During his media availability today, Ryan Poles mentioned that he wasn’t done adding talent, saying that it’d be a on-going process. Just hours later, Poles’ statement proved true, as the Bears were awarded their seventh waiver claim in the last two days, this time it’s former Viking wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette.
Smith-Marsette was waived by the Vikings on Wednesday after they acquired wide receiver Jalen Reagor in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The former fifth-round pick of the Vikings in the 2021 NFL Draft caught five passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns for Minnesota in limited action during his rookie season. Smith-Marsette started one game and played in eight for the Vikings, who boast a pretty deep wide receiver room.
The second-year receiver returned three punts for 55 yards (18.3 yards per return) with one of 20-plus yards and handled two punt returns for 23 yards (11.5 yards per return) for the Vikings last season.
During his time at Iowa, Smith-Marsette was an honorable mention All-Big Ten as a wide receiver and return specialist in his senior season when he caught 25 passes for 345 yards and four touchdowns in four starts for the Hawkeyes.
The six-foot-three receiver had good jump ball skills and YAC ability at Iowa. Smith-Marsette joins a receivers group featuring Darnell Mooney, Byron Pringle, Velus Jones Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown, and Dante Pettis. Hey, the more young talent, the better at this point for the Bears.