Bears: 5 players who won’t be on the roster by Week 1

Optimism is high for the Chicago Bears right now, but these five players won’t be on the roster Week 1.

After their trade up to get Justin Fields in the draft, there’s a lot of promise and optimism in the orbit of the Chicago Bears right now. And their chief rival, the Green Bay Packers, has a quarterback issue as the Aaron Rodgers situation remains in limbo.

Head coach Matt Nagy is easy to criticize, but the bottom line is the Bears have made the playoffs in two of his three seasons as head coach. The defense is still good, and the talent around whoever the quarterback is is better than you think. If they can actually get the quarterback right, be it Fields right from the start or Andy Dalton as a placeholder until Fields gets the nod, the NFC North is there for the taking whether Rodgers remains in Green Bay or not.

Beyond Fields, the Bears did pretty well with their entire 2021 draft haul. Those players, like Fields and second-round pick Teven Jenkins, will step into starting jobs, while others (Dazz Newsome, Khalil Herbert, Thomas Graham) are promising talents.

As the Bears make decisions over the rest of the offseason, these five players are on notice and won’t be on the roster by Week 1

5 Chicago Bears who won’t be on the roster by Week 1

5. Nick Foles, quarterback

This one is a bit of wishful thinking for the Bears, and surely the fanbase. They tried to trade Foles this offseason, with no success. Even with restructuring after acquiring him last offseason, he’s owed a total of $9 million guaranteed over the next two seasons. That’s a pretty expensive No. 3 quarterback for Chicago.

Cutting Foles after June 1 would leave the Bears with $11.66 million in dead money this year and with no cap savings. So they’re left hoping a team loses their backup quarterback before Week 1, and a trade becomes possible. On pure merit, without the idea the Bears are basically stuck with him, Foles would be higher on this list.