Chicago Bears roster projection heading into second preseason game

This is the dilemma facing coaches in the next 10 days. Time is almost up. Roster cuts are coming Aug. 26. The last gasp for many of the Bears will be at Kansas City Friday night. They have this game and two practices next week to impress before the preseason ends. There are two meaningless practices after the preseason finale and before final cutdown. At that point, decisions are likely already made.

Then Ben Johnson gets to do what is difficult and tell player they can't be part of the 2025 Chicago Bears, the first time he's had to do this.

Here is a 53-man projection through one preseason game and all the practices leading to the second preseason game. Not a lot has changed since the last projection prior to the July 23 start to training camp practices.

Quarterback (3)

Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum

Bagent got second-team work ahead of Keenum in the last practice and he did in the preseason game. It will be interesting to see if it continues in Sunday night's game. Either way, at this point it's fairly apparent they like this QB room mix with an experienced QB mentor who helps the development of Williams and Bagent both.

Running Back (4)

D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Kyle Monangai, Travis Homer

This is the first tricky area. Homer has been injured. So is Johnson. Anyone who has watched practices closely will tell you Ian Wheeler deserves the fourth running back spot because of how hard he runs with the ball and also how he has come back from an ACL tear to be in this position a year later.

Homer means too much to coordinator Richard Hightower's special teams to cut him for a different fourth running back. They will figure they can always stash Wheeler on the practice squad.

Tight End (3)

Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Durham Smythe   

This hasn't changed and they'll attempt to keep Joel Wilson and/or Stephen Carlson on the practice squad. There is enough talent in Wilson and Carlson to make up for the loss of one of the top three should someone suffer an injury.

Wide Receiver (5)

DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Olamide Zaccheaus, Luther Burden III, Devin Duvernay

Here is another tricky area. It's entirely possible they go with only five receivers but six is usually the number you'd see in the past, if not more. Duvernay hasn't done enough in recent practices to justify keeping him over Jahdae Walker, who had a strong preseason game and is trying hard to be a special teams contributor. Walker could have a knack for playing outside on punt coverage. He should. Besides being a receiver, he also played defense in college. Earlier, Samori Toure and Maurice Alexander repeatedly made plays and showed up on special teams, too, but as practices have worn on J.P. Richardson and Walker came more often to the forefront. This is a tight call. One other name to remember is Miles Boykin. With his size and speed, ability to block, and also to play special teams, they may just keep him instead of younger players like Richardson or Walker. Either way, Duvernay needs to step up.

Offensive Line (10)

C Drew Dalman, G Jonah Jackson, G Joe Thuney, T Braxton Jones, T Darnell Wright, T Ozzy Trapilo, T Theo Benedet, C/G Ryan Bates, C/G Luke Neuman, T/G Kiran Amegadjie

They could keep the 10th offensive lineman at the expense of someone from the wide receiver group. They could always trade Jones. At this point, if there is an odd man out in the tackle battle it's 2024 third-rounder Kiran Amegadjie. He is practicing a third-team left tackle, but third-team tackles usually are not sticking on a roster. He does have guard experience from college and a small bit last year, so he can help with depth. Amegadjie was injured recently. They could always stash him on IR. Cutting him and trying to put him on the practice squad won't work. A third-round lineman who has had only one year of limited experience but has 36-inch arms simply hasn't had the chance to prove himself yet. Someone would sign him off the Bears' roster.

Defensive Line (10)

DT Gervon Dexter, Andrew Billings, Grady Jarrett, Chris Williams, Shemar Turner

DE Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Dominique Robinson, Austin Booker, Tonah Kpassagnon

Shemar Turner is practicing again after missing much of camp due to injury. Jonathan Ford's departure is difficult because of his size. He gives them something they have only from Billings, but also has better height than Billings. But they'll have to try to keep Ford on the practice squad. With Odeyingbo capable of playing tackle in pass rush situations, it lessens the need to keep a fifth defensive tackle. 

Linebackers (5)

TJ Edwards, Terrell Edmunds, Noah Sewell, Ruben Hyppolite II, Amen Ogbongbemiga 

Keeping a sixth linebacker for more special teams help is always an option but not necessary here because they'll be playing only two linebackers most of the time.

Secondary (10)

CB Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Josh Blackwell, Nahshon Wright, Terell Smith

S Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Jonathan Owens, Elijah Hicks

Nick McCloud is the odd man out. Terell Smith has shown too much in scrimmages over the last 10 days to leave him out of the mix, and he was a fifth-round draft pick. The extra practice squad safety might wind up being Alex Cook, who has made big hits and big plays repeatedly with the backups. Cornerback Zah Frazier is a dilemma. He's not injured. He left for personal reasons. Maybe the reserve/did not report list, which is for players who leave the team but are not injured reserve candidates. Don't expect them to cut a fifth-round rookie who hasn't been able to practice.

Specialists (3)

K Cairo Santos, P Tory Taylor, LS Scott Daly

They're looking for more distance from Santos, more height from Taylor and for Daly to stay healthy, as he had another injury in camp. Duvernay would be the returner for punts and kicks but has definitely not excelled to this point. It's meaningful that Hightower had a gigantic group of different return men in drills this week because those used really didn't show anything in the first preseason game. One name to remember for the regular season: Burden. With the moves he flashes in the open field, he'd be a perfect punt returner. Then again, Tarik Cohen was too and look what happened to him on a simple fair catch. Perhaps they'd be better off keeping Burden focused on offense.