Chicago Bears fans are some of the most loyal fans you will ever find. We love our players, and that includes backups, undrafted free agents, practice squad players, and even former players (we miss you, DJ!) But one thing I have noticed about emotions is that the highs are matched by the lows. No better reminder of that than roster cuts. Right?!
With teams required to make cuts to get down to 53-man rosters this Sunday at 5:00 pm CST, it got me thinking about which players I hope make the cut. Then
my mind went to which cut stands out above the rest over the years, which is my question to you all!
Since you have been a fan of the Bears, which roster cut was the hardest one to witness?
A few camp legends come to mind. Devin Aromashadu, who eventually made the team at WR, as did another camp hero, Dane Sanzenbacher, but others like OLB James Vaughters were not so lucky. Terrell Lewis is another whom I thought earned his roster spot, only to get released at cutdown day, with Trevis Gipson soon to follow. Tanner Gentry, Daniel Braverman, MyCole Pruitt, Armanti Edwards, Tom Zbikowski, Harvey Unga, Josh Beekman, Brandon Rideau, and even our own Ryan Poles were also notable cuts at the end of camp.
But the hardest one for me to stomach was Terrell Lewis in 2023.
We entered that year with a glaring hole at edge rusher despite signing free-agent Yannick Ngakoue that offseason to a 1-year, $10.5 million deal and eventually trading a future 2nd-round pick for Montez Sweat. But why cut Lewis? He was on fire that pre-season and led the league in sacks and forced fumbles. He would go on to practice for the Eagles but not play another down professionally, so clearly Chicago wasn’t the only one to deem him unworthy of a roster spot, but man – he was looking good for us all camp.
