2024 Chicago Bears roster

   As much as I need this season to start to watch my favorite sport and team to help me vent from certain things in life, I just hope they hit mid expectations and not just add stress in it, but nobody forced me into Bears fandom so all the blame is on me. My wife on the other hand might have something to say about it though.

   In a nut shell I can say with conviction that this 2024 Bears team didn't get worse, I feel pretty confident that it should be better and its debatable that it can be a good enough team to get to the post season, but as always it depends if the right QB is at the helm, history has not been kind to Bears fans old and young, believing and hoping are things in short supply right now, at this stage of my 20 years following this team I just got to see it to start feeling it again.

Here's the 2024 Chicago Bears 53 man roster,

QBs - Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent

   Williams showed he can be flashy by extending plays and hit off platform throw's, that's great but I just want to see him do the simple stuff, you know the three step drop back, see it and rip it in a consistent basis, I know this is not all on him, the Oline, receivers and coaches need to all do their job to make it look simple, preseason Williams didn't show me this, I will have to wait for regular season Williams to see it. Bagent in the other hand looked awesome dismantling 2nd and 3rd stringers with good rhythm and poise, time will tell if that kind of play will happen in games that count by the starters.

 Austin Reed will continue being a teammate via the practice squad, he showed good play in the preseason adding to the belief that the coaching seems to be working for this group.

RBs - D'Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, Roshon Johnson, T. Homer, Khari Blasingame, 

   Solid running backs room, I would expect a big run by committee with Herbert getting much of the snaps with Blasingame on 21 personnel, Swift being the option on single back packages and motion him to empty sets, Johnson should be the short yardage and goaline back. I was surprised to see Homer stick, I believed with Velus Jones as a optional back/wideout he would be out. Also, it was surprising that Blasingame got a spot too which really does tell that OC Shane Waldron isn't gonna play a bunch of 13 personnel. 

Ian Wheeler will follow the team but unfortunately will be from IR, he showed dangerous speed running the ball this preseason.

WRs - D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Tyler Scott, V. Jones, D. Carter

   The top spots are no surprise, it was good to see Scott make plays in the preseason and looked like a reliable #4 wideout. The last two spots were where the true battle was being fought, Jones was given a needed boost by making him a dual threat as a WR/RB a la Cordarrelle Patterson, a good showing in his last preseason game won him a spot, Carter will be counted more as a returner than a wideout. 

Spots got open with the injuries to Dante Pettis and Nsimba Webster, who will follow the team via IR. Preseason hero Collin Johnson and newcomer Samori Toure will join the PS.

TEs - Cole Kmet, Gerald Everett, Marcedes Lewis

   No surprises here either, Kmet has been awesome so far getting better and better every year, if he can be stable and play how he played last year it would be enough, but if he can still get better it would give Williams one big surefire safety blanket, potentially giving Williams one of the greatest receiving groups of the league, this isn't even counting on if Everett can contribute who has shown to be a good receiver of the football. Lewis comes back to pummel defensive players and open lanes for running backs for one more year. I really hate that they missed on retaining rookie Brenden Bates, I thought he would end up getting Homer´s spot with Velus as the other RB and another receiver like Collin Johnson getting Blasingame´s spot, but as I said, looks like Waldron has other plans. 

Stephen Carlson will join via PS, he showed decent play in preseason games.

OL - Braxton Jones, Teven Jenkins, Shelton Coleman, Nate Davis, Darnell Wright, Kiran Amegadjie, Ryan Bates, Doug Kramer, Bill Murray, M. Pryor

   Williams as the biggest question mark for the potential of this offense is debatable alongside the Oline, can it be good enough to let Williams get confrontable enough to be an NFL QB in time? Jones and Wright have demonstrated to be good enough tackles to go with the best of the league. Same could be said for Jenkins and Davis when healthy which has been a concern in their carreers. With Bates nursing an injury, the biggest question mark is how will veteran Shelton Coleman perform for his rookie QB? No one knows if Bates is the favorite and will get his job back when healthy or be a backup G if Jenkins or Davis get dinged up, so a lot is riding on the inside OL once more which I consider AGAIN to be the make or brake of this offensive core, no QB will perform well if he gets pummeled frequently from interior defenders crashing in. Rookie Amegadjie will have a long road to see the field coming back from his college injury, Pryor should be first in line if a tackle is needed at the beginning of the season. I would assume Kramer got a spot as insurance until Bates gets better. The cut of Ja'Tyre Carter surprised me, I didn't expect Murray to make it, he might be a temporary player as well.

Larry Borom is designated to return from IR when healthy, with him and Bates healthy it might mean Kramer´s spot and move him to the PS, pushing one of Theo "Canadian Eagle" Benedet or Jake Curhan out of the roster.

DL - Montez Sweat, Andrew Billings, Gervon Dexter, DeMarcus Walker, Zacch Pickens, Austin Booker, David Hardy

   This group can get better as the season progresses, Sweat showed he can be the complete package as a rusher and help on run support, but the potential showed by rookie Booker and Hardy in the preseason was very intriguing, if either can be the answer at the other EDGE position alongside Sweat, it would solidify the whole defensive line as a true threat to many teams, along with the expectation that Dexter will continue to get better in his sophomore season. Billings is as important as the others mentioned as the big run stuffing defender who makes it easier for the others to concentrate on one on ones, you do not want to leave Billings one on one very often. Walker is a reliable and versatile veteran that can make big plays at times. Pickens will be counted on to rotate in the inside, it's a wait and see if he can be a reliable player that can go in to give his teammates a breather.

Jacob Martin is designated to return from IR, but I really don't see him pushing anyone out of this group right now, don't know if he can be placed directly to the PS where he could possibly replace Jamree Kromah or Byron Cowart.

LB - T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Jack Sanborn, Amen Ogbongbemiga, Noah Sewell

   It's incredible to think that this group can get better depending if Edmunds feels more confortable with the system this year, it felt that he was still thinking and not just reacting. Edwards and Sanborn are just good headhunters. Ogbongbemiga and Sewell look like good backups but I prefer to see them perform only on special teams.

Micah Baskerville returns to the PS for one more year, made some good plays on preseason games, yet his size still limits him a bit. Carl Jones makes it as well, didn't really see much play from him.

CB - Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, Kyler Gordon, Terell Smith, Josh Blackwell, Jaylon Jones

   This can end up being a great group of corners, Johnson is getting considered to be one of the best shutdown corners, Stevenson as a number two and Gordon as the nickle played very well last year, both are considered to get even better this year. Smith had a very good performance this preseason as well as veterans Blackwell and Jones, they make this group have solid depth.

Preseason hero Reddy Stewart and Ro Torrence join via the PS.

S - Jaquan Brisker, Kevin Byard III, Jonathan Owens, Elijah Hicks

   For me Oline is the question mark at offense and on defense is the Safety position, Byard was brought to fill in for departed Eddie Jackson's big shoes, can he do it? Can Brisker keep himself healthy with is hard hitting style of play? Owens and Hicks could replace Brisker if necessary and believe they can do a decent enough job but what worries me is how good and how fast can Byard adapt to this defense? Looks like he has been nursing an injury and hasn't practice much, so this only raises more concern.

Happy to see Tarvarius Moore make it to the PS, liked how he played on this years preseason games.

K - Cairo Santos,  P - Tory Taylor,  LS - Scott Daley

   Team is set on kicker with Santos reliable leg. Taylor has shown he has talent pinning the ball deep with his accurate kicks, this will very much help the teams development if it means giving the offense the ball more often. 

With Patrick Scales designated to return from IR, Daley will take his place until he is back healthy.

   There's not much not to like about this team expect for the need of experience which translates to expectations that many people have for the young players, they have a shot to elevate this team to a contending unit. Still it might be too early to happen if at all, if it doesn't happen is most probably because the QB is not set yet, the talent is there for Williams to have some kind of success or at least get positive growth form this season, evaluations will come and confirm if Ryan Poles has this team truly going in the right direction, as of right now on paper, it does seem so.