The offseason roster churn never ends in NFL circles.
Unfortunately, the latest from the Chicago Bears is a direct result of an injury that went down during last week’s minicamp.
The Bears put offensive lineman Dakota Dozier on injured reserve after being carted off the practice field last week. Dozier, 31, was a free agent depth signing in March and spent time with the first-string offensive line at right guard during offseason training. Don’t get it twisted. Dozier was no lock to start in what appears to be an open competition at the position. But he had a fighter’s chance of getting the call in Week 1 and is one of the few new linemen with extensive pro experience. In other words, the Bears depth gets dinged a little because of his absence.
Then again, the front office and coaching staff must be okay-ish with who remains among the healthy linemen. Because instead of jumping to sign someone to add to the OL mix, the corresponding move was signing cornerback Jayson Stanley. Stanley, arrived to the NFL in 2019 an undrafted free agent out of Georgia. He has a bunch of professional experience, but mostly via offseason training, training camp, and practice squad stints in 2019 (Falcons, Dolphins, Jaguars) and Packers (2021-22). But in 2020, Stanley was on the Seahawks roster for eight games, appearing mostly on special teams (129 snaps). You can never have enough defensive backs in a pass-happy NFL. Bonus points if they provide a helping hand on special teams.
On the one hand, part of me is surprised the Bears didn’t use bring in an offensive lineman for depth. But on the other hand, this isn’t likely to be the last player transaction the Bears make this offseason. And we should probably keep that in mind. We’ve got 82 days until the regular season kicks off. So, in other words, expect to see some roster changes between now and then.