Short-term injured reserve candidates who can make roster cut decisions an easier process for the Bears coaching staff
Some potential loopholes to exploit.
The Chicago Bears are in the process of trimming the roster down from 91 players to create the initial 53-man roster. Over the last 24 hours, the team has made eight roster moves to get that number down with multiple more moves left to be made.
It’s going to be a tough and difficult process for the coaching staff and front office working together with a tight deadline as moves need to be made by the 4:00pm EST deadline on Tuesday.
A handful of players have made these decisions extremely complicated but the Bears do have an avenue to exploit when it comes to keeping certain players on the initial roster.
NFL teams can place players on the short-term injured reserve and designate up to two players to return from the IR without the necessity for them to make the initial 53-man roster. The designation, however, has to be made at the moment of the move on cutdown day.
Players placed on the short-term IR will have to miss four weeks before being allowed to be activated back to the 53-man roster, with a corresponding move to free a spot beforehand. Here are four players who the staff could consider placing on the short-term IR to make other decisions easier.
DE Austin Booker
Let’s start with the obvious one. On Friday, head coach Ben Johnson confirmed that second-year defensive end Austin Booker would miss “a few weeks” due to a knee injury suffered in the second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
Booker, realistically, has two weeks until the regular season opener against the Minnesota Vikings to recover and might not have to end up on the IR. However, if the team and medical staff views it as a 4-5 week injury, placing him on the IR would make the most sense.
Doing so opens up a spot at the position for a player like Daniel Hardy and/or Tanoh Kpassagnon to make the initial 53-man roster and provide the defense with some depth off the edge for the first four weeks of the season.
RB Roschon Johnson
The next obvious candidate is running back Roschon Johnson. Johnson has been sidelined since August 7th due to a foot injury and missed all three preseason games.
It’s still up in the air how the staff feels about the third-year back, but he brings some value to the room as a short-yardage and goal-line back that can mix in for key situations. However, this foot injury has been a legitimate concern.
Shutting Johnson down for four weeks on the IR can give him time to properly heal while D’Andre Swift leads the backfield with rookie Kyle Monangai getting some share of the workload. Doing this also gives Ian Wheeler a stronger shot to make the initial 53-man roster and avoid waivers. (Update 8/25 at 2:34, Wheeler was waived by the team).
RB Travis Homer
Keeping things in the backfield, Travis Homer is another player who has missed extensive time due to injury. Homer suffered a calf injury on August 13th that’s kept him on the shelf.
The Bears brought Homer back on a one-year deal due to his impact on special teams and his connection with special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.
Until he’s fully healthy, another back or player can be used in that role early in the season.
QB Case Keenum
I know a lot of people were wondering what happened to Case Keenum after not seeing him in the last two preseason games and seeing Tyson Bagent play the entire second-half against the Chiefs.
The veteran quarterback has been dealing with a calf injury and the Bears could use that injury as a major opportunity to work around some roster rules.
Keeping all three quarterbacks (Caleb Williams, Bagent, and Keenum) seems like a strong possibility, but keeping Keenum is mainly for the locker room presence. In theory, the Bears could place Keenum on the IR and still have him in the building to help mentor Williams for four weeks without having to use a roster spot.
CB Zah Frazier
This one is going to be complicated. Fifth-round rookie Zah Frazier missed all of training camp while dealing with a personal matter and his head coach added on Friday that progress hasn’t been made toward him returning, despite being spotted at the facilities last week.
One move the Bears could look to use is placing Frazier on the reserve (did not report) designation, which has rarely been used. Players placed on this list not count against a team’s roster limit or its salary cap, so it’s an option the Bears could look to use instead of waiving the rookie and hope he makes it back on the practice squad.
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