Bears Waive Quarterback Connor Shaw

The Chicago Bears’ quarterbacks room became a little less crowded on Tuesday:

Connor Shaw was waived by the Bears on Tuesday, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering that snaps in Dowell Loggains’ offense were going to be in high demand with rookie Mitch Trubisky, as well as free agents Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez in the mix trying to learn a new system. Shaw signed a one-year deal in early March, and at that point was lined up to be the backup for … well, we weren’t sure at the time. The Bears’ plans to draft Mitch Trubisky weren’t public, nor were their plans to cut ties with Jay Cutler, allow Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley to walk away in free agency, or bring on Glennon as a starter.

The Bears claimed Shaw off waivers in July 2016 from the Cleveland Browns after the New Orleans Saints accidentally sent an email to the NFL’s other 31 teams saying they were claiming him – an email that was supposed to go only to the league office. Whoops.

There was a point during the 2016 preseason where Shaw appeared to have an inside track on a backup role before a broken leg ended his season before it could truly get started. Had the Bears done anything other than what they did this offseason, there was an argument for Shaw to compete for a backup role. After all, he was the only quarterback in the room with prior knowledge of Loggain’s offense.

In conjunction with the move to waive Shaw, the Bears have also made the signing of wide receiver Victor Cruz official. Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune reports Cruz is expected to be at today’s OTAs at Halas Hall.

written by

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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