NEWSLETTER
On top of what has been a newsy day in the Chicago Bears world, here are some player transactions that are hitting the wire.
Backup quarterback Nathan Peterman is being released, per ESPN’s Field Yates. This is the second time this year the Bears have cut ties with Peterman. In a decision that went down to the last day of summer cuts, the team opted to go with undrafted free agent rookie free agent Tyson Bagent as Chicago’s QB2. After waiting out the first round of post-cut waivers, the Bears would later bring Peterman back in the fold and installed him as Justin Fields’ top backup. But here we are just weeks later and Peterman is out for good.
UPDATE (Sep. 21, 8:07 a.m.) — Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) the Bears have re-signed Nathan Peterman to the 53-man roster. There is a weird roster-management thing happening here, but also it isn’t too weird in the sense that we’ve seen the Bears do this before. If you’ll recall, they cut linebacker Dylan Cole on the Saturday before their Week 1 opener, then re-signed him to the active roster on Monday. There has to be some sort of procedural thing that has to do with some of the practice squad movement. We’ll update when we get some clarity.
The rest of the original post is as follows…
This leaves Bagent as the only other quarterback on the roster. There isn’t even a practice squad QB. Although, that could change. And, frankly, it should change. I thought it was weird during the first two weeks that the Bears didn’t bring in anyone for tryouts. Not even a token tryout for someone at a position group under the guise of keeping the Rolodex fresh. Perhaps cutting Peterman can serve the same purpose (albeit while traveling a different path to make that point). Monitoring the tryout circuit could be fun to follow in the days and weeks ahead.
MORE: You’ll never forget Tyson Bagent and Daurice Fountain
But wait, there is more!
In case you missed it, left tackle Braxton Jones was put on injured reserve and will miss at least the next four games due to a neck injury. That is a bummer for the Bears and Jones, who has a strong case for being considered the team’s best offensive lineman. Nevertheless, Jones being out of action led the team to do some line shuffling. Offensive lineman Aviante Collins is getting a promotion from the practice squad and joins the full-time roster. The Bears flexed Collins from the practice squad last week as a corresponding move following Nate Davis’ situation. Collins was an offseason signing who made it back to the Bears after he was let go during a round of late-summer roster cuts.
With Collins making the move off the practice squad, the Bears signed offensive lineman Austen Pleasants to take his place. Pleasants, 26, has one game of playing experience that came with the Carolina Panthers in 2021. Otherwise, the Ohio University product’s time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers has come while on practice squads or during the offseason.
