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Bears have four critical roster questions to answer as cut-down day arrives originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — You’ve probably heard this by now, but making the 2024 Bears roster is going to be much harder than making the previous two iterations that general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus have put together.
That’s what happens after an offseason spent injecting talent into a 7-10 team that already had several foundational places in place.
In 2022, roster-cut day arrived with upward of 20 spots up for grabs. There were at least 10 hanging in the balance last year.
But with Tuesday’s roster-shave deadline on the horizon, the 2024 Bears have only a few open spots and several key questions to answer as they finalize their initial 53-man roster.
A long snapper issue?
Long snapper Patrick Scales has missed the last several weeks of practice with what has been described as a soft-tissue injury to his back.
Backup long-snapper Cameron Lyons has had a number of his snaps in the Bears’ final two preseason games.
As of Sunday, Scales had yet to return to practice or even be seen rehabbing with his injured compadres off to the side at practice.
“We’ll see. We’ll see,” Eberflus said Saturday when asked about Scales. “We don’t know right now. When we do know, we’ll have to make decisions once we’re there. We are ready to do that. We’ll be flexible.”
Scales’ status will play a role in how the Bears put together the backend of their roster. If they feel like this is a longer-term issue, they could put him on injured reserve with a designation to return. But teams only get two of those spots.
If Scales’ injury is going to keep him out for an extended period, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Bears bring in different long snappers for tryouts, given Lyons’ uneven performance in the preseason.
The Bears could also try to sneak Lyons onto the practice squad and elevate him for the first week or two should they choose to stick with him…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-four-critical-roster-questions-205603460.html
Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2024-08-25 20:56:03
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