The Chicago Bears are cutting from 90 players to 53 before Sunday’s 5 p.m. CT deadline, and the first wave of moves already reaches across the roster. Salvon Ahmed is expected to be waived, Kiran Amegadjie is expected to be released, Jedrick Wills is gone, and the Bears are also waiving undrafted rookie guard Caden Barnett while trading defensive tackle Gervon Dexter to the Atlanta Falcons.
That is the deadline that drives the search today. There is no slow drip of cuts this preseason; the Bears have one cutdown day, one initial roster, and then a practice squad to build after the dust settles. The initial 53-man group will not necessarily be the final version for Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers, but it is the one that starts the season’s public count, and it will determine who gets the next call when Chicago begins filling out the rest of the roster.
Some of the decisions are already pointing to how the Bears want the roster balanced. Roschon Johnson is expected to make the cut, and Chicago is expected to keep three running backs, which leaves Ahmed on the outside after he spent preseason and training camp competing for a spot. At receiver, Brad Biggs said there is a real chance the Bears carry only five, even though Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond, Zavion Thomas and Jahdae Walker are treated as locks. If that number holds, Kaden Davis could be the odd man out, with Kaden Davis and Maurice Alexander having been the players in contention for the final room spot.
The left tackle picture closed just as sharply. Wills was released after competing for the starting job this summer, and Braxton Jones is expected to start until Ozzy Trapilo returns. Amegadjie is also headed out, which clears the way for Chicago to sort the line after a summer in which the job never settled cleanly. Barnett, meanwhile, is being sent to waivers with a strong case to come back; Biggs described him as a strong candidate to return to the practice squad.
Terell Smith was the parting that stood out most. The former fifth-round cornerback had been dependable as a reserve during his two healthy seasons and showed his potential in the preseason finale, yet the Bears still moved on. That kind of cut tells the story of a roster that is being built around immediate fits, not just past trust or one strong game in August.
The next step comes right after the 53 is set. Chicago will begin building its practice squad, and because the initial roster can still shift before Week 1, the Bears are not done shaping the team even after the deadline passes. The trade for Dexter adds another layer to that uncertainty, because Clark Phillips III arrives from the Falcons after playing almost exclusively on the outside in the NFL, even though he was projected as a nickel cornerback coming out of college.
