Bears Suddenly Cut Defensive Back Before Packers Game

The Chicago Bears released defensive back Deantre Prince from the practice squad on Monday, ending a brief stay that began in training camp and never produced an elevation to the active roster, via the NFL transaction wire.

In addition to cutting Prince, the Bears also made two practice-squad additions: cornerback Elijah Jones and wide receiver Scotty Miller.

Prince had been with Chicago since Aug. 17, when the club signed him and veteran edge rusher Marcus Davenport. He was waived in the Aug. 30 cutdown to 53 players and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He remained there through the opening month of the regular season without appearing in a game.

Prince, 25, arrived in Lake Forest as a known quantity on the fringe of the league. Jacksonville selected him in the fifth round of the 2024 draft, 153rd overall, out of Ole Miss after a stop at Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Listed at six foot and 184 pounds, he ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at his pro day and played 10 games as a rookie, logging 141 defensive snaps, eight tackles and one pass deflection.

The Jaguars waived him on Aug. 26, 2025, as part of final roster cuts.

He spent the spring of 2026 with the Louisville Kings of the United Football League. Selected by the Kings on Jan. 14, he started five of six games before being released on May 5.

In that stint, he recorded an interception and multiple pass breakups, enough production to draw NFL interest again.

The Bears were among the teams that brought him in, signing him in mid-August as the secondary dealt with injuries, including slot corner Kyler Gordon’s placement on the physically unable to perform list.

The timing of Monday’s release is routine rather than dramatic.

Practice-squad spots turn over constantly in October, and Chicago used Prince’s opening to bring back Miller, a veteran receiver who had already been on and off the Bears’ developmental roster this season, and to add Jones.

The Bears entered the week at 3-1, second in the NFC North, with no indication that Prince’s departure was tied to a specific injury or scheme change.

For Prince, the path back to an NFL roster remains open. A former Day 3 pick with verified speed and recent spring-league tape is the profile teams keep on call when injuries hit the secondary.

His Chicago chapter, though, closed without a regular-season snap: signed in August, cut at the roster deadline, held on the practice squad for five weeks, and released on Oct. 6.

The Bears will face the Green Bay Packers this Sunday.