With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Chicago Bears brought in eight offensive players for tryouts, while also hosting former Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Shon Coleman for a visit.
The NFL has seen 72 players added to the COVID-19/reserve list on December 20-21 alone, and the Bears were initially one of the teams hit hardest. Chicago had 14 players miss its Week 15 contest against the Minnesota Vikings, and considering the severity of the current outbreak, more will likely be coming Week 16.
It’s no surprise then, that the Bears are eyeing as many available free agents on the market as possible. Here’s more on the latest batch of player tryouts for Chicago.
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Bears Work Out 4 WR, QB
Chicago brought in a quarterback, four wide receivers, a tight end and two guards for tryouts, per the NFL’s December 21 waiver wire. Specifically, quarterback Taylor Cornelius, wideouts Devonte Dedmon, Bailey Gaither, Brayden Dickey and Malik Henry, tight end Bucky Hodges and guards Chad Slade and Willie Wright all worked out for the Bears this week.
Cornelius played his college ball at Oklahoma State, and started one season after backing up Mason Rudolph. He had a stellar senior year, finishing among the top 10 QBs in college football in yards and TDs, completing 59.4% of his passes for 3,978 yards, 32 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He went undrafted in 2019, and participated in rookie camp with the Green Bay Packers before getting released.
Dickey began his college career at Washington as a wideout, catching 42 passes for 542 yards and three touchdowns in 40 games with the Huskies before finishing his senior season at New Mexico, where he was converted to tight end, catching six passes for 39 yards. He went to the CFL in 2019 and has been playing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Dickey has since lost some of the weight he gained at New Mexico to play TE and is currently at six-foot-five and 218 pounds.
Gaither has an interesting story. An undrafted free agent out of San Jose State, he signed with the Packers in May of 2021, spending the entire offseason and the first part of training camp with Green Bay before suddenly retiring in August. He was a standout at San Jose State, catching 135 passes for 2,227 yards and 18 touchdowns in 44 games (27 starts). He must have decided he still wants to play, and considering he’s only 24 years of age, that’s not a surprise.
Dedmon played at William & Mary and could be someone Chicago is eyeing to back up Pro Bowl punt returner Jakeem Grant if he misses much time. He had 40 catches for 605 yards and six touchdowns as a senior WR at W&M, and had 1,364 yards returning kickoffs.
Henry went undrafted out of West Georgia in 2019, spending some time on the practice squads of the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts that year. He had a cup of coffee with the New Orleans Saints in 2020 before heading to Canada to play in the CFL. He had 20 catches in 10 games for 268 yards and a TD his senior season at West Georgia.
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Bears Also Brought in TE & 2 OL, Hosted Another O-Lineman
The Bears also worked out tight end Hodges, who had a promising college career before faltering a bit in the pros.
The Vikings drafted Hodges out of Virginia Tech in the sixth round (201st overall) of the 2017 draft, but he was released that season. He bounced around a bit, spending time with the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets in 2017 before spending the full 2018 season on the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn’t play in 2019 and wound up in the Spring League in 2020. He had 133 catches for 1,747 yards and 20 touchdowns in three seasons as a starter at Virginia Tech.
As for the two o-linemen Chicago looked at, Slade played at Auburn, and was an UDFA who went undrafted in 2017, signing with the Houston Texans, where he played in five games that year. He didn’t play again until 2020, when he caught on with the Colts, playing in just one game while also spending time on the practice squad.
Wright played his college ball at Tulsa, and signed with the Browns as a UDFA in 2019, where he played on the practice squad. He landed in Atlanta in 2020, and spent the majority of the season on the PS, playing in one game Week 14.
The Bears also hosted Coleman, who played at Auburn, for a visit. He started 23 games for the Browns in 2016-17 before Cleveland traded him to San Francisco in August, 2018.
The 6-foot-5, 310-pound OL suffered a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula in the preseason in 2019, and didn’t play at all that year after having surgery. He chose to opt out due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, so it has been a few years since he has seen action in an NFL game.
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Bears Try Out 8, Including Recently-Retired Ex-Packers WR