NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bears’ roster shuffle is officially official:
Roster update:
The #Bears place TE Dion Sims on IR and activate TE Adam Shaheen from IR to the active roster. We have also released OL James Stone from the practice squad.— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) November 17, 2018
Tight end Adam Shaheen is back on the active 53-man roster. Shaheen has been sidelined since suffering a foot/ankle injury on August 18 against the Denver Broncos. In order to make room for Shaheen on the active roster, the team placed fellow tight end Dion Sims on injured reserve.
Sims has been held out of practice the last two weeks after suffering a concussion against the Buffalo Bills in Week 9. This is the second time in 2018 that a concussion has kept Sims out of action. If you’ll recall, Sims missed time during the preseason and didn’t travel with the team due to concussion issues. His season is over.
While Trey Burton has handled the lion’s share of snaps at the “U” tight end position, the Bears have rotated Ben Braunecker and Sims at the “Y” spot. A healthy Shaheen figures to man that position moving forward, though we won’t rule out the Bears using an opportunity here and there to flex the second-year Ashland University product into the “U” position. At 6-5 and 270 pounds, Shaheen can be a size mismatch for defensive backs and linebackers. We have seen Head Coach Matt Nagy’s scheme open up areas for all sorts of pass-catchers, so it’s only a matter of time until Shaheen gets in on the action.
In addition to the movement going on regarding the active roster, the Bears parted ways with offensive lineman James Stone on Saturday.
The Bears signed Stone to the practice squad in early September and was the only member on the 10-player group who hadn’t spent the entire preseason with the team. Stone has 21 games (including 10 starts) of NFL experience and a familiarity with Offensive Line Coach Harry Hiestand, who was Stone’s position coach at the University of Tennessee for two seasons. The team recently signed free agent offensive lineman Willie Beavers to the practice squad, so perhaps the Bears thought having Stone and Beavers was redundant. In any case, the Bears now have an opening on the practice squad, but I can see where they would be in no rush to fill it.
