Training camp is two weeks ago and the Bears have a number of interesting young players coming to camp who are worth getting to know.They also have a lot of players who you probably don’t need to know anything about.
At the time of this writing, the Bears only had 90 players on their roster. Then they made a slew of moves and got down to 88. To save everyone time, I did a little research on each player and ranked each player who is entering camp. You’re welcome.
88. Jarrett Grace, LB. UDFA, non-combine invite from Notre Dame. Under 100 tackles in collegiate career.
87. Derek Keaton, WR. Walk on at Georgia Southern. Six catches last year, small not athletic. Was primarily a kick returner in college.
86. Joe Sommers, TE. UDFA from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Good athlete, decent size. Very low level of competition and didn’t dominate there even.
85. Donovan Williams, OL. Good size. Impressed them enough during a tryout in May to earn a contract.
84. Keith Browner, DL. Played three games for Houston in 2014, but he’s 28 years old and hasn’t had an impact anywhere yet.
83. Cornelius Edison, C. Good size, signed to practice squad last year.
82. Ben LeCompte, P. I refuse to rank an undrafted rookie punter too high on this list, but the Bears did have competition for him, so that’s something.
Administrative note: Watch out for this kid.
81. De’Vante Bausby, CB. Good size and athleticism. Spent time with Kansas City last year before Bears signed last December.
80. Gannon Sinclair, TE. Big target. Undrafted in 2015, signed by Cardinals. Spent time on Bears practice squad last year.
79. Patrick Scales, LS. He struggled after the Bears signed him last year and they brought in Aaron Brewer, who played under Fox and Jeff Rodgers in Denver.
78. Paul Lasike, FB. Spent much of last season on the practice squad. Listed at close to 260 pounds and averaged nearly five yards per carry in college.
77. Adrian Bellard, OT. UDFA from Texas State. Was good in a lower level of college and drew interest from quite a few other teams, but probably a long shot to make it in the NFL.
76. Darrin Peterson, WR. Put up solid numbers at Liberty, but that’s Liberty. Decent size and athleticism, but nothing extraordinary.
75. Jason Weaver, OT. Has bounced around the league for three seasons without ever appearing in a game.
74. Martin Wallace, OT. Entered the league in 2013 and has appeared in one game.
73. Kieran Duncan, WR. Put up a 40 time of 4.25 seconds, but is small and was never really productive in college. It’ll be interesting to see if the Bears try to keep him on the practice squad to develop him.
72. Taveze Calhoun, CB. UDFA from Mississippi State. Reportedly made some plays in minicamp, but it’s always hard to tell how much stock to put into that.
71. Kevin Peterson, CB. UDFA from Oklahoma State. Was considered a draft sleeper and some people were excited about his signing. We’ll see, I guess.
70. Marquis Jackson, DL. The identical twin of Malik Jackson. Was with the Vikings in 2013 and spent a year in the Arena League. Bears tried him out and decided to sign him.
69. John Kling, OT. I may only be ranking him here because it’s his jersey number. Massive tackle, UDFA out of Buffalo. Given the competition, he could easily be the team’s primary backup tackle. But, he has to be No. 69 on this list.
68. Greg Scruggs, TE. Played one game with the Bears last year and had a sack, but now he’s moving to tight end. Probably not a good sign.
67. Terry Williams, DT. The Swamp Monster is a cult hero, but didn’t make an appearance last season.
66. Jacoby Glenn, CB. I’ve heard the Bears like Glenn, but he hasn’t been able to find his way on the field.
65. Connor Shaw, QB. Kind of small and doesn’t have a very strong arm, but he’s a scrapper. Biggest problem is that he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Has played just two preseason games and one regular season game in his career, but Dowell Loggains spent a lot of time with him two years ago and decided to bring him in.
64. David Fales, QB. Really didn’t know what to do with him on this list. Bears kept him over Jimmy Clausen last year, but what does that mean? I originally had him behind Shaw, but I listened to Adam Jahns on the Intentional Grounding podcast say that he had heard the Bears liked Fales and he could compete with Brian Hoyer to be Cutler’s backup. Fales hasn’t been horrible in his preseason action, but he hasn’t shown the physical traits that make me believe he can ever be a starter.
63. Demontre Hurst, DB. Played a lot as an undrafted rookie two years ago, but struggled to find the field last year. Probably a long shot to make the roster given the talent the team has added in the secondary.
62. John Timu, LB. Fan favorite because of his performance in preseason last year. Racked up tackles when he got on the field at the end of last year. Good instincts, but he’s really slow and doesn’t offer much value on special teams. Barely made the roster last year and is a long shot this year.
61. Cameron Meredith, WR. He was a quarterback in college with good size and speed. Made a few big catches for them last year. It’ll be interesting to see how much he’s developed, but probably still facing an uphill battle to make the team.
60. Lamin Barrow, LB. Heading into his third year, Barrow has 15 career tackles. Fox liked him enough to bring him over from Denver, but he’s really just a special teams player.