might just be a issue with the testing site. Indeed, as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Times tweets, the Bears’ testing on Saturday yielded nine positive tests, but it turned out that all nine were false positives. The Bears have simply pushed back today’s morning practice to later in the afternoon, and at least a few clubs that aren’t serviced by the New Jersey location are practicing as normal.

Of course, even false positives during the regular season could force games to be canceled or force healthy players to sit out, so it may be a blessing in disguise that this has happened now so that the league will be better equipped to handle lab irregularities in the future. As of now, today’s news just seems to be a blip in the radar, but it is obviously worth keeping an eye on.

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