Thomas Ives

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/13/21

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Chicago Bears

  • Waived: WR Thomas Ives

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Las Vegas Raiders

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/11/21

A long list of reserve/futures contracts to pass along:

Chicago Bears

Indianapolis Colts

New York Giants

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/22/20

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad decisions:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: DE Anthony Edwards

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

  • Activated off practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Ishmael Hyman

Chicago Bears

  • Signed: RB Spencer Ware
  • Activated off practice squad injured list: WR Thomas Ives

Cleveland Browns

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: DB Elijah Benton

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: DE David Irving

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

  • Released: OL Andrew Jones

Washington Football Team

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/8/20

Here are Tuesday’s practice squad moves. There are many.

Atlanta Falcons

Chicago Bears

  • Placed on practice squad reserve/COVID-19 list: WR Thomas Ives, DT LaCale London, LB Manti Te’o; London and Te’o tested positive for the coronavirus

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Football Team

Bears Announce 16-Man Practice Squad

Teams are starting to announce their full expanded practice squads, and we’ll be bringing you recaps all day. Just in is the Chicago Bears, who announced a full slate of 16 players:

  • QB Tyler Bray
  • RB Artavis Pierce
  • WR Reggie Davis
  • S Stephen Denmark
  • WR Thomas Ives
  • WR Rodney Adams
  • TE Jesper Horsted
  • OL Sam Mustipher
  • OL Jamon Brown
  • OL Lachavious Simmons
  • OL Badara Traore
  • DT Abdullah Anderson
  • DE LaCale London
  • LB Rashad Smith
  • S Xavier Crawford
  • K Cairo Santos

Bray has bounced between the practice squad and active roster the past couple of years now, and will serve as the third quarterback behind Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Santos is a veteran kicker with a good amount of experience. Right after he was cut we heard the Bears might be planning on him kicking Week 1 against the Lions if Eddy Pineiro still isn’t ready to come back from his groin injury.

Everybody on this list was with the Bears for camp except Brown, who was cut by the Falcons last month. He signed a three-year $18.75MM deal last March, and started nine games for Atlanta last season.

Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC North

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC North teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings are noted below.

Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

Bears Cut 34, Reach Max

The Bears reached the NFL’s mandatory 53-man limit by dropping 34 players and placing two players on IR.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Waived:

RB Josh Caldwell
RB Ryan Nall
WR Tanner Gentry
WR Taquan Mizzell Sr.
WR Marvin Hall
WR Thomas Ives
WR Joe Walker
WR Jordan Williams-Lambert
TE Ellis Richardson
TE Jesper Horsted
TE Ian Bunting
OL Jordan McCray
OL Alex Bars
OL Sam Mustipher
OL Marquez Tucker
OL Joe Lowery
OL Tommy Doles
DE Jonathan Bullard
DL Jonathan Harris
DL Jalen Dalton
DL Daryle Banfield
LB Jameer Thurman
OLB Chuck Harris
OLB Matt Betts
CB Michael Joseph
CB John Franklin III
CB Clifton Duck
S Jonathon Mincy Sr.
S Doyin Jibowu
LS John Wirtel
OLB Kylie Fitts
OLB James Vaughters
CB Stephen Denmark

Released:

QB Tyler Bray

Placed on IR:

TE Dax Raymond
G Blake Blackmar

Bears Sign 22 UDFAs

The Bears have quite a big UDFA class. Chicago announced that they have signed the following 22 undrafted free agents:

  • Alex Bars, OL (Notre Dame) ($35K of his base salary guaranteed, $5K signing bonus, per Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle on Twitter)
  • Sam Mustipher, OL (Notre Dame)
  • Daryle Banfield, DL (Brown)
  • John Baron II, K (San Diego State)
  • Matt Betts, LB (Laval)
  • Blake Blackmar, OL (Baylor)
  • Ian Bunting, TE (California)
  • Jomon Dotson, DB (Nevada)
  • Clifton Duck, DB (Appalachian State)
  • Emanuel Hall, WR (Missouri)
  • Jonathan Harris, DL (Lindenwood)
  • Chuck Harris, LB (Buffalo)
  • Thomas Ives, WR (Colgate)
  • Doyin Jibowu, DB (Fort Hays State)
  • Joe Lowery, OL (Ohio)
  • Lawrence Marshall, DE (Michigan)
  • Adarius Pickett, DB (UCLA)
  • Dax Raymond, TE (Utah State) ($30K of his base salary guaranteed with a $15K signing bonus, per Wilson on Twitter)
  • Ellis Richardson, TE (Georgia Southern)
  • Josh Simmons, DB (Limestone)
  • Marquez Tucker, OL (Southern Utah)
  • John Wirtel, LS (Kansas)

The Bears opted for a lot of small school players, adding guys from places like Limestone, Colgate, Fort Hays State, Lindenwood, and Laval. The signings of Bars and Mustipher are notable because they have a connection to the coaching staff. Both players were coached by current Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand when they were at Notre Dame. The Bears hired Hiestand away from Notre Dame before last season, and he knows what he’s getting in these two players.

It’s also notable that the Bears signed a kicker, because the job will be up for grabs in training camp. Chicago is looking to replace Cody Parkey after his disastrous 2018 season, and they need someone consistent. Baron was a solid college kicker at SDSU with a big leg, as his career long was 54 yards, which is pretty impressive for a college kicker. The Bears already have former AAF kicker Elliott Fry and former Tulsa kicker Redford Jones on the roster, so they’re clearly planning on having a battle royale kicking competition this offseason.