Few things hit like the release of the first unofficial depth chart of the Chicago Bears football season.
The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain shares it here. I’ll run down the depth chart, and provide commentary, insight, and analysis below. For the sake of a clean page, I will list the starters in bold, then list backups and third-stringers from left to right. Rookies will be italicized.
Got it? Good. Here we go…
Chicago Bears Offense
QUARTERBACK: Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent
RUNNING BACK: D’Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer
FULLBACK Khari Blasingame
WIDE RECEIVER 1: DJ Moore, Tyler Scott, DeAndre Carter
WIDE RECEIVER 2: Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Velus Jones Jr.
TIGHT END: Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Marcedes Lewis
OFFENSIVE LINE: LT Braxton Jones, LG Teven Jenkins, C Coleman Shelton, RG Nate Davis, RT Darnell Wright, Kiran Amegadjie, Ryan Bates, Doug Kramer Jr., Bill Murray, Matt Pryor
Some notable nuggets from the offensive side of the ball:
- The center competition is over. Coleman Shelton stands alone as C1, with Ryan Bates listed as the team’s primary backup at left guard. University of Illinois product Doug Kramer Jr. is listed as the Bears’ primary backup center, but my gut feeling is that Chicago would turn to Bates first if Shelton went down with an injury
- With as many 3 WR sets as new Bears Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron figures to run, Rome Odunze’s status as a backup is just a formality. Don’t read too much into it.
- Lots of noise on the RBs depth chart. Velus Jones Jr. not being listed among the running backs got a chuckle out of me. Also worth pointing out here is that there is no longer an “OR” between Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson as RB2. Being D’Andre Swift’s top backup is Khalil Herbert’s job now.,
- Rookie Kiran Amegadjie being LT2 behind Braxton Jones is something to chew on at a later date.
Chicago Bears Defense
DEFENSIVE END 1: Montez Sweat, Darrell Taylor, Dominique Robinson
DEFENSIVE END 2: DeMarcus Walker, Austin Booker, Daniel Hardy
DEFENSIVE TACKLE 1: Gervon Dexter Sr., Chris Williams
DEFENSIVE TACKLE 2: Andrew Billings, Zacch Pickens
WEAKSIDE LINEBACKER: T.J. Edwards, Amen Ogbongbemiga, Noah Sewell
MIKE LINEBACKER: Tremaine Edmunds, Jack Sanborn
CORNERBACK 1: Jaylon Johnson, Jaylon Jones
CORNERBACK 2: Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith
DEFENSIVE BACK: Kyler Gordon, Josh Blackwell
SAFETY 1: Kevin Byard III, Jonathan Owens
SAFETY 2: Jaquan Brisker, Elijah Hicks
Worthwhile tidbits from the defensive side of the ball:
- New position alert! For the first time in the Matt Eberflus era, the Bears are listing three cornerbacks as starters. I think it is interesting that Kyler Gordon gets the DB starter designation and would love to hear a non-coach-speak answer for what Head Coach Matt Eberflus envisions for this position.
- Rookie Austin Booker bumping third-year Dominique Robinson down to third-string status is something I can’t ignore.
- The same can be said about career special teamer Amen Ogbongbemiga sliding Noah Sewell into a third-string role. There isn’t some grand takeaway to be made here. Just an observation.
Chicago Bears Special Teams
KICKER: Cairo Santos
PUNTER, HOLDER: Tory Taylor
LONG SNAPPER: Scott Daly
PUNT RETURNS: DeAndre Carter OR Velus Jones Jr.
KICK RETURNS: Velus Jones Jr. OR DeAndre Carter
Bears special teams depth chart observations
- Keep in mind that Scott Daly isn’t on the Bears’ active roster. Daly is a practice squad player who will be flexed onto the active game-day roster for the next three weeks while Patrick Scales is on injured reserve. The Bears will have a decision to make on Daly’s roster status after Week 3, but I imagine it all hinges on Scales’ availability. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, though.
- I don’t envision Velus Jones Jr. returning punts for the Bears. Maybe this is a position they’ll look to bolster with a waiver wire add. Are we sure Rome Odunze can’t do this in his free time?
The Tennessee Titans announced their depth chart, too
Here ya go: