The Bears' roster is down to the 53-man limit, but general manager Ryan Poles' work is far from done.
Third-year receiver Tyler Scott and former third-round pick Zacch Pickens are among those who did not make the cut. Travis Homer was placed on injured reserve, but designated to return.
As it stands, the running back room is running low on healthy bodies — with week one of the regular season right around the corner. On this roster cutdown day, D'Andre Swift was the only running back at practice.
"I just knew not to look around for no help today," Swift said. "I just got my work in today. It was a good conditioning day — put it like that."
That led to more DJ Moore carries, and even some non-players taking handoffs. Poles expressed optimism that injured backs Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai should be back soon.
"I feel good about their timelines. Kyle's coming along," said Poles. "Like I said, over the next few days, you'll probably see the practice field will look a little bit different. But I've got a lot of faith that those guys will be ready to go, and if they're not, we'll still look out and see if there's guys there that can help us."
Poles also said he feels "really good" about the 10 guys the Bears are keeping on the offensive line. But head coach Ben Johnson still won't say if Braxton Jones is the starting left tackle.
"I think we're going to have a starter week one, and we'll go from there," Johnson said. "We feel good about the guys we have in that room. Someone's going to take the bull by the horns and is going to completely take over, but we're not afraid to make a change if the performance isn't where it needs to be."
Poles said second-year tackle Kiran Amegadjie has started to work at guard to be a more versatile reserve.
Another notable on the initial 53-man roster is receiver Jahdae Walker. Rome Odunze called him "all-day Jahdae," complimenting the energy he brings every day.
Matt Zahn
Matt Zahn joined CBS2 Chicago in October 2016 as a sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor, and what a time to come to Chicago. Matt arrived just as the Cubs won the World Series.